Dream Catcher

Original Acrylic Painting  12 x 16  Framed $300 

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Here is the finished painting. It's a very grey day here in the Pacific Northwest but I think the photo is pretty close to the original, none the less. I really enjoyed painting with a black gesso ground. It created a wonderful richness of colour and light. I have a few photos of other subject matter, taken at dawn, which I think would work well with this same technique, so I'll be experimenting further.

I had a blogging  friend (check out her blog for a great sketchbook project), inquire about the Oak Bay Artists' Studio Tour, and whether people come through my house. Yes, that's exactly what happens. Depending on where the studio is located, artists open up various portions of their homes. The first time I participated I was a bit nervous to have strangers wandering through my home, but discovered that it was a very pleasant experience. Everyone is so respectful and appreciative to be able to come and view art in the artists space, to talk about process and inspiration, and if they purchase, they are purchasing from the source which is something they really appreciate. I serve tea and cookies, sometimes they even sit down for a visit, and it's really quite fun. There's a lot of prep work though, because you want everything to look good, including the garden!

Dream Catcher

En Provence

Original Acrylic on Exhibition Canvas
Image painted over all Four Sides
24 x 24  $800 + s/h


I completed this painting last summer, as part of a show entitled Mediterranean Moments. I did the still life set up with props that I owned, and was given a huge, beautiful lavender bouquet by a friend of a friend. The owner of the lavender has a lavender farm on her property, and as she is also an artist she went above and beyond to get the lavender to me, in perfect shape. I was deeply grateful. I then needed a background for the set up, and having lived in France, I had photos of lavender fields in my photo file. But to place the still life in front of a field from a photo was rather tricky. I was very nervous to try this and didn't want to ruin a good still life with a bad background, so I decided to paint the background first, thereby eliminating unnecessary work if it turned out poorly. The next tricky part was depicting the hot Mediterranean sun. I did many set ups in full sun at various times of day, and took even more photographs, finally arriving at this design. The last challenging part was painting all that white! White is so hard to paint! Very little of it is actually white. Because of all the lavender in the painting, I mixed a variety of temperatures and tones of lavender grey. In the end it was a great experience which I believe grew my painting skills. So don't be afraid to try something difficult. When we push ourselves we grow.

En Provence

French Doors and Flowers

Original Oil on Canvas 8 x 10 Framed SOLD
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I demonstrated at the Night Market in my neighbourhood the other night, and decided to do this smaller version of a larger painting I did a while back. I'm quite pleased with the loose brushwork and spontaneity of it. It was a beautiful sunny evening and a good time was had by all.

French Doors and Flowers

Still Life Show - Vancouver BC

From the Garden Acrylic on Exhibition Canvas  24 x 24  $800 + s/h

Au Marché  Acrylic on Exhibition Canvas  24 x 24  $800 + s/h

I'm very pleased to announce that two of my paintings 'From the Garden' and 'Au Marché' have been juried into the Annual Still Life Show at Federation Gallery in Vancouver BC. The exhibition runs until June 27 and you can view the entire show online at
http://artists.ca/show/still_life_show

Check out the site for more information about the Federation of Canadian Artists, a community of artists and art lovers who share a passion for the visual arts through education, exhibition and communication. Also check out two International Shows coming up soon, that you may be interested in entering - POTE 'Painting on the Edge', and AIRS 'Annual International Representational Show'.

Still Life Show - Vancouver BC

Little Red Car

Little Red Car - NFS

I painted this picture as a gift for my husband, who grew up in France. It's a scene of a small village in the north of France, featuring a car called a 2CV, or Deux Cheveaux, which literally means 2 horse power. He owned many of these cars in his youth, but the most legendary was the little red one in this painting, which even includes the original license plate number. This car, took him all the way to Turkey and back, through mountains and deserts etc., which was quite a remarkable feat. He's really happy with his painting.

Little Red Car

Curb Appeal

Curb Appeal   Acrylic on Linen  16 x 20  $450 + s/h
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This painting is from a small village outside of Paris. The entire town was full of hydrangeas in bloom and all I could think of was how much 'Curb Appeal' the homes had. I wanted to move into all of them. In this painting and my last two postings, I've been concentrating on capturing the feel of the moment with minimal brush strokes. Putting each stroke down with purpose. I can tend to overpaint, so restricting my brushstrokes is a great exercise for me, and I'm pleased with the outcome.

 

Curb Appeal

Sunday Afternoon

Sunday Afternoon   Acrylic on Canvas   30 x 24  $550 + s/h
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While living in the Southwest of France, in Toulouse, we would head out in any direction and just discover whatever we came across. On this particular day, we came upon the city of Albi. I took this photo from the ramparts above the river. There were stone bridges crossing the river one after the other as far as we could see. Bridges that people had been crossing for probably a thousand years. I thought it was so great to be able to fish while looking at a view so rich in history. I really enjoyed painting the reflections of the city onto the surface of the water.

 

Sunday Afternoon

City Dwelling

City Dwelling   Acrylic on Linen  16 x 20  $450 + s/h
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This painting is inspired from photos I took while living in Paris, France. We had a great apartment in the attic of a seven floor walk up. Yes you read that correctly. Luckily it was a beautiful staircase. Spiral, polished wood, tapestry carpets and floor to ceiling French windows on each landing. But the très chic apartments just above the cafes, within the trees that line the boulevards, like the one in this painting, always fascinated me. These people had large luxurious apartments, and on opening their French doors, could take in all the energy of the street life. I always thought of them as the Parisiens who were really 'City Dwelling'. This building had such beautiful old world charm and combined with the flower boxes full of geraniums, I simply had to paint it. 

 

City Dwelling