Melting Away

Melting Away

7x7"

acrylic on canvas
sold

Yesterday when my husband got home form hockey he suggested I head to the studio to paint. He and the boys were just going to chill at home, so I decided to take him up on the offer. The problem being that I have felt a bit stale and uninspired these days, so I was concerned I would just be wasting this awesome gift of time. Then it dawned on me.... it is beautiful outside! We are having a beautiful month of March here on the prairies and I got thinking that maybe, just maybe, I could lift my painting funk if I changed my surroundings. Voila! A plein air painting excursion was born! I went down to a park by the river where I like to take the kids to play in the summer and I found a shady, protected spot under a tree. I did this little study out in the fresh crisp spring air and it felt great. The river that runs through our city does not freeze on the west side so in the winter there is a beautiful frozen sheet over most of the surface, but you can see the icy green/blue water rushing by the bank on the west side. The water looked soooo cold. I think I may use this study to make a larger painting.

 

Here are a few more shots of my adventure. The birds were chirping, people were out walking their dogs, and some folks were even trying to ride their bikes! It was glorious and such a treat. There is no way last year on March 14th I could have been painting outside. I think the high yesterday afternoon was +9 degrees Celcius, but by the time I packed up around 5:00 or so it was cooling off a bit more- the paint started to freeze up on the brush! It was a new experience as I am used to painting en plein air in July or August. I enjoyed it so much I went back out this afternoon when the boys were at school. I'll post that painting tomorrow.

Many thanks to everyone who left such supportive comments on my previous post. I'll try another portrait soon... well,... someday..... later...

No Comfort Zone Here

The Small Cowper Madonna (detail)

oil on paper

Raphael

Following The Masters 

Challenge #11

Well, here it is. Whew. Very nerve wracking posting this. So not in my comfort zone, but that is good, right? 

I have been talking about attempting portraits because they fascinate me, but I have just not been able to motivate myself. I have really been struggling, since our rotten stinkin' car accident, to get my head in the game again, but I have been only moderately successful. I just can't seem to get a clear focus. As well, there have been other distractions (child related) that have definitely kept my head space cloudy. If I could just get away from drama I would be a happy gal. Anyways, while I flounder around waiting for focus to return, I thought it would be a great time to try an online challenge. When I saw the Following The Masters blog for the first time a few weeks ago I thought that it might be something I could get interested in depending what the next challenge was. Sure enough, when Michelle (the FTM blog creator) announced that the inspiration for Challenge #11 was The Italian Renaissance I knew I could find something to work with. I loved this period when I studied Art History many moons ago. And my favorite artist for a long time was Raphael. So I pulled out some gorgeous old textbooks that I kept from my studies and chose this beautiful Madonna. I decided to only work on a detail of the actual painting for a few reasons: 1) I haven't done a portrait since first year university, so I didn't want to make my comfort zone even less comfortable by having to paint two portraits! And b) I didn't want to commit a crazy amount of time to the project. (Humph, upon reading that back, maybe my lack of motivation really has more to do with laziness! I guess I have something to think about!)

As much as I know it does not look like the face of Raphael's Madonna, I am excited I tried this challenge and I learned a lot in the process. And I used oils for this, not acrylics! I definitely have lots to learn about colour mixing and, where oil paint is concerned, how to keep the colours looking clear and not muddy. So while I tread water in artistic No Man's Land waiting for focus to return, maybe I will try to follow a few other portrait masters like Fred Varley or John Singer Sargent and get some learnin' done.

Over The Point

Over The Point

7x7"

oil on canvas
sold

This is a calmer cloud painting with a gentler atmosphere than the last few I have posted. I finished it last week and liked it when I left the studio, but while I was away from it I got thinking that maybe it was boring. So when I went back to the studio I planned to change it, but then seeing in person I liked it again and left it alone. Over the weekend, however, I went through the same thing in my mind because it is so different from my other little skies. I got thinking this one didn't have enough substance. But yesterday I got to the studio and liked it again, so I decided to leave it. Oh, the indecision! In the end, I have decided I do like it. I like it's simplicity, I like how calm it feels, I like the feel of those soft clouds rolling in over the point (of Fairy Island at Emma Lake). I like that there is colour in these clouds, but much more subdued than in the previous cloud paintings. And I like the little wispy cloud on the top left. So there you have it. It will be left as it was originally painted.

A bit of news... I am in the process of taking part in my first online challenge! I hope to post the little painting very soon, maybe in the next day or two. The subject I chose is very different for me and it is something I have been wanting to try... a portrait! But it is not what you think... and it has been a great learning exercise for me. Hopefully after a bit more tweaking this afternoon it will be ready to submit and then show to you! 

Rain Is Coming

Rain Is Coming

7x5"

oil on paper

I went to the studio this afternoon and decided to create another cloud painting- it was just too fun last week and luckily it was fun again today. Now that I have uploaded this image I realize that it is likely a bit darker than in real life. The land at the bottom actually has more dark green to it. Here it looks quite black. Anyhoo, I like how it looks. I like the stormy moodiness of it. I am finding it a smidge of a challenge to work with such a limited palette; 12 oil colours including Titanium white. I have to start somewhere though, right? I was poking around online and found a great sale on a brand called "Shiva Signature Oil Paint" that has been around for a really long time. If anyone knows anything about them please leave me a comment- as good as the deal sounds, it won't be a good deal if they are low quality. 

I've been thinking about the way I paint, especially since I have been playing with oils. When the artists at the studio saw my the sky/clouds I painted last week they offered positive feedback and then made a comment that they kind of reminded them of Degen's work (her gallery link is "not found"). Of course I took that as a compliment, but I got worried that maybe it seemed like I was copying. I took a step back and contemplated. My final judgment was that, in fact, these skies were very different than the kind she would paint, but maybe my handling of the paint had been influenced by her. Some parts of the clouds were painted without much mixing and that is something she would do. When you admire work of other artists I think you can really learn by studying their techniques, their colour choices, the way they set up their compositions, and then use what you've learned when you go to paint your interpretation of the world. I find the idea of creating a mood or atmosphere in clouds by using unexpected colours quite fascinating. I am a huge admirer of a local artist named Greg Hardy. Now here is someone with a real point of view. The scale of his work is impressive and I can't get enough of how he expresses and interprets his subjects. Click here to view his portfolio of recent exhibitions... especially take the time to click on the Michael Gibson Gallery and the Nicholas Metivier Gallery to see Mr. Hardy's skies and clouds. They are breathtaking and like none other.

I feel like with every piece of art I am drawn to, I am gathering information, I am making mental notes, I am absorbing. Maybe I am all the art I have ever admired. Maybe this next stage of my life is going to be me taking this internalized knowledge and letting it out on canvas. In my own way. Finding my own point of view.

White Study

White Study

7x7

oil on paper

I clearly remember the first assignment from Robert Christie in my one and only University studio class many (sigh) years ago and that was to drape a piece of white fabric in some appealing way and paint what we saw (with oil paint). Actually it was the first of several assignments we were given along those same lines, with something new added each time. I knew nothing about oil paint and didn't even gesso the paper! I also recall that I left the whitest highlights of the fabric as bare paper. It stunk. With a few tips the next assignment went a bit better, as did the next and the next. Studying the whites was a good lesson in values and using fabric as the subject was a good way to learn how to see soft and subtle differences. I'm going to look to see if I kept those early assignments, it would be fun to post them! With those early assignments in mind I put together this little study.

After playing with oils last Monday and Tuesday I was flying high with excitement of the possibilities. It was so fun to blend and move the paint around even after a half hour or more had passed. That is just not something that can happen with acrylics. They just dry too quickly. As it turned out, this very thing I was loving about oils those first two days was the very thing that made me mental on Wednesday when I started working on this little white study! I kept forgetting that the paint was wet and I would try to add a nice white highlight somewhere and the paint would just smudge together. Turns out the quick drying aspect of acrylics has it's place. And I kept wondering how people paint with oils en plein air! I was such a mess sitting in one spot in my studio, I can't imagine trying to transport them (but I probably will try someday)! And layering colours as I do in my reflections would take weeks and weeks and weeks. I'm not sure I have the patience or stamina.  

This little study is okay. I can already see some things I would tweak, but I likely won't. It is what it is. It was just an exercise and I will do more of them as I learn this new medium. And I will try to be brave enough to share the results... good or bad.

New World Clouds

 

New World Clouds

7x7"

oil on canvas

sold

I have been meaning to post this painting all week. It is the other painting I did on Monday when I pulled out my little starter set of oils. Actually I did this one first and "Clouds Over Emma" second. It is painted over a Burnt Sienna acrylic ground and I like the little bits that show through near the edges of the clouds and the horizon. I think there is a more subdued energy in this one compared to the last post which was done on the Cadmium Orange ground. I went down to the art supply store on Thursday and got four more little canvases so I can continue playing with my oils next week.

Cloud Over Emma

 

Cloud Over Emma

7x7"

oil on canvas

sold

I have been saying for awhile now that I would like to try my hand at oil paints. I have been enjoying acrylics, but have felt that I am limited by them to an extent, especially if I want to go for a softer more blended look. Acrylics just dry so darn quickly that you either have to work fast or else use a gel medium (not a fan) to keep them wet longer. Well, last month I was extremely close to ordering the full gamete of oil paint and supplies through Opus online because they had a sale on their Gamblin brand (Karin Jurick uses many of their colours). Then the practical and frugal side of me kicked in, as it often does, and said, "Why don't you crack open the starter set you got for your birthday a couple of years ago before you shell out the big bucks?" So yesterday I went to the studio and that is exactly what I did! I pulled out that little set of 12 colours and had the time of my life! Seriously, it's a whole new world ... I swear could hear Alladin and Jasmine singing as I painted... or maybe it was this guy.... "a whole new world, a new fantastic point of view... a dazzling place I never knew... it's crystal clear that now I'm in a whole new world..."

So the result of my studio playtime was this little sky, and another which I will show next time, on a canvas I had prepared ages ago with a cadmium orange (acrylic) ground. You can see the orange peaking through here and there and I like the undertone it gives the lighter part of the sky above the horizon. I was a pretty large mess when I finished for the day because I kept forgetting the paint was wet, so there will be a learning curve fo sho, but you know what? I think I'm up for it! And today when I went in I got some serious encouragement and positive feedback from two of the other artists that were there working. They both especially liked this one, so here it is for you to see... my first little oil painting since first year university (many moons ago)!  

An Honour

 

Imagine my surprise when I got a lovely message from Barbara Muir saying she was giving me the Sunshine Award for creative and positive blogging. It is high praise coming from one of the most positive bloggers I have ever come across! Please swing by the link to her art blog and you will see exactly what I mean. I am quite determined to meet this amazing woman in person someday.

The rules for accepting the award are:
Put the logo on your blog or within your post,
Pass the award on to 12 Bloggers
Link to the nominees in your post
Let the nominees know they have received this award
Link to the people who gave you the award.

Okay, so I am giggling about Barbara's comment that it is too hard to choose only twelve and I, too, am a middle child who wants to be fair and not miss giving it to all the wonderful blogs I have come across. However, besides giving the award to me Barbara has also given it to many of the blogs I know and love... so what is the etiquette here? Do I double the award up and give it to the same people she did? Hmmm... I think I will try to list twelve different blogs and I will just say ditto to her list!

I'm paying the Sunshine Award forward to the following lovelies:

Deborah Ross... check out her gorgeous self-portrait blog banner
Julie Beck... now here is a creative person and I love the history and stories in her paintings 
Don Michael Jr... he paints masks with tons of personality... and also did some kick ass portraits of his three children for Christmas
Sheila... her subject matter is varied, but her style is consistently colourful and joyous... and everyone loves her!

Tatiana Myers... I recently discovered her beautiful pastel paintings and blog
Christine McCoy... she started a daily painting adventure about six months ago and I admire her ambition

Jeffrey Boron... oh, how I love his Canadian West Coast Impressionism style

Halima Washington... rich and buttery paintings done with the impasto technique

Judy Mackey... she paints with a palette knife and it's wonderful!
Lisa Daria... love, love, love her still lifes 
Liyana... a sweet young lady working hard at her dream 
Auspergertopia... a beautiful, heartfelt blog by an amazing woman...she's a prairie Martha Stewart

I want to be sure that everyone on this list knows that I chose them to acknowledge them for the enjoyment I get out of looking at their blogs and I hope now that others will find you through these links. Please do not feel obligated in any way to do anything more with this award... it is completely okay to smile and do nothing more than bask in it's sunshiny glory!

Thank you, Barbara, for shining the sun on me! XO


P.S. I need to alert everyone on this list that they have received this award, but it is now very late so I will handle that part tomorrow...

Six Months Ago

Autumn Magic

acrylic on 200 lb paper
sold

This is a painting I did in 2003 and it was included in my first solo show (2004) in a local coffee shop. It was purchased by one of my oldest and dearest friends and her husband who have been extremely generous and supportive of my art since day one. I don't have the dimensions handy, but if memory serves it is somewhere around the 11x14 mark. Keep in mind that my memory often doesn't serve me well, so I could be wrong. I never have fully recovered from "baby brain". How long is one considered post par-tum anyway? My guess is I can't ride that train almost eight years later. Nuts.

I have not been to the studio for almost two weeks and therefore have nothing new to share, hence the trip into the archives. The kids have had no school this week and the week before was riddled with stress and "goings-on" that threw me for a bit of a loop... so no creative moments for me. I've been happy to be on holidays with the kids this week and decompress a bit from the week before. It would have been nice to get away, but after our accident last fall our holiday fund quickly became the new(er) car fund! Oh well, there is always next year. We made our own fun in this great city of ours and so it still feels like we got a break.

Today is a milestone which is why, despite having no new artwork to show, I wanted to make a post. Exactly six months ago today I gave myself this blog for my birthday. I had been thinking about starting one for ages and even begun the process on Blogger before, but always backed out after a few steps. Well, six months ago I stopped thinking about it and I just did it! I kept on typing and filling in boxes until the next thing I knew I had a blog. I am so pleased I didn't let those negative voices interfere that day. Maybe you know the ones I mean... the voices in your head saying things like: "You are computer illiterate, how can you start a blog all by yourself" or "You aren't good enough to be posting your art on the web! Are you kidding me?" or maybe the one that says "Who will ever leave a comment for you? You aren't interesting. Nothing you say or show will be worthy of comment". The voices also say other things like: "Did you really need to eat that bag of chips in one sitting?" or "You have no business putting on a bathing suit, lady", but that is another story for another post! Where does that negative self-talk come from and how soon does it start? I certainly don't know, but I am profoundly happy that on that evening in August when the kids were in bed and my husband was reading his paper, I was able to quiet the voices of self- doubt and go for it!

Bright Summer Light

 

Bright Summer Light

22x28"

acrylic on canvas

sold

 

Well, here it is. It took me longer than expected, but I think it is now done... unless I get looking at it too closely again! I'm sure I could keep working on it, but for now it is time to stop, put it away and move on. It didn't end up being as much like "Looking Up" as I originally thought. It is more an examination of this section of this particular pine tree which had a bunch of dead, broken branches coming off it's amazingly textured trunk and the strong shadows they cast. I remember when I took the photo I thought how glorious this old tree looked standing there so proud, lit up by the bright summer light. I hope I conveyed some of that here in this painting. 

Thanks for stopping by to check it out.