Purple with a Purpose

I was so excited this morning to hear that my painting, 'After Work Walk', went for $500 at the Purple with a Purpose fundraiser for pancreatic cancer.  Thank you to the person who bid on it!

This fundraiser is especially important to me as many of my family members are affected by this type of cancer. My Dad passed away from pancreatic cancer and the family carries a genetic mutation that causes this type of cancer.  The money goes to pancreatic cancer research - which is really needed as this is one of the mostly deadly cancers out there.  Donate at this link to help with pancreatic cancer research!

After Work Walk - Oil on Board

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.

Busy... Busy...Busy

Yike, it has been too long since posting.  However I have many good reasons almost all art related.  

- I went and got all my paintings framed that I am putting in my graduation show.  THANK YOU TO Kamena Art and Framing for their awesome service.  They manage to do a great job and help me out when I am in a time crunch too.  My graduation show is occurring in May to June, I will post more on that in May.

 - I started a sketch in watercolour for aFederation of Canadian Artists signature submission, with the hopes of getting accepted.  I need 7 accepted paintings to gain Signature status one day.  So far I have had 2 rejections for other shows, so I gotta step it up a notch!!

 - I have been commissioned to do 2 paintings for an event that will be happening at the Art Gallery of Alberta sometime in May I believe.  Exciting!! I will show those here after the event happens.

-We had a wonderful Easter / Spring break and went to ski and visit the Family for a few days.  It was great.  I started to question my snowboarding skills on one of the icier days and suddenly realized my snowboard is about 20 years old now.  So now I am blaming my issues on the age of my snowboard not the age of my body!  New snowboard next season!!

- I began a painting today to thank my Bro and his family for always hosting us when we go skiing / boarding.  Pictures below of the start of my process.  Full size sketch on brown paper, then I cover it with chalk and trace my sketch onto a black gessoed canvas.  Then I will paint!  I will post that later too.

Whew... I forgot to mention work always get busier this time of year teaching art for the Art Gallery of St Albert, so there is that too.  Feels good to be busy though, love it!

Market Madness!!

I always enjoy a good Farmer's Market and look forward to the outdoor markets starting up again sometime in April or May.  I have taken a number of pictures at them and became inspired to try and paint something.  

My first 'practice' painting is oil on black gesso on paper.  I did about 4 prepatory drawings trying to find a good composition, and came up with the 12 x 16 one below.  I had to use about 3 different photos.  I quickly became disgruntled with all the detail and some errors and it was not very loose, so I set it aside.

12 x 16 oil on black gessoed paper

 I was not ready to quit so I looked at my photos and what I kept coming back to in the photos was this happy go lucky shopper, almost skipping along with his purchases and enjoying the nice weather.  So... I decided to make him the focus and loosen up.  I got a bigger canvas, 14" by 18" and started again.  I am much happier with the result.  My colour photo of the painting below is not showing all the colours that well, the pavement has some pinks / purples and yellows, but overall it worked out okay.  I think I will try a couple more with this theme.

14x18 black and white photo of the painting to check my values

Random people

So this is what is on the easel today - in progress.  I took several pictures last year at the Farmer's Market for some material.  I really liked some of the poses and people I captured, so I am doing a slightly larger painting from one of the photos. 

 I am not really sure what the protocol is for painting random people who happen to wander into your photo.  I wasn't trying for an exact likeness of this guy, I just wanted the feeling - casual, enjoying the day, smiling to himself.  I notice there are lots of painters, like Karin Jurick, who paint great pictures of random people in art galleries, on beaches or on the street, so can't see any issues.  I could always give him a shave or add a hat if so! HA!

14 x 18 oil on canvas

Spring Chicken

So I had chickens and eggs on the brain today.  I got some beautiful little quail eggs and also picked up some chickens (for eating), and learned all about the Heritage Chicken Project at the University of Alberta.  I sometimes wish I could raise a few chickens in the back yard, but only sometimes... I grew up on a farm and remember some of the not so fun chicken / rooster moments.

In an attempt to get some larger painting done, I want to try quick simple warm-ups like this one below.  I set my timer for one hour, chose burnt umber, cerulean blue and white and finished before the timer beeped (by 2 minutes)!!

8x10 oil on panel

Day 29

Today I did a quick sketch of these pliers and then set off to work on another piece slightly bigger and in a different style.  I have been experimenting lately with a couple of styles to see which I like better and with the hopes of sticking to one style for a while.

8x10 oil on wood panel

Day 25 - nailed it?

Didn't quite nail it... quick oil sketch of my favourite picture hanging hammer.  Lee Valley tools are awesome!

oil on cardboard panel 8x12

Day 24

I literally set the timer on this one - weekends are too busy.  60 minute quick sketch in oil paint on black gesso paper of my FAVOURITE tool - my kitchen aid mixer.  I may return to this mixer again and spend some time doing a proper oil painting of it.  It's 20 years old this year - still going strong.

Day 23

Went fast and simple with this one hour painting for Day 23.

8x8 oil on panel

Day 22 - too much

Here are some don'ts for daily painting - DO NOT choose a complex subject, do not choose a canvas much bigger than 8x10 and do not pick a day when you have several other important tasks to complete.  

Why I chose a sailboat to try to squeeze in as my painting today I am not sure.  In the 2 1/2 hrs I tackled this I felt rushed and dissatisfied fairly quickly and have called it quits.  I think I will stick to tools, fruit and simple objects and will try a better, slower paced boat when I have a couple days / week.

12x16 oil on black gesso canvas

Day 21

8x8 oil on canvas - last run

Trying to catch some more shadow colour on the snow, from a photo of a late afternoon run in Jasper.

Warming up

The weather has been rather chilly here, but when you live in a cold climate YOU MUST get out and enjoy it or you will go mad!  We had a beautiful sunny day yesterday and spent it outdoors with friends and family   We had a fire and picnic - it was so cold the quinoa salad froze first as we ate it, then the bean salad soon after, potato salad stood up a bit longer.  Hot chocolate was essential, the marshmallow is just a sweet extra.

8x8 oil on canvas

#15 - Portrait

Went back to my tried and true first love of portrait painting for Day 15 of the 30 day challenge.  I am still working on this but need to post before I have to run off to take care of other essential things that need doing.

8x10 oil on canvas panel

Day 13

Very quick oil on panel for day #13 - my rusty paint scraper.

#8 - The Crime Scene

8x10 oil on wood panel

This is my 1 hour painting for Day 8 of the 30 in 30 days challenge.  I am not sure why but the title 'Crime Scene' came to mind, like these 2 tomato detectives are checking out the poor carved up tomato slice... sorry too much netflix BBC crime dramas!

Day 3 - Loafing around

 My quick day 3 painting - just spent 1 hour with a bag of flour and jar of yeast.  I seriously need to use a proper camera and stop using my cell phone as the colour balance is off.

The painting was inspired by the loaf below which just came out of the oven and is my first ever attempt at sourdough bread.  This one loaf has been over a week in the making.  But now I have my sourdough starter living and breathing in the fridge, the next loaves should be quicker.  Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks.

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

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

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