Saturday, August 31, 2013

Playing It Forward - Point By Point By Alberta Artist Sandra Ward


Sandra Ward is an Alberta sports artist working in a pointillism style. Using ink as her medium, Sandra's goal is to create many works to help out charities. Her company is called Playing it Forward - Point By Point which raises money for charities through the sale of original and limited edition hockey prints.


"The Zone" Ink on paper drawing of Dwayne Roloson - Edmonton Oilers - 2009,  20 Limited edition prints.

 Sandra had the original framed so that the form core was exposed in order for the entire Oiler team to sign it for Dwayne. The Oilers had not renewed his contract the previous summer, and he was signed by the Islanders. Sandra was able to get in touch with him and sent the original to him as a gift. The team signature made it a gift from his mates as well.  He was thrilled beyond belief with the gesture and the finished product.  Sandra is sure that one day, he will pass it down to one of his sons.

Sandra asked Dwayne if he would be willing to sign the 20 prints for her and he had no issues at all. The prints were fed-ex'd to his home in New York and he signed all of them with a full signature, not just his 'hockey shorthand'.

Being that Sandra's art is for charity, she kept #20/20, and have kept the last number in all of her series.Sandra took the remaining 19 prints and donated them to various fundraisers across Alberta and into Ontario.The series is sold out and raised over $6,000 for a bunch of different charities.The piece took over 120 hours to complete.

Sandra was able to find donors for most of the frames, as they were able to get a tax receipt for it, and Sandra always mentioned their name in the sheet accompanying the picture.

Framing for this style is really crucial, and Sandra has an excellent framer in Sherwood Park who has been very supportive of this charity endeavour of her.

 " The Zone " by Sandra Ward
" Had a Dream " Ink on paper drawing of Ales Hemsky - Edmonton Oilers - 2010,  20 Limited edition prints.

Sandra presented the club with an idea for fundraising for their Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation and they agreed.

"Had A Dream..." is the result.  They were able to find Sandra a photo of Ales as a little boy and that is the faint little guy in the background. Mom and Dad's love the concept of the piece.  The Foundation had 20 prints made, again, Sandra kept #20/20.
Sandra was able to present Ales with the original as a gift from herself to him at Rexall Place on Dec 9, 2010.  Ales also signed the prints with Sandra on that day.
To date his prints have raised over $6,500 for various charities that the EOCF supports.

The piece took approx 170 hours to complete.  

 " Had a Dream " by Sandra Ward
"Gordie" Ink on paper drawing of Gordie Howe  Detroit Red Wings  - 2012,  100 Limited edition prints.
Sandra's father who lives with my Mom in Ontario suffers from Alzheimers.
Sandra had contacted Baycrest and their Scotiabank ProAm person in January of 2011 to see if they would be interested in a Roloson print as a prize for most money raised.

The conversation began and they commissioned me to complete the attached portrait.  The original was donated to Baycrest from Sandra. Sandra received a tax receipt which is all she wanted.
They had 100 prints made and these are being used as gifts to the teams that participate in the tournaments that raise the most money.
It has been one of the hi-lites of Sandra's life so far!

Sandra and her husband went down to the Sutton Place hotel in March of 2012 in Edmonton and meet with Mark and Gordie Howe. Gordie spent 2 hours signing each and every print.
The whole journey involved the Hockey Hall of Fame ( HHOF) trips to Vancouver.

Shaw interview Sandra for the tournament in Edmonton held March 2012. The interview can be seen here - Sandra on Shaw

 A presentation ceremony at the HHOF in Toronto in April of 2012 was the scene of the  induction of print #72/100 into the HHOF. This as you can imagine which was an amazing experience for Sandra. The ceremony can be seen here Hockey Hall of Fame print
You can also read all about the special presentation at  Gordie” will be displayed at Baycrest
Sandra also presented print #9/100 to the Howe Family and the original to Baycrest.

Almost a year to the day of the interview, Sandra's Dad was moved into long term care this past March.
Sandra's dad had no memory of the evening the next day. Very sad. He sure knew who Gordie was when Sandra introduced him to Gordie on the stage of the ceremony. These memories will be treasured for years.

People often ask Sandra why she doesn't charge for her work. They wonder what she get's out of it.  Well, truth be told Sandra cannot buy any of the wonderful, unbelievable things that have happened to her because of it.  
Some folks get it, others just cannot wrap their heads around it.

The " Gordie " piece took over 200 hours to complete.
" Gordie " by Sandra Ward


Please visit  Sandra's Facebook page at Playing it Forward - Point By Point
and don't forget to Like her page

(left to right) Artist Sandra Ward, Gordie Howe and Sandra’s father, Derek Ward, at the Hockey Hall of Fame.


Friday, October 14, 2011

Versikaitis - The Art of Sport Art and Photography


Versikaitis - The Art of Sport is delighted to announce that as of today October 14, 2011 Mcimages will be replaced with www.pbase.com/versikaitis
You will be able to access both my art and photography site from www.versikaitis.com and now of course www.pbase.com/versikaitis

This will promote Versikaitis - The Art of Sport as an Art and Photography business!

I would sincerely like to thank you for your ongoing relationship with Versikaitis - The Art of Sport and the many referrals that you have provided over the years. 

It will be a pleasure to serve you from my new site with the same quality and service you have come to expect from Versikaitis - The Art of Sport

It has been an honor and privilege to work with you and I look forward to continuing our relationship for many years to come.


Regards

Joe Versikaitis - Artist / Sport Photographer
NHL, WHL
  

Art Web Site:    http://www.versikaitis.com
Blog Alberta Sport Artist Joe Versikaitis at:   http://versikaitis-theartofsport.blogspot.com
PH: 1 403 527 3091

View my painting of Jarome Iginla
View my painting of Henry Burris ....Creativity in progress!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Mini Goalie mask by Nate Gandt - Hockey in Art

I would like to welcome Nate Gandt to Blog with my Fellow Artist.
Nate is a Buffalo area artist with a huge heart for hockey. Being a Buffalo Sabres Fan, Nate is the kind of artist that is keen on demonstrating his love for the sport of hockey as well his love of art.


Nate latest work include Mini Goalie masks. These are hand painted. He has all NHL teams painted..

" The first time I seen these unique pieces of artwork I thought what a hell of an idea buddy! "
 - Joe Versikaitis

Calgary Flames



New York Islanders



Pittsburgh Penguins



Edmonton Oilers

Here is Nates story
" I remember collecting those mini goalie mask key chains but didn't care for just the team logo printed on the top so I got inspired to paint a design based on the team logo on each mask. no these are from years ago (early 2000's I think) so some logos will be outdated but i think some of them are pretty cool. Here's number 21, The Edmonton Oilers mini goalie mask." Nate Gandt


His art also include players such as
Roberto Luongo


Alex Ovechkin

Tim Thomas


If you would like to view more Nates work and Blog please visit Hockey in Art





This article is copyrighted to Versikaitis - The Art of Sport. Any reproduction without written consent is strictly prohibited.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Mona Lisa Smile

Cups of Coffee turns to art..




3,604 cups of coffee became a giant Mona Lisa painting in SydneyAustralia.  Each cup was filled with different amounts of milk in order to create the different tones and shades.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Halloween - Artist Ray Villafane carves out his niche!

Artist Ray Villafane began carving pumpkins on a lark for his art students in
a small rural school district in Michigan. The hobby changed his life as he gained
 a viral following online and unlocked his genuine love of sculpting.
Click on the image to enlarge.... Here are images of pumpkin carvings Villafane created over the past five years.


What is a " BLOG"?

My daughter asked me what is a " Blog?"
This question came to be when I told her and her boyfriend that I created a blog page and that I was going to write in it. You see I started my own blog, Blog with Alberta Sport Artist Joe Versikaitis about two weeks ago. Here I will talk about Sport art, marketing, photography and yes a little bit of hockey.Yeah I know the name is a little long but what ever. I like it.
I thought a Blog would be kinda fun to create. It was so much fun that after I created my first blog page I created another blog page. This one I called Blog with my fellow Artist. In this blog page I want to encourage local artist to send me their works so that I can post it on my blog.  My madness behind this concept is that if I show case other artist work then hopefully they will return the favor by show casing my work on their blog. I'm just trying to create a artsy fartsy community. We'll see how it goes.
After all the reading and scrutinising of other blogs. I have come to the conclusion that this blogging business is really a place to write my diary about my life. I talk about my art work and how that particular  piece was created. I also bring in guest writers with marketing ideas and I try to promote a marketing guru by the name of Alyson Stanfield. Alyson has a great book called " I'd rather be in the studio ". For any of you artist out there that are interested in stepping into a career path as an artist then this book is a must.
 My stories about meeting hockey super stars like Teemu Selanne, Trevor Kidd and soon to come Theo Fleury and Sandy McCarthy is really the part of my art that keeps me going. If it wasn't for my dream to be an N.H.L. artist the reason for marketing and blogging would be none existence.
 So in saying all this, it seems that when people ask what is a blog. My response has to be this....
It's about writing what ever you want to write about, discussing a favorite topic with a person that you've never met before or in my case show casing mine other artist works. In all fairness Blogging to me is creating a community on a single web page where artist can come to visit...Simple!
Joe Versikaitis - Artist
This article is copyrighted to Versikaitis - The Art of Sport. Any reproduction without written consent is strictly prohibited.

Gena Lacoste is at it again

Gena LaCoste has three new pieces of beautiful art to display for Blog with my Fellow Artist. We'll sure be looking for her up and coming show in December through to February at the Esplanade Art Gallery in Medicine Hat.  I will keep you posted.
"Meandering Home" and that's my beautiful old mare "Polly" in the middle

"Saturday's line up"

"Takin' Care of Biddy-ness"

 You can go to Gena's web site at Gena LaCoste

Medicine Hat, Alberta Western Watercolor Artist Gena LaCoste paints what she loves.


Design layout using Gena LaCoste Bull Rider


The Story Teller by Gena LaCoste

A Brush with Life... by Pearl Dubourt

Gena LaCoste paints what she loves. Gena has loved the grasslands from her first breath. She learned about the land and its unique ecosystems from her family, and this love has equipped her to paint the authentic lifestyles of prairie families. Now, Gena paints what she loves. "I was painting and drawing by the time I was three years of age," Gena recalls. "My early memories include the river at the cow camps, and the sounds of water sliding past. Dust, heat rising, the arid smells of sage brush, and the tones of light begged to be painted." Riding on her own horse to the cow camp with her father, for instance, etched images in her heart that she tries to record through colours and water. "I remember trying to find a way to draw a horse so that it looked like the ones in front of me."
For the rest of Gena's story and artwork go to Gena LaCoste

"Gena and I were in a Life Drawing art class together. It just blew me away on how quickly she worked and how her watercolor techniques created such beautiful art pieces. Just fantastic works." - Joe Versikaitis