The Lucknow Sentinel, 1985-10-09, Page 3Barri boar
frompage 1
this year alone, forty of which have been
sold.
That's a pretty good rate of sale for an
artist, though she says, ,"I'm just an
amateur," •
She still has one of the first paintings,
and the largest, she has done, and it's
easy to see how far she's developed
from those early. days, Particularly
noticeable is the increased confidence in
setting her subjects down and the use of,
her medium. The benefit of just plain
practice is also evident.
She works only with oils, she didn't
like working with acrylics when she
tried . them, and paints on barn . board -
"1 think people like the natural barn
board, I think people like the paintings
as natural' as they can be" - and has
developed a new twist to the search for
original objects' to paint on.
She walks through the bush and finds
large fungi attached to trees,' breaks
them off, sands the underside and
applies a couple coats of white paint to
prepare the surface to be worked on,
then treats the other side to discourage
rotting and add to its natural beauty.
Then she gets to work and her favourite
subjects for the fungi painting are snow
scenes. Reta has a huge fungus with a
pretty snow scene delicately applied to
the surface on a shelf in her living room
and has received offers of $100 for it.
She won't part with it though, . the
fungus was .discovered on the farm she
and her husband had until recently.
Reta formerly did more scenes,
however, "They're not as popular, I
guess. I think it's because you can buy
them (scenes) anywhere, and there are
a lot of people doing them."
The subjects she finds sell best are
racoons, chipmunks, squirrels and
d d:panter
•
horses. "Racoons are the favorite, I've
made hundreds of racoons. I've lost
track of how many.,"
Her art has been in many stores in the
area and is currently at Port of Call in
Goderich and at Your Favourite Things
in Lucknow. She was invited to show her
work at the .Van Kgmond House near
Seaforth and that resulted':in an ter
view with . Betty :Thompson on the
CKCO • personality's show.:
"I had, good success there: I had a lot
of calls' from people wanting. things,"
she said to sum up the experience.
Peggy's Place, a now defunct craft'
shop, ,was another successful venue for
the local woman. "She had me painting
night and day." •
She also went to the flea market right
by Hanover but gave that up after a
while because "It got to be a hassle."
"I also had things at the garden
center in Lucknow, it must be about four
years ago, n ow, and they did very well
for me too. They, sold a lot.
Reta is going to start gearing up for
Christmas seasonbut lack of time "is
getting me kind of discouraged. I've got
too much on the go."
After this season she might finally
give up the pace that the inclusion of
painting demands from her and be able
to do more work onthe house. With
that, and now that her garden has
.probably seen the end of its season; she
may also be able to spend a little time
with her cats. She has difficulty turning
away a stray and at one point had 18
cats and three dogs. Luckily, "that was
some years ago. I'm down to six now.."
It seems that one of Reta Morrison's.
qualities is her ability to make time to
do a painting special to someone or to
find time for yet another stray, a little
rare in these days of mad self involved
rushes many occupy themselves with.
•
Ripley receives
f;. :µde for report
announced Sept. 24.
The money is part of , an estimated
$43,000grant as a provincial contribution
toward the' estimated $50,000 total cost of
the project.
The Village of Rip1e, has received
$13,806 as a first payment for thea engin-
eering :.report en the construction of a
sewage ' treatment and collection system,
Environment Minister Jim Bradley . an -
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tuclnow Sentinel, Wednesday, October 9, 1985 --Page 3
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