Saturday, March 31, 2018

The Day's Retreat - New Work at Assiniboia Gallery

The Day's Retreat
10 x 10"
oil on cradled panel
© Nicki Ault, 2018
available at Assiniboia Gallery

On Monday, Bridget and I drove to Prince Albert to retrieve all of the artwork that our studio group submitted to the Mann Art Gallery 42nd Annual Winter Festival Juried Art Show and Sale. On Wednesday, I then drove to Regina to deliver my two pieces from that show (including "Rustle" which won the Hues Art Supply Award), along with three others, to the Assiniboia Gallery.

Above is one of the new 10 x 10's I took to Regina; I will show the other in an upcoming post.

Rustle
40 x 30"
acrylic and oil on canvas
© Nicki Ault, 2017
available at Assiniboia Gallery


Last Phase: Saskatchewan Afternoon
20 x 20"
oil on cradled panel
© Nicki Ault, 2018
available at Assiniboia Gallery


Faux Island At Paignton, Waskesiu
12 x 36"
oil on canvas
© Nicki Ault, 2017
 available at Assiniboia Gallery




When I arrived at the gallery I was greeted by my own painting, "Festivities", right at the entrance!


 photo © Nicki Ault, 2018


photo © Nicki Ault, 2018 

A little grid of my 10x10's was displayed in the beautiful glowing front room of the gallery. The large painting you see on the left is actually hanging on a wall suspended from the ceiling a few feet in front of a big picture window and on the other side is another painting on view to the street.

photo © Nicki Ault, 2018

I'm glad I made the time to deliver new work... they were getting low and I am very grateful for that!
Besides all of this travel, our studio group had a big planning meeting on Tuesday and my son had a band concert on Thursday! Whew! It was a busy week!

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Frozen River

Frozen River
6 x 6"
oil on board
© Nicki Ault, 2018
sold

Sounds like there will be no reprieve on the prairies yet; the cold bite of winter is here for awhile.

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Canola Revisited

Canola Revisited
6 x 6"
oil on board
© Nicki Ault, 2018
sold

An image I painted from a photo I took last year, but with a different spin...

Monday, March 26, 2018

Bread Basket

Bread Basket
6 x 6"
oil on board
© Nicki Ault, 2018
available

A wheat field: simply Saskatchewan.

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Calm Lake

Calm Lake
6 x 6"
oil on board
© Nicki Ault, 2018
available

It's been a long winter. I am so looking forward to going to the lake with my people, watching the sun set and breathing that northern air.

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Shades of Gray

Shades of Gray
8 x 8"
oil on cradled panel
© Nicki Ault, 2018
sold at Darrell Bell Gallery

This is my year of challenging any self-imposed restrictions I have put on my art in the past. For example, I have long held the notion that I only paint the natural world and do not include man-made elements in my work... until I was commissioned to paint a large grid road last year and then suddenly I was painting a man-made element. That got a few synapses firing and I realized I might be missing out on some good stuff if I "never" do certain things.

I realized I never use black in my paintings. I have certainly mixed dark darks with Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber and Alizarin Crimson and the like, but I have never used a straight-up tube of black. Tubes of black often pull a certain way, usually towards blue, which you can see if you add a tinge of white. I heard about a black made by Gamblin that was supposed to be neutral, so I recently ordered it and have been experimenting here and there. It has been lots of fun, and as you can see above, Chromatic Black has helped me break one of my self-imposed rules.

Sunday, March 18, 2018

The Day's Gentle Repose

The Day's Gentle Repose
8 x 8"
oil on cradled panel
© Nicki Ault, 2018
sold at Darrell Bell Gallery

This one has a diffused glow about it; soft and peaceful.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

The Path Uphill

The Path Uphill
8 x 8"
oil on cradled panel
© Nicki Ault, 2018
sold at Darrell Bell Gallery

My studio mate's acreage has been a huge source of inspiration for me since she and her family moved out of the city about three years ago. This is a section of the walking trail on her property that dips down through a little grove of trees and then goes back up to a beautiful vista. How lucky for me that I get to visit.

Friday, March 16, 2018

Burning Out

Burning Out
6 x 6"
oil on board
© Nicki Ault, 2018
sold

Thankfully the sun doesn't actually burn out at the end of the day, but as temperatures cool and colours fade, it can feel that way.

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Watching From The Shadows

Watching From The Shadows
8 x 8"
oil on cradled panel
© Nicki Ault, 2018
sold at Darrell Bell Gallery

There is a story here, waiting to be told.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Power Outage

Power Outage
6 x 6"
oil on board
© Nicki Ault, 2018
sold

This is a storm-chasing sort of sky. You know, the kind of storm where a power outage is pretty much guaranteed.

Among the larger work I have on the go, I am also trying to do a bunch of 6x6's in anticipation of the Mother's Day Tea in a couple of months. I hope to have at least twenty-five on hand. Big goals.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Spectacular Exit

Spectacular Exit
8 x 8"
oil on cradled panel
© Nicki Ault, 2018
sold at Darrell Bell Gallery

This is one of the first paintings of 2018 that I painted for Darrell Bell Gallery. I really love it and I do believe I will be attempting a 20x20 version in the not-too-distant future.

Monday, March 5, 2018

From The West - Makeover Monday!

From The West
(after)
30 x 30"
oil on canvas
© Nicki Ault, 2018
available

I struggled with whether or not I should tweak this one. I actually quite love the original, but there was always something small niggling at me. In the end, after a good discussion with a friend, it boiled down to the ground. There was nothing about the sky I wanted to alter, but we concluded that somehow the bright colour of the grass didn't match the overall mood created by the clouds. It's a quirky piece to be sure, with the odd composition of the clouds coming in from the left, but that is a good chunk of what I love about this painting- it's a bit weird. Anyway, I ended up darkening and dulling down the value and chroma of the green. I also subdued the distant strip of yellow and made is less uniform. I think that really pushed the horizon back. I added depth (highlights and shadows) to the grouping of trees and broke up the straight line at their base. I also added more small and vertical brushstrokes in the foreground to help build more depth. It's hard to see in the "after" photo, but I added some deep blues and purples to help connect the ground to the colours in the sky.

From The West
(before)
30 x 30"
oil on canvas
© Nicki Ault, 2016

These painting makeovers have been a huge learning experience. This is the first one that I was really quite hesitant to do, but I am glad I decided to go for it even though the transformation was not a very dramatic. 

On a side note, I just tried to get to the studio and yikes!!! We had, I would say, about eight inches or more of snow over the weekend and the roads are a nightmare with people stuck everywhere and all of the street parking deep under the white stuff. I drove around trying to find a place to park where I felt confident I could drive back out, but gave up and just came home. I guess it is computer work and cleaning for the day!

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Hush on the Prairie

Hush on the Prairie
6 x 6"
oil on board
© Nicki Ault, 2018
sold

Shhhhh, the deer are getting sleepy.

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Warm Light on a Frigid Evening

Warm Light on a Frigid Evening
6 x 6"
oil on board
© Nicki Ault, 2018
sold

March is here and hopefully that means the days of subzero temperatures are numbered, but I must say, I will miss these magical scenes.

Friday, March 2, 2018

Eight New 8x8's Delivered To DBG!

New 8x8's at Darrell Bell Gallery!
(plus a recent fan favourite 20x20)

The big grid has been refreshed! The twenty-five painting installation at Darrell Bell Gallery now has eight brand, spankin' new landscapes replacing some very old and tired ones. The street level gallery looks amazing and this evening I plan to check out the opening reception for the show upstairs in the main (fourth floor) gallery- a fun way to end the week.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Serene Islands, La Ronge

Serene Islands, La Ronge
8 x 10"
oil on cradled panel
© Nicki Ault, 2017
sold

A quiet little northern piece.

I was asked to paint a scene from La Ronge last November and I ended up creating two options, one using my reference photo and one using my client's photo. He chose the painting based on my image and gave me permission to try to sell the one from his. 

I've said it before and I will say it again- I love islands. And islands at sunset? Magical.