The Cariboo Artists Guild (CAG) has a new show of still-life paintings on display at the Showcase Gallery.
The artworks will be at the Showcase Gallery located at the South Cariboo Business Centre until Mar. 4. Jess Thomas, who is a member of CAG and helped to hang the paintings alongside Carol Munro, explained that still life painting is when you set up a display of items such as fruit, cups and other inanimate objects and paint them
"The display is often flowers, or fruit, or teapot," said Thomas.
On Jan. 28, at the Thomas' Revelry Art studio in 100 Mile House, she set a few displays up and invited members of the CAG to cone paint what they saw. Several artists took her up on the offer, spending four hours together painting.
The artists then had a week to finish up the art for the gallery exhibition. Two paintings, in particular, were praised by Thomas - Neil Pinkett's The Fruits but Not the Bowl - a painting of oranges alongside lemons, as well as Helen Kellington's The Artist at Work, which as the name implies, depicts a woman in the middle of a painting session.
"No one else knew she was doing it. So funny," said Thomas about the painting - whereas everyone else had been painting still life, Kellington had painted the room and the artist. Thomas, however, stressed that she does not want to necessarily elevate each piece of artwork, because all of the ones created were good.
Most of the art currently on display is for sale, except for two of Thomas's paintings Still Life #1 and Still Life #2.
"You can phone the artist of the piece of work that you want. Their phone numbers are on there and the price," Thomas said, referring to the informational guide on display alongside the gallery.
Thomas feels pretty excited about putting on the show, remarking it was unusual to paint with so many of her fellow artists.
"For seven, eight artists to show up and paint all together and have that artist community was really special, so we are looking forward to doing some more artwork in the future," Thomas said, adding it was a big deal for the group.
Future galleries by the CAG will include a theme on illumination for March, but there could also be a plein air excursion in a similar vein to the still life painting session. A plein air excursion is where artists go and paint outside.
"We were talking about how fun it would be to paint - like gather somewhere - at a heritage building and paint, or for everybody to meet and paint outside together," said Thomas. She added however, there are no concrete plans yet.
Those interested in joining the CAG can go to the Parkside Art Gallery and fill out a $15 membership form.
