Any Title Ideas?

I managed to take a few hours today to finish off this painting, while our visitors went downtown and did a few things. I'll probably make some minor adjustments once I've had time to live with the painting a bit. I don't know what to call this one, so if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Here I am in my backyard painting in the shade. Yes! we're having a sunny day! Maureen the winner of the Rainy Day Painting Draw, from the Art Gallery Paint-In came by and picked up her prize today, the painting l'Aperitif. She said she felt so lucky to have won the painting, that she almost went out to buy a lottery ticket. :-)

Any Title Ideas?

Still Life in progress

Thanks to all of you who left such lovely comments on my last post about the TD Art Gallery Paint-In. I had planned to do an interactive painting station for the public to participate, but the weather didn't cooperate, so instead I did a painting give away. This is the grisaille I painted at the Paint-In .

Today I had a bit of time to paint, so I started adding the colour. I started the process by selecting objects and creating my still life. I set up the still life on a table my garden, trying a number possible arrangements, and finally settled on this one and photographed it. I often paint still lifes from life, but because I wanted to capture the feeling on sunshine on the set up I needed to work from a photograph to keep the light constant, as I knew I would be painting it in several sessions.




I realize that lately when I paint, I've been starting at the top of the painting and working my way down through the canvas as it prevents smudging, and as I move forward through space, I layer over the objects just painted. I'm just in a blocking in process at this point.



I now have the whole painting blocked in roughly and will start creating more form with adjustments to light and shadow, and will plan my edges and work on softening some, loosing some and sharpening others. I'll also start to add some details in the cloth etc. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a bit of time to paint again.

Still Life in progress

TD Art Gallery Paint In

L'Aperitif, is my Rainy Day Draw Prize at the TD Art Gallery Paint-In in Victoria BC, Saturday July 16th.


Saturday was the much awaited 24th Annual TD Art Gallery Paint-In (formerly known as the Moss Street Paint In). The whole week the weather had been very poor, but the Paint-In has an almost 100% record of sunshine, so we all had our fingers crossed. I awoke Saturday morning to torrential rain!! My husband and I loaded up the car with sheets of rain pouring down, set up a tent awning and managed to get all my paintings in underneath. Saturday Victoria experienced a record rainfall for that day, with 11.4 millimeters of rainfall, topping 7.1 mm in 1942! I thought that I might have a very lonely day freezing underneath my tent with just some paintings as company. But Victoria came through and the art lovers came in out in droves, with umbrellas in hand, and within a short time the rain let up, and the artists ventured out from undercover.




There were 150 artists, in all mediums from all varieties of painting to sculpture, pottery, fiber arts, and collage and more. There were many opportunities for participation, and kids had passports to try out an art form, get their passport stamped, then on to the next station. It turned out to be a wonderful day all round, and showed that if you live in the Pacific Northwest, a bit of rain never stops you! I met many enthusiastic art lovers and had some great conversations about my demo piece - painting a grisaille, what it's for and how it works. I also had a number of textured pieces on display and discussed texture as an added dimension, to enhance the composition, and create movement in the painting. Sorry I'm lacking photos of my set up. As a thank you to all the art lovers who came enthusiastically regardless of the rain, I had an impromptu Rainy Day Draw Prize and gave away a sunny still life painting depicting enjoying a glass of wine on a patio . The lucky winner was M. O'Neill! The TD Art Gallery Paint-In was great fun and I can hardly wait until next year!

TD Art Gallery Paint In

A Krafty Pair

Original Oil on Linen 8 x 8

I have an old cheese box that was apparently used as a mold for making Kraft Cheddar Cheese. It's definitely a muse for me. I've painted it with a number of supporting actors. I also love painting Red Anjou pears, as the colours go from deep rich reds into paler versions with undertones of ochres. These ones were the paler version. I really loved how the light was hitting the top and left side of the box and reflecting off of the pears. I'll be showing this painting and the one below, along with several more still life paintings and some west coast landscapes, at the TD Art Gallery Paint In this Saturday. I'll be demonstrating still life painting and will have a station set up for anyone who would like to take a moment to paint with me. Then I'll hang your painting across the top of my market tent for the remainder of the day, and you can pick it up toward the end of the Paint-In. If you're in the area, I'd love to see you and chat, and of course spend a few minutes painting with you.

I've been having a very hectic life recently and haven't been getting in nearly enough painting time. We have visitors from France for the next month, but I do hope to get in some plein air painting and post those.

A Bunch of Hotties

I'm reposting this one, as the picture is so much better than the first one I posted. I'm sometimes a little photography challenged. In fact, what improved this one is a layer of varnish which brought back all the darks. Oh the challenges we face!

A Krafty Pair

On a Clear Day

Original Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 48

On a clear day, the name of my newest painting, is the view that we are lucky enough to see from the beach just a 5 minute walk from my house, when the clouds lift and the air is clear. This is the view from Cattle Point, looking across the Strait of Juan de Fuca toward Washington State. The gorgeous mountain in the background is Mt. Baker, which is always capped with snow. it's truly magnificent and on a day like this everyone asks "Did you see Mt. Baker today?" I had to adjust the tones of the distant islands between the water and the mountain. I didn't have them pushed back far enough. But once I painted in the foreground it was obvious that the tones in the background needed to be lightened a bit. It's all relative...



I had another great day yesterday painting on the lawn of the Empress Hotel again. I won't tell you about the gale force winds when we arrived. I'll just say that EVERYTHING was tied or taped down. I almost attached myself! But, are the skies ever clear now! Not a cloud to be seen! Mt. Baker is once again in full view. I had the opportunity to chat with a lot of tourists and almost all of them were from Texas or Alabama. When I asked why so many people from that area were up here in Canada, they all said "Trying to beat the heat!" I told them that they were fortunate to come from a place filled with so many talented artists, and that I was in awe of the amount of talent residing in Texas. Okay, I know it's a big State but still! I can tell you they were visibly proud! :-)

On a Clear Day