Self-portrait

After seeing Carol Marine's funny, terrific self-portrait for this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge, I decided to try it myself. I was doing a bit of a silly half-smile/smirk but man...it's tougher than it looks! I had a mirror propped up on my easel - next time I may try taking a picture of myself and going that route. But it was a great challenge! Portraits are exciting - you never know which way they're going to take you.
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping worldwide)

"Forsythia" by Canadian daily painter Kim Rempel - SOLD

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Our forsythia have begun to bloom! What a beautiful sight for the eyes - that gorgeous shock of yellow. Spring is great ; )

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

"Fresh air" by Canadian daily painter Kim Rempel - SOLD

Can you feel the spring air? And the smell of damp, fresh earth? I love spring. Full of hope and renewal.

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

Heather fields - SOLD

We were there in September and the fields of heather and scrub were gorgeous. 
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / SOLD

Scotland cairn - SOLD

We came across a large rock pile that people had built small cairns on. I believe the intent of these was akin to wishing safe travel. We each added one to the lot. In Canada we call them Inukshuks, which come from the Inuit. The farther north you drive in Ontario the greater chance of seeing Inukshuks built by passers-by. I love looking for them whenever we head up north. And hey - just because I'm in the spirit of things - Cheers Will and Kate! 
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / SOLD

Stein Inn - SOLD

This is the Stein Inn at the Isle of Skye, Scotland, est. 1790. Can you imagine? We had a drink in the bar. It was great. The sign above the door was carved wood that had it's own warps and curves, the exterior white plaster. 
On a personal note - we had a wind storm of epic proportions here today. Giant old pines were snapped like matchsticks laying all over the roads and on top of cars. Shingles were blown off roofs like sheets of paper, a roof was even torn off a school. Some high school rowing teams were on the lake early in the morning and the boats capsized. Thankfully everyone was saved. Glad today is over.
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping worldwide)

Eilean Donan - SOLD

This is from another photo I took in beloved Scotland. Eilean Donan is said to be the most photographed castle in Scotland. It certainly is stately, atmospheric and hauntingly beautiful. Although I must admit I found all the castles there to be heartbreakingly lovely. 
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / SOLD

Rushing water - SOLD

Today I painted from a photo I took when we went to Scotland a few years ago. I have wanted to do more plein air daily paintings but the weather has been cold and/or rainy. Hence the photo. I find painting landscape in oils a huge challenge. My comfort with plein air painting is with acrylics, which I will be getting back to next week when things (hopefully) warm up and dry out ; ).
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping worldwide)

Invitation to the Spring HandMade Market!

Well, I had a small window of time to paint today and unfortunately after I stood back and looked at what I'd done, it was a mess and I had to wipe it down! Ach! Anyway, I've been wanting to promote and invite everyone to the Spring HandMade Market so I'm taking this opportunity. The Christmas Market was a huge success and this promises to be just as wonderful : ) Saturday and Sunday, May 7-8 (Mother's Day weekend) from 11-5 at The Good Earth Food and Wine Co. The Good Earth is located at 4556 Lincoln Ave. Beamsville, ON. You can check out the link and see some of the vendors who will be there. In December I was REALLY impressed with the wares being offered. And it takes a lot to impress me...lol I'll be mentioning this again but save the date! A very nice thing to do with your Mom!

Egg stash

Some chocolate eggs in coloured foil. I love coloured foil and once kept a mason jar full of these wrappings. It was pretty to look at and I was always planning to do something cool with them. After a few years I finally ditched them but every holiday I look forward to that colourful, shiny, crinkly wrapping.
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping worldwide)

Olive oil - SOLD

It's been an emotional couple of weeks. It is hard to say goodbye to someone you love. I was able to spend a fair bit of time with my grandmother in her last days and a lot of time with my extended family since her passing. I thank my grandmother for the gift of a large family who enjoys having fun. I also want to thank all of you for your comments of sympathy left on my blog. I, and members of my family who follow my blog, were very touched by your kindness : ) 
Now however it is time to get back to work. There is a shop in town - Casa Toscana -  that sells olive oil, cheeses and olives imported from Tuscany. I've painted their bottles of olive oil before but when I went back last week for a refill I got the larger sized bottle which comes in a clear glass container. Look at the colour of that oil! Beautiful ; ) Delicious too.
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / $100 (free shipping worldwide included)

In honour and memory of my dear grandmother Annie.

~A life well lived~

Grandmas are moms with lots of frosting.  ~Author Unknown

Annie was a grandmother to 21 grandchildren and their spouses 
and 39 great grandchildren.

First daffodil

I want to thank everyone for their kind thoughts regarding my grandmother. I didn't expect such a response and was sincerely touched by all your kind comments. Things haven't changed much since Tuesday but I found a few hours where I felt like ducking into the studio today so I just went with it. Our first daffodil bloomed Monday so it seemed I should mark the occasion. Even though it felt like winter today, the calendar tells me it really is spring ; )

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

Hiatus

Due to my grandmothers declining health, I will be taking a brief hiatus from my daily painting. I found this quote that reminds me of my grandma. She's a beautiful, wonderful woman.

I loved their home. Everything smelled older, worn but safe; the food aroma had baked itself into the furniture.  ~Susan Strasberg

Congratulations!

Spider mum

Fresh fruit tart

And the winner of the draw is....Kathy Cousart! Kathy, you can pick between these two and let me know which you'd like : ) I want to take this opportunity to thank the people who follow my blog and receive my paintings in their inbox. YOU ARE AWESOME (yep, all caps :)!! I love painting and writing my blog, but it's not much fun if no one is watching. So again, I offer my thanks : )

Leap! - SOLD

Okay, I'm on a frog kick ; ) 

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

Thanks!

Thanks fellow followers! I'm going to give away a painting this weekend. Yay! If you are a follower, you're entered : )

p.s. - to those that receive my paintings in their inboxes through an automatic feed, I'd like to enter you in the contest too, because you're definitely followers as well : ) The only thing is is that I never see the addresses of those who subscribe online - they are all handled directly through FeedBurner. So if you'd like to enter this draw, please just leave a comment with your name, and I'll enter you. If your name is picked I will ask you to send me your email for shipping purposes.
Happy weekend all!!

296, 297...

Three followers away from hitting 300! I feel a painting giveaway coming on!!

Ribbit - SOLD

I am currently reading Burton on Burton and in it Tim Burton talked about how he would get frustrated in art school with life drawing - that he just couldn't draw the body the way they said it was "supposed" to look. He said one day "something clicked in my brain. I was sitting sketching and I thought, '**** it, I don't care if I can draw or not. I like doing it.' And I swear to God, from one second to the next I had a freedom which I hadn't had before. From that point on, I didn't care if people liked it. There was almost a drug-induced sense of freedom." I loved reading that. Tim Burton can draw! - masterfully in my opinion - but he had a different vision. And he decided to follow it. 

My son and I saw the Tim Burton exhibit in Toronto on Sunday and I can't say enough about it. Art lovers and Tim Burton fans will be in heaven. Thanks Tim. Your work is awesome.  

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

Wood duck

I haven't painted many animals. I don't know why. My friend sent me a photo of a wood duck and it was insanely colourful. A vision of beauty. So I decided to give it a try. What about you? What subjects do you realize you have shied away from?
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping)

German landscape II

So in this weeks challenge at Daily Paintworks, they gave 2 photos you could paint from. I had so much fun with Saturdays that I decided to try the second.

6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / nfs

German landscape - SOLD

This is my offering for the Daily Paintworks Challenge. The challenge was to paint from a landscape photo taken in Germany - editing as you wish. I really enjoyed it. I've been wanting to get outdoors to paint so this challenge came at the perfect time ; )

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

Odd couple

...but I think they're a perfect pair ; ) 

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

Taxi Driver

So titled because that's what I was today! Schlepping people all over the place but that's the way some days are (and truthfully, I had fun ; ). I didn't have a chance to get to the studio and paint so I am posting this piece I did a few years back called Hills in May (18x24, acrylic).

This evening I had the pleasure of going to an opening of work by Carolyn Dover. Stunning! Please check out the link if you have time - you'll be glad you did : )

And, the last bit of news is that I'm very happy to announce that my painting Spencer Gorge (shown below) sold at the auction by Daily Paintworks for relief in Japan. It has found a home in the Netherlands ; ) A big thank you to the buyer. So far the auction has raised $23,498. Wow. Good job all you folks at Daily Paintworks : )

What I worked on today

I wrote yesterday about being in a rut. Well, today I "stretched" and worked on some larger canvasses I had that I felt weren't quite done - even though they'd been sitting there for months (1) and years (the other). The top piece of irises and chives, I just changed the background colour. The bottom piece I have painted 3 times now! The first time it had a deep blue background, the second time, gold with a darker bottom and now, this soft creamy yellow. Oh, for the love of Pete!^%%!@$! I just went back to link to these images and I'm thinking I should have just well enough alone! Hate it when that happens! Thoughts anyone?

Thanks!

I've received this blog award from Tiffany who writes a great blog called Eating Niagara, a blog devoted to local eating and agriculture in the Niagara region. I met Tiffany a couple of weeks ago when she was in my Eat Drink Paint class at The Good Earth. Thank you Tiffany!

In turn I am supposed to call attention to up to 15 other great bloggers and share seven facts about myself. Hmm. The think is, I follow hundreds of blogs and most of them by fellow artists. And I love them all! I think for this list I will mention a few blogs I enjoy that *aren't* fellow daily painters. I don't have many so it's also a wake-up call for me to diversify ; ):

1. BiblioTravel - For books that take you away. For those that like to read, just check it out : )

2. Tommy Kane - You've got to read "Fish Tale"

3. Bicocacolours - Cool groupings of photos/colour families

4. The Twirling Dragon - So beautiful!

5. Greg Betza Illustration - reminds me of my school days

6. WongCW Photography - let's me travel...

7. What I wore today - just because it's fun

If anyone has some blogs they follow that aren't art related, please share! A good cooking blog, a gardening one? I'm all ears ; )

Now 7 facts about me:

1. A good campfire makes me happy.

2. So does a pan of brownies : )

3. Love to read.

4. I love a good old-fashioned letter (like, sent in the mail, on paper, with a stamp) and fear it has become a lost art.

5. Like cocoa and popcorn made the REAL way! Milk, cocoa and a bit of maple syrup or sugar, and popcorn popped in hot oil in a pot (!) with a good dash of salt. 

6. I find flowers amazing. That all that glorious-ness can come from a little speck of a seed or a bulb that's been buried in frozen ground all winter never ceases to delight me.

7. Love the theatre and still get a thrill when the lights go down.

Show-off - SOLD

This big, lush flower kind of looks like a scene stealer, don't you think?
Today I worked on re-vamping a larger painting. I'll show you my progress tomorrow. Other than that....been in a bit of a painting rut the past few days. I know it comes and goes, but when you're in the middle of one it gets discouraging. I really want to get outside as soon as it warms up and paint plein air. On big canvasses. I miss it. 
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping)

Bottled up

I love painting flowers!

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

Huddle

The last painting starring these three. The orange is getting a bit squashy : )

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

Getting cheeky - SOLD

Playing with the fruit from yesterday and having fun with colour. I also did something I usually swear against - I went back to yesterdays painting and changed the shadows (new piece is posted). Don't know if this was a good thing or not, but they just weren't sitting right with me and I needed to revise! 
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / SOLD

Crisp, sour, sweet - SOLD

We've had a snow storm all day today. Now, it's not like that's unheard of around here, but we had a day last week that was 15˚c (59˚F), so my mind was kind of headed in that direction ; ) Oh well. Spring always comes. 
So this was a fun set-up. All odd pieces of fruit I found in the kitchen. They came together in a nice fashion though.
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping)

My contribution for The Help Japan Challenge

My painting Spencer Gorge is being offered in the Daily Paintworks auction to help the effort in Japan. They have been hit with horrendous disaster and misery and this is one more small way of lending aid. So far over 250 artists have submitted work, raising a total to date of $9,847. PLEASE check it out. A lot of beautiful work with the money going to a very worthy cause. Proceeds from the sale of this painting will go to HandsOn Tokyo. 
*(when you click on the link to view the auction, just keep scrolling down till you see the paintings)
Spencer Gorge / 9" x 12" / acrylic on wrapped canvas

Cracked

I love playing with warm and cool whites. A coconut is a good subject for that.
6" x 6" / oil on archival panel / $100 (includes free shipping)

More sets : )

I've been away and wasn't painting so I thought I'd post the last two photos of "sets" I took when I was cleaning my studio on Saturday. A new piece tomorrow!

Something spring

Where I live we've got to wait a couple more months till the flowers bloom but I was cleaning up my studio today and took some pics of some paintings that made a nice set. More to follow tomorrow ; )