Snow Glow On The River

Snow Glow On The River, Meewasin

8 x 8"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2013

available exclusively at Lifestyles by Darrell Bell Gallery
sold

I thoroughly enjoyed painting "Winter On Meewasin" and really wanted to try another view of our wintery riverbank... so I did! I hope you like it.

Looking Up Wolf Willow Hill

Looking Up Wolf Willow Hill

8x8"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2013

available exclusively at Lifestyles by Darrell Bell Gallery
sold

I wanted to give the impression of climbing or looking up the hill; looking toward the big sky. I also tried to give the impression that the big sky continued down to a lower horizon line beyond the hill. This one was tricky.

To The Lake! Waskesiu River

To The Lake! Waskesiu River

8 x 8"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2013

available exclusively at Lifestyles by Darrell Bell Gallery
sold

Is it okay to say that I am really happy with how this turned out? Going in, the foreground stressed me the most, but with less fussing than I anticipated, I got to a place where I decided it was working. I especially like the contrast of the grasses against the dark water in the lower right corner. If you are familiar with the Waskesiu River, this view is from the left side of the bridge looking in the direction of the lake which is further around the bend.

When looking for a link on the Waskesiu River, I found this delightful little Parks Canada vignette... click here.

Prairie Icon # 3 - Canola Field

Prairie Icon # 3 - Canola Field

8 x 8"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2013

available exclusively at Lifestyles by Darrell Bell Gallery
sold

Here is the third and final painting from the little series of three. I think they would make a great little tryptic, what do you think? Who knows, maybe they will end up selling as a set. Three in a row would look great on a small wall or between two doors.

Prairie Icon #2 - Big Sky

Prairie Icon #2 - Big Sky

8 x 8"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2013

available exclusively at Lifestyles by Darrell Bell Gallery
sold

The second of the little series of three. I love days like these on the prairies: bright, fresh, wide open with feathery clouds streaking the blue sky. There is an easy feel about these kind of days that I miss in the winter; like you just want to slow down, take a deep breath, stop everything and go lay in the field.

Prairie Icon #1 - Flat Land

Prairie Icon #1 - Flat Land

8 x 8"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2013

available exclusively at Lifestyles by Darrell Bell Gallery
sold

Earlier in January I was in the mood to paint some iconic prairie scenes; simple, recognizable, and familiar. I decided to paint them as a small series and hopefully someone will buy them as a set. I thought about what most people would say if they were asked to describe a Saskatchewan landscape and three main themes kept popping in my head: flat land, big skies and canola. I went through my resource photos and found inspiration for these ideas and above you see the first one completed. This one was the most difficult to photograph (even with my super awesome mini photo studio) because of the soft colours throughout the sky and the texture in the top cloud doesn't show easily.

The Golden Hour

The Golden Hour

8 x 8"

 oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2013

available exclusively at Lifestyles by Darrell Bell Gallery

sold

I am crazy for any light that pours through the forest and creates a magical, vibrant glow. I have been particularly intrigued by late afternoon/early evening light that filters through the forest, bending around trunks and branches. But the conditions have to be just right to catch a show of really beautiful colour. On this particular evening in Waskesiu when I realized how golden the setting sunlight was, I dropped everything, grabbed my camera, tossed an "I'll be right back!" over my shoulder to my family and raced to a favorite place in the forest near the Nature Centre by the lake. The warm, beautiful light of the setting sun was streaming towards me, illuminating the moss and twinkling through the branches.

It truly was a golden hour.

Sky Fire

Sky Fire

8 x 8"

oil on cradled panel

© Nicki Ault, 2013

available exclusively at Lifestyles by Darrell Bell Gallery
sold

I just took a group of eleven new 8x8" paintings to Lifestyles By Darrell Bell Gallery and I was thrilled that the store manager wanted to keep all of them! She couldn't stop going on about this particular one so I decided it had to be the painting I posted first. I'm excited about how it turned out- it has the glow I wanted to achieve. The other challenge that I think worked out is the effect of light on the row of clouds at near-center: as they transition away from the setting sun, they change from glowing bright puffs to shadowed clouds rimmed with orange light. Happy.

Against The Sky Revamped

Against The Sky

20 x 16"

acrylic on canvas

© Nicki Ault, 2012(revised)
sold

An older painting I tweaked before the Open Studio last November. Deepening the blue at the top made the fluttering, sunlit leaves more intense and also quieted the pine branch coming in on the top right. I think I glazed over some of the mid-tone greens to darken them up a bit as well. Below is the original state of this piece.

© Nicki Ault, 2010

Thoughts?

I painted this up at The Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus using a photo I took while walking around the campus looking up at the trees. I then used the small image on the digital camera screen to paint from. I started with a very dark ground on the canvas and used the lighter colours to carve out the positive shapes like the silhouette of the little tree on the right. Much of the darkest colour you see is the original ground showing through. It was a bit of a brain workout painting from negative to positive space.

In another battle with this never-ending month of January, I recently got hit with a bug that knocked me out for a few days. I am feeling better today, just in time to enjoy the -42 degree Celsius temperature (with wind chill). I am ready to turn the page of the calendar to February. On a positive note, the sun is now coming up before 9:00 a.m.!

My New Portable Photo Studio

Ooooh, isn't it lovely? My brand spankin' new portable photo studio! I am so excited and I can already tell it is going to save me a lot of grief over getting a good photo- especially when I do a lot of small paintings and want to get them posted ASAP. It all folds up into a compact case with a handle so I can easily take it to and from the studio and also store it away when I am not using it. And how cute is the little tripod that came with it? I can comfortably say that this is making me as happy as a new pair of boots!