Winter Warmth   Oil   16 x 16

Pomegranates are in season and I can't resist these rich red fruits, both inside and out. They are one of those fruits that everyone loves to paint. These ones seemed like the perfect accompaniment to some red wine. I wanted to create a rich, warm and inviting atmosphere. The lighting was important in creating the atmosphere, by suggesting evening with a low or candlelight type of lighting effect. I've been working in a lot of detail in my most recent paintings and decided to try to limit the detail and just suggest the fabric pattern. I used a palette knife for the leaves, again just suggesting rather that forming each leaf. I'm drawn to patterns and detail, so I had to really fight the urge not to say more with the paint. 

Lemons & Lace II

Lemons and Lace II   Oil   12 x 16   

Part of my 'Porcelain' series, Lemons and Lace II, features English porcelain and one of my favourite props, a vintage blue medicine bottle. Blue and yellow is one of my favoured colour combinations as I find the freshness of the yellow lemons against the blue patterning of the china very inspiring. In particular I enjoyed painting the varied depths of the shadow from the wedge of lemon protruding over the edge of table. It's these subtle observations that give me so much pleasure in painting a still life from life.

I've been trying to get back into a regular schedule of painting, following the passing of my father. When you haven't been painting very much, each colour mix and how you approach the painting, seems to be full of challenges. I've decided for the next short while to go back down to smaller pieces and try to get back into the groove of painting, and then I'd like to take a little break from still life and get back into some landscape pieces. Landscapes always feel so freeing as opposed to the close concentration of still lifes. They come off my brush in a much more impressionistic style. I hope that by mixing things up a bit I'll get back in the groove. Have you had moments when the paint just doesn't seem to flow off your brush or you're just not getting behind the easel as much as you used to? What did you do to overcome this obstacle? I'd love to hear some thoughts and suggestions.

Lemons & Lace II

Federation of Canadian Artists Fall Juried Exhibition

I am so pleased to have received Honourable Mention for my painting Satsuma at the FCA Fall Juried Exhibition!  The quality of paintings was very high and I truly feel hounoured to be recognized for my work. If you are in Victoria do drop by Dales Gallery in Chinatown and enjoy the show!

Satsuma  Oil  16 x 20  $1200 

Please contact Dales Gallery for inquiries

The photograph of this painting did not really turn out well. I tried shooting it a number of times using a grey card and I still ended up with a high tone photo, so that the value nuances are not really evident. I learned a lot painting Satsuma, because I layered not only patterns, but also white porcelain in front of each other. So the painting became all about values in order to create the form of each object and to have them stand apart from each other in space instead of blending.

Federation of Canadian Artists Fall Juried Exhibition

Federation of Canadian Artists Juried Fall Exhibition

I'm very pleased to have been accepted into the Federation of Canadian Artists Juried Fall Exhibition at Dales Gallery in Chinatown. The show promises to be excellent, with some of Victoria's best loved artists participating. If you are in the area we'd love to see you. Please drop by and say hello at our Opening Reception tomorrow, Saturday November 2nd from 1 - 3pm, where the artists will be in attendance. Below is my piece accepted into the show - Satsuma.

Satsuma  Oil  16 x 20  $1200

Please contact the Gallery if you are interested in this painting.

Federation of Canadian Artists Juried Fall Exhibition

Ottavio's Olives

Ottavio's Olives  Acrylic  10 x 10  $295

Ottavio's Italian Bakery and Deli is one of Oak Bay's favourite shops and coffee shops. You just can't go there and not go home with a bag of delicious gourmet items and a fine crusty baguette! One day I dropped into Ottavio's and when my eyes lit on these multi-coloured olives I knew I simply had to paint them! 

Ottavio's Olives

More Cooking with Colour

More Cooking with Colour  Oil  SOLD

These little Mexican themed still life paintings have been very popular, so I'm hoping to get a few more done in the next little while. This is the most recent Mexican piece that I've completed. I love the vibrant colours and patterns, and I guess that's what draws people to them.

I was very busy over the summer, going to Vancouver to visit my elderly parents. Unfortunately, at the end of the summer, my dad became very ill and passed away at the age of 90. He lived a very full and happy life and was a devoted family man, who adored his wife, children and grandchildren. We all miss him very much. He was always so pleased with my paintings and enjoyed seeing everything new that I'd completed. Now as I slowly start getting back into painting, I'll be thinking of him and his beautiful smile and I'll try to put some of that goodness into my work.

More Cooking with Colour

Marrakech

Marrakech   Oil   8 x 10

Marrakech is another new piece being present at the TD Art Gallery Paint In in Victoria BC on July 20th. This piece came together after a visit to my favourite consignment store, where I found on one trip the brass coffee urn and on another the handwoven textile. I added the fruit and focused on softening edges to create some mystery to the piece. 

A blogging friend Kathrine Thomas just posted about how paintings look in original form as opposed to photos and now also online. I can honestly say that this painting looks way better in the original form. I photographed it several times, but the figs kept coming out bright purple. They are darker and more subdued in person. Although I use Photoshop Elements  to crop and resize for the web, I don't know who to colour correct. I'm taking a workshop in the Fall on how to properly photograph paintings, and I'm really looking forward to it! 

Marrakech

Bordeaux - Wine Art

Bordeaux   Oil  16 x 16  $650

This is one of the new paintings that I will be presenting at the TD Art Gallery Paint-In (formerly known as the Moss St Paint-In) on Saturday July 20th, 11am - 4:30pm. I'm looking forward to being part of the Paint-In again this year and I will be located at 446 Moss St. at Thurlow St, across the street from the Moss St Market. You can shop for art and fresh farm veggies all in one go! How great is that?

For those of you unfamiliar with the Paint-In, it's a exciting day presenting all forms of visual art. Come on out with your family and friends and enjoy the fun! All of Moss Street from Fort St to Dallas Rd is closed to cars. The street will be lined on both sides with 150 artists who are bringing their studios to the street that day. Each year about 35,000 art enthusiasts come out to enjoy the event. This year my demonstration will be painting a still life from life. If you're at the event come by and say hi. I'd love to see you!

Here I am at last year's Paint-In. It was a beautiful sunny day and we're all doing a sun dance to enjoy similar weather this year!

Bordeaux - Wine Art

Tea and Tonic - AGGV Summer Small Works Show

Tea and Tonic  Oil on Linen on Board  8 x 10  $300 SOLD

In my last post I talked about a workshop I took with Tanya Bone. This painting is one I did following her workshop, focusing on edges, brushwork and a painterly style. I was quite pleased with the outcome and also because it has been selected into the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria Summer Small Works Show. The show runs July 12 - Sept 5, in Massey Hall, and features beautiful small and affordable pieces by many of your favourite Victoria artists. Be sure to check it out when you're in the neighbourhood. 

Tonight I attended the Artists Reception for the Mystery Show at Red Art Gallery. This is such a fun event! There are 40 artists and 40 works. All works are 10 x 10 and priced at $295. The mystery is who painted what? No names appear on the front of the paintings. There is a lottery style draw to determine who gets first pick and so on. When your number is called you have 60 seconds to put a red dot on the painting of your choice. Last year this event was a huge success and a great patron pleaser, and this year promises to be just as much fun. I'll post my mystery painting after the show.

Tea and Tonic - AGGV Summer Small Works Show

Tanya Bone Workshop

I was recently in Vancouver for a weekend workshop with the extremely talented Tanya Bone. It was a fabulously inspiring weekend and Tanya was a very attentive and giving instructor. If you ever have a chance to take a class from her I would highly recommend it. She specializes in still life and was teaching how to paint in a painterly manner. I learned so much about edges and brushstrokes. I have a tons of tips and techniques to now try to put into practice.

Tanya likes to be up close and personal with her set up. She spends a lot of time getting her set up and the lighting just right before she begins. 

One of the things I found the most difficult but that is definitely one of the beautiful aspects in Tanya's paintings, is the loose textured background she does, suggesting foliage and different light patterns. She paints it with a fan brush and transparent colours. Watching her it seems like it would be easy but I felt like I'd never painted before. I wiped my canvas so many times! Other participants were on their second and third painting and I was still wiping!

Here is a detail of the beginnings of the vessel she was demonstrating. She also demonstrated painting the gold edge on the vessel which again was a build up of layers on transparent paint until she got to final layer which was the highlight mixed with white. It was magic!

Tea and Tonic  8 x 10

I went home and spent a two sessions slowly working through the techniques she taught and ended with this first attempt at a more painterly style. It is SO HARD to paint loosely like this! I'm going to keep working on small pieces trying to blend my style of painting with the techniques I've learned from Tanya, and hope to create my own painterly style. 

Tanya Bone Workshop

Mandarin - Painting Step by Step

I have a favourite consignment store for finding the best props for my still lifes. This Asian inspired  set up is compliments of that store. The large red and gold plate and the gorgeous vase came together  perfectly with the bowl of mandarins and the floral branches from my garden.  I loved the simplicity of the set up and the way the round shape of the plate enveloped the pieces bringing a sense of serenity to the setting. The bowl was blue and white but I changed the colour to work with the other pieces.  

The block in stage, positioning the shapes and starting to define the values, although they aren't very defined in this photo.

I reached this point with the painting and then went to see a movie. When I came back I took one look at the painting and knew the center of the plate was not working the with rest of the painting. The center is actually convex, and when I painted it accordingly to how I saw it, the center appeared like a mystical orb, floating in the painting. It was all I looked at. So I scraped it off and painted it as a flat base to the plate, which was a great improvement. I then added a sprig of foliage to the table top beside the bowl. I also corrected the bowl which started tipping down on the right.

 

Mandarin  Oil  16 x 16

The mystical orb syndrome reminded me that although we have to paint what we see, we also need to interpret and change things for the good of the painting as a whole. I sometimes lose track of that in my effort to capture the subtle light on vessels etc. Luckily I saw the flaw quickly and was able to make the change. Do you ever commit too much to painting what you see and forget to look at the painting as a whole?

 

Mandarin - Painting Step by Step

CNIB Eye Appeal

Thursday night was the Artists' Reception for the CNIB Eye Appeal, a fabulous fund raiser to aid those with impaired vision through to those who are blind. As visual artists our craft relies on sight and much of what brings us joy in life is visual. Most likely for that reason, more than 200 artists of Victoria BC generously donated works of art, including paintings, sculptures, fiber art, ceramics, and photography. Here I am with my donated piece, Curb Appeal - Paris France.

The festivities are just getting started, in the Crystal Gardens, an historic building which was once a swimming pool at the turn of the century and is now a part of the Victoria Conference Center. It's a beautiful skylight lit venue for an art exhibition.

A shot of some of the art. To view the pieces in the CNIB Eye Appeal 2013 Event, click here.

CNIB Eye Appeal