Dear Reader,
Wednesday, February 7, was the first Wednesday of the month, therefore, Night Owl Book Club met from 6:30-7:30 pm at the Russell Library. We sat around the fireplace and discussed Dean Koontz’s book titled, Innocence. At its core, Innocence is a book about evil, and the capacity of love to overcome it. Night Owl’s next read is The Princess Spy, by Larry Loftis. Copies are available at Russell Library for anyone interested in reading this month’s Club pick.
While the Night Owls were deep in discussion, The Prairie
Arts c’ARTel had their first Meet the Artist evening event in the Library Gallery.
Upwards of fifteen interested parties came and enjoyed refreshments and one another’s good company to the piped in 80’s music that played nostalgically in the background. Mr. Tataryn is a charismatic man with a sense of humour. Tataryn’s audience was treated to serious explication of his art carried by the light-heartedness of an Artist that knows the appeal of balance.
As promised, Allan brought new paintings to punctuate the evening. What follows is a description of each painting along with Tataryn’s artistic processes: in his own words.
The larger painting with the ribbon motif and the orange, brown and yellow colour scheme was initially intended to be just a painting of the ribbons. Once it was completed it was a bit bland. I had thought as I was working on it that might be the case and using an eye was in my mind as a backup plan. Initially I painted a realistic eye but decided that didn’t work so the stylized eye was painted. Quite often when I am finishing a painting, I find myself in the situation where I am not certain I like the finished piece, but I find myself thinking I can live with it the way it is. That is where I am at with this one.
The shoreline painting of the yellow orange shrub against the spruce trees and the reflection in the water is in my wheelhouse so to speak. I am more familiar with this type of subject, although I must admit getting the right yellow orange tones was a struggle and I am not certain that I have been able to capture the colours as accurately as I would like. This is another painting where I find myself in the situation where I can live with it, but I am not completely satisfied with the outcome. This is a common outcome for me. Most of my work finishes in this manner.
The final piece is a blue abstract. Some passages have been brushed in, but the major forms have been established with painting knives. It may not be completely obvious but there is a triangle formed by the figure standing against the red section, the blue sphere to the lower right and the strong orange mark just off centre to the upper left quadrant of the painting. The composition is to some degree organized around that triangle. Another situation where the work has come to a point where I can leave as finished even though I am not completely satisfied with it. I often leave paintings at this point because my experience is that when I push too hard the work often degrades quickly. It is better to leave good enough alone.
Well, Mr. Tataryn, if only everyone’s “leave good enough alone,” work was as fabulous as yours.
For an excellent selection of books stop in and visit us in Binscarth Library and Russell Library. For more information on any of our events, please contact the Russell Library at 204-773-3127 / ruslib@mymts.net or Binscarth Library at 204-532-2447 / binslb@mymts.net or message us on Facebook. Please visit our website at https://russellbinscarthlibrary.ca for more
information.
Happy Reading, Until Next Time,
The Library Ladies