Summer's End

Summer's End

24" x 18" - acrylic on canvas - SOLD

Summer is winding down as is painting at my cottage. This one is based on a photo I snapped as we canoed around the big island, and interpreted using a palette of saturated complementary colours. I love the ochre yellow sky - it makes me think of goldenrod and the fall colours to come. But weather is still warm, and we still have another week until labour day! I will be in Atlantic Canada, visiting friends and family and of course gathering imagery for future paintings. I hope you enjoy yourself and the final days of August wherever you are.

Northern Escape "Escapism"

Escapism
24" x 30"  -  acrylic on canvas  - SOLD

This painting is based on the same Haliburton landscape image of rocks and trees I have been

fascinated with all summer, and is the third variation on this theme. What  I really wanted to do (and did) in this version was to have a very light and warm palette, and stylize the tree and rock forms. 

And just for fun I started another version, but it is really in its incubation stage and will be there for a few more weeks. 

Moo Cow - Last week's DailyPaintworks Challenge

Moo Cow
16" x 16" - acrylic on canvas - SOLD

It has been a few weeks since my last post, but that is not for want of trying, or painting. During that time there were starts and stops and wipeouts; then some perseverance prevailed, and I finally have something to show for my efforts. I worked on some landscapes and this one - a cow painting. Who doesn't like a cow painting?  Years ago I painted lots of them (and sheep too) but got away from them - however decided to revisit that theme because last week's DailyPaintworks challenge was just that. Good fun. May paint a few more too.  

Northern Escape Abstract

Northern Escape Abstract
30" x 36"  acrylic on canvas  SOLD

This is the second painting based on a small drawing of a typical Haliburton Highlands/Ontario cottage country landscape - and one that I had a lot of fun painting. When I began the painting I wanted to restrict my usual exuberant palette to one that was more muted and neutral, but because I always try to pay attention to what the painting needs as it proceeds, and not to some pre-conceived plan, that idea was abandoned fairly quickly. I thought about adding 'real' texture, but the decided the paint splatters would have to do. I did a lot of drawing back into the painting with soft pastels, which I then fixed with  Spectra Fix  - a wonderful, non-toxic, very safe and easy to use product that anyone who works with pastels or charcoal should try. I am quite happy with this work - it's big and bold - just like what it represents.  Cheers!

Northern Escape - More Rocks and Trees

Northern Escape
16" x 18"  - acrylic on canvas -  SOLD

I seem to be flipping back and forth between painting Provence landscapes and northern Ontario landscapes these days. Perhaps I am feeling nostalgic about my painting experience in France as I love sifting through those photos, but at the same time I am surrounded by the rugged beauty of mixed forests, dark blue lakes, dramatic skies, and rocky shorelines - what we call cottage country in Ontario.

This painting encapsulates the physical nature of this kind of landscape, and I hope the spirit too. My preliminary drawing was a quick one, and more abstract then I intended the painting to be. As I painted this one I kept thinking about the drawing and so I started a second more abstract version, and worked on both of them at the same time. More on that one in my  next post.

Near the Hamlet of Croagnes in the Luberon

Near Croagnes in the Luberon

24" x 20" - acrylic on canvas 

The hamlet of Croagnes is behind the hamlet of Les Bassacs, or so it seemed to me when I took myself off for a walk on the Saturday between my two weeks there in May. Of course I took lots of photos and one inspired the composition for this painting. Here are some of the other views too.

Painting an Old Ochre Quarry in the Luberon Valley, encore

Old Ochre Quarry in the Luberon
24"x 30" - acrylic on canvas - SOLD

In May I painted in an old abandoned ochre quarry in the Luberon Valley. At the time it was a challenge to paint the cast (tree) shadows as the light and therefore their shapes, kept changing. I took lots of photos with the intention of  returning to this subject once home. Parts of this painting were easy and therefore fun to paint, other areas like the foreground were a challenge and I had to do a lot of 'landscape editing'. The colour ochre and yellow were the staring point colours for the palette, which then demanded the complementary shades of purple through red and pink, which then required green. Tried to keep blue out of this one, but some still sneaked in.  

Have a great weekend.