Ms. A. Sort with black clutch and dogs

The Allsorts are back! Last February I painted a series of Allsorts portraits (the Royal Family, the Cousins, etc...). At the bakery the other day I saw a bag of them and my interest was rekindled. I think I may do a series of these as larger paintings, using my smaller ones as studies. I have way too much fun with them. Anyway, this is Ms. A. Sort, with her new black clutch, walking her dogs (I think those would be a Scottish Terrier and Poodle if anyone's interested ; ). And I included a photo of my set-up so you could see how the candy had actually been stuck together. I had to make use of that!

6"x6" / oil on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping worldwide)

Chocolates

Need I say more? : ) 

Yum. 

I painted this elegant little bag of chocolates for the "Paint It Before You Eat It" Daily Paintworks Challenge.

6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping worldwide)

New Blog Feature + ARTLOVE: John Kenn

artwork above and below by John Kenn

I couldn't get in to the studio today so I worked on improving my blog. I'd experimented with this feature a while back but now I think I've finally got it the way I want it. I hope you find it enjoyable + useful! So without further ado... (drum roll please.....)
TABS!
I created these for you to be able to see at a glance some of my available paintings sorted into different categories. So...you'd like to buy a food painting for your kitchen? Presto! Some flowers for your bathroom? I've got an app for that! (sorry - couldn't resist. think I've been sitting here too long : ) I've got more to add but it's a good start. You will said tabs directly under the EAT DRINK PAINT masthead at the top of this blog. Let me know what you think.

ARTLOVE: John Kenn One of my kids found his blog when doing an online search a couple of weeks ago. So cool. First I was drawn to his fabulous line work. I love Edward Gorey's drawings (his Gashlycrumb Tinies was a bit hit in college) and am over the moon with Maurice Sendak's illustrations. John (aka Don) Kenn is like their off-spring. BUT (and this is the quirky part that is all Kenns) he draws them on Post-it Notes. Love this! No need to be precious - grab what you can and draw! Kenn's been posting these mysteriously beautiful, odd small works since 2009 and he's just had a book published. The blurb under his masthead reads:
BORN IN DENMARK 1978. I WRITE AND DIRECT TELEVISION SHOWS FOR KIDS. I HAVE A SET OF TWINS AND NOT MUCH TIME FOR ANYTHING. BUT WHEN I HAVE TIME I DRAW MONSTERDRAWINGS ON POST-IT NOTES... IT IS A LITTLE WINDOW INTO A DIFFERENT WORLD, MADE ON OFFICE SUPPLIES.
Bravo!

Paper bag #2

I'm enjoying investigating this paper bag. I feel a series coming on ; ) 

Cosmos with tipped chair

Today I went to an open studio class at Laurie's. It felt so good to be back. I set up a still life with these cosmos sitting atop my favourite red chair, draped some fabric over the back and added a few lemons. I sketched it out and I liked it - it was "pretty". But the more I thought about it it seemed trite. I asked Laurie about ways to take the "expected" out of still life arrangements. I thought of pulling my view back to include what I was seeing behind the chair. One way. She also mentioned: walking to the back of the arrangement you've so carefully set-up and painting it from that viewpoint; placing your items on the ground; and picking up an unrelated object and tossing it in. All good ideas. So I dismantled my set-up, tipped the chair, tossed the fabric on the floor and set down the vase and fruit. It gave me the look I was after. This is 16"x20" and is acrylic on stretched canvas.

Lunch (kickin' it old school)

It was the only way to have your lunch in high school...lol "Lunch boxes" were childish. Now they've got well-designed lunch bags that are stylish, insulated and re-usable. Win-win. But I still love the look of a paper bag.

Anticipation

This is for the Daily PaintWorks White on White Challenge. Yep, it was a challenge! My favourite bit on this one is the marble.
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping worldwide)

Pistachos

I was painting these while I finished listening to Canada Reads today. If you're wondering who won the literary prize this year, it was Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter by Carmen Aguirre. I love this annual competition and Jian Ghomeshi was the perfect moderator as always ; ) 

6"x6" / acrylic on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping worldwide)

June pond

Well today I was home with a sick child (but on the mend) so I didn't get to my studio. Instead I used the day to do some baking: toffee squares, chocolate crinkles and honey cookies ; ) I thought I'd repost this plein air piece I did in June. We've had an unusually mild winter so I'm not complaining that it's been too cold, but I still enjoy looking back on summer.
16" x 20" / acrylic on stretched canvas / for sale!

Pineapple

This was a challenge! But fun. Pineapple tastes so good in February. Reminders of the sunny tropics are nice in a Canadian winter ; )

6" x 6" / acrylic on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping worldwide)

Custard horn

Picked this up at the bakery. Good thing I don't feel like eating my props after I've painted them. That could lead to lots of trouble : )
6" x 6" / acrylic on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping worldwide)

Papaya

Sometimes - usually in winter - we have an "exotic fruit night". Browsing through the fruit aisles we'll pick the most tropical-looking, mysterious fruit to bring home. Then we do an online search, figure out how best to eat it and dive in. This winter we did one and chose rambutans, tamarillos, star fruit, passionfruit and the lush-looking papaya (above). While we've eaten some of these before, others were new. Top picks in our house were the rambutans followed by the passionfruit. The starfruit, while gorgeous, had only one lonely fan ; ) To be fair, some of the fruit may not be at it's prime. I've had horrendous, rubbery peaches and if that's all some people have tasted, well, it's a damn shame...lol.  Living in the Niagara region, we are in peach heaven, and there is no comparison from what you get in the store to a Red Haven picked fresh off the tree.

6" x 6" / acrylic on archival canvas board / $100 (includes free shipping worldwide)

Commission

This is a painting I just finished of two brothers snowboarding. My friend asked if I'd do a painting from a photo she had of her kids. Going in I had the usual apprehensions: stilted figures, tight work etc... but once I started on the canvas it all clicked. The challenge was keeping a loose style all the way through to the end. There were a couple of interesting style decisions to make: how far to go on the camouflage pants on the right (I went with the suggestion of camo) and whether to stick with actual rainbow-style goggles on the left (or keep them basic). I decided to basically be true to the photo as those are the clothes they and their parents will remember them wearing. And sometimes those bring back nice memories.  They haven't seen it yet - I think they are skiing this weekend : ) but I will call them Monday.

Because I love seeing process in the work of othes I decided to show the stages along the way!

Ton and his carrot - SOLD

This is one more painting of Ton. For those who asked, he is a bulldog pup. Anyway, another funny thing about him is that he loves to eat carrots. I thought that was hilarious. He had just been given a carrot and I snapped this picture. And then he began eating.
6"x6" / oil on panel / SOLD

ARTLOVE: Sydney Licht

 Still Life with Bundles, 12"x12", oil on linen, 2011, Sydney Licht

~no information given as to title and size. Painting by Sydney Licht~

Still Life with Coffee and Tea, 16"x12", oil on board, 2010

Painting by Sydney Licht

Sydney is one my my newest painting crushes.
I have so many.
**blush**
I came across her work through Painting Perceptions. If you click on the link you can see more of her work and read a thoughtful interview with the artist by Neil Plotkin. There is also a short video of Licht in her studio. I just love this kind of painting. So thoughtful and such attention paid to compostion. Awesome.

"Who, me?" - SOLD

Meet "Ton" (as in: someday-he's-going-to-weigh-a...). This is my brother and sister-in-law's puppy. I met him on the weekend and he's pretty funny. He likes to push his face up against things to cuddle, so he was kind of head-butting my shins. So cute : )

6" x 6" / oil on panel / SOLD

The new "Bus!"

Well, thanks everyone for your comments, insight and humour regarding my bus painting. There were a few people who suggested I could probably fix it without repainting the entire piece (optimists!) but I decided the practice would serve me well. So I whipped out a new panel (with the other painting out of sight) and began again. I made a few different decisions but I think on the whole it's a stronger painting. Do you? It's not a 100% bang on but it's closer.
6" x 6" / oil on archival canvas

"Bus!" + oh boy...

So I was all happy with my bus...and then my husband walked in and said: Can I say something without you taking offense?
Me (feeling slight offense that he would think my ego so fragile...lol): Yes!
Him: Your bus is not quite right. The snout is painted like you're looking at it straight on but you can see the side of the bus.
Me: Hmm. Damn. How did I not notice that! Perhaps the bus had been in a collision and the frame was bent? Or...I'm painting it for a 2 year-old. I don't think she'll notice? Ahh...no. I just had to face facts. I got my perspective wrong. And it's a darn shame I didn't catch it in the drawing stage!
I also got an email from a fellow blogger friend pointing it out to me in a very nice way (which I totally appreciated it! It can't be all glitter and sunshine). So although there are things I like about this piece, I am re-doing it. I will keep you posted!

"Bus!" work in progress + a sketch

 This is for my youngest niece who is currently enthralled with buses. I don't usually draw vehicles (stayed away from them because all the precise bits scared me) but if it's buses she likes, a bus I paint! Tomorrow I'll finish the windshield, road and sky. Wish me luck. I would hate to mess it up now.

Speaking of vehicles, I had to bring ours in for the Drive Clean test for license renewal. Across the street is a nice market so I had a cookie + coffee and did a sketch to pass the time. Now that I've made up my mind to regularly sketch, I cart my book around and I'm finding lots of opportunities to pull it out and do a quick study. Happy Thursday.

Lunch

As in the the butterfly's lunch - I'm not interested in snacking on Monarchs ; ) I remember when my daughter was young - 3 or 4 - she loved observing butterflies on flowers and pieces of fruit and would always point out the proboscis. She had learned about it from one of her books. It was such a great word to come out of a little mouth! I was thinking about that when I painted this today.
8" x 10" / acrylic on stretched canvas / $165

Scribbling...and DoodleArt!

So today was one of those hectic days where I didn't have time to go to my studio and paint. We've all experienced those days, yes? : ) But my day was not an artistic loss - I have something very cool to share! A while back I found a hip blog called The Scribble Project, brainchild of Lisa Currie. Lisa designs templates that you print and then let loose on, and then send them to her to post on her blog. Fun. And it's open to everyone: no age, geographical or artistic requirements. Reminds me a bit of DoodleArt back in the day (although did you hear they're been re-issued (heart pounding)?! I gave a couple of them as presents last month! More on that in a minute). Anyway, I printed out a scribble page this morning, shoved it in my sketchbook and then pulled it out when I was waiting for my son to finish his music lessons. Problem is I kinda want to do one every day : )

Note on DoodleArt for those that remember the original: markers are way superior. Still over 60 hours of doodling fun ; ) Hey - I just checked out their website and saw that they were a Canadian company. I'd be interested in hearing from my American readers if they were available in the States as well. If this is the first time you've heard about them, hop over to their website and order. You can thank me later : )

Wings - SOLD

How about a nice shot of colour on a January day? I remember being enchanted with monarchs as a child - wings like miniature stained glass windows! Honestly I still get a little thrill when I see them : )

6"x6" / oil on archival panel / SOLD

34th World Wide SketchCrawl - Urban Sketchers

Yesterday was the 34th World Wide SketchCrawl founded by Enrico Casarosa. My friend (and fellow artist) Brenda and I met in Jordan Village to take part in the occassion (we still have to upload to the site). I know some artists in the blogosphere have regular sketching get-togethers and I've always thought that sounded so cool! Well...it was! I had a lot of fun sketching with Brenda. We met at Zooma Zooma Cafe and spent a few hours drawing. The staff were good to us and didn't give us the hairy eyeball for staying in their café for 3.5 hours ; ) We tipped them well : ) So here's my afternoon's work:

My lunch. A lobster/shrimp salad on a croissant with salad. 

 A fellow diner perusing the menu. Brenda brought her watercolours so I had fun adding some colour. My favourite part of this one was the flower on the table.

 View of Cave Spring Cellars across the street.

An old gas pump now part of the decor.

Brenda and I at the end of the day. Thanks for driving out to sketch with me Brenda! It made it all the more enjoyable : )