Repeats

I am working on a little painting experiment right now.  I have not used watercolour paints, aside from my travel sketchbook, for a long time.  I hope to have a series of these done early in the New Year.

Watercolour sketch 9x12

Acrylic sketch 9x12

Drying Rack

I have been busy finishing off my Life Drawing course so I haven't had much art to post here.  I did get this fabulous drying rack HANDMADE for me, by the talented Colby, 16 year old wood and metal work 'artist'. Click this link to check out Colby's website -  Colby's Woodworking  This sucker is solid metal, nice and heavy and holds a lot of various size paintings.  Currently I am drying several 9x12 panels in preparation for a painting experiment I am planning.

My FABULOUS solid panel drying rack.

Street scenes

I am constantly saving pictures for potential paintings - this painting was from a picture taken several years ago when I went to Victoria for my first watercolour workshop.  I did not turn out any keepers in that workshop but got some good photos.  Still plugging away at this one.  A few little tweaks with perspective and it should all be good to go!  Savy Painter podcasts keep me motivated while I am painting.

9x12 oil on linen panel

The blahs...

I tried to do a quick one hour oil sketch from life. However, I found the result so boring I wiped it off.  I must have chosen the wrong colours and I really did not want to spend a lot of time trying to do the tablecloth pattern so this was a wiper!

Figure Drawing

One of the best ways to improve your drawing skills is to take a figure drawing class.  Which is what I am doing now.  This is a copy of an old master drawing so I had about 3 hours to work on it versus the drawings done in class are roughly 1 1/2 hrs each.

Charcoal and Chalk on toned paper

Practise til perfect

9x12 oil on panel

This little keeper is created for an upcoming 'Call for entries'  and I am still working out some shading issues, but the theme was retro.  This one is either Saturday morning cartoons or Rumpus room View - orange shag and wood panel - ahh the 70's.  Speaking of which, I found these dandy fashions when I googled orange shag, retro styles, etc. - shocking, yet refreshing to see models who are soooo normal!!

retro mens wear 70's

Onward...

I am reading a really great book on Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaccson   Da Vinci was amazing with the scope of his projects and skills.  However he did have a difficult time 'finishing' his projects.  Reading this made me feel a bit better about my sometimes painting habit of working on something then not quite calling it finished and leaving it 'for awhile'.  NOT that I am anywhere near the skill level of 'Leo' but I could totally relate to how he would often not finish a number of his projects.  He was often "stymied because his conceptions were "so subtle and so marvellous" that they were impossible to execute faultlessly. "It seemed to him that the hand was not able to attain to perfection of art in carrying out the things which he imagined" p 81

I am sure many artists out there can relate to this, in that what we envision the painting to look like just never seems to turn out the way we want.  My current struggle is with creating light in my paintings - so I am back to studying more on value and colour to try to help with this.  Below are this weeks homework for Figure Drawing class and my recent stab at 'finishing' the sleigh ride painting.

Charcoal sketch of Old Master drawing for homework

Calling it on this oil on panel

Finishes and starts

Starting a painting is always easy and exciting and hopeful.  You get this picture in your head about how you are going to do this piece and of course it is quite perfect.  Then you start - and I always seem to really like the painting up to about 1/2 or 3/4 of the way through.  Then something goes south, a part of the picture isn't working or you over work it or you get bored with the painting.  I often (and I guess a lot of artists do this) abandon the painting or set it aside for awhile and then just can't start it again - mostly cause I don't quite know what to do to 'fix' it, I found this website,  Draw, paint, mix that helps you to get past this problem.

This oil sketch below is just a quick one - to help me loosen up - completed in about an hour

Oil on 8x10 wood panel

 This is an example of a painting that I was loving, but then ended up overworking bits and not liking it by the time it ended.  Must embrace these experiences and learn I guess!

Ukrainian Village church - Oil on 9x12 panel

The Lineup

In an attempt to squeeze in some painting, I did a quick draw and sketch in oil from a photo. This herd of cows was eyeballing all the tourists near a canal in Holland and they looked like a police line-up of suspects, hence the name.

18x14 oil sketch on canvas

Get loose

My name is Mud - 8x10 oil on wood panel

In order to loosen up I am back to doing some small, quick paintings.  Daily Paintworks is a good website for inspiration as it has weekly challenges - this week's challenge is to paint your art supplies.  So I threw down what was on my table and whipped this off in an hour.  It is not fully complete, but I really like the loose feel of it.  Mud is the stuff at the bottom off the cleaning jar.

It's a wiper

The one hard thing to do is to not beat myself up to much when a painting goes south and just wipe the sucker off.  I think I am getting better at this.  The above is an example... I started this one because I really love this bread box.  It is kind of retro and I bought it not just to store bread in, but because I loved the colour and it looks good.  I threw together this 'still' life, putting in the orange for some colour and the plate cause it matched.  However after working on it for the last 3 hours, I realize that the box is too big for the rest of the objects and that it just isn't translating so well onto the canvas.  Hence it is a wiper.  I will wipe it away, save my canvas for another day and call it a learning experience.  NEXT time, start with a pencil sketch... save yourself 3 hours!

Metal Challenge

Today, just had a couple hours to work on something so I tackled my little 8x8 painting of the pizza place.  The biggest challenge was getting the metal pizza ovens and hoods over them to look like shiny or dull metal.  I wanted this one to be quick and loose and got it down fairly quickly.  I unfortunately used the same brush on the sky that I had previously used on the metal, so that I greyed the outdoor, backlighting toooo much.  Now I will have to wait until this baby is completely dry to get back some really bright light behind the pizza guy. 

Monday, funday...

I didn't get to paint much on the weekend, but I thought about it a lot. Today I was over-thinking the horse-drawn sleigh painting.  I had decided to get rid of a fair bit of stuff - like the passengers on the sleigh and much of the harness paraphernalia as it was obscured by the steam coming off the horses. I need to let it dry up a bit and put the steam in I think and then correct the colours around it.  So I put it aside and started a small 8x8 painting of a new favourite pizza place, called The Stone and Wheel.  Was waiting for some pies the other night and liked the lighting so I snapped a photo and will try to make this one nice and loose and painterly, not dab it to death.  

sketchy stuff

adding a wash to get some values

still struggling

Serious Work

colour sketch on paper

Having decided that I will take this painting job seriously; I am reading, researching and listening to information on how to do this, whenever I get a spare moment.  While I paint I love to listen to Podcasts and one of THE BEST podcasts I have come across for artists is the Savvy Painter.  Antrese Wood, who is also a very good artist, hosts weekly podcasts with some superb and interesting artists  / artsy people and they discuss all things arty.  LISTEN to it, it's great!

Not the most attractive thing

Today I did a lot of 'un-fun' things in order to prep for more paintings.  I had to shop for art supplies - I am not a keen shopper.  Then I GAC'd and Gessoed lots of hardboard panels in preparation for a series I am tackling.  Then I had to complete a self-portrait as homework for tonight's class.  Self portraits are hard and in this one I looked pissed off but it is because I am concentrating on trying to draw myself properly, which wasn't easy.  Oh well.

On a spree...

I am in the process of completing my very last University art class in order to obtain my Fine Arts Certificate.  It is Figure Drawing - we mostly draw from the live (nude) model and have a couple of drawing assignments each week to hand in.  Below is a bit of homework I tackled today, a copy of a an old master drawing.  I also dabbed at a small 8x10 and a larger oil painting I am tackling.  Both were not dry enough from my last painting session so I kind of started making a mess and had to give up.  I seem to have a ton of ideas lately and am on a painting spree of sorts.  Hope this lasts!!

my sketch of old master drawing - p 149 Charles Bargue

Road Trip Inspiration

I had the opportunity to do a very short road trip with one of my sons, as he was off school this week.  We had 3 days and drove to Fernie, BC.  We snapped photos enroute - me for inspiration and painting material and my son, just because he is a talented, aspiring photographer.

Fernie, BC

I saw this fabulously coloured camper van in the parking lot in Black Diamond? I think it was.  I decided to do a warm up painting this morning with it.  It was a tad more technical than what I imagined - so I spent more time than I wanted to on it.  However I think it is worth saving to do a future painting from, with more thought about the background.

What is art?

Starting to add some colour

As an 'emerging' artist I am always interested in learning new things and trying to improve my art.  I was looking up a residency program in Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan when I came across the following:

"Have you always wanted the intensity of a day or 2 (or 3) in a large earthen hole with one other person?

In the Hole is a short-term residency located in an earthen hole on Treaty 6 territory in rural Saskatchewan, Canada. Each resident will spend 6 hours each day in this hole as a participant in this residency. Residents can come for one day up to a maximum of 3 consecutive days. There will be one person at a time at the Residency.Have you always wanted the intensity of a day or 2 (or 3) in a large earthen hole with one other person?"

You can check it out yourself by clicking residency in a hole.  I admit I did laugh, thinking that this was a joke and I pictured a camera being set up to take pictures of whatever unsuspecting sucker came along who actually took it seriously.  Trying not to judge.

Anyhow..back to the ongoing struggle.  I am working on the larger version now of my smaller study of Cypress Hills.  Trying to use lots more paint and make it more 'impressionist' in style.  I found the beautiful paintings of Erin Hanson to inspire me.  We shall see if this larger one turns out.

Get Organized

Oil sketch for larger painting

I am enjoying the oil sketch I am doing in the hopes of tackling it on a larger scale.  I often find when I am doing a 'sketch' I am very relaxed, loose and enjoying just slapping down some paint.  These paintings not surprisingly usually turn out much better than the second more laboured painting.  Think I would learn from this.

I was trying to do another painting and was struggling with finding the colours I wanted. So...  I finally got sick of digging through the pile of oil paint, went out to the garage for organizing inspiration and found this tackle box that is not being used, because it was too big to be practical to haul out into the woods.  It now holds all my oil paints and needed oil paraphernalia.  I think I love it.

My beautifully organized tackle box with a yellow, red, blue and green drawer; a swatch of each colour painted on thick board and labelled.

Colour issues

Painting in progress 9x 12 on gesso board

Working on a view up near one of the teahouses at Lake Louise.  Stopping for a while as the blue and orange mountain are bugging me.  I am taking a break with more famous Canadian's which I will post once I am done.

What's up with that?

I often feel like I never get enough time to paint. I still prioritize other things like housework, community commitments, etc before art.  I think because art doesn't feel like work, I feel guilty working on it when there are 'other' things that need doing.  However every good practising artist I have met says you have to treat it like a job - 9 - 5:00 pm and paint if you want to actually get serious about it.  I am hoping to take that advice and get serious.

Since my last post, I have kept busy on lots of projects. As a board member of our community league I planned and helped carry out a Canada 150 celebration - 500 people showed up and it was almost a full time job in the week or two leading up to it.  I also created a couple of giant puzzles for Art in our Park and ran an interactive painting project for the crowds.  That was fun and went really well too.  Here are the puzzles, one was after Lemoine Fitzgerald's The Harvester and the other after Emily Carr's Haida Totems:

Fitzgerald - The Harvester

Emily Carr - Haida Totems

I am also taking a Figure Drawing night class.  Below is my attempt at a self portrait.  I can't post much else from this class as it is mostly nude figures we are sketching.  Figure drawing REALLY helps improve the ol' drawing skills.

self portrait - sketch on paper

Completed painting

Completed - 8x10 Oil on Board

Progression of a Painting

zaanse schans Holland

Sketch

Painting in progress - 8'x10' oil on birch panel

I have returned from a lovely holiday, now filled with inspiration to paint some of the beautiful places we visited. I still have to tackle some Canada 150 paintings but right now I am inspired by windmills, so I had to paint them.

Poutine

8x10 oil on gesso paper

Talk about suffering for one's art - I had to eat all of this poutine after I photographed it.  Wow, I did suffer later, but it was delicious.  Poutine is another very Canadian thing, but ironically I bought it at NewYork Fry's. What's with that...  Anyhoooo... poutine is VERY challenging to paint.  It is one big mess of greasy delicious, fries, gravy and cheese curds.

Nanaimo Squares - MMM Canada

Nanaimo Squares

This was a quick 1.5 hr painting.  Nanaimo Squares are very Canadian and a Christmas favourite - especially my Mom's homemade ones.  I am falling behind due to work and taking a couple days off, so I am going to have to get 2 paintings a day started.  Below is the family recipe - missing some detail - I tend to cook the base over a low heat for a few minutes because of the egg in it and I usually 1/2 the icing part because I can't hack an 1/2 inch of frosting on my squares.  Enjoy!

the struggle continues...

I have been picking at this landscape painting, trying to paint it fairly realistically.  It's been a couple of weeks now and I find I get to a point where I am just sick of a particular painting and need to put it away for awhile.  In fact it can almost be a few months before I can look at it again with fresh eyes to see if it is worth trying to save and work on some more.  Tomorrow will try something a little looser and more fun.

Old Fort Point Bridge
16x20 Oil on Canvas

The proof is the proof

Proof 6x9 Oil

He has been working hard to show his proof.

The actual quote "A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven." Jean Chretien.

Today too busy for clever portraits of Prime Ministers.  Instead it is a quick painting of bannock.  Sticking to painting Canadian themed things - bannock to me is very homey. Most Sunday's after church we would head over to my Granny's for her homemade bannock with delicious homemade jam.  I cooked up this bannock and slapped on some saskatoon jam, snapped a photo and then before eating realized the jam was from 2013.  Yike.

Bannock with Saskatoon Jam
6x8 oil on gesso paper

There are those who argue that Fry Bread is bannock.  To me they are 2 different things but equally delicious in their own way.  Fry bread is like a donut for dessert, bannock is breakfast.  I have included recipes for both so you decide.  The bannock is my great-great grandmother's recipe and the Fry Bread is from some Metis sisters in Saskatchewan who shared it with me.

Pierre-ouette Trudeau #6

So this one was challenging and I plan to tweek it a bit more in the future, but here is today's effort as I have to call it quits for the day..  Pierre Elliot Trudeau - when I plan my paintings I of course hunt out photos and get ideas from the Google.  Mr. Trudeau senior had not one but 2 pictures, pirouetting in his cheeky manner, near the Queen.  He is a tad more graceful in this painting and he never did wear this outfit - although he did have some great disco era outfits man.