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!

Chair interior and a visit to Toronto

Reading Chair in the Morning - oil on canvas - 36 x 30
$900 click to purchase

I'm pretty happy with how my reading chair painting came together this afternoon. It's the first larger painting of this theme(I did some small 6x8" size  interiors before when I was in Florida on holiday) but this is on canvas, and it took more time to figure out. My artist friend Sarah came by last week, it was nice to have her perspective at the point where I was flailing around a bit. ha ha. It confirmed my thoughts, helping me to find a resolution.
I didn't know what category collection to put it in on my website.  I stuck it in with the floral paintings for now.  I can always start a new collection of 'interiors' if I do others, which I'm sure I will as time ticks by.  I enjoyed finding a balance between hard and soft edges while suggesting the forms. What was on my palette for this one? Cerelean blue, cadmium orange, vandyke brown plus white were the basis for most of the painting...I think the ground was a red/pink tone. I used to use burnt umber  a lot when i wanted a rich dark brown, but these days I'm really loving the transparency of vandyke brown.  I love this corner of my kitchen, can you tell?

Jane and mum at the aquarium

I just got back from 2 nights in Toronto; woohoo! A perfect chance to get in some special mother/daughter time with my darling daughter Jane (Janie-bear). We went to visit the aquarium, which was spectacular, even with the crowds.  

Jane in the control room

Jane's an associate tv producer on CBC's Dragons Den, and as the aquarium is close to the CBC building, afterwards she took me over to where she works; it was thrilling for me to get the grand tour of where it all happens...production studios, control room, Jane's own desk. 

As a mother I had a few teeny weeny nostalgic thoughts...after all it was Labor Day, (typically the day before a new school year starts here in Canada) and I was getting a tour of my daughter's workplace.  A little poignant for me, but very satisfying too...as a mother our job is teaching our little birds to fly, and it's gratifying to see them finally do so.  Hope you don't mind a proud mum's millions of pics! ha ha.

one of my fav galleries - Bau-Xi

giant thimble, buttons
on the street
in the fashion district

Next day was shopping and some gallery visits.  I was on foot, and it was hot(32 degrees), but I managed to cover a lot of territory, checking out old haunts in the fashion district and some art supply shops too.  It was a relief to get off my feet for a while, and indulge in afternoon tea and macaroons at the espresso bar in the Art Gallery of Ontario after 2 hours of exhibition viewing!

Here's a Lawren Harris for you...not his iconic northern landscape, but a beautiful urban Toronto winter scene...that master of design!