Camellia's - work in progress

work in progress- 30x30 oil on canvas

Camellia's were blooming everywhere in Victoria this past week!  Nice, because I was able to spend a lot of time really looking at them, as well as get heaps of photos.  We just got back from our trip there last night. I so enjoyed being in the temperate climate with so many millions of spring blooms everywhere.  I was thinking about those Camellia's the whole time painting this evening.  Tender flowers with a tendency to expire quickly; the white ones quickly turn brown, then drop.  This is where I'm at now...will be letting it dry for a bit, then let it speak to me again.
  My mother once told me a story about Camellia's on her wedding day.  She was married in Jasper, Alberta and she had ordered her wedding bouquet of (pink) Camellia's from a shop in Edmonton.  When the flowers arrived on the train the morning of the wedding, she was very disappointed to find that they were all wilted; a sorry specimen for a wedding bouquet!  In the end she had to hurriedly replace the bouquet with a bunch of pink roses from a local florist.
 
...that's Teri, me,  Linda & Dave's mum, Julie, last Thursday in Victoria at Butchart Gardens.  Such a special treat.
 

Plain air by the sea

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 Posting this 9x12 plain air I did on Tuesday morning. When I began the mountains across the strait were visible, but after about half an hour the clouds formed over them blocking their peaks, so I went with that instead of my original intention. Truly the pleasure was in the experience.  No wind and sunshine with a high of about 14 degrees.

I have never been in Victoria in the spring before, it is gobsmacking to a girl from Ontario!! the blooms of hundreds of different varieties of flowering shrubs and bulbs turn my head in all directions.

 Above is Dave's mum's garden which greeted us on Sunday when we popped in for a visit. She is 85 and she does all the work herself! She is an amazing woman, and such an inspiration.

 I'm not sure what this purple flowering shrub was, but it caught my eye while out walking yesterday morning.

This painting is the little 9 x 12 panel that I worked on in the Ross Bay cemetery on Monday.  This cemetery holds the grave of Canada's beloved artist Emily Carr. I forgot to take a picture of it but will get one tomorrow.

Spring plain air

Finding plain air painting spots by bicycle this week in Victoria.  Spring is full and lush here at the moment. Ross bay cemetery provides a quiet spot with lots of protection from light showers under the shade of a giant cypress tree. Daffodils near a crabapple tree under an overcast skies today.

happy to get started again

new start on the left, 'White Roses' acrylic on right

After weeks of not painting at all, I did get into the studio yesterday after Dave left for a work trip.  It felt good to make a start (one on the left). Yahoo!  Plans are for it to be Camelia's, but we'll see what develops. 

The 'White Roses' next to it, is an acrylic painting I completed in January.  You can see I'm still on a similar theme, but I was hankering to get going with my oils again. I love the softness and subtleness of colour, that oil paint allows me for blending.  Since it's warm enough outside now to open windows, there's no reason not to use my oils.  Although I work with odourless mineral spirits, I'm big on making sure I ventilate when working in oils.  

'Pub Door'  - no more! ha ha

  

I started this one over a previous painting 'Pub Door' that I was sick of looking at. I had showed it several times and it had never had any interest, so figured it had lived a good life.  Besides, I like working on top of an older painting for the dimension it provides as an under-painting.  
Usually I create a warm ground, but this time I picked thalo blue to cover it, wondering if it would aid the subtle white shifts that I wanted. 

Daisy's - SOLD

Happy to say that Gallery on Gore in Perth, Ontario sold my little daisy painting yesterday.  Thanks Johanne! 

Moo cards

Yesterday I received a shipment of some floral cards that I had ordered from the print-on-demand  service, MOO.  Really pleased with the image quality and how it's possible to do small orders with this company.  They do not offer square format cards, but these ones are 4 x 5.75 inches, and I'm happy with the way they look.  They're blank inside and on the back of each one is my website link.  There are 5 different images(one not shown here).

Unusual Blogger activity warning

This morning I received an email message from Blogger saying that my blog account was removed because it was caught being used for phishing. Phishing?! Who me?! I wouldn't even know how!  Sure enough, I tried to access my blog as usual but it just wasn't there. poof! just like that it was gone! I was stumped. ...
Three hours later I googled my blog and 'voila!' , there I was back in the cybersphere again!  All I can guess is that Google was on the case. This time when I signed into my blog i had to verify my account with my phone number so that I could receive a special code to sign in.
I hope this isn't happening to other artists out there...but if it does...perhaps reading what happened to me will give you hope that all is not lost if your blog disappears for a while.

snowed in at the studio

work in progress

We had a big one yesterday! 50 cm of snow in 12 hours! By noon I couldn't open the doors to the house because the snow was knee high!  Thankfully I noticed that a friend posted on facebook that he was out and about clearing drives and let him know if anyone needed a job doing.  I piped up!  Thank you Josh! You and your buddy were awesome.  I took these pics this morning; the calm after the storm.


In the studio I worked into one of the 'starts' from the abstract workshop, developing it a little more.  I may have overdone it, but I am finding my way with this process.  I am also  finding I do not like the way the colours dry darker with acrylics.  Something I will have to learn to consider when I'm working with them.  Who knows this may get re-worked again in oils...not really sure yet, so it's on the back burner for now.

With nowhere to go because of being snowed in, I tackled the dreaded 'books' yesterday, finishing my HST return.  Turns out it's so much higher this year than others. I'm now wondering if I can un-register for the HST?  Anybody out there know about this?  Our situation will be changing this year with a move; and with that I will be closing my Gallery At The Porch Door , which is the reason I registered for HST in the first place.  I sure don't love the book-keeping, I'd love to get out of it after being 'in' for the past 5 years.

more roses

work in progress

Not fully realized... but coming along. Meditating on white roses; layering shapes and glazes in acrylics. Painting intuitively.

Funny how I always feel like painting flowers when it's wintry outside, must be my longing for my buried garden.  There is a winter storm warning for tomorrow morning in our neck of the woods, guess the shovel will also be getting a workout.

abstract landscape workshop

1st day experimentations

After resting my arm with no painting or knitting for 2 weeks, treating with acupuncture, therapeutic massage and chiropractic I am happy to say that it has improved so I was able to attend an abstract workshop that I had been very much looking forward to the last weekend in January.  

Claudia with demonstration piece

The workshop was given by Claudia Jean McCabe.  It was just what I needed for a change of pace, try new things in a different medium(acrylics) with no boundaries.  Because I had been nursing an injured arm I was conscious of not aggravating it further, so I pledged to myself that this would be the perfect opportunity to try things as a 'lefty'.  Since we'd be doing abstracts I thought: "Why not?"  Although I began with the plan to paint left handed, when I wasn't paying attention and was immersed in the painting, I'd look down and find I had somehow switched back to using my right hand...!

 
The 'warm up painting exercises' began as a series of 5 or 6 small squares or rectangles painted simultaneously on hot press paper.  The idea was really to scribble and let go of preconceived ideas, responding only to balance, colour, shapes, rhythm, pattern.  It was really VERY liberating and very fun.  

I've posted a short video I took of Claudia stepping through the short 'warm ups' scribbley demonstration below.  Watching her work fired the rest of us up to give it a go, with mixed results.  It's always interesting to me to see what comes naturally to people.  I swear we had a Jackson Pollock among us, as well as a Kadinsky or two and a few Klee's in the class.

After lunch, many of us got out canvas's to work on putting into practice the freedom we had learned in the warm ups.  Easy huh?  NOT! Way harder than you'd think it would be!  Painting with only intuition is like walking a gangplank, you have to trust there is something to land on. There was a lot of painting over involved, obliterating, wiping, sighing...but there was perseverance too.  I think perseverance really became my buddy while I worked...and I liked her and was glad to find her.

3 works in progress

Above are the 3 canvases I worked on throughout the two workshop days.  I feel they were a solid start.  The green/pink one speaks to me quietly and I know it is asking me to find a resolution with it.  That makes me happy because I love having a painting or two hanging about in the studio that wants to be resolved...it's like an invitation to a conversation!

 

new year, new prices...

Having injured my wrist last week, I'm pulling out of the 30 in 30 painting challenge. I need time to heal without overuse of my right arm. so no painting or knitting for me... feeling rather limited on creativity, but all is not lost, as I'm reading some good art books.
 
Also, I've wanted to tackle updating my website for months, so I've been able to do that. I finally got around to deleting a huge amount of old work that was sold.   With the new year it was also time to revisit pricing on my works.  I haven't updated my pricing list in several years, and I was quite aware that it was not in line with other comparable work.  I have my reasons why I have kept my pricing relatively low, it's worked well for me.   BUT I have now made changes that I feel is right.  I price my work by united inches(height plus width) rather than by square inches.   Works over 24 united inches I show in galleries.  Works under 24 united inches I wont be showing in galleries anymore...that is because I consider them sketches.
I was in Ottawa on Friday and saw the Monet exhibition at the National Gallery.  I also spent a great deal of time in the European and American galleries, which I haven't visited much in the past, and I thoroughly enjoyed the visit.  Such inspiration!

30 in 30 challenge day 21

Softly Into Spring - oil on wood - 8 x 8 inch

There's no obvious sunshine in this oil sketch, but the arrangement of organic shapes attracted me to give it a whirl. The Sunny Ways theme is carried in the feeling of hope and promise that thinking about spring always makes me feel. Selected from my resource photos that I took at the Ottawa Tulip Festival.  As I was working on only a small 8x8 it wasn't possible to focus on the flowers themselves, but rather an the overall design and atmosphere. 
Keeping up with the 30 in 30 challenge has proved difficult for me with time away from home this month. However, even if I cant do the lot, I'm feeling good that at least I've cracked on and pushed myself to paint small and often at the times when I can.  This painting is for day 21 of the challenge, but for me it is actually only my 16th little painting in the group. 

short hiatus from 30 in 30

Peggy's Cove in Winter

Just back from Halifax where we spent some marvelous few days with Rachel, Matt & little Ella.  Needless to say I didn't paint anything for the 30 in 30 challenge while there. I didn't paint at all!
Life was full of other fun stuff, like pulling Ella in the snow in her sled(happy girl!), playing with playdoh, colouring, dancing and singing with the Wiggles, having snacks together etc etc. you get the picture. Such fun!

But today I did get into the studio and finish up a large-ish (36x30 inch)commission I've had on the go for the past month. Feels good to complete it.  I cant show you the whole thing, but here's a little snippet of the flagpole with part of the garage...it's a property commission, a rural farm property set among the trees on a hill.  Lots of green in this one... the challenge was enlivening it with a variety of warm and cool greens of contrasting values, keeping the summer sun shining.  I'm happy with the way it turned out; I think the client will be too.

I had signed up for Art Among the Ruins this year, one of my fav outdoor art events; but decided to pull out of it as it will likely coincide with the timing of moving house this year. Darn. I'm sad to miss it, but hope to participate next year.

Chickadee's - oil on wood - 4x4 inches

 

Evening Glow

Declining Years - oil on canvas - 24 x 28

I was using the palette knife on this one as well as rags, brushes, my fingers, a squirt bottle...it's getting a little muddy, but I kind of am liking the ethereal quality to it... today I am embracing the uncertainty and leaving it be, at least until it speaks to me again, if it ever does.  This one is the 3rd in a series of rose themed paintings I started early in October.  
While I was painting it I was thinking about age and beauty.  The warm glazing added an 'evening glow' or  'vintage' esthetic to this piece.

Lakeside Theatre

Lakeside Theatre - oil on panel - 9x12 inch

Today's oil sketch is the Thousand Islands Playhouse.  Although it's not an obvious contender to the 'Sunny Ways' theme I have going, I felt it had some relation to it in that the sun is fading in the sky and the evening holds a little excitement about what might be going on at the local waterfront theatre.  I wanted to capture the feeling of warmth and festivity, although I haven't actually added any people into the scene yet. Perhaps I will after this part dries a bit. I think a small 'gathering crowd' might be in order to give focus to the evening atmosphere.

Sunny Ways - The Steps

The Steps - oil on panel - 9x12

The sunshine wasn't on these steps in my photo reference. I made it up, which was fun.  I'm happy with the way it turned out, because I was a little nervous about doing it. I sort of feel that steps and doorways can have a feeling of 'promise', or at least they do when the sun spills across them. I've been told that a proposal happened on these steps, which to me was all the more reason to create a mood of hope and optimism.  I've been happily married for 38 years, so I'm a believer in one story, one love, one dream.

Corner Steps

Corner Steps - oil on panel - 5 x 7 inch

This oil sketch is from the same place as my previous post, but a different angle.  I even used the same palette colours, but because I had a different ground colour on the panel, it has given quite a different light effect, less of a golden light than the previous one. The ground for this one was an ugly shade of naples yellow from Pabeo.  I've never really liked working with Pabeo paints, but have a few in my paint box that I'm trying to use up.  I also struggled with the cerelean blue I was using,  which is a cheap DeSerres brand.  I wont be buying any more of it.  I really love nothing better than Winsor & Newton cerelean blue, it's the creamiest one on the market and the best in my opinion.

Late Summer Afternoon

Late Summer Afternoon- oil on panel- 6x8 inch

Almost didn't think I was going to have time to paint one today, but found some time after dinner.  A totally enjoyable paint listening to (and singing along to!)  Australian folk tunes while immersing myself in the light and shadows falling on these steps. 
Driving through this village (Newburg) in the late afternoon last summer,  the light was just so delicious that I actually pulled over, stopped the car just to drink it in.  Snapped a couple of pics on my phone to remember it by.  That was the inspiration for tonight's subject.  Definately a candidate for my 'Sunny Ways' theme.

spring pastoral

SUNNY WAYS - spring pastoral - 6 x 8 - oil on panel

Mostly palette knife for this small oil sketch. Couldn't resist painting these little gaffers with their mumma. What interests me is the way their wooly coats reflect the fresh spring greens of the meadow. That was the fun bit.

If you want to see the others in the 30 in 30 challenge click here.

Tea with milk

Tea with Milk - oil on panel - 7 x 5 inches

While making myself a cuppa yesterday afternoon, I noticed the light shining through the milk bottle creating fascinating patterns on my little teapot.  Thought it would be a good subject for day #5 of the 30 in 30 challenge.

Sunkissed Kitchen

Sunkissed Kitchen - oil on panel - 6x8 inch

I paid close attention to which neutrals were warm or cool in this study. I began with a fairly limited palette of zingy colours(mostly opaques) and painted over a bright cadmium yellow ground.  The straight lines always give me a little grief, so I used the upside down observation method to paint perspective and get it reasonably accurate. After I had done over half of the tones in the painting upside down, I turned it all right side up again and carried on.  
The photo reference for this was taken last spring, accounting for the warm quality to the light.  

It's quite unlike that today in my kitchen;  that warmth would be very welcome right about now, it was -18 'C outside this morning! Winter has definately arrived!