Only three (3) more days before my exhibition Portraits – The Ancient Ones opens at the Visual Space Gallery here in Vancouver. Still lots to do (I will spare you my list).

In spite of the pressure, I am calm, completely unstressed, as you can see from the photo. Well, actually, this photo was taken last December while we were in Tofino. Lyne caught me smiling while communing with ancient cedars. We were walking the Rain Forest boardwalk trail in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

Today I’m a bit more harried. However, paintings are framed. Wall labels are printed, as are catalogues, small poster handouts, large sidewalk posters and vinyl lettering for the front window of the gallery. George Brandt, founder of Gallery 110 in Seattle, is coming north on Tuesday to curate the installation of my exhibition. I am getting excited!

Good news: Preview Magazine recognition. I was honoured that the editors of Preview Magazine chose to highlight my exhibition in their September-October issue.

I wanted to share this news with you, my friends:

I have just posted the last ten (10) paintings of the Ancient Ones series. You can be among the first to view them – well before the show opens at noon this Thursday.

I have also posted an additional nine (9) new paintings on the website – check the exhibition’s final page:
• One small painting of the view from Tonkin Park, Tofino
• Four small nocturnes of the Burrard Inlet at last light that evoke great feelings of nostalgia.
• Four paintings Millbrook Winery – north of NYC. The owners of the winery gave me one of my earliest commissions. My pen & ink drawing of their winery was used on their label for twenty+ years. I did these four paintings in honour of the 40th anniversary of the winery’s founding. Interesting how different the east coast deciduous tree landscape looks.

I hope that you will come and visit me during the next two weeks. If you cannot, please come, in spirit, by looking at the works posted on my website. Either way, please let me know how these works make you feel.

With great affection and respect,

Dear Friends,

A friend and former colleague gave me a wonderful insight last fall. During a visit to my September exhibition, he looked around at my landscapes with their foregrounds of ancient Douglas Firs, leaned back, and drawled, “You should paint old-growth cedars”. Continue reading →

TWO HAVENS
Thank you to all those folks who came to see my Two Havens exhibition last month. It was wonderful to meet new people and learn something about their lives – meanwhile answering their questions about the “how” and “why” of my journey as an artist. It was an equally great joy to have the chance to visit with old friends and catch up on their news, adventures and future plans. Continue reading →

Dear Friends, greetings from New Westminster!

The last newsletter I sent was in November, over nine months ago. Although remaining gloriously happy in my personal life, I was made heartsick and distracted by the world’s turmoil. To those who visited my Studio 1610 during the latest Eastside Culture Crawl and signed up for a promised newsletter I apologize for my tardiness. Welcome! Welcome to all!

Continue reading →

THE INLET III, Visual Space Gallery, September 2024
Thank you to all who came to see my September exhibition here in Vancouver. I greatly enjoyed meeting some art-lovers for the first time and delighted in visiting with old friends. Lyne made a series of delicious plum tarts and coconut cakes to share with those who had time to linger. We had lovely weather, sitting outside in the sunshine. Continue reading →

Ships with Windsurfers LXIX, Acrylic on Multimedia Artboard, 2024, 30 x 40 inches

Dear Friends, Greetings from Vancouver! What a lovely summer here in the Lower Mainland of BC. Cooler and moister than recent years, we were spared smoke, heat domes and the dread of disastrous fires. Small shards of hope: sea stars seem to be recovering in number and sea urchins less numerous. Can kelp forests soon recover? Continue reading →

Greeting friends! Wow! What a relief. The first three weeks of my exhibition Puppet Masters – Making Fools of Us All have been, thank goodness, unlike 2018, a troll-free experience. My colleagues at Gallery 110 — George Brandt, Curator & Shayley Timm, Director — thought deeply how to reinforce the intended message of my paintings. Strategically placed trigger-warnings, appropriate quotations on large wall postings, images and books illustrating the work of past artists who painted difficult and painful subjects all contributed to a coherent message: that we live in dangerous times when the unscrupulous spread lies fomenting hatred, disgust, anger and fear. Continue reading →

Greetings from Vancouver! Thanks to all those who came to my exhibition, The Inlet, the last two weeks in September. There was no reception, but I saw lots of visitors – old friends and colleagues – new friends who saw images, heard by word of mouth or were just walking past on Dunbar. Thank you all for your kind words about my paintings. For those who live far away or otherwise couldn’t make it to the show, I hope you will see photos of the installation. Continue reading →

Dear Friends, Greetings from still-too-dry Vancouver! I’m excited to announce my September exhibit The Inlet opens this week. I have just posted 36 new works for the show and look forward to seeing you.

Nocturne – Sunset with Burrard Bridge, acrylic on multimedia artboard, 2023, 11 x 30 inches

THE INLET

September 14-27, 2023
Visual Space Gallery, 3352 Dunbar, Vancouver
Noon – 5PM daily. Extended hours until 8PM Tuesdays & Fridays

I will open the doors on Thursday at noon. If you make a special trip from farther away, let me know so that I can spoil you.

I welcome unscheduled walk-in visitors; if you find yourself in the neighborhood, please visit me. I will be assuming that you are vaccinated, that you are well, and that you will wear a N95 mask while inside the gallery (I’ll have extras).

If you can, please email me at haughton-art@shaw.ca and let me know the day & time you will come, and if you are bringing friends (excellent!). I will be spacing out expected visitors. I will have air purifiers on ‘turbo’ and will keep doors open to facilitate air flow. Weather permitting, we can visit outside the gallery without masks. I plan to welcome you with coffee, tea, wine, and other refreshments. Please, let us be safe!

Nocturne – Fireworks with Burrard Bridge, acrylic on multimedia artboard, 2023, 11 x 30 inches

Website additions
Late yesterday afternoon I added an additional 36 new works to the exhibition page The Inlet. Please take a look because not all of my 62 new paintings will fit on the walls.

Ways to get together this fall
If you are out of town in September and cannot make the show:
– A quiet private tour of my new Studio 1610. It is a large, well-ventilated space and we can visit together, enjoying coffee or a glass of Pinot Noir. Contact me and let’s plan.
– Join the throngs of people visiting the 2023 East Side Culture Crawl November 16-19, 2023. Thu/Fri: 5pm-10pm. Sat/Sun: 11am-6pm.
– Set up a time to have me clean your “Haughtons”. They do get dusty – particularly those painted on hardboard. I am happy to set up a time that would be convenient for you when I can stop by and do some basic cleaning and maintenance on your pieces. The work will only take about fifteen minutes, there’s no charge, and I can hear your news.

Nocturne – Sunset, Two Ships + Regatta, acrylic on multimedia artboard, 2023, 11 x 30 inches

With great affection and respect, David

Dear friends, Greetings from too-sunny and too-dry Vancouver.

Radio silence
– For the last eight months I have been working like crazy in my home studio. By the end of July, I plan to be ready for three exhibitions: Vancouver (September 2023), as well as Edmonton & Seattle (Spring 2024).

The cost: I have neglected my friends. I paint for six hours, break to make dinner for Lyne, then, before my planned early bedtime, sneak back to the studio “just to look at today’s work”. Once there, I realize what’s wrong…. the surface of the water is too homogeneous …it needs a color-shift across the painting. Next thing I know, it is 3 AM, and my plans for the next day, such as ‘wake up early and write to friends’, are shredded.

Well, I am finally writing friends. I am also booking outdoor kaffeeklatsches, alfresco backyard visits and dinners by the sea during Summer and Fall. Come visit! I am hoping to connect with friends new and old during the warm and dry BC summer and fall.

Seattle Art Fair July 27-30, 2023
Ten Gallery 110 artists have joined forces in a booth again this year. I will be showing paintings from my upcoming Vancouver show The Inlet at the Seattle Art Fair. I have some entrance passes to give to friends. Please get back to me if you can use one. I was interviewed by a new Seattle Times ‘economics of art’ reporter. She wrote this interesting article about the Fair.

 
Revised Website
This summer, I simplified my website, making it more user-friendly. You can still see every work of the last ten years in Exhibitions, but I now offer a hand-selected sample of still-available works from my most collected series – a “tasting menu”, if you will. Please see Selected Available Work. Every work of the last twelve years remains archived in Exhibitions.
 
The Inlet (Ships Mountains & the Sea VI)
September 14-27, 2023, Visual Space Gallery, Vancouver
I moved to Vancouver in 1991 and instantly fell in love with the Burrard Inlet: the mountains, clouds, beach volleyball, sunsets and huge ships amidst a froth of sea planes, sailboats and windsurfers. Please come see my newest paintings, celebrating our wonderful, shared landscape. Look for your invitation in September. Drop by. Let’s catch up on all your adventures and doings!

 
New Studio
Contact me and we can arrange a quiet private tour of my new studio space, visit together and share a coffee or a glass of Pinot Noir. With great affection and respect, David