Biking and blogging

Summer usually means a slow down in my art creation. I am off work and more time is spent ‘Momming’, visiting, gardening and holidaying.  This summer I have been able to do a lot more mountain biking, now that I am in actual mountains every day.  It’s been great for the cardio and the soul.  So of course that has led me to my recent bike painting theme.  Occasionally I will get on a tangent and paint several paintings on one idea ( see cheeky prime ministers https://tessastanley.blogspot.com/2017/04/oil-and-acrylic-dont-mix-you-hoser.html ) I know that many artist spend months or years on a theme, painting just trains or flowers or abstract fruits.  I find I need to switch fairly regularly to maintain my interest.  

 So this is a view from one of the bike trails last week. Fabulous! Below  are some of my bike paintings and progress paintings.

Oil and Acrylic don't Mix you Hoser!

I suddenly realized last night, that in order to paint 150 Canadian paintings, I have to do at least 1 painting every 2 days (1.7 days to be exact).  I guess I didn't think that through very well, but I will give it a try.  Anyhooo... below is the start of painting #2.  It is John A Macdonald with Doug Mackenzie style toque and a beer in hand (when its all done).

John Eh Macdonald - the Original Canadian Hoser
8.5 x 11 oil on black gesso paper

This painting is just 8 x 11 ish and was supposed to be a quick acrylic for fun.  Unfortunately I learned a lesson today - I had all my oil paints from yesterdays work, on the same table beside my acrylics.  Accidentally grabbed the green oil paint and wondered what was wrong with it when it wouldn't mix in with yellow properly.  Since you can't layer acrylic on top of oils, it is now going to be an oil painting.  What was going to be 1 hour will now probably be about 4, cause I am repainting everything, plus I am kind of enjoying this painting and decide I want to keep him around.