Sunnyside Up

Oil on Canvas 9 x 12 SOLD

Keeping with the sunshine theme of summer, I'm reposting a painting that gave me an equally sunny, happy feeling as my last post. I haven't posted much this summer, as we've been very busy with family visiting for one month from France, going in and out of town with them, and each time we returned I had an all day painting event. We even threw in my mom's wonderful 91st birthday celebration! It's been a bit crazy but lots of fun, and definitely great spending time with family. I'm looking forward to getting back to painting regularly, posting regularly and reconnecting with a lot of my blogging buddies. Even Facebook and Twitter are sending me messages about my absence. (It feels kind of good to be unplugged for a while) Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Sunnyside Up

Walking on Sunshine

Original Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 30

I'm walking on sunshine, and don't it feel good?! That's the song and sentiment that was going through my head when I painted this scene. Some days are just so beautiful and peaceful. This scene is a walk down the beach from Whaling Station Bay on Hornby Island, one of our favourite places to holiday. The gorgeous big arbutus tree, with it's unique red bark, hanging out over the sandstone shoals was picture perfect. I was quite pleased with my interpretation of the tree, until I browsed through Julie Davis' blog with her wonderfully informative tree studies, and I realized that I could definitely reinterpret this arbutus. However, not wanting to upset this sunshiney feeling, the fact that I could have interpreted differently, applied fewer highlights, created a more active/passive approach to my tree, is not something to feel bad about. It's something to look forward to! I can take Julie's pointers and do my own tree studies, and use that information to inform my next tree paintings. I'm still happy with my tree, I just know I could improve on it. But then Van Gogh felt that way about everything he painted.Speaking of which, I saw on Virginia Floyd's blog, that she is feeling frustrated with her painting process these days, and her husband said "You're not going cut off your ear are you?" I laughed out loud when I read that! We need to take ourselves less seriously, and just enjoy the journey, and keep learning from each other. I strongly believe that apart from a painters need to create, the fact that painting is not static, but a continual learning process, is what keeps all of us coming back to our easels each day. Smile and onward!!

Walking on Sunshine

Oak Bay Artists' Studio Tour - Show All Ready!

 Arbutus at Saltspring  Oil on Canvas

11 x 14  $150

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Spring Greens  Acrylic on Canvas

12 x 12  $225  

Free shipping Canada and USA

These are the last two painting additions I'm making to my Oak Bay Artists' Studio Tour Show. This has been a very busy week of framing and organizing, not to mention cleaning, but I'm feeling pretty good about how everything looks. My family are going to be my assistants throughout the show, so that should be a lot of fun to have them there helping me. The only stressful thing at this point is the weather. It's calling for snow! Now if you live in Victoria you will appreciate just how ridiculous this is. It rarely snows in Victoria! Anyhow, I'm sending out all my good Karma vibes so that if it does snow tonight, it will turn to sunshine before the first visitor arrives. :-) If you do live in the area, I'd love to see you! Remember to double click on the brochure in the right side bar for the tour brochure and map. Wish me luck!

Oak Bay Artists' Studio Tour - Show All Ready!

Beach House II - Sunny Side Up

Original Oil Painting 8 x10 SOLD

This is another little beach house from Hornby Island. I just loved the colours of the house in the sunshine, and Sunny Side Up immediately came to mind. I substituted an arbutus tree for the evergreen that was there to add a bit more red, and more island charm to the painting.

Beach House II - Sunny Side Up

Island Living

Acrylic on Exhibition Canvas 20 x 16 SOLD

Here is a summer beach scene from Saltspring Island, one of several gorgeous Gulf Islands, between here and Vancouver. This is one of our favourite places for a quick getaway. Many of the beaches have rock shoals, as seen here, and feature beautiful Arbutus trees. Here's someone's little skiff, just waiting to go for a row and a cottage nestled in the trees in the distance. Of course I had to paint it! I'm pleased with the sparkling light that I managed to capture.

Island Living

Arbutus

Arbutus - Acrylic on Canvas - SOLD

Ahh the Arbutus Tree! One of the most lovely trees on the west coast. It only grows within a short distance of salty sea air, and has the most unusual green peeling bark that exposes beautiful burnished red under bark. It twists and turns and is usually clinging to a cliff or rock precariously. This lovely specimen was backed by a fallen Arbutus tree trunk, downed during a wind storm, and both just needed to be painted.

Arbutus