A SAQA Benefit Auction Dream Collection: "Eclectic"

The start of the Annual SAQA Benefit Auction is less than two weeks away. How'd that happen?!

Darn!  I couldn't generate a good idea for a piece this year, and just realized that I missed the deadline to create a Dream Collection...by a mere four days.  Sigh.  Some years are like that, I guess!

But...I can follow the Auction closely from Diamond Day on September 16 through to the finish...and if I'm fortunate, I can find a piece I really like -- and buy it!  And I can share my own personal 'Dream Collection' with you, SAQA Western Canada colleagues...so here goes...it's an "Eclectic" bunch...

My SAQA Mentor, Bonnie Smith, has donated one of her signature 'swimmer' pieces...





My 15 x 15 Group colleague, Caro Higgs, has made a contribution that's pretty and peaceful...






And another colleague, Chantal Guillermet, has donated a still life in warm tones...






Then there's the piece by former Co-Rep (Atlantic Canada), now SAQA Board member, as well as a colleague and friend, Chris Nielsen...




SAQA Western Canada member, Gloria Daly of B.C., has donated one of her signature pieces as well.










And lovely, eccentric Gunnel, whom I met at the MCOTW opening in Stratford in May....


Then there's my friend Heather Dubreuil of Hudson, Quebec, whom I met at my first SAQA conference in Denver in 2011...and whose pieces remind me of the years I lived in Montreal...


And SAQA WC member from Saskatchewan, Jaynie Himsl -- my travelling companion to MCOTW, a firebrand who created an entire art festival in her home town of Weyburn throughout the summer of 2015...



My long-time friend, Jenny Lyon of California, whom I met at the conference in Santa Fe. She's a whole-cloth quilter extraordinaire; her piece makes me smile.





And Kathie Briggs, formerly of Michigan and now living in North Carolina, whom I also met in Santa Fe, 2013...




What about Lisa Ellis -- our new SAQA President?  I was blessed to enjoy her company at dinner and at brunch in Stratford at the MCOTW opening.  Young and full of energy, as expressed in the vibrancy of her contribution...



Then there's Maggie Vanderweit  (SAQA Central Canada), whose pieces in neutral tones generally make a statement...I met her in Portland at the conference in 2015.

And another fire-brand, SAQA WC member Marie McEachern of Calgary, whom I've known for years as a colleague, since our days together learning from Anna Hergert...Something different from her Calgary city-scapes...



Or maybe veteran textile artist Marianne Williamson, whom I've admired...and finally met at the conference in Portland, OR, in 2015...





What about Sherry Davis Kleinman, my room-mate at the Santa Fe Conference, and a dear friend?  My son got married this summer...maybe there's a gift opportunity there...

If I had a sweet little girl somewhere in my life who had a birthday coming up, I'd look no farther than this delightful piece by the fun and energetic Sue Bleiweiss...




And I can't forget my friend and inspiration, the 'I swear she never sleeps', most prodigious Susan Lenz.  I already have one of her Benefit Auction pieces on my studio wall...why not another?



SAQA WC member Terry Aske of B.C. has contributed this peaceful piece with an oriental feel...





While my friend and fellow student in Elizabeth Barton's Master Class (2015), Wil Opio Oguta, would have me sail away to forget my troubles...

See what I mean?  With the SAQA Benefit Auction it's easy to get carried away.

I trust that if you make art, you also find room to show art in your home.  Share it with friends. Give it as gifts.
What collection would fill your dreams?