I originally painted this July 28th but since I'm not painting today, thought it would be a perfect re-post. I spoke of them sharing a "grave" concern ; ) These are salt and pepper shakers I picked up this summer on a visit to Stratford. Along with this conversation starter. Trick-or-treat!
I'm feeling a little calmer today - phew. And no hidden spooks in the painting far as I can tell... ; ) This is a bouquet we received the other day and I just love it: bright oranges, corals, golds - and the wonderful shape of it. It's a full globe of petals. My favourite bit of this piece painting-wise is the vase.
Today was a day of utter frustration. I painted for about 2 1/2 hours and it ended in three wipe-downs. Finally I put everything away, ran out to do errands and then made another attempt when I got home. I only had a small window to work in and had to paint quickly. I grabbed an old palette knife that I haven't picked up in 20 years and took a swing at it. This was the result. I had fun with the knife, I'll definitely try it again. Now that I've viewed it online, I have to laugh - I see a smiling ghost head in the tree line. What's up with that?
I think these are so cool. This one belongs to my nephew.
Saturday was the opening reception for the Second Annual Juried Show at the Sunrise Art Gallery. My painting "Inksetter pond" won first place and my friend and fellow artist blogger Tammy Hext won second with her gorgeous painting "Leaving Petrolia". Yay! It's a very nice feeling to be recognized this way in and among the inevitable rejections. Tammy - we need some champagne! : )
Today I was painting in the woods and it was dense, misty, overcast and balmy. For me it was a lot about the branches. And a bit about the colour. I'm tentative about pushing forward on this piece but I don't think it's quite done. I like what I have going in on in the middle of the piece (shown in detail) and the left and am thinking about developing the rest although I don't want it to feel too "done". You know, it's like cooking pasta: you want to stop at al dente and not end up with a pot of mush. Perhaps I need to put it away for a bit and revisit it at the end of the week.
This is another 36" square painting. This is the one I began last week and then the wind picked up and I lost my reflections. But I continued to work with it in the studio and am pretty happy with the result. I am reading a book about artist Peter Doig and came to this passage yesterday. It meant a lot to me and I thought I'd share it:
I carried this stack of stuff into my studio and set it on the table. It was a cockscomb flower, a container holding my salad, a notepad and a stack of books. I looked at it and with the colours, shapes and angles it looked like a pretty exciting subject to paint (that orange on the Richard Diebenkorn book was the icing on the cake).
Okay - you know how I said Wednesdays piece (above) was a work in progress? Well this is what happened to it! lol. It took on a life of it's own. It's acrylic - thus easy to keep adding washes, scrub, spray etc... I've got to say - I'm glad I went at it and didn't feel precious about possibly wrecking it. It felt good to explore and dig around.
Yesterday I received my books from Amazon! GORGEOUS!! I got a book of Peter Doig's work and one by Richard Diebenkorn. It's funny - even a few years ago I don't know that I would have appreciated the bulk of their work as I do today. I find it fresh, immediate and honest. We're always (hopefully!) learning, curious, and seeing things in new ways... I guess I'm exploring that. I painted this piece in a whole new way than I've worked before: equal parts reality, intuition and memory. The flower in the shot glass and the Santa figurine were in my studio - that was the reality. The rest I just "felt". I know I will be creating many paintings as I always have, but I'm also excited and intrigued with a new way of painting and need to explore...
This is the piece I worked on today. It was a different surface: clear-gessoed wood. The paint had a real drag on it, which was difficult to paint with. I am going to add a bit of dappled light in the top part of the painting - otherwise - close to being done.
Playing with simplifying and abstracting a bit - making flatter shapes, experimenting...
Ay-yi-yi! This afternoon I sat down to finally tackle a clarinet and flute and it was kinda complicated! I knew this and guess that's why I'd been procrastinating : ) 
Friday I spent the day with a great group of artists plein air painting (led by Laurie Wonfor Nolan) at a farm in Cambridge. In my heart, I've been working toward abstraction or semi-abstraction for some time and have been feeling a real pull in that direction (I'm speaking of my larger work here, not my daily paintings). You know that feeling when you're in a zone and you get such a rush? I remember one painter describing it as "the paint just falling off the brush". That's how I felt. I went out today and bought three more canvasses this size and just can't wait to get outside again and have a go at it. I think I'm even dreaming about it : ) It's great when you just get filled up with the JOY of painting.
Can you tell I love painting these shoes? I think this is the third piece I've done of them. A challenge but I'm also a sucker for that satin ribbon tie.
This gourd - or little pumpkin? - has been surviving in my studio the past month so I thought I'd take another stab at it. I paired it with a favourite pinecone. The gourd gave me a fair bit of trouble but I won't hold that against it ; 0
First of all Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians out there! I painted a pumpkin to post for today and then was so busy with cleaning/prep for dinner that I forgot to photograph it when there was still daylight. I tried with a flash but just get flashback so it will just have to be my next post. For now I am doing a re-run from January "In a squeeze". And like I said in winter...Who hasn't felt that?! ; ) And dinner was lovely. Old friends + good food and wine = great times : )
This summer while visiting the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario I saw the exhibit: Camouflage - From Battlefield to Catwalk. It was a fascinating look at the history of camouflage. I must say, after walking through the first part of the exhibit and seeing the original applications it felt like a jolt to see - near the end of the exhibit - the design plastered on children's products and baby onesies. And have any of you heard of Dazzle Ships? Fascinating! After reading about them at the museum I saw the painting "Dazzle-ships in Drydock at Liverpool" (1919) by Edward Wadsworth the next day at the National Gallery (shown above). Here is an excerpt on Dazzle Ships from Wikipedia:At first glance Dazzle seems unlikely camouflage, drawing attention to the ship rather than hiding it, but this technique was developed after the Allied Navies were unable to develop effective means to disguise ships in all weather.
Dazzle did not conceal the ship but made it difficult for the enemy to estimate its type, size, speed and heading. The idea was to disrupt the visual rangefinders used for naval artillery. Its purpose was confusion rather than concealment.[1] An observer would find it difficult to know exactly whether the stern or the bow is in view; and it would be equally difficult to estimate whether the observed vessel is moving towards or away from the observer's position.[2]
6" x 6" / oil on panel / $75
"In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary."
I set up this selection of bottles (from The Good Earth) and then wondered what the heck I was thinking. A lot of crazy angles, foreshortening and reflections. Yikes! But it was a good challenge and left me wanting to do more. I think my favourite bit is the clear bottle. And thanks for the comments from yesterday. I hadn't heard of a concertina before and it was cool to hear from those of you that had fond memories of them.
