Regeneration

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Regeneration

24" x 30" - acrylic on canvas - SOLD

I am so happy with how this painting turned out. I love the palette, the brushstrokes and the abstraction of form. It's based on a photo I took a few years ago of 'some trees in a clearing', that was not particularly striking or unusual but did offer compositional possibilities. The painting went through several stages with some thinking time between. Regeneration, the process of renewal, restoration and growth. For all living things, including us.  
Sounds good to me.  

where there is a will there is a way

where there is a will there is a way

10" x 10" - acrylic on canvas - SOLD

This is the first painting I started last week, using my left/non dominant hand.  However, as it came together I could also use my right hand with mostly wrist movement and small brush marks. 

Computer dictation functions have helped me write this post. 

The scene It is based on a photo I took last summer at our cabin up north, a place I would love to be. 

Blues & Greens

Blues & Greens

acrylic and ink tense pencil on acrylic paper - 9" x 11" - $50

Playing with abstracting the 'land' and painting loosely. 

30 in 30 - Day 9 - Hinterland

Hinterland

9" x 12" - acrylic on wood panel - $30

I am surrounded by trees, and apparently that is very healthy! 

More trees for Day 9 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. 

30 in 30 days - Day 8 - Apricot Orchard

Apricot Orchard

9" x 12" - acrylic on wood panel - SOLD

It's day 8 in the challenge - and I am back to trees, at least for now - mind you I don't think I have actually left them yet. Hmm, maybe tomorrow. 

Anyway, this is based on a photo I took in France, in May, near the Falaise de Lioux. I actually sat under this apricot tree and painted the scene opposite - you can see what I men here.

30 in 30: Day One - Still Standing

Still Standing

11" x 14" - acrylic on (Canvas) paper - SOLD

The Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days challenge is on again, starting today, September 1st.  I participated in a similar challenge in January, and the challenge was to complete something and post it each day of the month. 

I have been thinking about how to make this easier for myself and thought that I might explore different themes, styles and techniques. And despite that thinking I painted 'a tree in a field' landscape.  But it was fun and I like it the result. Will see what happens tomorrow.....

Have a fabulous Labour day weekend, wherever you you are.

Landscape Prism

Landscape Prism

24" x 30" - acrylic & oil on canvas - $400

I finished this painting last April, but with other things happening I did not have a chance to post it. It evolved out of another painting based on a similar landscape design that featured 'foreground trees in front of a body of water, with a distant shore in the background'. I worked on both of them at the same time, but this one took an entirely different path. Below are the first three stages.

At this point I started attending a Master Class with painter Tom Stephens at the Sarasota Art Centre. The idea was that you would bring your current work and paint in a collegial environment and receive critical feedback- in other words - coaching. As someone who paints alone I was feeling in need of some peer review, so I signed up. This is the painting I took with me to the group on the first day, six weeks ago. Among Tom's comments was the important advice that you just have to dig in and push the paint around to see what happens next. It was the same advice I would have (and have) given to students, so I did, mostly going with my intuition. 

The result was a simplification of the design into fewer, larger and more interesting shapes, and the toning down of some colour areas with some neutral greys. The surface of the painting became more nuanced, layered and interesting. Eventually all the areas were resolved, with the final touches of oil paint, applied liked icing on the cake. It was not how I imagined the painting would look in the beginning, but I was very pleased in the end. 

Arcadia Abstract

Arcadia Abstract

24" x 30"  - acrylic on canvas - $450

I started the work shown here, back in November, and it changed a lot over time. The subject was inspired by this photo I took while walking through a conservation area near to where I live in S-W Ontario.

Even though it was quite a dull day and there was little colour in the landscape, I liked the arrangement of trees across the picture plane contrasting with the three horizontal bands of fore, middle and background.

stage 1

In stage one I established the colour palette and the division of space - and really liked the Wolf-Kahn-esque appearance and considered stopping........but decided to proceed with my original idea, for better or worse. With each successive stage the tree forms took shape, and the grounds became more distinct and detailed.

stage 2

stage 3

 I wasn't crazy with it at this point and decided to define some abstract areas with an acrylic marker, and then obliterated the lines with more paint......

stage 4

By stage 4 I realized that the composition needed a more distinct focal point - something that would break up the horizontality of the composition. I also wanted to create a better visual path through the compositional space, and that became the actual path too once I opened up a 'space' through the trees which you can see in the finished work at the top of the post.  I am quite happy with the finished painting and love the whimsical, magical feeling of the scene - hence the title. Cheers!

On My Easel.....

This is the second of the two landscapes that I 'left', just before Christmas. I finally took it off the wall earlier this week and decided to get back to work and loosen up all those stick-like tree shapes and the horizontal lines that were masquerading as branches. This is how it evolved over a few hours.......

Not huge changes, but I am feeling better about it, liking the looseness. Next step will be to tone down some of the colour! It's even a little wild for me.

Into the Mystic

Mystic Light

16" x 20"  - acrylic on canvas  SOLD

Earlier in July we spent a delightful weekend visiting my friend MK and her partner at their cottage on a small island on Westlemkoon Lake. It's a large lake with many smallish single dwelling islands, featuring wind-swept pine trees, and large flat rocks that are great for swimming from. While there I took lots of photos of the many wonderful views and they in turn have inspired a number of recent paintings. 

Mystic Light is based on the photo below. You can't help but be struck by the beauty of nature in such a setting. My challenge was to try to paint the sunlight shining through the trees. I took my cue from the great colourist Hans Hoffman who said  "My aim in painting is to create pulsating, luminous, and open surfaces that emanate a mystic light....In nature light creates the colour. In the picture colour creates the light."