Remember This 6" x 6", oil on canvas

I have been revisiting photos taken while I walked the West Highland Way (Scotland) a few years back and doodling a few paintings out of those memories. At first glance the land seems sparse and bleak, but when you really LOOK, the ground is alive with colour. Golden grasses and red growth…the hills are literally singing, if one really looks.

"Destination" 24 x 30 oil

This is one of the new pieces that will be up in the studio (995 Vernon Drive in Vancouver) for the 2015 Eastside Culture Crawl. While most art I sell is unframed, this piece just about cried for a frame and so it now has one - and it looks great. This prompted me to purchase a few frames in various sizes so I can show clients how a frame enhances the work. I have not been posting, but I HAVE been painting (lots), and setting some goals…one it to increase my blog followers, and, of course, to blog more regularly…and another it so activate my etsy store in January, by the latest. Thanks for reading!

High and Dry - Hollyhocks 6 x 6 oil

Some juicy hollyhocks, full of texture and yummy colour. This 6 x 6" piece is painted right around the edges with more flowers, and is ready to hang. Availble on Daily Paintworks.

Cotton Candy - Hollyhocks 6 x 6 oil

A small painting that is available through Daily Paintworks, It is 6 x 6" on a deep wrapped canvas. I love hollyhocks and wish they grew better here in our coastal weather.

After Xenia Hausner, 16 x 20, acrylic on canvas panel

I just took a 3 day fauvist workshop with Terry Furchgott at the Gage Art Academy in Seattle. It was very good and I stretched myself a bit, which is always fun, however, one of the things I enjoyed the most was being introduced to the work of a contemporary Austrian artist, Xenia Hausner. I found it stunning. I borrowed a photo copy of a Hausner painting for the evening and did this 16" x 20" copy' (I wish!) in my little motel room. I always tell my students that they can learn an amazing amount by copying master works…and that applies for contemporary artists, too. Thank you Terry, and thank you Ms. Hausner!

The Calming

A small landscape, capturing a peaceful spot in the local botanical gardens. I've been working on a number of small pieces in the past weeks, in preparation for the East Side Culture Crawl held in Vancouver in November. I like to have small works so pretty well anyone can afford some original art.

Faces and Places - Paul Minhas, Heritage Grill

I belong to the New West Artists and this portrait is part of the Faces and Places show recently opened at the beautiful Anvil Centre in New Westminster. I chose Paul as my subject because he owns the Heritage Grill in New Westminster, which not only has live music each and every night, but it has hosted the Heritage Uke Club for the past few years which gives us uke players, and wanna-be uke players, a place to play every Monday and Thursday night, 6-8. Gordon Smith leads the group. Thanks to both Paul and Gord. I have also lead many a Paint Nite group at the Heritage Grill. It's a community gem. The portrait is 16 x 20, oil on canvas, and it has been gifted to Paul once the show is completed.

Nine Pears (nod to Bob Burridge) 30 x 40

A few years ago I took a great workshop with Bob Burridge, and I thank him for his PEARS! He does pages of pears as his daily warm up and I have done a few myself…but mostly BIG. I worked on this over a number of days, layering colour over colour, until it pleased me. Finally got there. This will be hanging in my solo show in the New Westminster Library's Gallery for the month of August 2015.

Goats…6 processes

These studies show the stages that went from a photo (not shown) to simplification exercises, to abstraction (more challenging than it looks, but great fun to paint.)

Simplified colour study #1

Simplified colour study #2

Marker study

Big shapes

Goats abstraction study #1

Goats abstraction study #2

"Reservations?"

It could be Paris, but it was actually done from a photo I took in San Francisco a few years back. It has taken me awhile to put it on canvas. Another warm and cool, push and pull. Always trying to head where I want to go…well…USUALLY trying to head to where I THINK I want to go. 14 x 18 on stretched canvas, oil.

Corner Store 12 x 12 oil

A friend posted the original source photo that inspired this piece. It's considerably different from the source photo, but I retained the funky sign and the warm and cool contrasts with the foreground and shadows. Still on the never-ending journey to 'simplification'...

"Overwintered" 14 x 18, oil

A big geranium that gets overwintered each year. I keep them for many years and they flower all winter in my kitchen window, then, come spring, I put the plants on the porch, and they flower all summer. A very generous and forgiving plant that too often gets composted each fall. I was pleased with how this turned out, although I am striving to say the same thing but with fewer marks.

"Ennerdale", Walking the C to C, 8 x 10, oil

A few years back I did the Wainwright Coast to Coast Walk across England, from St. Bees to Robin Hood Bay, and this painting was done from a photo taken during that walk. It was far too gruelling a pace for me to paint anywhere on the 16 day walk, but I came home with hundreds of photos. Every day I was sure that THIS was the prettiest, or most spectacular, view…and every day I was correct, until the next day.

"Falling in Layers", Sedona Landscape

I couldn't begin to capture all the layers of colour I saw in this landscape outside of Sedona last fall, so I simplified. Really! My favourite spot was the grey tree in the foreground, it was the only one of its kind in the entire view.

"Bare Bones"

I did this from a photo I took in Van Dusen Gardens, the main botanical garden in Vancouver. As you move around the garden you experience a variety of growing environments, from alpine troughs to wetlands…this is my view of one of the wetlands, just on the verge of spring. As it is warmer now it will be time for some plein air work, perhaps at this same site.

"Double Duty" 8" x 10"

I've had this small toned canvas in my studio for at least a year. This is another case of spotting the support, then the image, and just making a 'do-this-right-now' decision to make a painting. I liked the roundness of the main sunflower. This is from a photo taken at a fruit farm around Vernon, BC, where we just visited my sisters this past weekend. It is very beautiful there, especially right now while everything is still green. In a few weeks it will be getting almost too hot for me to visit, being a west coast gal who quite likes cool over hot.

'House Proud' 9 x 12, oil on canvas panel. Available on Daily Paintworks

I've had these two funky birds for many years, always planning on putting them in a still life. I was going to use a tidy fake bird house for the set up but then noticed a sort-of-rotting one in my yard, complete with a rusty metal roof. The bottom is almost all gone and I had to rattle the beetles out of it, but the birdies are please. 9 x 12, oil on canvas panel.

Sunny Daze...

Who doesn't love sunflowers? Artists have been capturing the dazzle of them for centuries and, in fact, there have been books published of nothing but artworks of sunflowers. I've painted a few and have a large painting of a single sunflower hanging in my hall, one of the few of my own works that actually lives with me. Sunflowers are not endemic to western Canada, but I have a neighbour who grows some giants each year. I love the fields of them in France, where they are a cash crop that give the bonus of stunning colour. This little guy is 6 x 8, oil on canvas panel, and will be looking for a home on Daily Paintworks.

Haystack Rock

This little (5" x 7") painting is of a very big rock. I was straightening (ha, ha!) out my home studio the other day and a photo fell to the floor…I simply picked it up and reached for the nearest panel and said, okay, THIS is what I will paint, right now! The paints were already on the palette and so I was ready to go. In the past, I have gone to Cannon Beach each year, but this habit has fallen by the wayside in the last 4-5 years…I love it there…but I also love England…and New Mexico…and Arizona…and Hawaii…So many places, such limited time!

Inktense Therapy

This piece came about as I was playing with my Inktense pencils and a drawing pen. It had no intention, but ended up somewhat flowery-ish. The Derwent Inktense pencils are like colour therapy for doodling, are easy to take along anywhere, and work beautifully on mixed media and water colour papers. "Therapy". I highly recommend them as an addition to one's art arsenal!

Sedona Red

This piece is a reworking of one done a couple of years back, after my first visit to Sedona. I've been back again since then (thanks to my friend and teacher, Larisa Aukon) and I can not overstate the beauty of the area. Everywhere you look, it is stunning. I have been painting a lot, but blogging not at all…so my intention (!) is to get some photos posted, and work at increasing my blog followers…maybe. Life certainly can get busy!