Muskoka Music Men come to Call ... and Sing

Napster was honoured to welcome the Muskoka Music Men to his house this evening.

They were here to sing during the Chowder Bowl Clam Race.  42 Clams came to the start, and are racing overnight under drizzly wet conditions.

The Music Men are fantastic. They come each year for us, with a Barbershop Quartet.  Napster points out that is is a V.L.Q. this year -- a Very Large Quartet. The more the merrier we always say!

Without them, the Clam Race would just be a bunch of clams vying for a trophy. With them, it is an Event with a capital E.

They raise funds for speech therapy, and Napster is delighted to meet friends who also raise money for worthy charities.  He came down immediately to say hello and hopped up on one of the stools. We think he perhaps was rather hoping he would be asked to sing harmony...

A visit with a Collector

 Napster is always delighted to meet his fans.

Last week Gavin was here. He is already a collector of Napster's work, and this summer added another print to his personal gallery.

Napster was thrilled to spend some time snuggling with Gavin in his studio.  It brings him great satisfaction to know that his art is making people happy!

Oh Man! Napster sells art to Oman!

Such excitement! Sherry was with us for the last two weeks, for the annual Family Reunion that has been going on every summer for the past 52 years and as the kids grow up, and the grandkids start their own families, the Reunion just keeps getting bigger and better.




Sherry and Rob have been posted to Masqat, Oman for the next few years. Sherry joined the Omani Womens' Guild, and is working with a group of young entrepreneurs. Recently she was selected as a coach for the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards and will be working with a young woman from Libya - exciting stuff!

She scooped up three of Napster's masterpieces to take back to Oman.

Running Wolf






Dolphins Chase the Moon

and Commedia del'Arte

They work beautifully together as a triptych, and Napster is thrilled to add Oman to his list of collector countries.


He posed with Sherry this morning, proudly wearing his "Purrrr-ka"...

Oh Man! Napster sells art to Oman!

Such excitement! Sherry was with us for the last two weeks, for the annual Family Reunion that has been going on every summer for the past 52 years and as the kids grow up, and the grandkids start their own families, the Reunion just keeps getting bigger and better.




Sherry and Rob have been posted to Masqat, Oman for the next few years. Sherry joined the Omani Womens' Guild, and is working with a group of young entrepreneurs. Recently she was selected as a coach for the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards and will be working with a young woman from Libya - exciting stuff!

She scooped up three of Napster's masterpieces to take back to Oman.

Running Wolf






Dolphins Chase the Moon

and Commedia del'Arte

They work beautifully together as a triptych, and Napster is thrilled to add Oman to his list of collector countries.


He posed with Sherry this morning, proudly wearing his "Purrrr-ka"...

Ontario North

 The Louvelle family are visting us from Cochrane this week.

Napster was delighted to meet his newest fans, and spent some time having a chat and cuddle with Maya and Abby.

Amanda and Frank -- with input from the girls of course, and in conversation with the artist himself -- chose Autumn Fox to take home with them, adding one of Ontario's northern towns to Napster's Collectors' locations!

Making Art History

 Dr. Anne Whitelaw teaches Canadian Art History at Concordia University in Montreal.





While she was here this week, she promptly snapped up a Napster to hang on her office wall.

Her choice? "Firebird".

In Huntsville she met up with Gerry Lantaigne, the brush behind the Group of Seven murals in Huntsville and Lake of Bays.  You can easily spend a few days tracking these murals in Dwight, Dorset, Baysville, Oxtongue Lake and Huntsville.

When we were chatting about Napster's work, the topic of the Group of Seven came up, following the mural discussion.

"Had Tom Thompson not died so young, and so tragically," Anne said (with only a hint of facetious whimsy) "it is quite possible his style might have matured to match Napster's freedom of abstract expression."

Comparisons...

 Roger Hilton's "Boats. Perhaps."   And below, his "Landscape Study."

Roger's work sells in the estimated range of 25,000 to 35,000 English Pounds a piece.





Roger is valued as a pioneer of abstract art in post-war Britain.  Which is all fine and good, but we find it dark, and a tetch gloomy...    Perhaps best suited for lamp-lit baronial halls....









Diana Howse, the Countess of Harewood, also finds her pieces selling for tens of thousands of pound.

Napster admits that one must never compare artists, since each has a unique vision and style.   But for his purrrrr-poses, his works are brighter, more fun to have hanging on the wall, every bit as abstract and evocative.

And sell for far less.

He's just sayin'

Dolphins Chase the Moon. Gift to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Yoga, the Downward Dog

Loon Dancer

Two Macaws

Evening in Paris?

 This is the very newest Napster...

He painted it last week, with friends and guests who were here from Paris, France.

We believe it shows a definite Parisian flair, a quality of the light that reminds us of the City of Lights.

Although we could be looking it at the wrong way round... So the working title is Evening in Paris, but we are open to suggestions. 

As always, there is a beautiful bird lurking in Napster's work, along with an uplifting sense of joy and happiness that takes his work beyond the ordinary.

Stylin'

It is important for an artist -- any artist -- to take some time to simply ponder the world around them. This is where the inspiration comes from for the wonderful vision of the artwork.

Napster was quite thrilled with the acquisition of his very own, personalied bench last week.  Achmed, in the background, was not in possession of the best seat in the house, and was a trifle annoyed... But we think they will learn to share.

Out of the Dark

Out of the Dark.... the first piece Napster completed following his glaucoma surgery to remove his left eye.

He took a break from painting in order to focus on his health, but he's back.  And we think there is a maturity to the vision, a depth to the painting that just makes it better and better.

 

This piece has already been 'snapped up' by discerning collectors of his work.  Last week, a print of this went off to Paris, with the grand-mere who was staying with her family in the Lodge.  The formidable and marvellous lady told us she was herself and artiste and was going to present the work to her art teacher, telling him that she was experimenting with a different (for her) style of painting.  Only after he gave her his opinion would she tell him, 'C'est un chat...'

 

We can't wait to hear the verdict!