Sunday Studio Days - Nancy MacDonald & Karen Daigle

 WELCOME BACK once again to our Sunday Studio Days Blog!

 
This week we are taking a peek at the studios of Nancy MacDonald and Karen Daigle!

NANCY MACDONALD

The view of Nancy's studio space

A view looking out the window at Nancy's work station 

Nancy says her favourite part of her studio is the the natural light and views.

"The room is at the corner of my house and has two windows that look down the LaHave River on the South Shore. I placed my drawing table in front of one of the windows where I get to sit and watch my backyard birds, my littler muses, who love to hang out in a quince bush right outside the window."

Looking out of Nancy's studio into her home.

A shot of Nancy MacDonald's studio desk

Artist's often receive really interesting advice, we love this advice Nancy has to share!

"One of the biggest things I learned over the years is how to listen to critiques of your work. It’s always great practice to show your work to others and be open to their opinions. You must learn how to accept

someone’s personal experience and identify what can be used as constructive criticism. Everyone is going to see something different in your work and you might not always agree but you may come away with new ideas and it can be a great way to grow as an artist."

A shot of a work in progress painting from Nancy

Often artists have a favourite go-to entertainment while artmaking, we asked Nancy what she liked to listen to...

"I love listening to podcasts while I work. My current favourite is Your Wrong About. It’s a podcast about history and pop culture. The show hosts are journalists who explore events that the media and the public may have gotten wrong. By researching and fact checking they attempt to give us the real story behind the subjects like the Ammityville Horror, how the Satanic Panic manifested or the rise and fall of the Beanie Babies. They also do deep dives into the stories of people like Karen Carpenter, Tonya Harding or Tammy Faye Baker. They are super interesting and entertaining."

See the works we have available from Nancy MacDonald HERE

KAREN DAIGLE 

A shot of Karen's painting station

We asked Karen where does the inspiration for her beautiful oil paintings come from?

"In the light… and shapes and the way light bounces off and creates connections between objects. Light influences all values, colors and temperatures and how all these things can come together and can communicate a feeling. Its allows expression in a language nobody knows but so many understand."

Karen's still life set up with a work in progress painting and a palette set up, ready to start

These love these two bits of advice Karen had to share...

"KISS- It’s an acronym for “Keep It Simple, Stupid”, used by one of my first teachers, Kelli Folsom. Except she’s much nicer so she uses “keep it simple, sweetie”. It’s also a rule of thumb that has been used in design work as well. It reminds me that the beauty isn’t in the details, my paintings are meant to be more of a poem than an essay and too much detail will take away from that."

 "Another is a “whole lot of nothing and a little bit of something”, often said by David Leffel, another artist I admire who still teaches today. Which reminds me that too much detail everywhere will take away from the most important ones in a painting and will ultimately dull what you are trying to say."

Another side of Karen's studio space

Karen, like many artists, enjoys listening to music while making her works...

"[I always listen to music] for the block in and probably the first half of the painting. It’s important to me that this part is loose, fun and expressive. I like Lumineers, Iron & Wine, Damien Rice and Nathaniel Rateliff. 

For the final stages of my work I prefer no music as every stroke has a lot of thought going in and I find it easier to concentrate."

Karen's studio-mate Kami

Having a friend join in the creative fun of the studio is always a treat!
Pictured above is Kami, one Karen's three kitties (Kiko and Rosie, not picuted) often joins Karen in the studio.

"My Studio cat Kami. She has a twin sister, Kiko and a sister from another mister, Rosie. But she hangs out in the studio the most."

See the works we have available from Karen Daigle HERE