March 2025 Newsletter Vol. 2 No. 1
Welcome back!
We have a bit of a new format for our newsletter and hope you like it. In future, we will be sending out shorter blog posts, longer posts like this newsletter, and updates about exhibitions, as well as other special features. We want to appeal to artists and collectors alike. Let us know what you think—we value your opinion! Feel free to email me (Susan Hunter Guise).
This issue brings you artist updates, new works, a call to artists, some tax news (oh no!!!), and a special feature about an artist friend of mine named Linda Marie Crabb.
We’re currently working on a number of artist websites, helping talented creatives like you bring your visions to life online. It’s inspiring to see how each artist’s unique story takes shape in a digital space, and we can’t wait to unveil these projects for you.
Some of our artists!
Welcome to Ziporah Janowski and Donna Ebert! Ziporah’s website has been completed and we’ll highlight it next month. Donna is working on content for her website—we’ve seen a sneak preview of her work and it looks amazing! We have some other websites in the wings coming up, and we’ll let you know as they come aboard.
In the gallery we’re kicking off the New Year with new works from our featured and gallery artists. Their pieces reflect a range of styles and perspectives, offering something for every art lover to enjoy. Plus, we’re on the lookout for a guest artist for April or May of this year. If you or someone you know would be a perfect fit, please get in touch—we’d love to showcase more creative voices. More on that later.
From Runway to Easel: One woman’s art journey
Linda Marie Crabb has been a friend of mine for a few years now, as we are both members of several artist groups. I was thrilled to hear that she wanted a website, and happy that she chose us to create it.
As mentioned, she is our Featured Artist for February/March 2025. Her website launched in mid-December and we’re excited to have her in our online gallery. Her oil painting “The Runner” (see below) was a finalist in the Dec 2025 Plein Air Salon Competition! Congratulations Linda! It is well deserved.
Have a look at this short video which highlights her gorgeous Beachscapes series. All paintings are available for purchase. Visit our shop here or Linda’s website at www.lindamariecrabbart.com
The Runner This is an oil painting by Linda Marie Crabb. It was selected as one of the Top 10 Finalists in the Dec 2024 Plein Air Salon Competition. Available in our shop here or on Linda’s website at www.lindamariecrabbart.com.
In Her Own Words: Linda Marie Crabb
Interview by Marni Weisz
Painting has been my passion since I was a teenager, when I spent afternoons tucked in the studio of a local artist's home learning classical techniques. That was in Steilacoom, Washington, one of the many places I've lived.
“It was on a commuter train in Japan that a chance encounter
with the owner of a modeling agency changed my life.”
Born in Kyoto, Japan, I grew up as an Army brat, moving from town to town through Germany and the United States before taking a job teaching English in Osaka. It was on a commuter train in Japan that a chance encounter with the owner of a modeling agency changed my life. He signed me up and I spent the next several years traversing the world's largest fashion capitals — New York, Berlin, Madrid, Paris. I worked for Karl Lagerfield and appeared in the pages of Vogue.
Phoebe Cates even played a fictionalized version of me in the movie Bright Lights, Big City, which was based on the novel written by my ex-husband, Jay McInerney.
“The best part of modeling was the chance to visit
the world's great museums and galleries.”
But, for me, the best part of modeling was the chance to visit the world's great museums and galleries. When the other models were off shopping, I was lining up to get into the Louvre, Prado, or Uffizi. That's where my love of fine art really took root.
Eventually I settled in Italy, a country I'd first fallen in love with as a 21-year-old solo backpacker. I lived in Milan for more than a decade and then Monza-Brianza Province where I taught middle school for 13 years. Upon retiring, I rediscovered my passion for art.
“I rediscovered my passion for art.”
I started by painting my sister's horses, and from there decided to paint every day. I wake up, have an idea in my head, and I paint it.I'm trying to paint bigger and bigger and have started a series I call "Classic With A Twist," a take on the Old Masters but rendered in my own cheeky way. I painted my pug into a version of Lorenzo Lippi's Portrait of a Gentleman and replaced the sword in Lippi's The Dragonslayer with a golf club and cheetah. Beachscapes are another favourite subject, often recreated in oils from a sketch or watercolour dashed off inconspicuously on site.
“Now I am simply happiest at my easel.”
While I consider myself largely self-taught, I did take an intensive Figure Drawing course with classical artist Juliette Aristides, of Seattle's renowned Gage Academy, at the Edinburgh Atelier of Fine Arts in 2019. I also completed a yearlong course at the Milano Painting Academy in 2023, refining my life-drawing skills and classical painting techniques.
Now, I am simply happiest at my easel.
Check out Linda’s new website at www.lindamariecrabbart.com
Catch of the Day This is an oil painting by Linda Marie Crabb. Available in our shop here or on Linda’s website at www.lindamariecrabbart.com.
Website News
We now have a collection of blog posts that we think you will find very useful if you are thinking of, or in the early stages of your website journey. Stay tuned for a blog post about that coming soon!
Exhibition News
Susan Hunter Guise had a solo show as the Featured Artist of the Barrie Art Club in February. The exhibition, called Poems in Pastel, has just come to a close and was very successful! People loved the pastel paintings (a collection of 17 in total were exhibited). What made it unusual was that each pastel painting was paired with a haiku poem. Susan also displayed her oil painting exhibition “From Field to Canvas”, which had recently returned from a solo exhibition in Alliston, Ontario. A total of 32 works were on exhibition—a record for Susan!
Calm After The Storm This pastel painting by Canadian impressionist artist Susan Hunter Guise was one of the favourites of people attending the exhibition at the Barrie Art Club. It’s available in our shop here or visit Susan’s website at www.hunterguise.com
Heavenly Scent Acrylic painting by Canadian artist Lisa Perrin - available in our shop here or on Lisa’s website at www.lisaperrinart.com.
The Tow Shed Acrylic painting by Canadian impressionist artist Debra Bridgman - this is part of her wonderful Shanty Bay Golf Club series. Available in our shop here, or on Debra’s website at www.debrabridgmanart.com
Call for Artists Our Hunter Guise Gallery is open for business! You can browse our collection here, or view our artists here.
Are you an artist looking to display your art? But you’re not ready for a website yet? Maybe you do have a website but would like greater exposure? You can apply to our Gallery - we will accept a submission of 3-5 paintings. Visit this link for more information. Listings are FREE but a small commission (20%) applies on the sale of your paintings to help cover the cost of transaction fees and a nominal fee for the gallery for the work we do (evaluating submissions and preparing them for our online gallery, publishing newsletters, social media posts and videos). Our commission rate is very competitive (bricks and mortar galleries take 40-50% and more in commissions these days). Our goal is simply to help our fellow artists gain visibility and present their works to artists and collectors worldwide.
Tax News
As an accountant artist (CPA-CGA), I do keep up on tax news as it affects artists. I am not qualified to advise you about taxes (I am a general accountant). Here’s some news I read today:
“If you earned money through an online platform in 2024 (like Etsy, or AirBnB, for example), make sure to let the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) know how much you made. If your earnings from an online platform exceeded $2,800, or you made more than 30 transactions, the platform is now required by law to tell the CRA how much you earned doing so. Bill C-47, which came into effect in 2024, requires gig platforms to share information with the CRA on your behalf. The new legislation could impact as many as nine million Canadian gig workers, according to a survey by H&R Block conducted late last year.
Taxpayers were always required to declare income from online platforms, said Lemay, and the CRA has always been able to access the information. However, the CRA used to have to go through the courts to do so. Now that platforms are required by law to present the information to the CRA, it might be easier for the CRA to check whether you are declaring the correct income. “ Here’s the article from the Toronto Star that I have quoted here, and where I first read about Bill C-47. It seems they are limiting this to “gig” workers, but in reality, you do have to report income from all websites, including your own.
And here is an article from TurboTax with more information about Bill C-47, which is now offically part of the Income Tax Act. Have a look at it and self-assess. If you have general questions, feel free to email me. As I said, I am not qualified to officially advise you, since that requires ongoing education (I’m retired as an accountant), but I can help with interpreting the legislation.
Your Feedback Please!
Now let’s hear from you:
what did you like best about this newsletter? what did you like least (tax info maybe?)
which of our gallery artists’ styles inspires you the most?
what would you like to see in a future issue of our newsletter? Tell me here.
Thank you!
A heartfelt thank you to all of my newsletter subscribers. Some of you are new—you can expect more about featured artists and artwork, as well as blog posts of interest. If you have arrived at this newsletter blog via my website, welcome! Please subscribe to receive updates on new works, inspiring artists, behind-the-scenes glimpses, industry news, and occasional special offers.
