Paint in the Park

I recently participated in a fund raiser for the Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria. A group of Victoria's artists came out and painted en plein air in the park behind the CAC and offered their paintings up for auction with the proceeds going to the CAC. It was a really fun and rather challenging day, as I hadn't painted en plein air for a long time. It's quite humbling to go out in the great outdoors, and try to edit the scene down to an 8 x 8 canvas. My first piece was the only one I was happy with - a painting of McCrae House, which is a bit like a still life. The second was a landscape which was so bad I wanted to throw it like a frisbee as far away as possible, but I don't pollute, so instead I threw it face down on the grass under my easel so no one could see it! Below are some of the scenes and my auctioned painting.

This is the one painting that I was pleased with from my day, and it sold! This is McCrae House, an historical house on the park grounds behind the Community Arts Council. I went into the shade of a big tree, and sat my painting on a compost box in order shoot the picture. It has a bit of glare but you can get the idea.

There are some lovely Garry Oak groves in the park, with paths leading through and on to the golf course. The CAC staff came around regularly in golf carts offering us chairs, cold bottled water, and transporting people who wanted to view the paintings in progress out around the park.

I loved the light glowing warm through the trees here, but didn't select this view to paint. I may paint it in the future.

And here's a view of the golf course with a row of tall elm trees. I thought with a few compositional adjustments, this could have been a nice painting.

Paint in the Park

Art Critic Review & Paint in the Park

Lemons and Lace II

I'm very excited to announce that today a review of my artwork appeared in the Victoria Times Colonist Newspaper. To view the article click here.

Paint in the Park

Also, many of Victoria's well known plein air artists will be gathering on Saturday September 13th for a Paint in the Park fund raising event for the Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria. The artists will all be assigned a position along the beautiful Cedar Hill Park & Trail behind the Cedar Hill Recreation Center. We will be painting from 11:00 to 4:00pm and during that time,  completed paintings will be picked up regularly and exhibited, ready for the silent auction. You can also walk the path and get a sneak preview of the pieces being painted. Starting at 5pm a wine reception and silent auction will take place, with the paintings starting under $50 and increasing in $5 increments with each bid. It's the perfect opportunity to collect a small piece or two by leading Victoria artists, have a fun afternoon with your friends, and at the same time help raise money for the Community Arts Council, which works tirelessly on a volunteer basis, to support the artists of Victoria. Hope to see you there!

Art Critic Review & Paint in the Park

The Trestle Bridge

Original Oil Painting - Plein Air   9 x 12  $100 Free Shipping CAN & US

This is a plein air piece that I did this past weekend at the Selkirk Trestle. It's a very peaceful spot - with a lot of activity taking place. I just didn't include the activity. There's a boat launch to the left of this scene where rowers come to practice in their rowing sculls. There were many boats coming and going in the water, and a constant stream of cyclists and joggers on the trestle bridge. The bridge is part of the Galloping Goose Trail, which is a 60 kilometer trail open to cyclists, horses, inline skaters, and joggers. It's a much loved recreational area on Southern Vancouver Island. Because of the constantly changing water surface, I just blocked in the water and highlights, and took a photograph of the scene. Apart from waves created by the boaters, a breeze blew up, eliminating all the nice reflections.  When I got home I added the calm darks as seen in the photograph, to create a greater serenity and depth to the scene.

 

The Trestle Bridge

Lavender Field

Original Oil Painting - Plein Air   8 x 10  $125 Free Shipping

This is the lavender field that we were so fortunate to spend a morning painting. Unfortunately, on the way to farm, I suddenly discovered I'd lost my glasses! I tried to make the best of a blurry moment but never quite got into the zone. If I was to do it again I would probably reduce the size of the willow tree and move it over by the barn, with maybe a branch overlapping. It was hard to decide what viewpoint to paint from. I wanted to paint in the shade, but eventually chose full sunshine so I was looking up the rows of lavender. I worried through the whole painting about my glasses, but there was a happy ending to the story. After hours of retracing my footsteps, I found them on the lawn in my backyard, next to the sprinkler!

 

Lavender Field

On the Spit

Oil on Canvas Panel  8 x 10  $95

Yesterday my plein air friends and I went to a place called Esquimalt Lagoon. It was a lovely sunny day, which I can tell you have been few and far between. The house is on a spit of land that extends along the oceanfront, forming a lagoon. The water in my painting is almost like a river that runs from the lagoon around the spit and reconnects with the ocean on the far left. My friends were busy painting the natural beach scape, but I was struck by those three telephone poles in beside the house. I loved the tilt of the poles and gently swooping wires. It gave the scene a summer place feel, although no one actually lives in the house.

There is so much wildlife in this lagoon. We saw a sea otter as we arrived, countless blue heron were busy fishing in the shallows, and there was a lot of eagle action overhead. So close we could hear there powerful wings beating the air. We all agreed that there is no better way to spend a sunny morning, than to head out painting together.

 

On the Spit

Trial Island

Here I am plein air painting off of South Oak Bay about 1 mile from where I live.

Original Oil 8 x 10 SOLD

On the weekend my painting buddy Sharon and I headed out on probably the most beautiful day we've had so far this summer. We absolutely had to stop when we saw this million dollar view of Trial Island with the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, fully visible in the background. The Olympic Mountains are generally cloaked in cloud.

I'm generally pleased with the outcome but I think I got a bit too busy with the foreground. Those pesky details just want to jump off my brush! I'm happy with the aerial perspective though.

Trial Island

Plein Air

Camus Meadow 11 x 14 Original Oil $50

This is my very first plein air painting of the season, and about my 6th plein air painting ever. I have a huge appreciation of artists who plein air paint regularly. It's an art form all to itself and a very difficult one at that. First you have to decide on a good location, use your view finder to figure out your composition, then the editing begins. What will you keep and what you will eliminate? There is so much information before your eyes. Then there's the atmospheric perspective and of course chasing the light! So this is really documenting my progress, as I'm showing square one here. Yikes!

A bit about the scene itself. My two painting buddies and I headed out to a local, very natural park near our homes. The park is full of protected species of plants and trees, and in the Spring for a few glorious weeks the Camus flowers are in full bloom. It really is a sight to behold. I've included a few photos of us painting so you can appreciate the setting.

Plein Air