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

Symphony Splash at the Empress Hotel

Symphony Splash, Victoria's favourite summer festival, took place yesterday in Victoria's Inner Harbour. The Symphony and all of the other musical entertainment for the day, were on a barge in the bay, in front of the Empress Hotel and the Provincial Legislature Building. Festival goers from all of the world as well as most of Victoria, came out for this wonderful event. I was one of six artists demonstrating on the lawn of the Empress Hotel. These three girls from Japan were so beautiful in their kimonos!


I had a great time interacting with the public who are always so interested in an artist's process.
Some of the other activities included top class street entertainers, a street dance with lessons from the Arthur Murray Dance Company, painting for kids, and the best, a Musical Instrument Petting Zoo of kids, so they could hold and try out a musical instrument.


As the sun went down the anticipation to hear the Victoria Symphony play from the barge increased. More and more people arrived, more and more boats arrived, and the best seats were in kayaks right in front of the Symphony Barge. The kayakers were thick like rush hour traffic!


Our Provincial Legislature building with it's beautiful night time lights.



The Victoria Symphony, playing on their floating stage. They played many well known classical pieces, as well as some fun pieces by the Beatles that everyone sang along to.



As the final piece of music came to an end the sky lit up with a grand finale of fireworks! What a fantastic day everyone had, and I'm lucky enough to live here!

Symphony Splash at the Empress Hotel

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

Artishow Plein Air Event - Empress Hotel Victoria BC

This past Sunday was the Artishow Plein Air kick off event. Every Sunday throughout the summer, artists will be demonstrating their work at hotels around the Inner Harbour of Victoria. Painters and sculptors will be out interacting with the public, both locals and tourists. It was a great day, and I spoke to people from many parts of the world. I'm very honoured and humbled to be with some of Victoria's best artists at Artishow, plein air summer event. Check them out - Annie Pelletier, David Hunwick, David Goatly, Tara Juneau, and Robert Amos.





The painting I started on Sunday is a view from Cattle Point, a few blocks from my home, across to Mount Baker in Washington State. We can go weeks without seeing Mt. Baker because of cloud cover, but when we do, it's absolutely breathtaking. It just looms up and glows in the sun.

The canvas is 24 x 48, and did I mention that it's always windy in Victoria? We're right on the Pacific Ocean with nothing but wind and water between us and Japan. Luckily I brought bungy cords. I had my canvas attached to the easel with a bungy, and the easel attached to a box holding supplies and a heavy jug of water. I was painting in acrylics, and with each gust of wind, my paint dried at high speed. It made covering a large canvas a bit of challenge, but I got around it with acrylic medium and mixing the colour inside a yogurt container.





I'm posing for my girlfriend Kerry, who came down expressly to capture these photos for my blog. Thanks Kerry!




Chatting to some interested art enthusiasts, who just happen to be locals. We have a vibrant arts scene in Victoria and many dedicated show goers. I'm almost finished the painting, and will most likely post it in a few days. This upcoming long weekend, Sunday July 3rd, from 12 noon - 6pm, we will be out again on the lawn at the Empress Hotel. If you're in the area, we'd love to see you!

Artishow Plein Air Event - Empress Hotel Victoria BC

The Old Farm House

Oil on Canvas 8 x 10 $150 Unframed
Free shipping Canada and USA

We recently spent a late afternoon painting out at the old farm at Beaver Pond in Saanich. We were hoping for sun so we'd have some long shadows. The sun came and went, but it was out enough that we were able to capture the light effect. It was a beautiful spot with lots of wild rabbits hopping around the field. I don't know the story of the old farm house, but it's definitely old, with a sagging roof. It was a really glorious spot to paint.

This upcoming Sunday, June 26th, is the kick off of the Artishow Summer Plein Air Event at the Empress Hotel in Victoria. I'll be there painting along with a few other Victoria Artists, from 11am - 6 pm. If you're in the area, drop by and say hello, I'd love to see you!

The Old Farm House

Shady Spot

My plein air painting buddies and I headed out to a nearby park the other morning. It's a beautiful spot with gorgeous scenes to paint in every direction, but finally we decided to paint this stand of Arbutus trees. We all love Arbutus trees for their beautiful red peeling bark and often wind twisted trunks. Unfortunately there is a disease striking these trees, and many of them are having to be removed. So in honour of these west coast beauties, we all started painting. A short time later, a photographer arrived and informed us that a wedding party would be arriving soon, and they would need the entire area. We promised we would leave, and started painting with great speed, trying to get down the necessary lights and darks. I think he misinterpreted our zealous painting, and thought we were going to be problem painters, because he kept coming back and giving us a countdown. We were gone before the first of the happy wedding party arrived and we all finished our paintings at home. I had trouble differentiating the tree foliage in the midground with the shrubs and trees in the background. We may just have to go back to that spot again, but never on a Saturday! :-)

Shady Spot

A Bunch of Hotties

Oil on Linen 6 x 6 $85 Unframed SOLD
Free shipping Canada and USA

These radishes were so much fun to paint! I was focusing on the light and keeping the brushwork loose. The curly tails added a fun and chaotic aspect. Sorry, there's a bit of glare on the photo, otherwise I'm fairly pleased with this one.

I'm really delighted to tell you that this month I have a Solo Exhibit at the Marina Restaurant in Oak Bay. The Marina is one of the leading restaurants in Victoria, and yes it's right on the water, at the Oak Bay Marina. I have 17 of my most recent paintings hanging throughout the dining spaces. If you're from the area and are enjoying a wonderful gourmet meal at the Marina, please take the time to enjoy my art show as well!

A Bunch of Hotties

First Plein Air Painting Day of 2011

This is my first plein air painting of 2011. It's been a long year since I did this, and not only was I very rusty, but I'd forgotten just how challenging painting outdoors is. But first, what a beautiful day it was! My painting buddy Sharon Churchill and I headed to one of our favourite locations - Glencoe Cove. It was the first warm, sunny weekend since the end of September 2010!! If you live in the Pacific Northwest you know that I'm only joking a little bit. In any case we had a glorious day, and some wonderful visitors, and below are some photos of our afternoon.


This cat must belong to an artist. He was so friendly, rubbing up against our legs, then he stretched out on the rocks and watched us for a while.


We were painting away and suddenly this beautiful little deer, came walking down the beach. How great is that?


The deer left the beach, then suddenly she was right beside us, checking us out from between the wild flowers, but by the time I picked up my camera, she had started to walk off.



Sharon with her new plein air painting set up. This was the first day she used her new painting umbrella. (I was very envious).

Sharon's painting was far superiour to mine.....but then I didn't have an umbrella! :-)

Plein air painting really is difficult. But although my painting was seriously lame, I did have a wonderful day and am excited to get out there again.

Here are some things that I should have been thinking about, but was distracted by all the natural beauty.

• First off I needed to simplify the scene. In my desire to have a foreground, midground and background, I ended up with a bit too much going on.

• I had a real problem with values. I don't know if it was because it was so bright, but when I got home and looked at my painting, I had made everything too dark. So this lame painting has actually been touched up a bit. In Michael Albala's book Landscape Painting, he states that "Ultimately, judging values is not a matching exercise between subject and painting; it is a comparative exercise among the values within the painting itself."
• The light kept changing quickly, and I got drawn into changing the water over and over again, even though I know not to. I was sort of caught up in the moment and not really planning the painting all that well. Albala recommends that "plein air painters take their time. A painting that is incomplete but well thought out and organized is ultimately superior to something that is "finished" but rushed and unrealized. An unfinished painting can easily be completed indoors because it has a solid foundation." I think that's a very relevant comment. So for next time, I'll approach it in a more relaxed and thoughtful manner, simplify, plan my composition with simplicity in mind, and make a comparison of my values within the painting. And I'll try not to be so distracted by all that natural beauty!
  

First Plein Air Painting Day of 2011