Cold Weather Inspiration

16 x 16 Oil on Canvas - High Level at -35

16 x 16 Oil on Canvas - Winter Morning Spark

 These two pieces were done during our recent 'cold' snap.  We had a beautiful, sunny day with wicked cold temperatures.  It was -35 but with the windchill it was closer to -45 and being out on the pedestrian bridge over the river taking photos was rather chilly!  But the beautiful shadows and light were almost worth it.

The paintings were both done on black gessoed canvas with oil paint.

Completed ...?

Ice Trails on the North Saskatchewan

Well this is the completed 12 x 16 oil on wood panel.  The biggest challenge is knowing if you are done.  So I felt this was done, but I am not quite finished with the idea and will be working on a large scale version or two this winter.

 

Hunting for a painting

For some time now I have been 'planning' a painting in my head.  It started one day a couple of years ago when I was driving across the bridge over the river while the sun was setting and noticed how gorgeous the light on the water with the ice on it was.  I couldn't get it out of my head.  

Since then I have tried on several occasions to capture a similar view.  I have taken numerous photos.  I have looked up the sunset times and checked the ice structure, I have driven to several different bridges, I have hiked a number of kilometres along paths but it has been elusive.  

There hasn't been enough ice and I've got the sun in the wrong 'spot'.  Then there was too much ice and no water showing through.

I've planned wrong and arrived too late for the setting sun, or clouds have blocked any reflections on water.

Yesterday was an okay day.  Not quite matching my vision in my head but elements were there.  I had some open water, some lovely sky colour and reflected light.  the rest I will make up as I go along.

... and so I have begun.  I will try and post a process painting as I go along in the next few days.

 

A Different Painting Process

This awesome house in Edmonton had a yard full of tulips this past spring.  It is screaming to be painted!

 I have learned over the past few years that there are NUMEROUS ways with which to start a painting.  For some bright spots or warm undertones I like to do an acrylic underpainting in complimentary colours.  So if the leaves or grass will be green, then the compliment is red or a shade of red.  For this painting I started with red, orange and purple acrylic in my underpainting.

I drew out my design and had a lot of fun putting on BRIGHT COLOURS.

Quite a bit different style from my last one, but I like changing things up every now and then.  Keeps me interested!

Covid Activities

A lot of artists and musicians have been posting tutorials and videos on-line during this challenging time. It's been great to watch or join in.  One bright light for me has been the Portrait Artist of the Week event.  Hosted by Sky Arts TV in the UK, there is a live sitter and one of the winners from the past Portrait Artist programs painting live on Facebook on Sunday mornings.  You can join in by painting the sitter yourself then posting it with the hashtag #mypaotw for all to see.  Luckily the event is recorded, since it is 2 am here when it starts in England.  I have managed to take part in 3 of the 4 painting challenges.  Above is some video of my painting author Bernardine Evaristo, below is my 4 hr stab at getting Robert Rinder , judge and UK tv star on canvas.  Fun, I get up early on Sunday's when no one else is up yet and enjoy painting along and listening to the banter (or the one-sided conversations, since the artist is busy trying to paint the subject).

What to do... what to do...

Well... things have certainly changed in the last month... I am very blessed to be home and healthy with my family.  Being somewhat of an introvert, I find I am kind of used to spending time on my own, working on projects.  I do miss work, teaching the kids and getting out of the studio was a nice change of pace.  Hopefully we can all get back to our own 'normal' soon!

My attempt at creating a night time painting, with lights

I have been doing lots of cleaning, baking, homework nagging and a few paintings.  I have also been trying to improve on my 'weak' areas of painting - and it seems like there are several!  In doing so I have been sketching more and watching some instructional videos.  There are many great artists putting out instructional / on-line videos.  Streamline Art Videos have been my favourite so far.  Every day, they show a free 45 min to 1.5 hour portion of an instructors video.  If you like what you see you can buy and download an on-line full length version.  I had purchased Brian Blood, Shelby Keefe and Mike Hernandez in the past few years.  Today I downloaded Christine Lashley, to help me learn how to do night lighting effects.  Very informative! Although it may seem pricey - considering the cost of getting to a workshop is several times more expensive - I feel it is worth it.  I can pause and play it SEVERAL times, which I have done with all of them.  James Gurney is another favourite, he has tons of free stuff on his YouTube channel, including lots of outdoor - plein aire painting tips.  Happy painting and stay safe!

Escape to Art

I am continuing to practise by covering up some of my old paintings.  The painting I am covering today was from one of my art courses where we had to copy one of the Master's - I chose Van Gogh's room.  It was enjoyable getting the textures of wood and colours but it is in my paint over pile...

So I chose a photo from an amazing trip we took to Spain a few years ago.  As it is cold and snowing again, it felt like a good escape from reality and brought back some warm memories.

I did a very quick sketch and decided I wanted to widen the view and make the 'bridge' over the road wider and the amount of wall on the right, less.  

 My final painting is a bit too light and chalky (too much white in there) but I have areas I love - primarily the palm tree and the garden and shadows below.  I often find I like certain parts of a painting and perhaps parts I am not thrilled with.  But... it is always a learning experience so on to the next one!!  I may let this dry and try glazing some transparent blues or purple over the left hand side and the bridge building, so I have more mid- tones and less light tones going on.  I think it would make the lights POP out more.  If it goes well I will post it again, if not it goes in the paint over or campfire pile!

Updated - This is the glazed version, where I used a transparent Ultramarine Blue to darken the buildings that are not in full sun.  Not sure if it has helped, so I think this is in the paint over pile!

What to do with the failed paintings?

Like most artists, I have a number of canvases with paintings that did not go as planned. I also have difficulty throwing out or wasting the canvas and stretcher bars.  At times I have just removed the canvas and re-stretched some new canvas.  You always have to be careful that your old painting doesn't come creeping through if you do decide to paint over them - so I tried painting fairly thickly over a somewhat thinner painting underneath.

With this painting, I had a large, 36 x 48 canvas that had not worked out.  So I turned it sideways and sketched in a new idea from a photograph I took in Sept. 2019 at an art fair.  I had asked a couple guys with cool retro bikes if I could take a photo of them and their bikes for a potential painting.  They agreed and this painting below is one from these photos. 

Completed 36 x 48 Oil on Canvas Title? - 'Hecks Angel' maybe (or DeathSpoke Rider - which is the name of the retro bike group here in Edmonton)

The first bit of charcoal sketching going on after gridding.

  

I outlined the charcoal in Cadmium Orange Oil paint - cause I love the bright hit of colour it provides

A close up of the face in progress

Another Process Post

the grid and drawing

One of the BEST places to visit on this planet is Haida Gwaii, on Canada's west coast.  It is spectacularly beautiful.  I travelled there with my family a few years ago and we had a wonderful time.  We learned a lot about the Haida people's culture and history, we ate great food, we met friendly people and we took an epic trip on a zodiac boat to one of the culturally significant sites.  I have painted a couple pictures from photos, but I took soooo many photos that I could probably keep painting.  I hope to get back there again some day to do some Plein air painting.

starting in with the oil paints

Nearing completion - picky details will take another couple of days

Winter Update

Winter has arrived and so I attempted some paintings of winter streams recently, as well as tackling some Christmas needle felting.  Also, work is always a bit busier in November / December so I haven't had as many opportunities to paint.  With Christmas around the corner, there will be lots of visiting, merry making and outdoor activity, so I don't foresee too many paintings flying off the easel for a little while.  Hope the Holidays are peaceful and joy-filled for all.  More posts next year!

16x16 Oil on Board

Wool Needle Felted Ornaments - my talented son did the penguin

More wool felting

The start of another creek painting - some more work is required on the shrubbery

NOTE:
About 2 days after my last post, I received an email that the Federation of Canadian Artists would be opening a Chapter in Edmonton, early in the new year, so YEAH my wish for some artist contact has come true.

Start to finish

A little blurb on the painting progression for 'The Royal', 20 x 20" oil on canvas.

My photo reference I took, with the hubster, child and dog baby in foreground.  I saturated the colours in my photo editing as much as possible

Toned the canvas with orange acrylic wash

Gridded the canvas and started my drawing (long process!)

Laid in the large areas of sky and mountains - boosted the size of the mountain

Changing a few things along the way - eventually I got rid of the high power lines and the mural as they were distracting my eye  too much

Nearing the finish.  In the completed version I got rid of most of the cars, the mura,l a few power poles, added some power lines where I liked them.

Values vs Colour

Value in a painting, refers to the lights and darks that are used.  Currently, I am working on a piece that I did some plein air painting on this summer, and took several photos of (it is not yet done, as I am just getting to the foreground reeds now).   As you are working away sometimes you know that things aren't 'reading' exactly right, so it is always helpful to get rid of one thing to simplify the process.  So... getting rid of colour by putting your photo in black and white and then taking a photo of your painting in black and white is very useful.  

 NOW... it is easier to see that the background mountains are a little too mid-value when they should be a bit lighter value and probably a bit softer and fuzzier.  The closer trees on the edge of the lake could go a bit darker too.  You can almost paint this in any colours you choose and as long as the values 'read' correctly it can be a very interesting painting.  I think that is what I would like to experiment with next... some crazy hues of colour, within the correct shade of light and dark.  For now I am just attempting to finish this one first!

DIY Easel up cycling

This was a table top easel I got years ago fairly cheaply.  It has been  gathering dust for some time now since I graduated to the big girl stand up easel.  I had a brainstorm to take off the easel portion and find my lightest camera tripod, to adapt them into a nice light weight plein air easel set up.

I purchased a guerrilla universal tripod plate ($24.) from my local art store.  I had tried  to cheap out and find the hardware in the nuts and bolts section of the hardware store but was told they didn't have anything like what I was after.  However, I was given a big piece of FREE plywood from Ron at the hardware store since I only needed a small piece. I bought a  camera tripod attachment plate at the camera store ($16.)  I attached the plywood to the easel, which I had removed from the base.  Then on went the plate and now I can quickly attach it to my camera tripod. 

Because the easel had adjustable support arms when it was on the table top  easel, I left them on and they are perfect with two baby bungees to make the whole setup more stable in terms of blowing around.

This is what the tripod and easel look like and really is light weight compared to my guerrilla box, should I want to do hikes into the hills this summer.

in progress painting, the top arm can slide down snugly to hold it in place

Plein Air Convention and Expo PACE19 overview

I returned 2 days ago from a 5 day trip to San Francisco, CA, where I attended the 2019 Plein Air Convention and Expo #pace19  This post is a review and highlights for me from the trip, in case you decide to attend one (next year it is in Boulder, Colorado), which I highly recommend doing.  I kept a journal while attending and it is almost half filled with notes, tips and sketches.  Below I have a summary of Days 1 and 2.  Will do Days 3 to 5 in my next post.

Best Things
1.  AWESOME ARTISTS providing instruction and demos from early in the morning until late evening.  As an oil painter I attended the relevant oil painting demos, but there were also pastel and watercolour painters here.
2.  MARKETING BOOTCAMPS - Eric Rhoads  provided an early morning Art Marketing instruction with a ton of tips and info.  Very worthwhile for me as an 'emerging artist'.
3.  PLEIN AIR PAINT OUTS - great opportunity to paint urban and landscape around San Francisco and in Sonoma.
4.  Expo / Vendor Hall - excellent opportunity to purchase great artist supplies.  I bought panels, brushes, containers, paint and a Shelby Keefe video at discounted prices.
5.  PRIZES - lots of giveaways.
6. PEOPLE -Plein air painters are a nice bunch of people and it was amazing how when you get chatting you find you have a lot in common with others.

CHALLENGES - finding time to eat and sleep.

Detailed Info

Day 1- Wed, April 24th - Left Edmonton, AB at 4:15 am - Arrived at the hotel at 1 pm and headed off to the Expo hall for a demo by
Kathleen Hudson at 2 pm. She had a beautiful demo, several good tips  TOP TIP: uses small hand mirror to check her painting, to ensure values are all reading properly.

3pm  Newcomers Orientation - helpful

4 pm - Opening Ceremony - high energy - every day of the conference there were awesome prizes, such as paints, brushes, a PACE trip, videos, etc. and at least 6 or more people got a prize daily.  Although I never won anything, our registration package had some cool free stuff and often when you bought something in the Expo hall at the vendor booths they had a freebie included or had reduced prices.

7pm - 5 Artists one Painting - this one was fun to watch as Shelby Keefe, Paul Kratter, Larry Moore, Charlie Hunter  and Cynthia Rosen had roughly 20 mins to take a turn working on one painting.  Lots of cheeky dialogue amongst the artists and the challenge involved in not painting entirely over the previous artist's work.

Exhausted - Sleep

Day 2

6:30 am Eric Rhoads - Art Marketing Boot Camp - wow! Lots of helpful tips crammed into 1 hr, 15 mins. Top tip - Persistence 20% of work week is marketing

Excellent info for me as an 'emerging artist' to make sure I get on top of my social marketing now if I want to grow my 'art business'. 4 PAGES scribbled down in this time.

-  Michael Situ Demo - Highlighted always thinking about contrasts to add interest and balance the painting - Light and Dark, Warm and Cool areas.  Loved his colour use.

Kathleen Dunphy - I ran off to catch the end of Kathleen Dunphy's presentation as it was running concurrently to M. Situ's.  Top Tip: sometimes you have a Focal Path leading you around the painting and not just a single focal point and ALWAYS draw!

Brian Blood - did a San Francisco street scene, appropriately dressed in his hippy tie dye t-shirt.  I had one of his videos previously, so I really enjoy his use of light and colour.  Top Tip - gather info in your Plein air painting focusing on tone and value and being conscious of moments and changes that provide interest.

Randall Sexton - 

Car Portrait - he starts with big shapes blocked in vs drawing, cool to watch.

Plein Air Painting - took the bus to Chrissy Field below the Golden Gate Bridge.  Rude introduction to our Plein Air as it was cold and windy.  I should have worn another layer and had gloves.  Also I should have had my easel properly situated and weighted down as it blew over and I lost all my brush cleaner, which landed on my painting.  Learning many lessons!  Packed up and sketched instead, which I enjoyed too.

Scott W Prior - Urban night scene - Scott completed a painting that he had already started, showing us how he added the details to finish off a rainy, night urban scene of a street car.  Cool! Sorry the picture is very poor, check out his website instead.

Finished!

I had entered this into the Federation of Canadian Artists Postcard Competition a couple of weeks ago.  Was pleased to know that it was juried into the final judging - final winners are going to be chosen May 1st. Crossing fingers.

36x18" oil on canvas
Spring Thaw

Finally, I have completed my painting of Fernie, BC main street.  This has taken a lot of time and effort, but I am fairly pleased with the result.  It will be one of the pieces in my solo show at the Fernie Arts Station in July 2019.  Check it out in person then.