From Holland to Quinte Region

Hi there, dear reader!

So the van Gogh ACEO is done and can be seen below:

'After van Gogh- "Irises"- 1889'

Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes

The colour is a bit wonky on my monitor compared to what it looks like in "real life" but who knows... maybe that's what it looks like in person! Someone needs to fly me to Holland so I can go to the van Gogh museum and find out. It would all be in the name of art history and studying the Masters, I swear.
This one was oodles of fun to do and I must admit, much more relaxing than the Vermeer which is on the cusp of being done. I suspect I may be doing more van Gogh studies than Vermeer...

"The Calling"

Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

On a local art note, my piece "The Calling" (seen above) can be found at the Belleville Art Association Gallery for their end of the year 'Artist's Choice' show. There's a gallery hop taking place today until 8pm and there are 5 galleries in total that are participating. However, if you can't make it out today the gallery will be open on the week-end and during the week so I invite you to stop by and see some of the excellent work that Quinte artists have on display.


That's all for now. I'm going to post the last stages and the final of the Vermeer ACEO soon.

Really. I will.

Lilac Tea piece, WIP Part 1
5x7, coloured pencil on pastel board
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Lilac Tea piece WIP Part 2
5x7, coloured pencil on pastel board
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Today I was going to do a post on Van Gogh but instead would like to share something that is both funny and sad at the same time.

In the town closest to me, which happens to be Belleville, the current mayor has been working very hard to improve the healthcare facilities as well as get more doctors into our region since most folks out this way don’t have a family doctor, including myself. For all his hard work we thank him immensely as he’s already got 17 doctors signed onto the Doctor Recruitment Program (the first one will be opening his practice in October of this year I believe) and has helped re-work the current budget for the region to get more advanced equipment into the local hospital. One of the pieces of medical equipment the Quinte region has recently received is a new MRI machine.

The acquisition of the new MRI machine was big news because 1- I would think that regardless of where you live if your hospital received medical equipment of that size and price tag it would be news and 2- this is largely a farming and light industry community that is growing by leaps and bounds so anything that makes front page news is worth talking about... including the crowning of the Queen of the Furrow, but that story is for another day.

They talked about it on the radio for weeks. They wrote articles about it in the weeks leading up to its delivery. Then finally the big day came, the day the MRI machine was delivered. I believe the city closed off a portion of the road in front of the hospital specifically so this thing could be delivered and placed into the hospital in a timely manner (it is a monsterously large machine). When this happened you better believe the local papers were there to get pictures and talk to the hospital big-wigs. Myself, being a curious critter, waited until my local paper was delivered to see the pics and read the associated article.


Here’s where things get a little ironic.


Imagine my surprise when I saw the picture and realized just how big a machine this was. Then imagine my surprise when in the picture I saw just how many men it took to unload it. Then imagine my surprise when I saw one of the helpful workers smoking a cigarette while unloading the MRI machine.


And the quest for improved quality of health continues...


PS- The Lilac Tea piece is actually done. I'm just posting these WIP pics to coax you, dear reader, into coming back. ;)