Bali Seascape

Anchored    Acrylic    24 x 36

Here's another painting from our time in Bali. This one is from the Island of Nusa Lembongan. We stopped at a little beachside warang for lunch, and this was our amazing view. I had a lot of time to take in the many astounding shades of blue before our eyes. I knew I was going to have to paint this one!

Bali Seascape

New Website and New Show!

Morning Calm  Acrylic  16 x 20

Happy New Year! I always start the New Year by analyzing the past year, and planning for the new year to come. One of my goals for 2010 was to get a new website. I did it! Okay I left it to the last possible moment.... between Christmas and New Years I had the time to sit down at the computer for two days and I can now be found at www.clairechristinelfineart.com . Please take a moment to check out my site and let know what you think. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I've got the bones of it together and it was really fun to create. I went with FASO, recommended by fellow blogger Carrie Waller and I have to say that I'm really impressed with their product and their service is amazing! 

Another exciting thing that happened for me this year is that I started teaching still life painting classes in acrylics. That has been a very fun experience and also a huge learning experience. When we paint it's often very intuitive, and to teach you have to stop and think about each step and why. I learned all sorts of things about my process that I'd never really analyzed or put into words before.

I had some great experiences in shows and events throughout the year. One of the things that I realize is that with each great art experience I meet new artist friends. And it's those artist friend connections that make this industry such a rewarding place. The same is true of my blogging friends. The caring, sharing, support and enthusiasm is so rich in the art blogging world. We spend so much alone time when we're painting, but we go online and discover friends internationally. So I want to thank you all for visiting my blog and extending your kindness toward me, and becoming a cherished friend.

My first show of the year is at the Oak Bay Marina Cafe. Because it's on the water and surrounded by boats, I decided to show mostly west coast seascapes and boating paintings. The above painting is part of the show. If you are in Victoria and out for a seaside walk, drop into the Marina Cafe to warm up and enjoy my show!

New Website and New Show!

Morris Gallery Show

I'm really pleased to tell you that this painting "Pacific Sunrise" was accepted into the Federation of Canadian Artists' Fall Juried Show Sept 28 - Oct 31, at the Morris Gallery, in Victoria BC. If you are in the area, please drop by for the opening Friday Sept 28, 6 - 8pm. There are some wonderful artists and beautiful pieces in the show. You can view the works online once the show gets underway, by clicking here.

Morris Gallery Show

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

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

Pacific Sunrise

Original Acrylic on Textured Canvas

36 x 18  - SOLD

Here is the final version of the Step-by-Step from January 23rd and 24th. If you scroll down you'll find these two posts and see the texture building and painting of this canvas. I had to leave it for a few days and come back to it for the final touches, so I could get a more accurate read on what needed to be done. There's nothing like a fresh look at a painting to know where to go with it. The foreground needed to be darkened and the light on the water needed adjusting. Now I'm pleased with the outcome and had fun with the Golden mediums that I used - Molding Paste and Coarse Pumice. The Coarse Pumice was difficult to cover, so I would most likely experiment with adding some pigment before applying it the next time. Have you tried any of these textural mediums? If you've used Coarse Pumice let me know how you handled the paint coverage.

Pacific Sunrise

Seascape Still in Progress

I've continued moving down the canvas, blocking in the colour, and making bold energetic strokes with either large brushes or a palette knife. The coarse pumice medium is really interesting because it has a very 3D effect, and obviously lends itself to the beach scene. The paint on the pumice is drying about 3 tones darker than the same colour on the bare canvas, which actually makes some interesting marks. It's really hard to cover the pumice because there are many little holes where the pigment isn't penetrating. I'm having to use a hard bristle brush and scrub the pigment into the holes because those areas are looking under painted. In some applications, the areas left unpainted could have a nice effect, but in this instance it's not working. If I use this medium again I'll  most likely add pigment to the medium before applying it.

 

I have all the colour blocking in place now and can begin adding shadows to start forming the beachscape, which is made up of sandstone formations, rocks and seaweed. I need to darken down the foreground but also create a warm glow anywhere the light hits small pools of water.

This is my second to last painting session on this piece. I now have the beach well formed, but will need to darken the foreground and warm it up. I also want to work on the sky creating a bit more drama. I won't be able to photograph the final painting until the weekend. There's just not enough light by the time I get home from work. In any case, I'm having a lot of fun with this, and it's great to experiment with different mediums. On the final post for this painting I'll try to include some details so you can get an idea of the texture. I hope you're enjoying this experimental journey with me.

Seascape Still in Progress

Seascape In Progress

I needed to take a break from small works and still lifes, so I decided to try something I haven't done before. I selected a long vertical format 36" x 18" and textured the canvas with molding paste on the top 2/3, and coarse pumice gel on the bottom 1/3. I've used molding paste before but not the coarse pumice. It dried overnight, which I wasn't expecting. I thought it would take longer. 

I then started painting a seascape/beach scene which I captured in a photograph at dawn, last August, on Hornby Island. I worked from the top of the canvas down, painting much of it with a palette knife, in an abstracted manner. Sometimes, you just have to do the opposite of what you've been doing, to spike your creativity.

I've started breaking up the field of orange water, reflecting the fiery sun, which is starting to rise up behind the hill. I'm painting in acrylics which dry quickly, so I can keep adding paint and making adjustments. I'm working fairly quickly and having a lot of fun with the size and experimental quality of this piece. I'll be interested to see how paint applies to the coarse pumice. Some would say, try it out on a small piece first, but what the heck, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Stay tuned for the rest of this painting as it unfolds.

Seascape In Progress

Ford Cove - Hornby Island

Acrylic on Canvas  24 x 36  SOLD

 This is another scene from Hornby Island, but not from this past summer. This scene was painted from a photograph during a summer vacation full of rain. It had been raining all week, and finally it started to slow and I decided to go down to Ford Cove and visit the Art Gallery there. As I drove into the cove, the black clouds broke and the sun burst through. The contrast in the light was almost like a photo negative. Amazing! I'm tempted to try this one again in oils.

Ford Cove - Hornby Island

Waiting to Dock

Original Oil - Plein Air   8 x 10   $100+ s/h


This is another plein air painting from our recent trip to Vancouver. It's a view from Spanish Banks across toward the North Shore and Stanley Park. The bay is always dotted with freighters waiting for port entry. Spanish Banks has very warm waters for this neck of the woods, due to a big sand bar that keeps the water shallow for huge distances. You can spot people way out there and realize they are only up to their knees in water. I've always loved this view of beaching and boating with the mountains capped in snow. I found this painting difficult to do because I was sitting in the middle of blinding sunshine on the beach, without an umbrella but I really wanted to capture this scene, so I just kept going and I'm glad I did.

Waiting to Dock

Vancouver Skyline

Original Oil on Panel - Plein Air  8 x 10  $100 + s/h
Last week we were in my old home town of Vancouver. Gotta love the energy in that city! The first few days the weather was overcast and a bit cold but we had a heatwave later in the week. This is a plein air done on a cloudy with sunny periods day. A bit challenging. It's a view of the West End from Kitsilano, with those gorgeous North Shore mountains as a backdrop. We used to live just up the hill from this spot, and went here often, so I had to revisit and paint it.

Vancouver Skyline

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

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

Autumn Glow

Autumn Glow  Oil on Canvas Framed $175

My Plein Air buddies and I have not ventured out so far this year, because it's been sooo cold! We live on Vancouver Island, north of Port Angeles Washington, and it's been very windy as well. Last year at this time, we had been out painting several times, but so far, I'm still painting my landscapes from photos. This is the far end of the beach a few blocks from my home. It's one of our favourite places to walk. The colours on this sunny autumn afternoon, were glowing with warmth from all the wild rosehips growing on the cliffs, and I really enjoyed capturing those colours. This is my second oil painting. I'm having a lot of fun trying to figure things out with this new medium.

 

Autumn Glow

Rocks and Moss

Rocks and Moss - 11 x 14 Oil on Canvas $150

Here is my very first oil painting. I took a workshop at Vancouver Island School of Art to alleviate my worries about thinners and such. Now I'm at the bottom of a very steep slope. Caution! Big learning curve ahead! I love how you can blend so easily with oils, but I have to get used to how to apply the paint in layers while still wet. I'm having fun experimenting though. I'll probably go back and forth between acrylics and oils for a while, until I figure out which medium I like to use in which application. Got any tips for the novice oil painter?

Rocks and Moss