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| The
2005 Ottawa
Tulip Festival had a competition to choose local artists to paint
150 giant fiberglass tulips. My friend Geneviève and I were
both invited to submit an application... and were were both accepted. |
LINKS
Geneviève's
Tulip page
Tulip
Festival site
Princess
J Creations
Amaryllis
Creations
The
Crafters' Internet
Decorative Artists in Canada
email
Marilyn |
| March
12: I just received the letter from the folks at the Ottawa
Tulip Festival telling me that I have been accepted to design, create
and paint a gigantic tulip....well, it's gigantic for me....it's five
feet high! And it's round....ever painted on a round surface? It's
made of fiberglass so no problem with using my acrylics.....good job
I own the complete line of Delta Ceramcoat. I'm so excited....perhaps
there are others reading this who also have experience at painting a
five foot tulip! I'd love to hear from you. Right now, I'm kinda
doing the happy dance. I am looking forward to this wee project,
whoops, large surfaced project, since it will encourage me to step "outside
the box" and create a painting based on a particular theme. I
believe the theme this year is "peace and friendship". Of course
it's also the 150th anniversary of the Tulip Festival as well! So, day
1 is now complete and I have now been assigned my work for the next two
months. I can't wait to see where the next two months of my artistic
journey leads me. Will I have fun? Will I have any troubles? Any
roadblocks? Time will tell I guess. Wish me luck. |
| March
13: A great
day...being a Sunday et al. I take my inspiration for my life
from a great many sources...friends, family, my Christian faith, nature,
animals ....so many things in life to get excited about. Today
in the children's story, the minister talked about how he liked his
particular version of his Bible, due to the line drawings found in
it. He so enjoys colouring in the pictures with his newly purchased
coloured pencils just received from his New Zealand parish. How inspirational
is that......a grown adult who loves to colour....I could relate. And
so my first inspiration hit me.... symbols... using symbols in my painting.
Which led me to search the web looking for friendship symbols and peace
symbols that all citizens of the world would understand. You
see, visitors from around the world descend on Ottawa during the month
of May to visit the Tulip Festival. Thousands of real tulips dot
the landscapes in and around the city. So I knew my inspiration for
symbols would be acceptable to me. Thanks Colin....good job I listened
to the children's story eh? Did you preach a sermon too??? |
| March
16: Tulip pick-up day. |
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| March
19: Basecoating my tulip and painting the base, under the watchful eye
of Kramer and Lucy. |
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| March
22,25,31: Taping off the "quilt", basecoating the squares,
painting symbols. |
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| These are pictures of the base of the tulip. I've painted
my logo of a paint palette and brushes as well as the name of my little
company. |
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| The final stages! The masking tape which was used to create
each triangle of the quilt has been removed, and the quilt pieces have
been stitched together. You can see the needle and thread stitching the
last piece. |
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| Here is the front
side of the tulip introducing the Festival....150th Anniversary. The
name of my tulip is "The Friendship Quilt".
The tulip is curing from its 6 coats of varnish in these pics. Soon it
will be time to lift the tulip and place it proudly on its base! |
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Well,
I'm finished. What a fun journey! These are pics of Genevieve and myself
standing with our finished tulips.....can't you tell we look proud?!
Yes, we're dressed in our best duds too since today we deliver the
tulips to City Hall. It's taken us 30 days to create and paint our
tulips with two weeks allotted for the varnish and cure time. But hey,
we're done and now are happy people Now
we get to shmooze with the top brass of Ottawa at the Vernissage (opening
night). And we have free passes to the Tulip Festival! And..... we're
still the best of friends! What a journey! |
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Tulips
. . . Tulips . . . Tulips |
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Visit
to the festival with Mom... Ran into a great group of Red Hat ladies! |
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| © Copyright
2005, Geneviève
Crabe, Marilyn Harris-Mills |