Saturday Morning, Toy Store

Saturday Morning, Toy Store
oil on panel, 9 x 12

yours truly

Two weeks ago was Princess Street Promenade in downtown Kingston. Traffic is blockaded on the main shopping street, and foot traffic takes over.  Shops have special displays and activities; all in all, it's a rather festive atmosphere.
As a novelty, I was asked if I would paint 'en plein air' in front of Kingston Frameworks for a few hours. I was happy to oblige.  They had set up a tent for me so I didn't have to sit in the broiling sun; nice because Ontario has been HOT HOT HOT this summer!
  

'Billise' supply the tunes

Live music kicked off near me on the sidewalk by the wonderful Billise (Elise & Bill Bosworth). The joyful tunes really got me in the mood and before long, my brush was swinging to the tunes too.

The view of the toy shop across the street caught my attention...on the sidewalk children participated in activities in front of the toy store, I think they even served a children's breakfast.  I wasn't the least bit surprised to spy several 'Elsa's' from the movie Frozen among them:)  The festive atmosphere and primary colours were fun to do in this genre scene. "What is genre?"  - ordinary people doing ordinary things

Summer Marina

Summer Marina - oil on linen - 18 x 14 - $450
click here to purchase

Finding a painting subject can be a  battle for me, so I settled in this week to utilize some of the many  resource photos that I took this summer.  There was one of the marina, which kind of suggested I give it a go, so I got busy.  All the boats and reflections did a number on me and I was really losing my way, so I decided to accentuate the lateral design aspects of the scene.  That kept the process a little more interesting to me, gave me a little room to play; venture down some un-travelled paths.
I made a point of going down to the Agnes Etherington public gallery yesterday as the Hart House collection is on view, and it's luscious... a good sized collection with about 30 odd works, there's some lesser known Lawren Harris's and A.Y. Jackson's.  There is also an interesting little exhibit of Carl Beam's and Ulrich Panzer.  It was a great little interlude for a painter on a rainy Tuesday.

Start of a New Day

Start of a New Day - oil on gessobord panel - 12 x 16"

I'm so excited to be heading to Halifax on Sunday to see my darling little grand daughter. I'm trying to work on finishing up a few pieces before I go, as I know I wont be oil painting while I'm there.  Perhaps there will be an opportunity for a little watercolour sketching, but I'm not sure...there is much cuddling and rocking to be done, and that will definately take precedence!
I resolved this painting yesterday afternoon.  It is more of a dreamscape than an urbanscape, but that's the mood I was in while working on it.  It took 2 glazes, first a raw sienna one which gave it a bit of an 'old world' feel, but was a little sombre for the mood I wanted.  So after that one dried I tried a glaze of Permanent Rose.  That gave it a definate mood of viewing the scene through 'rose coloured glasses'.  That was okay with me; I love the mood at the beginning of the day when it seems there is so much promise and all the time in the world, it cant help but be uplifting.  After the glazes dried I painted into it again using fairly muted warm tones.  When Dave came home from work he came up to the studio and looked over my shoulder as I was working on it..."I love that" he said.  He doesn't give a lot of feedback about my work, so it always means a lot coming from him.  

Summer Pub Nights - Merchant

Summer Pub Nights - Merchant
oil on canvas 14" x 18"

I tweaked this painting recently.  Took out the foreground figures, aligned the barrels and solidified the tree shapes. I'm much happier with it now. 
It's funny how the idea can get lost in the details you put in...for example what moved me to paint this scene was "the atmosphere of celebration a weekend summer evening brings combined with our historic architecture".  I joyfully painted what i thought was my original idea; added to the merriment by painting in a young duo in front of the fence heading into the entrance, under the limbs of an extremely(for me) fussily described tree.  After I was done I was mildly satisfied, and posted it on the blog(to lots of nice comments i might add!)...but as it sat on the wall of my studio for  a month, i viewed it knowing that it was not saying what i had intended...at least not in the way that i had intended...the idea was getting lost in the details!   It now seemed to be about the young couples choice of entering the establishment and not about the atmosphere.  It took me a month to realize that was the core of the unsatisfactory feeling I was getting from the painting.  Boy o boy... if there is one thing I've learned it's always worth it to take a risk in an effort to get the painting to voice my intentions...otherwise there seems (to me)no point in painting it.

Lakeside

Lots of sail training takes place on the lake in Kingston.  I love watching sailboats. Such a great symbol for freedom. We once knew a family who packed up their 2 kids(aged 8 & 10) and their golden lab and went on a year long sail from Montreal (leaving via the St.Lawrence seaway)and down the east coast of North America to the Caribbean. I was amazed.  I couldn't imagine 2 kids and a dog in a car for more than 2 hours, let alone in a tossing and heaving small sailboat.  But I was impressed.  I get seasick really easily so sailing doesn't appeal for me!  But I love watching them from shore.

summer pub

Worked on this painting again this afternoon.  Even though it was raining outside today, i had the windows in the studio open and was listening to the birds singing while I painted. Lovely. I guess they're happy for rain and not snow.  Me too...although they are forcasting a winter storm warning for the Ottawa region for Friday.  bah humbug.  I hope our flight isn't delayed.  Our holiday to Florida starts Friday, and we're meant to be flying from Ottawa.  fingers crossed.  I am so looking forward to sunshine!

Evening Light

Evening Light - oil on panel - 8 x 6 inches

Well so far so good...no end of the world in our neck of the woods as far as I can see!  We are gearing up for Christmas though.  The shops were kind of crazy today... good thing I only needed to make one stop. whoa!  the parking lot at the liquour store was nuts. I've never seen the place so busy, everybody getting their holiday cheer in various quantities. I bought rum, i love the Cuban sort, nothing quite like it with eggnog.  

After the shops,  i met the train; my daughter Jane arrived home from the big smoke in Toronto...lots to chat about...she works on CBC's Dragons Den.  January will see her  going on some audition tours, they do a lot of them, 40 cities in all, though she wont do them all. She'll be going on the one in Ottawa and one in St. Johns NFLD.  She's excited about it. I'm excited for her too.  I've never been to St. Johns, but I'd love to go sometime...but maybe not in January. heh heh.   

Above is tonights effort in the studio.

Sail One and Sail Two

I've been working out some ideas for a larger painting -  a commission for a client.  I'm really excited about doing it because in this case there isn't any stipulations, except the subject itself, which is the client's lakeview.  I've been encouraged by the client tohave complete freedom and "have fun with it".  She's open to lots of colour and to a playful mood, so I've been doing a few small scale sketches, prepping some ideas...the results below.  I shall call them Sail One and Sail Two.  

Each is 6x8 inch and is oil on panel.

Off to Toronto tomorrow... art visits extrodinaire.  

In the Park

In the Park

6x6" oil on cradled wood panel

Kingston's waterfront Confederation Park is a bustling place in the summer, with boats and tourists coming and going.  A welcome treat is the shade and the yummy vendor selections, from bratwursts to ice-creams!