Today was my first day using my shadow box! It is excellent to be able to see such pure colours, highlights, shadows, etc... I am also very excited to be registered in Carol Marine's painting class in October! Five days of intensive painting and learning. She teaches in oils so I will be making a switch for that week - and perhaps I will carry on with it...we'll see. Anyway, here are some grapefruit sections to enjoy on a dull day!
A couple of weeks ago I posted a piece I was working on of sunflowers. Today I got back to work on it since I hadn't had time to finish it in the field. I am re-posting what the piece looked like before (a cropped version) and what it looks like today. Much happier with the developments.
Frosted woods is dear to me. I was tromping through the woods on a frosty, late December afternoon. The sun was going down. I was cold. I came across a tangle of vines, brambles and branches. Much of the wood and stalks were quite lavender, blue and crimson. It felt like a scene from an abandoned, enchanted, wintery land or a movie set or something. Anyway, I set my stuff up and began to paint. As most often happens in cold-weather painting, my fingers got stiff, my feet got cold, my nose began to run...but I felt locked in and excited with what was happening. Some days are like that : )
This is the one snapdragon left blooming in our garden. The colour and curving forms of the flowers intrigued me. I really like this piece today - fairly abstracted, lots of movement and I used some different colour combinations. One thing new for me was that I painted the ground in today's and yesterday's pieces in a violet hue. And does anyone else remember being fascinated with snapdragons when they were kids? When I was shown how the snapdragon could "bite" you, and leave a yellow mark - I thought it was the coolest flower going!
Across the street and down a bit is a parcel of land that is growing wild. All year long I drive by that stretch and love how the weather and seasons change the view. Autumn has ushered in all sorts of golds, rusts and crimsons and it's gorgeous! Rich grasses, turning leaves, chocolate stalks...and every day it's something new.
Okay...so today's painting is a piece in transition. It is not yet finished but I am a bit stuck on where to go with it from here. It started out well: atmospheric and subtle, and then somewhere I took a wrong turn and couldn't find my way back : ( I did have a number of fellow artists give me ideas (if only they had all agreed! ; ) so I just have to stand back from it for a while, think on it, and then find my course. Perhaps the best advice came from Cathy, my mentor (Catherine Gibbon - see link to the side) who spoke about deciding on the colour of light, and remembering values. I have a fair bit left to do on this piece and will post it again when I'm not feeling so annoyed with it!
MINI Okay - back to painting after 2 days off. A fun two days though! I have a basket of gorgeous nectarines on the table that we're going to have for dessert tonight with our company that is here from Germany. But, as much as I'd like to think I was the kind of girl that could just be happy with fruit straight up, I am not. There will be a plate of broken chocolate and a bowl of Clodhoppers to accompany them ; )
This is a painting I did years ago but still really enjoy. It came about as a bit of a fluke. I had painted the ground a firey red/orange and after having sketched in the tress, began painting around them. Well, I got so caught up in the background I forgot to work the whole of the painting, and when I was done I looked at what was before me. And I liked it! I felt that if I had painted the trees in, it would have lost it's punch . Frankly, it conveys the true feel of the woods that day.
I'm leaving shortly for the day to photograph a wedding so I won't have time to do a painting. The couple appear very happy and relaxed and it's going to be a beautiful day! As love is in the air, I thought I'd post a painting I did a few years ago on a kickin' holiday in St. Martin with my husband. He's really something : ) YU!
Today another painting from the same location as yesterday. This is to the right of the pear tree - a field full of clover, Queen Ann's lace, goldenrod and a bluish flower I always see and never know the name off. In the distance is a farm house. A peaceful setting to paint.
Old pear is another painting I'm working on for a show. When my friend showed it to me, there was a story attached, but I've forgotten (!) so I will post it when I get it straight. I also snapped a photo of my preliminary painting, just to show people the first stage. I think I need to add a bit more to my painting but I had to pack it in after my canvas blew down on top of me for the 18th time. Strong winds out there today.
This is an apple from our tree, which is old, unkempt and wild. This is about the only apple from the tree that was not marked with worm holes, large scabs, etc... Thought I'd like to try painting it.
I was with some old friends this weekend up in Huntsville. When we were out hiking we stopped to admire (among other things) Queen Anne's Lace - wild carrot - with it's full, rich scented root. Right now the fields are sprinkled with them, as well as wild yellow snapdragons, purple clover and goldenrod. Really quite beautiful. I love this time of year. Additional note: a few people have asked if I did this from memory or a photo. Nope! Not that skilled ; ) I went driving around here at home and found this field not far from my house. 
Sunday post: This is the first painting I sold in a gallery, I was so excited! I love it to this day. I'm sure every artist remembers their first gallery sale, and perhaps that is why this painting is so close to my heart.
This is another painting from the sunflower farm. I chose the same flower that made it into the first piece. It was breezy and the petals were blowing around making interesting shapes. Just by the sheer colour alone, golden sunflowers make you smile.
This is a section of a painting I started today. It is not quite done and I don't want to show it all till I have the revisions completed. You know how it is. I am working on a body of work toward a show on the Greenbelt. This was painted at a wonderful organic sunflower farm in St. Anns. http://www.windywillow.com/. Emily graciously let me invade her field - thanks Emily! I am catching the flowers at the end of their season but as long as there are some blooms left on the stalks, I'm good.
Feeling silly this morning. Took another stab at my pinecone, looking at pattern in the scales. When I finished the painting and gave it a good hard stare, it looked like it had a fancy evening dress on and was ready to go out on the town. But alas, it's stuck here on my filing cabinet for a couple more days. Poor thing. 
I have a confession. I love the outdoors and I know the rule: Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints. But I swiped this pinecone from our campsite the day we left. There were many and I didn't really think it would be missed. Besides, I saw such great painting potential! So here is the first of a pinecone series for the week ahead. I want to explore this object a little more.
My anemone's are blooming! I love having them in the garden because just as other things are fading, out they pop. And they have tall stems and sway in the breeze and are so lovely.
Happy long weekend everyone!! For those readers new to this blog, Sundays I take the day off and post a larger piece previously painted, most often from my website (www.kimrempel.com). Today it is Feminine Plane. This was painted at Mount Mary in Ancaster and has been in an exhibit at the Fieldcote Museum all summer. I did this piece in March. The snow was melting and the ground beginning to thaw. The air was still chilly and damp but I wasn't dealing with a freezing arse and numb fingers. Ah, memories of painting in winter ; ) Anyway, there was a reverent feeling on the grounds and it was quite a mystical place to paint. I was traipsing over the grounds, looking for the moment when something would hit me, and then spied on the top of a hill a wonderful ring of plane trees. Wow! When I got up close there was one in particular that gave me a jolt. It was reminiscent of a dancing woman - skirt flowing in a twirl. Graceful and lovely.
Not a creative title but it says it accurately ; ) This is what I painted Day Four - September the 3rd. I biked to the beach and sat on the sandy stairs and started painting like mad. Once the sun went down, darkness came quickly and I had to really fly before all light was lost.
Day Three - September 2nd. This was a tree on my campsite. I was surrounded with trees - it was good and private that way, but this one caught my eye so I wanted to highlight it. But - and this is my sad lack of tree knowledge coming through - I don't know what it was! Maybe if I describe it someone can help me out? It was coniferous and had short needles - but is that a fir? A spruce? If you can identify by the visual and my meagre description, please let me know. I'd love to call it by it's name in the title of the piece.
Day Two - September 1st. This is a view of Sunset Point on Lake Huron. Many times when sitting down to paint there is so much going on, the challenge is to know what to leave out. The trees on the left were a mix of dead branches and healthy needles and that was one thing I wanted to be sure to catch an impression of. 
I'm back! It was a great trip : ) It's always hard to leave when you're having such a good time, but tonight when we pulled in the driveway....well, it's always good to be home too. I spent the week on Lake Huron around the Saugeen Shore area. A wonderful spot: lots of birch trees sprinkled throughout the woods (I think the most I've ever seen in one spot); great bike trails; a nice river for canoeing; and a beautiful bright moon. And campfires. But I digress! The painting this trip was great! This was the piece I did Monday, August 31. 
