Newsletters

Dear friends of the Blood Star,

A few months ago, dear friends told us that the little Pender Island road we live on, Jennens, was once called Birdsong Lane. We wanted to change our address immediately. But imagine how complicated it would be to change a road name these days. Too much. So we’ll content ourselves with adding an a.k.a.

The news is so soul destroying we have both turned to gardens and flowers for solace. We keep up with what’s happening with a daily dose of Rachel Maddow, the CBC, the New York Times, The Guardian and time consuming social media rabbit holes.

Over the past several months, Frank has produced many floral collages in the bright colours he loves. Susan has gone to slow meditative drawings of imaginary flowers, also using bright pigments.

Antidote by Frank Ducote, collage on wood cradle, 16 x 16

Into the Garden I (detail) by Susan Taylor, ink and w/c on paper mounted on wood cradle, 16 x 16

Into the Garden I has also been accepted for the upcoming Federation of Canadian Artists Works on Paper juried exhibit later this month.

Our work will be on display at the Blood Star Easter weekend during the 26th annual South Pender Island Easter Art Walk. Along with other South Pender creatives, we would love to see you. April 20, 11 to 4 pm.

More flowers in art… Susan’s collage and paint Hummingbird Suite will be coming to a much travelled road thanks to a public art commission from the City of Richmond. If you know the Accent Inn just off highway 99, Suaan’s work will be brightening a nearby corner there by June.

We’d love to see you on Birdsong Lane in the coming blooming months.

Our best to you in a tumultuous time,

Susan and Frank

Blood Star Gallery

South Pender Island

bloodstargallery.com

Dear friends of the Blood Star,

Our 26th annual anniversary sale is coming up next Sunday, November 10. Given continuing work on The Dip and the daily road closure there between 10 am and 2 pm, we'll be open from 10 until 6.

If there's a piece of our work you've been considering, now's the time to take advantage of our one day 25% off sale on everything in the Gallery and online at www.bloodstargallery.com.

We're attaching photos of some of the available work here. If you have questions, please text or phone Susan at 778 891 9437.

If you're from away, we'd be happy to ship at cost and if you're not too far away, we can probably deliver. 

May this week end well.

Our best to you,

Susan and Frank

Blood Star Gallery

DUCOTE, When is Too Much Never Enough, acrylic on wood panel, 16 x 16

TAYLOR, The Importance of Plankton with Jelly, diptych, acrylic and resin on wood panel, 20 x 10

TAYLOR / DUCOTE, Primavera I, collage on wood panel, 36 x 24

TAYLOR / DUCOTE, It's for the Birds, collage and acrylic on wood panel, 60 x 40

Dear friends of the Blood Star,

Our modest but mighty garlic harvest is drying on the clothes line and thoughts of redolent curries are coming to mind as we don our hoodies and anticipate the promised and much needed rain.

Fall may be on its way but art shows are still on the horizon for us.

The 25th anniversary show presented by the Southern Gulf Islands Arts Council takes place on Mayne Island August 23 to 25 and then online at artsontheislands.org August 26 to September 30. Frank will be showing This Old Boat, digitally painted photograph,18 x 24; and Susan will be showing The Importance of Plankton with Jelly, diptych, acrylic and resin on wood cradle, 20 x 10.

The Federation of Canadian Artists Small Exhibit takes place at the FCA Gallery on Granville Island September 24 to October 6. Susan's drawing A Nest for One, ink and watercolour on paper, framed 11 x 11 has been juried into the show.

And our own Blood Star Gallery remains open (almost) every day 11 to 4 and usually later recently. We've noticed that our visitors are arriving later in the day, no doubt because of the repairs at The Dip which force closure of the road between North and South Pender Monday to Saturday 10 to 2. Everyone gets a reprieve from the work on Sunday. 

We hope you'll venture to South Pender to see us but if you can't make it, you can always peruse our work online.

We wish you delightful, memorable times with family and friends as summer makes way for fall.

Susan and Frank

www.bloodstargallery.com

phone/text: 778 891 9437

Dear friends of the Blood Star,

Covid did it. We were sequestered at home by a long mutual bout in early 2024 and collaborative collage work took hold of us. Frank had adopted collage enthusiastically in 2022 and Susan finally caught the bug this year - pun intended, after a decade-long admiration for the collage work of American artist Fred Tomaselli.

We'll be showing our collaborative collages and much more, along with ten other passionate, talented Pender Island artists, at the upcoming ART OFF THE FENCE Show, now in its 28th year. 

Saturday and Sunday, July 20 and 21, 11 am to 5 pm with a special artists' tour of the show Saturday at 3 pm. We hope you'll join us. It'll be fun and interesting; each participating artist will give us a little insight into their inspiration and process.

Yes, there's the Dip to contend with. The road to South Pender will almost certainly be closed for repair work on the Dip between 10 and 2 on Saturday but if you come to the show early we won't turn you away. Plan to stay with us for the day, bring a picnic, David Lumley and Friends will be providing music in the afternoon, you can visit Brooks Point, enjoy a nosh at Poets Cove Resort. Make it a memorable day on South Pender. There'll be no work on the Dip on Sunday. And the Legion will be providing food on Sunday.

And once ART OFF THE FENCE is a wrap, we'll be heading to Vancouver Island for the Sooke Show where one of Susan's tree inspired pieces, What Trees Know, will be on exhibit. The Sooke Show runs July 27 to August 5.  sookefinearts.com

We hope to see you on South Pender or in Sooke this month.

And if you're going to be in Richmond, it's the last month to catch Susan's public art installation Lines and Nets at the Aberdeen Canada Line Station on #3 Road. We have yet to figure out what to do with the four 6.5 x 6 foot pieces in this installation. Ideas?

We wish you a wonderful July doing delightful summertime things with family and friends.

Taylor / Ducote, It's for the Birds, acrylic and collage on cradled panel, 60 x 40 x 1.5

Susan and Frank

Still crazily together after cutting / collaging 286 leaves, 111 cherries, 11 birds, 24 flowers and many slender blades of grass

Blood Star Gallery

www.bloodstargallery.com

Dear friends of the Blood Star,

Ocean Week Canada is coming up June 1 to 9 with the big day being Saturday, June 8. There'll be many activities in Steveston to bring awareness to all things ocean.

The ocean and all of its inhabitants are some of Susan's favourite subjects. Plankton is crucial to all of us. Its organisms provide us with half of the oxygen we breathe, it forms the base of the ocean food chain, it's a sink for the carbon dioxide we produce and yet, for the most part it's invisible to the naked eye. Susan's upcoming exhibit The Importance of Plankton celebrates the beauty of these essential organisms. 

If we take care of the oceans, they'll take care of us.

Señor Burrito by Frank Ducote, acrylic on wood cradle, 14 x 11

Frank's bold and loving portraits of farm animals are proving popular. Señor Burrito is the latest one to leave the Blood Star. He has promised to have additional work in this series available for this year's ART OFF THE FENCE Show and Sale on South Pender Island. Mark your calendars and book your ferry travel.

Our best to you,

Susan and Frank

Blood Star Gallery

South Pender Island

www.bloodstargallery.com

Dear friends of the Blood Star,

A recent getaway to Mexico has recharged our creative and solar batteries. Mexico City is bursting with fine art and Diego Rivera's huge canvases replete with social commentary were a highlight. We've read that artists are allowed to pay their taxes by contributing their art in lieu to the state which probably accounts for the terrific collections in Mexico.

Carnaval de la Vida Mexicana by Diego Rivera, 1936

We're getting work ready for the 25th annual South Pender Art Walk coming up Easter Sunday, March 30, noon to 5. When we started the Art Walk we were just a handful of artists living and working close together and it was possible to walk to our studios; the number of creatives on South Pender has increased dramatically and you might find it difficult to visit all of us but you'll probably want to come by car or bike or maybe horse, if you have one. We hope you'll make it to see us, we're #12 on the map.

Frank has been painting a series of farm animal portraits after receiving a commission for a whimsical cow from one of his favourite collectors. Meet Bandito! And look for more work in this series at Easter.

Bandito by Frank Ducote, acrylic on cradled panel, 14 x 11, commission

Susan's thrilled with her recent success in a public art competition. Work from her photographic series Lines and Nets: A Terrible Beauty is now installed at the Aberdeen Skytrain Station on No. 3 Road in Richmond and will be there through July 2024. After serving as a juror for public art and gallery exhiibitions over the past several years, it's pretty sweet to now have this success as an artist. The Terrible part of the Beauty comes about when damaged and abandoned nets and lines ensnare marine animals. There seems to be some awareness building on the part of those who manufacture and use these goods and fledgling recovery and recycling efforts are underway. Here are two of the four images that comprise Susan's installation.

Lines and Nets I by Susan Taylor, photograph, public art installation 2024

Lines and Nets II by Susan Taylor, photograph, public art installation 2024

We've also started to produce some joint work recently, large-scale colourful  collages. More on those in our next newsletter if we manage to keep working together peaceably. 

We wish you good health and creative energy and hope you seize each day with gusto. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Susan and Frank

Blood Star Gallery

www.bloodstargallery.com

Dear friends of the Blood Star,

We have a lot happening in the coming few months and hope you’ll want to plug in to some of it.

Our 25th anniversary sale is fast approaching. Twenty-five years and counting for both the Blood Star Gallery and our relationship! Who would have imagined this! We consider ourselves very lucky indeed on both counts.

For one day only, Sunday, November 12, 10 am to 2 pm, we’ll take 25 percent off available work in the gallery and online at www.bloodstargallery.com. If you can’t visit us in person, please call or text 778 891 9437 with any questions or to arrange a purchase.

We’re happy to be returning to the Steveston Museum for the month of December. Frank will be showing collages and some new digital work; Susan will be showing some new drawn nests  and work from her new photographic series Lines and Nets.

DUCOTE, Do We Have a Quorum?, collage on wood panel, 16 x 16

DUCOTE, Dawn Over the Salish Sea, face mounted digital painting, 24 x 18

A couple of Susan’s new drawn nests have been juried into the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s Winter Small Works Exhibit which opens November 9 and runs through January 27.

TAYLOR, Small Nest I, ink and watercolour on paper, 11 x 11 framed

Susan’s drawing of moon jellies has been accepted by the jury for the upcoming Federation of Canadian Artists Water Exhibit that opens November 28 and runs until December 10 at the FCA Gallery on Granville Island.

And finally, Susan is tickled pink to have her submission based on her Lines and Nets series accepted by the jury for a public art installation in Richmond in 2024. Details to follow in the new year.

TAYLOR, future public art installation

We’ll look forward to seeing you or hearing from you over the coming weeks. As ever, we are very grateful for your support of what we love to do.

Our best to you,

Susan and Frank

www.bloodstargallery.com

Dear friends of the Blood Star,

Frank has immersed himself into the deep end of the collage pool in recent months. This piece entitled When is Too Much Never Enough represents this new direction in his work.

Frank's view of the contemporary art scene is that almost everything is some form of collage or assemblage.

Ever since Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso started it all and Jean-Michel Basquiat notably extended it with multiple seemingly unrelated snapshots, collage continues to be a powerful artistic direction. As has the still life as a perennial subject matter.

DUCOTE, When is Too Much Never Enough, 16x16, paint and paper collage on wood panel

The sight, sounds and smells of twelve beautiful cherry trees being felled one morning in April this year has made an indelible impression on Susan and is reflected in her work ever since. It has underscored for her yet again the importance of trees and has also given her an enhanced understanding of the motivation of the brave people who risk their own safety to protect old growth forests.

A new series The Importance of Trees has evolved in the last several months.

TAYLOR, The Importance of Trees, ink and gouache on paper mounted on wood cradles, each piece 6 x 6

Frank's collages (and more, there's always more with Frank) and work from Susan's new series will be shown at the 27th annual Art Off the Fence Show and Sale July 15 and 16 on South Pender Island.

And, one of Susan's pieces from this series has been accepted by the jury for the Federation of Canadian Artists annual On the Edge Exhibit on Granville Island, opening in late July.

We wish you a glorious summer weekend and a celebratory Canada Day. We are so fortunate to live in Canada!

Susan and Frank

Blood Star Gallery

Dear friends of the Blood Star,

There's nothing like a deadline! We both need them. The upcoming Easter Sunday Art Walk on South Pender Island has us focussed on finishing new work and filling holes in our gallery walls. If you're planning to be on the Pender Islands on Easter weekend we hope you'll join in the 24th annual tour of our little island's studios and galleries. The Blood Star is at #11 on the map.

If you're on Granville Island in the coming weeks, the juried Bloom Exhibition is on the walls at the Federation of Canadian Artists' Gallery and Susan's flora, fragmented is included among many beautiful floral works and ikebana too. Susan's piece was inspired by the most extravagant bouquet she's seen - a breathtaking clutch of at least two dozen cut scarlet amaryllis at the entrance to Sotheby's New York auction house. Bloom opened yesterday and continues through April 2. It's sure to lift the spirits!

flora, fragmented, ink, w/c, gouache on paper on cradled wood panel, 12" x 18"

Then, beginning April 4 and running until April 14, the FCA's annual Small Exhibition will be up in their Gallery. Susan's piece Life is Like a Box of Chocolates, You Never Know What You'll Get was selected by the jury. We're eager to see the smalls in this show.

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates..., ink, w/c, on paper on cradled wood panel, 8" x 8"

Frank has been working on collages for the past few months and will have many on the Blood Star walls during the Easter Art Walk.

Slack Tide, painted paper collage on cradled wood panel, 24" x 36" x 1.5"

And finally, it may seem early but we'd suggest you mark your calendars for this year's Art Off the Fence Show and Sale, July 15 and 16 on South Pender. The ferries are getting busier; reserving well ahead of mid-July would be a good idea.

We wish you a joyful spring and look forward to seeing you soon.

Susan and Frank

Blood Star Gallery

www.bloodstargallery.com

Dear friends of the Blood Star,

If you're going to be in Richmond or Steveston during December we hope you'll drop by the Steveston Museum to see our Winter Show. And if you give us a heads up, we'll do our best to meet you there. 778 891 9437 text or phone

Salmon Face I by Frank Ducote, collage mounted on cradled wood panel, 9" x 12" 

Rockfish by Frank Ducote, collage mounted on cradled wood panel, 9" x 12"

A Nest for Three by Susan Taylor, 4.5" x 4.5", framed 10" x 10"

Season's Greetings. We wish you warm, healthy times with loved ones.

Thank you for supporting us in what we love to do.

Susan and Frank