McPhee From Highway 264

McPhee From Highway 264

12 x 12"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2015

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/nicki-ault/mcphee-from-highway-264/394746

Here is a slightly different view of McPhee Lake from the highway that passes by en route to my usual destination of Waskesiu. I love so much about the scene I found last month that I had to paint another version; the straw-like grasses, the dead, spiky trees, the cluster of forest to the left - one dead and "rusty" tree and another silver from moss overtaking it. A bit of a theme of death in this one and yet I don't find it depressing. It's the cycle of life in the forest, beautiful in all its forms.

Prairie Intensity

Prairie Intensity

8 x 8"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2015

available exclusively at Lifestyles By Darrell Bell Gallery
sold

Here is the last of the five new paintings I recently delivered to Lifestyles. It is a scene I have painted once before in a 6x6" format. I personally love the intensity of the dark storm set against the bright canola field. I hope you do too.

McPhee Lake

McPhee Lake

8 x 8"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2015

available exclusively at Lifestyles By Darrell Bell Gallery
sold

I've never painted McPhee Lake, but this time on my way home from my weekend retreat in Waskesiu I stopped on the side of Highway 264 and took some photos. I really drank in the sights- it was very pretty, especially the foreground with the interesting dried grasses and dead, stick-like trees. I'll revisit this subject again, I'm sure.

King's Island, Waskesiu

King's Island, Waskesiu

8 x 8"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2015

available exclusively at Lifestyles By Darrell Bell Gallery

A couple of weekends ago, when I went for a quick retreat to Waskesiu, I decided to head to South Bay to paint a full view of King's Island. It was just me, a large family of Canada geese, a gigantic black raven and a dead fish on the shore. So very serene and tranquil. I painted a little 6x6 that I still haven't posted yet, but it looks like this. I liked the 6x6 so much that I decided to use it as a study to paint this 8x8 version for the Lifestyles store.

King's Island is named for Prime Minister MacKenzie King who had a cabin on the mainland looking at this island. I don't believe that cabin is still there. I have painted this island only once before from shots taken on the boat, so they were partial island images. Below is one of them...

West End, King's Island

8 x 8"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2013

sold

King's Island is the only island on Waskesiu Lake, so it deserves some decent props for being a unique place to picnic and explore.

Grass Dance

Grass Dance

8 x 8"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2015

available exclusively at Lifestyles By Darrell Bell Gallery
sold

I thought I would paint a fresh, new prairie scene for the Lifestyles store. This one struck a chord with Darrell's staff. I hope it strikes a chord with his customers too!

Main Beach, Waskesiu

Main Beach, Waskesiu

8 x 8"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2015

available exclusively at Lifestyles By Darrell Bell Gallery
sold

Last weekend I delivered five new paintings to Lifestyles By Darrell Bell Gallery after they had a busy month of May for me. I love painting these panels and I look forward to finding new subjects and inspiration for them.

The title of this painting gives the location away, but hopefully even without the title anyone who knows Waskesiu would recognize this view. At the main beach, if you stand on the boardwalk by the public washrooms and look to the left, this is what you see- a small cluster of pine trees near the playground and the boat dock and breakwater jutting out into the lake. In the distance you can see Prospect Point (otherwise known as "Snob Hill") where the golf course is... as well as some of the largest cottages in the park. It is a pretty classic Waskesiu scene... so I decided to paint it. Maybe it will make the perfect keepsake for someone after a visit to our province, or maybe it will make a perfect Father's Day gift for someone who loves Waskesiu.

When Spring Arrives

When Spring Arrives

12 x 12"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2015

 http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/nicki-ault/when-spring-arrives/385497
sold

A little springtime prairie scene for you today. Another in the series. I'm looking forward to showing you the work I have prepared for the show at Hues Art Supply in June. In just a couple of more weeks the paintings will be hung and I will unveil them. They are different for me, so I am sure I will feel a bit hesitant, but that hasn't stopped me before. The problem is, maybe it should have! :)

One Fine Day

One Fine Day

12 x 12"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2015
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/nicki-ault/one-fine-day/374308

This is a quirky sky that I invented one fine day while at the studio. It is simple, so I decided to put it in a frame I had on hand for the Mother's Day event. Once it had the dark wood around it, the colours really popped.

a section of one of our walls with 

work by Bridget and me

The event was a lot of fun... lots of great visiting and eating... some people shopped, but look what we had on hand to distract them:

Plus we served tea in beautiful china cups- it was a lovely afternoon! Thanks to all who joined us.

The Green Days Of Spring

The Green Days Of Spring

12 x 12"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2015
 http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/nicki-ault/the-green-days-of-spring/373460
sold

 I am really happy with the bold brushstrokes in this one.

A Drive In The Country

A Drive In The Country

12 x 12"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2015

I've been getting a few paintings ready for the spring show at the Black Spruce Gallery... here is the first one.

A New Day

A New Day

16 x 16"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2015

This is what Spring feels like to me, a new day, a new chapter, a new beginning. That is, until you wake up one Spring morning and find it is snowing. Which is what happened today. Ugh. Then it just feels like winter never left and Spring was just a dream.

Storm Overhead

Storm Overhead

12 x 12"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2015
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/nicki-ault/storm-overhead/332536

A little marshy, prairie scene for you today. I almost forgot about this painting. Once I finished working on it, I put it to the side to dry and promptly also put it out of my mind.

Denouement

Denouement

12 x 12"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2014
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/nicki-ault/denouement/275791
sold 

Last week I was rummaging around in the studio and I found two remarkably bad, unfinished plein air paintings- both of grassy, marshy landscapes. Oooh they stunk. Not wanting to throw them away, I decided to use these boards to play around in an attempt to have fun with my paints because, sadly, I have not been having much fun in the studio lately. A couple of friends recently suggested I try to paint with larger brushes, so on this relatively small 12 x 12" cradled panel I used a 1 1/4 inch brush almost exclusively. It's possible they were thinking I should be more radical than that, but I would normally use a half inch brush for this size board, maybe smaller. It seemed like a stretch to me. It was fun, I actually smiled a bit while I painted! And I like the result much more than the miserable painting that lies beneath!  

Gray

Gray

8x8

oil on cradled panel
sold

Switching gears a little, on the third day at the Emma Lake workshop I decided to go to the beach and give the greens a break! I wanted to play with mixing grays and painting in a faster, looser way. I didn't specifically limit my palette here, but in the end I didn't use a lot of colours anyway. I had ordered some cradled panels when they were on sale from Opus, so I used one to see how it compared to the MDF boards I had been enjoying the previous days. The cradled panel I used for this painting was sealed with my new, trusty GAC-100 (Golden), so the pale colour of the wood showed through. In fact, I discovered that the colour of the wood was almost an exact match to Naples Yellow! There was not a huge difference between the cradled panels and the MDF boards. They are both obviously hard surfaces compared to canvas, which is what I am used to. The biggest difference was that the MDF boards were perfectly smooth, slippery even. The cradled panels had a slightly rougher surface, so there was a bit more "grab" with them.

It was a peaceful morning; very quiet, calm water, no breeze. I parked myself at the end of the dock. I had never painted there before, but since I had seen others set up in that spot I figured it would be okay. I slipped into my meditative painting mode quite easily. There was a canoe nearby on the other side of some reeds. I think the people were fishing, so any conversation they had was very soft and didn't bother my concentration. I'm easily startled when I paint because I guess I get kind of absorbed in what I am doing. Well, it wasn't long before I was being startled left and right! Why??? Because there were fish jumping everywhere... on my side of the reeds!!! It was unbelievable! If the fishermen only knew!  

I am including a photo I took looking back toward the campus from the end of the dock where I was painting. The building you see on the left is the cafeteria building. The dining hall is a circular shape and has a wrap-around, screened-in porch facing the lake. It feels like you are eating outside, but there are no insects! Very clever, very enjoyable. In this picture you can also see Adirondack chairs surrounding a fire pit and a cabin tucked into the trees.

Sigh. It is a wonderful place. It has a rich history that most don't know about... someday I will try to give it to you in a nutshell. For now I am typed out!