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.

Meech and Chong

Meech and Chong
8x11 Oil on Black gesso paper

All those who remember the 80's may get a kick out of this one.  Took me longer cause there were 2 faces instead of one, I am usually averaging about 4 hrs/painting, either in the evening, or if I am not working, during the day sometime.  I haven't watched any t.v. since this thing started - kind of missing Netflix.

DeifenBaker - #4

DeifenBaker
8x11 oil on black gesso paper

Painting #4, I am having lots of fun with these.  This one was a suggestion from my friend, Rick. Many thanks to my son who posed in his chef's gear so I could get the hat, apron and whisk done accurately.