French Dream 1

Much too long between posts due to busy-ness, travel, new work… This 9 x 12 piece is inspired by a photo taken in the south of France. The light across the fields, poppies, more atmosphere than one would think possible in a passing glance. I am determined to be more regular with painting, posting, and, my least favourite thing, marketing. It was a good year, and will be even better next year.

"Ten For The Show"

This is from the same reference used for my 8 x 10 piece "Nine For A Party" (sold), but, aside from an extra cast member, this acrylic piece is 18 x 24. I am feeling fine with the acrylics now, after a long time of working pretty exclusively in oil. I'll be ready for the Lookout Society gala event on October 2.

Day 30 - "Baa Baa Baby", 30 in 30 Challenge, 8 x 10, oil

It could be called "Bye Bye Baby" as it is the last of my 30 paintings in 30 days…These last few days I have not started my paintings until after 8 or 9 pm…with the goal to post before midnight. No pressure(!) I was planning on doing another 30 in 30 challenge in September, but I think I'll go to England instead. ;-)

Day 29 - "Bounce!", 30 in 30 Challenge, 10 x 8, oil

'Nuff said. One more and we are done. Now to decide what to tackle for the last day - that has been one of my bigger challenges each day.

Day 28 - "Cooper's My Name, Trouble's My Game" 30 in 30 Challenge 8 x 10 oil

This is the nearly infamous Super-Duper Cooper. He has an opinion on everything and tells you all about it. A typical three-year-old.

Day 27 - "Are You Lookin' At Me?!" 30 in 30 Challenge 6 x 8, oil

This little guy is THICK with paint…three more days...

Day 26 - "Nine For A Party", 30 in 30 Challenge, 8 x 10 oil

I THINK this is done…I know I am!

Day 25 - "Water Garden" 30 in 30 Challenge, 6 x 8, oil

This is my second painting today…the first was somewhat dismal…and I am so relieved that I didn't have to move on to number three!

Day 25 - "St. Bees Headland" 30 in 30 Challenge 10 x 8, oil

When you walk the Wainwright Coast to Coast path from west to east (across England), you start from the St. Bees Headland on the Irish Sea and head west until you hit the North Sea. Lots of up and down and wet places in between. Quite honestly, it was the most memorable 16 days I've ever had. This is the view of St. Bees Head where one starts. The photo was taken a few years back, and finally painted today.

Day 24 - "Coffee", 30 in 30 Challenge, 6 x 6, oil

I did not plan to post this small study that I did last week, but I did not get a new piece done today. Mea culpa :-(

Day 23 - "Pretty in Pink", 30 in 30 Challenge, 8 x 10, oil

Working at being more loose…in painting, that is! Painting every day is helping a lot...

Day 22 - "Juicy Fruit", 30 in 30 Challenge, 6 x 6 oil

I had one squat pear left and I was heading to the compost bucket with it…then I thought, what the heck. I took it to my work space, turned on a spot light and pushed some paint around. THEN it went to the compost bucket!

Day 21 - "Treasure", 30 in 30 Challenge, 6 x 8, oil

This hand-built pottery vase is another recent charity store find. It is quite large and is decorated with plums (or cherries), leaves, and branches. I filled it with silk flowers and completed number 21…nine more to go!

Day 20 - "Bigger than Life", 30 in 30 Challenge, 5 x 7, oil

Although this is a fairly small painting (5" x 7"), it is truly "Bigger Than Life". The little Chinese Vase (a thrift store treasure) is about 3 1/2" tall. The two sprigs of flowers are from a species geranium started for me by my sister. The individual little flowers look like teeny-tiny roses. I've recklessly signed up for Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 Challenge for the month of September. I find this challenge so useful…it might not turn out many masterpieces, but it gets me painting every day.

Day 19 - "The High Road", 30 in 30 Challenge, 10 x 8, oil

You know the song, "You take the high road and I'll take the low road…", well, I took the source photo for this challenge piece when I walked the West Highland Way. It was 100 miles and I swear half of it was walking along the 'bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond'… and yet again I am frustrated by the colour in the photo, but after four attempts, and some tweaking…I gave up!

Day 18 - "Cotswold Cottage", 30 in 30 Challenge, 6 x 6 oil

A quick little sketch from a photo I took on a 100 mile walk through the Cotswolds. Pretty things to see in every direction, every day.

Day 17 - "As I Remember It", 30 in 30 Challenge 8 x 10, oil

This past weekend we had a lovely reunion with old hippie friends who loved and/or lived in Kitsilano in the 60's and 70's. It made me nostalgic so today I painted this from a small black and while photo I had of my favourite home back then - upstairs of the Cypress Confectionery. It was never quite this colour, but I did have magenta drapes, and the windows did not match. The building was apparently built-in 1903. It was an incredibly noisy corner, right on 4th Avenue, with a bus stop out front, but I loved it, as did my cat. Both long gone, now.

Day 16 - "Show-off", 30 in 30 Challenge 10 x 8, oil

I could have named this "Re-hab" as it really is a 'rehabilitated' painting. Reworking older pieces that did not work is a particularly liberating pastime - nothing is precious.

Day 15 - "Somewhere Else", 30 in 30 Challenge, 8 x 6 oil

I just put a couple of finishing touches on this little plein air sketch from last week. I found a small park in North Vancouver and within a couple of minutes I was in dense brush with the sunlight streaming through the trees. I set up my gear and got to work. I was, quite literally, steps away from an industrial complex, but it seemed like it could be miles away as all was quiet except for the birdies.

Day 14 - "Poppers", 30 in 30 Challenge, 8" x 8", oil

I have yet to get really good colour with my iPhone (if that is even possible). Ran out of time today and the iPhone was called for photo duty. The painting is not quite as saturated…but, as it will look different on just about every computer, will we ever really know? Well, I do. This is from a photo I took last week at a local Community Garden.

Day 13 - "Long and Low", 30 in 30 Challenge 8 x 6, oil

Long shadows and a low sun. I took the idea photo for this while on a road trip a few months ago. I was struck but the length of the shadows from trees not even in the picture frame, and how they seemed to 'fracture' the scene.

Day 12 - "Lucy", 30 in 30 Challenge, 12 x 12 sold

The client loves it so it is 'safe' to post. This is a commissioned piece, but it was painted yesterday so I get to 'count it' - right?

Day 11 - "Bounty", 30 in 30 Challenge 10 x 8, oil

Right in the middle of completing a commissioned dog portrait and I just BARELY remembered to post this one. Have another floral almost finished for tomorrow, and hope for a couple of "architectural" efforts. This challenge business is a very good motivator…makes me paint looser, and I definitely have an attitude of "don't treat this as 'precious'!...

Day 10 - "The Big Pinks" 30 in 30 Challenge, 9 x 6

 

These pretties were in a local garden (wish they were in my garden!) The flower heads were huge. It might cool off tomorrow (yay!), and not a minute too soon. 9 x 6", oil on prepared wood panel.

Day 9 - "Bella", 30 in 30 Challenge 5 x 7" oil

Juicy is the word I'd use to describe this little piece. It is juicy with thick paint. It was a surprising challenge to fit the arrangement onto a 5 x 7 canvas…simplify, simplify, simplify…I'm working on it.

Day 8 - Polka Dot Pot, 30 in 30 Challenge 8 x 10 oil

No time to write much as I am getting behind! Off to the studio where I am reworking a small floral that didn't work the first time...

Day 8, "Payback" - 30 in 30 Challenge 10 x 8 oil

This is a small piece of my sister's garden. After a long winter, she gets a big payback when everything bursts into flower. It is 10 x 8, oil on canvas panel, and available through Daily Paintworks.

Day 7, "Backward Glance", 30 in 30 Challenge 8 x 6"

My friend and teacher, Larisa Aukon, posted a small floral in her Challenge and noted that it had lots of paint on it - that was a reminder to me to get juicier with the paint. This is nice and gooey, and felt great to paint. I neglected to mention that this little painting, along with others in the 30 in 30 Challenge are available for purchase either through myself or through Daily Paintworks.

Day 6, "Pick Me", 30 in 30 Challenge

Getting ready to start today's painting (to post tomorrow)…something more loose, perhaps. This pear is 6 x 12 on gesso board. Doing a Challenge like this, even if it is only challenging myself, is a great exercise as it gets me painting every day…and, as always, thinking about painting really a lot. Today we have some early cloud cover so it is cool enough to do some yard work, while I think about painting...

Day 5, "Watching" 5 x 7, 30 in 30 Challenge

This same Crow is featured in a larger painting presently in a gallery show. Crows are synonymous with the Vancouver area, where we have thousands darkening the sky at dusk as they head to a specific roosting area each night.

Day 4, Laburnum Walk - 30 in 30 challenge

A photo of the Laburnum Walk in the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, taken this spring. I must have taken 30 photos and this is the second painting of them. The window for the 'show' of these 'golden chain trees' is a short one. So beautiful…with poisonous seeds. 8 x 8, oil on canvas panel.

Day 3, "Ready" - 30 in 30 challenge

Over to fruit from flowers. This piece is 8 x 8. Committing to a specified period daily challenge has been what I've needed. It gets me into painting each day, and once I am started, I am ready to keep going. I am painting these small pieces both from still life set ups and from photos. This was from a real  pear, which was, indeed, "Ready". I ate it.

Day 2, "Teaser" - 30 in 30 Challenge

I found this fat little jug at the local charity shop (I have a weakness for jugs…and English teapots), and crammed it full of flowers to do this challenge piece. It is 8 x 10, oil on canvas panel. I am thinking I will be doing some smaller pieces during this 30 day thing, or else not paint other than challenge pieces, as I have not yet mastered the 30 minute painting technique! I do not plan on doing all florals, but I did see some awesome hollyhocks today, so...

Day 1, "Cuttings" - for 30 in 30 challenge.

I am not sure what came over me, but I decided last month that I would join the legions of painters working on a 30 day challenge. I would have started July 1 (Canada Day!) but I was hanging a solo show yesterday and organising that took priority for the past week. So here is 'Day 1' (what an original title!). Hmm... let's call it "Cuttings", as that is what it is (8 x 10, oil). Apologies for the photo quality…iPhone ;-(

More on the 'show'… last year I was in a group show at the Lut Boutique here in Vancouver. Jenny and her partner have made an amazing space, not only for the fabulous clothing they sell, but they use the big walls as gallery space to show local artists. My work was well received and I was invited to have a solo show this year, and I now have 19 pieces hanging at Lut (supposed to be two dots over the 'u'), 4219 Main Street, in Vancouver. It is so gratifying to see my work up on display in a gallery space. Thank you, Jenny! The show will hang until the end of September.

A Different Perspective

Feels like ages since I've posted anything…but with good reason. I got myself married on April 5 and I am still surprised at how much less time I feel like I have. It's an illusion, I know, but a good one! This small (12 x 12) piece is my attempt at kick-starting my routine in the studio. I have a few other newer pieces but they have not been photographed…so, more to come.

"Colour Me Happy"

Colour Me Happy is a multi-layered piece that started with a somewhat pre-planned, semi-rigid structure…and I knew that was going to be SO temporary. It contains many elements I love, particularly play, and colour.

"Turning" Not sure how resolved this is so I'll have to sit with it for a few more days.  It's 18 x 36 and for a small show coming up in March…they like colour….

JAZZ!

Kind of self-explanatory. For me, this is what Jazz looks like. Now I'm thinking of Kind Of Blue…one of my favourite albums (Miles Davis).

 Dream Baby 1 - Sweet Dreams; all are 9 x 12, cold wax and oil

 Dream Baby 2 - Scattered Dreams

Dream Baby 3 - Sad Dreams

This commission was so much fun to paint. Like I told the client - how can you live with three such cuties-pies?! It was a pleasure, and he gave me a perfect photo reference. 24 x 12, oil.

I recently had my second workshop with Larisa Aukon at the Scottsdale Artists School and this is one of my pieces. Our focus was composition - looking for it and creating it. A full week of painting that went by too quickly.

"Annie"

Another recent commission, "Annie" is 12 x 24 ", and is acrylic on stretched canvas. For my reference I had an email of a photo taken of a black and white photo, which was in a frame, under glass! I met Annie when I delivered the painting and, aside from having a couple of "Christmas pounds" now (don't we all?), it's a good likeness. She was a very exuberant girl and happy to see her picture.

Four Pots

Fours pots on a stone ledge. 12 x 9, oil on artist's quality panel. Hard to get the colour right in the photo, which is a bit more intense than the actual piece. I will have to invest in one of those little photo tents. Happy New Year…here's to a year of remembering to photograph and post more work!