Poetry Salon @ Urban Gallery Oct 25, 3-5pm

Please do come out on Oct 25th, 3-5pm, to Urban Gallery where I am hosting another beautiful Poetry Salon.

Ellen S. Jaffe's second poetry collection, Skinny-Dipping with the Muse, was published in May 2014 by Guernica Editions. Ellen's previous books include poetry, a young-adult novel, and a book about writing, all of which have won awards. Her work has been translated into Finnish and published in journals and anthologies. She grew up in New York, moved to Canada in 1979, and has lived in Hamilton for 15 years. Ellen is Hamilton Contributing Editor for Great Lakes Review, a journal for writers on both sides of the border. Her story "Night Lights of Kansas," published in the review, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2014. Ellen teaches writing with Living for the Arts, and has received grants for writing and arts education from the Ontario Arts Council.

Pat Connors' chapbook, Scarborough Songs, was released by Lyricalmyrical Press last year. He was also recently published in Belgium, India, and Timmins. He was literary juror of Big Art Book 2013, a digital project of Scarborough Arts. He recently performed at the Austin International Poetry Festival, Stellar Literary Festival, Blue Coffee Reading Series, and, for the third time, at The Art Bar Poetry Series. He is a manager for the Toronto chapter of 100,000 Poets for Change.

Niki Koulouris was born in Melbourne, Australia and lives in Toronto. A beer enthusiast, she’s been known to start spontaneous lists, on napkins, of her top India Pale Ales. Shortlisted for the 2014 Wesley Michel Wright Prize, the The sea with no one in it is her first book.

Up to eight Open Mic spots of 5 min each are also offered - sign-up at 3pm.

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Drawings from Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School Reloaded in Toronto, Halloween theme, Oct 3, 2014. #InkTober

Life-drawing @ Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School Reloaded in Toronto, Halloween theme, Oct 3, 2014, ©Brenda Clews, 18" x 24" Inktense black and red blocks with a water brush pen on Strathmore 70lb archival drawing paper. You've seen some of these already....

See photos from the evening at the Dr. Sketchy Blog.

#InkTober

(Zoominess and deepened shadows added for extra Halloween effect! I rather like.)

(the actual drawing)

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Little sketch of Norman Bethune Allan and Waleed Abdulhamid @ The Art Bar #InkTober

It was so dark at the Art Bar last night that I could not see what I was doing - literally, could not see pencil lines on the paper. The water-soluble ink I was using appeared so black there was hardly any detail. Would have been better, perhaps, if I had enough light to see the paper - so I'll have to take a small book light if I go and draw at The Black Swan Tavern again.

Norman Bethune Allan and Waleed Abdulhamid (where the ink wash drawing went later in the evening and the original sketch) @ArtBar-14Oct2014 ©BrendaClews, 11" x 15", Derwent InkTense black permanent ink blocks,  Faber-Castell Pitt India ink pens, Pentalic 130lb archival paper.

#InkTober

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Wild Woman

Tara Clews (my niece) had me flip my hair while she was photographing in front of her green screen and this photograph is the result after I, uh, let's say, manipulated the image myself later at home. :-} Wild Woman.

(Wild Woman of the Antler Tribe.)

(Shhh. Wheeee...... the Original Flying Photo.)

21 September Life-Drawings at Bampot Bohemian Teahouse #InkTober

These life-drawings were done on September 21st at Bampot Bohemian Teahouse. It was awhile back and I only got around to photographing them today. Overall, coming back to these, I find I like them better than I did after the session.

Still coughing a lot and hopefully that'll go away soon.


                        
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Ink Drawing #9 #InkTober

Ink Drawing #9.

Two Burlesque Goth Vamps -with claws and teeth! Holding boxes of cereal that just don't cut it - they want your blood. :)

A 10 min sketch at the October Dr. Sketchy's life-drawing venue (last Friday in Kensington Market but I did rub out some pencil lines and clipped it to a board on an easel and took it outside to photograph - could work on it more but as is is the way to go).

Black Derwent InkTense permanent ink blocks with a water brush pen and water-soluble graphite on 18" x 24" on 70lb Strathmore archival drawing paper.

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Ink Drawing #8, w-i-p. #InkTober

Ink Drawing #8, w-i-p. October 8, 2014. ©Brenda Clews, 11.5" x 16.5", Faber-Castell Pitt India ink pens, Moleskine sketchbook. #inktober

Eh. No idea where it will go. The oh-so short but intense flu's aftermath has settled into my lungs and deep, unbroken sleep and energy are zapped. Yah, well, so what if today's drawing is rawther unfinished. Some notches on a page. It makes me giggle. Which is needed in between coughing bouts, you understand. It's also got a rhythm of an ocean flow, a turbulence. I think it's at a dock where energy flow and land mass meet. Abstract art doesn't take me anywhere - though of course I like it when it's done well by others - whereas, the figurative is about subjectivities, ways of reading ourselves in context. So there will be a figure...

For the last two days, I've been submitting poetry. Ok, I only got two submissions out. But what a lot of work! Oiy ya. And I made an error, too, I know it. I sent out prose/poems that will be in my forthcoming book - it'll be published by Guernica Editions but not until maybe 2016 or later - and I told the editors in the accompanying letters! So those two submissions will be rejections for sure. While unpublished, the prose/poems will be published - and the journals require work unpublished in any format. This predilection for honesty sometimes slips me up. Yeah, I know I'm doing it backwards but I need to generate interest in my work before the book comes out. Who knows for sure if these places will take what I sent... but I am at a point where I would like to publish in print and on-line journals.
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