Painting is....SQUIRREL!!!

I believe most artists will struggle at times to stay motivated or focus on their painting every day - so many distractions. Currently my struggle is the beautiful weather, after a LOOOONG harsh winter, pulling me outdoors.  I am enjoying biking, hiking and gardening these last weeks and being inside the studio / office / work is difficult.

That is why today I decided I shall try to do some daily painting 'en plein aire' or paint outside for awhile.  As you can see below my current attempt to get some paint down has been a struggle.

the UNDERPAINTING of the Burmis Tree large 36 x 48 canvas

OOOO the Pretty Fern Leaf peony in my garden just outside my window, has finally bloomed for the first time ever!!

Oh I just need to make some baskets for the front porch

What was I doing... oh yeah, OOOps, I think I need to repaint the sky and maybe that grass too.  Maybe I will just go outside for awhile for inspiration instead.

Road Trips and Repeats

 On the weekend we did a little road trip and stopped in my FAVOURITE GALLERY IN ALBERTA!  The Blue Rock Gallery in Black Diamond, Alberta is small and gorgeous.  A great mix of pottery, paintings, arts and crafts, books.  The paintings are fa-bu-lous.  It is worth a day trip to hang out in this little town for a couple hours, great milk shakes across the street.

14x36 oil on wood panel

6x24 oil on canvas

Today I had a few short hours to work on a second version of the Cypress Hills.  The bottom one was a small quick study.  The second top one is much bigger and I am trying to do brighter colours / impressionist style.  It is not done but here's what needs completing:
- foreground is getting finer detail in the grasses - more greens, blues and purples to be added.
- foreground shape is not random enough - repeating on left and right side, needs to be more like the bottom foreground shape.
- far background needs darker, grey green / blue colours
- some more red thrown into trees in middle ground

I am hoping it works out, it looks much better in person than with my quick photo, so I shall continue with it tomorrow.