Art and Life

U8 Exhibition Coming Up

2012-03-10T15:05:00.001-08:00

Here is the invitation for the U8 show I will participating in in April. April 5th to 15th. I am excited to have 5 paintings showing in this exhibition. If you live near Kelowna or are traveling in that area, pop in and have a look!

Get Away and Quilt

2012-02-27T11:01:00.000-08:00

I spent the weekend on Mayne Island at the cottage of a friend, Kriss Boggild. We were helping another friend, Lois Klassen, with a quilting project she is doing for Comforter Art Action. We completed three beautiful quilts that will go to people who need them. The idea is that they will also show that someone/s cared to make them beautiful as well. The friend who owns the cottage made the quilt tops and they are fabulous abstract designs, one of which is balled up in the top of the plastic basket in this photo. I didn't get a lot of photos but following is a sampling of a wonderful weekend spent making and talking.

View out one of the many windows as we tied knots and pinned fabric

View from the table, the art work is Kriss's

This is my friend Kriss Boggild, whose cottage it is, visting my studio last year.

View of the bay off Mayne Island

Playing for time

2012-02-12T10:38:00.000-08:00

Like I said last entry, I made the big leap to start selling my smaller work on Etsy. Good news, I have 5 pieces in a show at Sopa Fine Art Gallery in Kelowna in April. I have posted this news to Facebook and sent out an email to my subscribers but have not had time to update my blog. I also joined Pinterest so that I could post some work there and collect, for inspiration, work that I like . I was using Tumblr but find it not so great for some reason. We'll see if I like Pinterest better. I still keep up with Tumblr for things like longreads but I might just use it to post work to when it's finished, a way to spread it around. Playing around at all this is sucking out a lot of my day. I need to get Hoot Suite or something for all this social media marketing and connecting with friends, family and art buyers. Do you use it? What do you think?

I also started one larger and 2 small paintings this week. This amazes me as it seems that starting Etsy has gotten me a lot of work as well as some exposure. It does feel more like play than work right now though (guilt inducing play). But, I'm hoping it will settle down once I establish a few people in circles and all that jazz. I did push myself very hard to get started at those paintings though. And now I have to push myself out the door to get groceries and do chores before this whole day is gone, like yesterday, sitting at the computer. Please let there be 2 to 3 hours after chores to paint. Please.

Here is a little image for you:

What to do? What I did.

2012-01-27T14:58:00.000-08:00

I don't know what I want to tell you. Today is, what, Friday? I've been thinking what to do? what to do? today. Been on the computer a lot this past week. Need to make some art today, want to start a bigish piece and want to go out in the sunshine and draw or paint. Ack, days too short. I always like to post a bit of art for you, so here is my little sketch of the golden roses sitting in my studio. BTW you can buy some of my drawings on Etsy now. And please, if you are on Etsy, add me to your circles.

Spent days setting up my Etsy shop (see widget in sidebar). Yes I bit the bullet after contemplating, thinking, trying to decide if I should do this. Then, I thought, what the hell, move forward. I want to branch out from my sales blog to sell the small work. I read the Etsy rules and that's okay as long as I don't link to that page directly from Etsy. Which I won't.

My long term goal is to find a gallery or two or three to show my larger work ..this work of the past year or so that I think is coming together nicely. I don't think selling the small work on Etsy should get in the way of that. I know other painters who do that and it works for them. As long as they don't undersell their work and don't have a gallery that wants exclusivity.

Maybe I will, if things work out ok with Etsy, move my small work sales over there and let you all know when and if that happens.

Oh, about the piece in progress on the previous entry, I finished it and posted it on my sales page here.

So, that's about it around here. Except, if you follow me on Facebook, you know that I got an exciting little bite from a gallery. They are interested in three pieces for a group show they have every year in April. My friend Linda Henningson has shown there so I know they're good to work with. I am convoing back and forth with them re prices etc. Looks like I'm worth more than I've been asking. I kind of knew that, but pricing is a tricky business. The way I look at it is, if a gallery thinks the work can sell for more, then that's a good indication it can and is worth more in the market place. I am thinking in the long term here. Told you I wouldn't be emerging forever.

I'll post and update when I know for sure what is happening with the show.

In Progress

2012-01-11T19:19:00.000-08:00

Fragmentation has been occurring. Ever since the summer my art life has felt somewhat uncertain. It's because I've been depending on weather to dictate when I work outside and, therefore, when I work in the studio. I've been working a lot but can't rely on any kind of schedule. Thus, the feeling of fragmentation.

Committing myself to exploring plein air oil painting and drawing has been exhilarating and stimulating while at the same time, lately, I've been feeling the need to settle down to some studio work. Now that the holiday is well and truly over I've taken many days in a row in the studio and have prepped surfaces larger than 5 x 7" to work on. I had run out of prepped canvas and board. This always makes me feel at a loss, because I don't want to take the time from making in order to prep. Once I get started I like doing it, for a while anyway. While doing the prep work I've worked on several 4 x 6" oil paintings on paper (much quicker to prep than board or canvas). Makes me feel better that I'm making things, not just prepping things. Here is one that is in progress:

So far I like it, now to keep what I like while I finish it. Doesn't always work that way, but if I walk the tightrope just right then it'll happen.

Oh how I love the smeary, buttery, brilliance of wet oil paint.

I'm in artist heaven this past few days without interruption. I listen to podcasts while I work. Often to Eleanor Wachtel interviewing writers from around the world. Today Claire Tomalin talks about her biography of Dickens, Etgar Keret, Israeli short story writer and film maker and Francisco Goldman, Guatemalan American writer of "Say Her Name" talk about their lives and writing.

Tomorrow I work outside, the following two days are office days. Next week I'm going to try to go and see some art one day. I also have a couple of artist's dates to schedule in the studio soon and a gift certificate for a spa day to spend... Oh, it's a hard life.

A New Year, a Winner and More Plein Air Paintings

2012-01-02T16:29:00.000-08:00

And the winner of the painting give away is Mary Addison Hackett. Mary Addison has made comments on my blog and I on her's for a few years now. She is an inspiration to me in her freedom with paint and her persistence in her studio in the face of lots of life's less lovely elements. Thank you to everybody else who shared, followed, forwarded and re-posted my art posts this past few months. Please keep it up. Spread the love.

The plein air paintings I made while on Galiano Island over the holiday are posted below. They are total experiments and I loved making them. I also did several drawings this past couple of weeks. I will post them soon.

Salal II, 4x6", oil and acrylic on paper

Beach Bouquet, 4x6", oil and acrylic on paper

Island Cove, 4x6", oil and acrylic on paper

I'm thinking about the year ahead, one of the things I have in the works is an Etsy store like this guy here at Paintbox on Etsy who's work I enjoy. Harry is a Facebook friend who is a talented painter and tremendously prolific, much more so than I am, but I think I might be able to keep up a presence on Etsy with drawings and small paintings. I'm still thinking on it.

These works will be posted on my sales blog in the next couple of days for the usual price of $60. The first people to know about the post will be my newsletter subscribers (you can still subscribe on the upper right of this page) and blog followers (follow me on Google Friend Connect or on Network Blogs on the right). Keep an eye out for the notice on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Tumblr after that!

Here's to a great 2012 for us all!

Taking the Ferry to the Islands, Taking the Plein Air Kit Along

2011-12-21T19:41:00.000-08:00

Packing for 4 days on Galiano Island. Packing the little plein air kit. Forecast for cloud and rain. May be sitting inside a lot of the time or in the hot tub if it's working by the time we arrive. Hot tub in the rain, my favourite, except for hot tub in the snow. Taking "Joan Mitchel, Lady Painter" to finish. Taking a lot of "Read Later" on my Ipod. Taking a Kate Ellis Mystery, and some Wodehouse. Taking lots of already cooked food (ribs, stuffed turkey, pasta and homemade meatballs, salad, dark fruit cake, chocolate....)

The two little paintings I did at Boundary Bay last outing are dry. Not sure what I think of them, but here they are. Two versions of the same view.

I'll come back with more, come hell or high water, or rain or snow, etc.

Have the best Holiday. See you in a week or so.

Biscuit is Finished and I'm Deviating to the Figure

2011-12-15T11:46:00.000-08:00

The commission is finished and the client is very happy. Here is the photo I was working from:

Here is the finished portrait of Biscuit on his front step

And now on to the little painting I've been working on. Here is the photo I'm working from:

And the piece so far. A looser approach in this one. There is still a ton of work to do. This is 6 x 6" and I'm just working and working and not worrying about how I'm working. Back and forth from background to foreground even though I was taught to finish the background first. Because that doesn't make sense to me, the background needs changes as the foreground changes. I am clumsily drawing and redrawing in paint and colour and I'm being real casual about my approach. I've wanted to do something with this photo for years. I'm going to put the dryer vent in, lighten up the door and trim to match the window, and well, then we'll see. The figures need tons of work yet.

Alex and Lorina Just Starting Out (In progress)

This is a bit of a deviation for me. I do that sometimes, go off on the tangents that sometimes take me to new places.

BTW get in touch if you want a portrait of your loved ones of any species. I don't discriminate. Contact.

The Ins and Outs of Things

2011-12-09T17:56:00.001-08:00

Whew, think I'm finished the commission. Biscuit, who was a sweet old Labby thing, was fun to paint. He had tons of character and was not just another pretty face. His family miss him and commissioned me to paint his portrait so that they can keep his spirit close. I have to sit and look at him a bit before I decide he is done. I'm enjoying the craft of reproducing what I see. There is something meditative and, at the same time, something that takes me outside of myself in doing that.

I read an interesting thing the other day about a couple of drawings that I think can apply to all drawing and painting. On the Drawing Center Website Claire Gilman said when referring to two sets of drawings ...(in these drawings) "drawing serves neither to record an interior life nor to document the exterior world but rather to chart their intersection. In other words, drawing functions in each case as a means of locating the artist’s place in the world and registering his or her reaction to it." She was talking about two particular artists approach to drawing, seemingly trying to differentiate their drawing from expressive drawing and drawing that tries to represent. I think that all painting and drawing can function in this way, be it expressive or representational or non-objective or whatever. When I paint and draw, the important thing is not to record what I see or my vision (though I may be doing that) nor to express my inner life (though I'm sure something of that comes through) but to find how the outside world and my inner world intersect and reveal that somehow in what I make.

On the plein air side of things, I've got a couple of paintings drying. They are a little strange to me, and I'm not sure what I think of them. I'll post them when they are dry and I can scan them. I've also been drawing lately and feel I'm getting more consistent at approaching drawing without expectations or ego and letting them evolve, finding them as I go, so to speak.

I'll post one here that I did the other day at Iona Beach Park. I took my journal instead of my sketch book by mistake so this drawing is on gridded notebook paper.

SMALL PRINT: Take a peak over at the sales page if you haven't been there lately or even if you have. The sale is on until the end of December and there might just be something you would like to have for you very own. And, Sign Up for my Newsletter (see button on the upper right of this page) and you will be entered into a draw for a free painting!

Romance and Reality in the Landscape

2011-12-05T11:49:00.001-08:00

Some of you may think, "okay she is officially insane" but here are my photos of painting outdoors yesterday.

6 degrees C with wind and sunshine. Using a fast drying medium for water mixable oil paint which I have decided I hate. Painting in this temperature is enough of a challenge without the medium acting like glue.

Hot tea, helped with the wind chill and, yes, that is a plastic bag around my waist.

Vida behaved herself nicely only running after one dog in full guard dog mode. She's wearing the vest onto which her backpack Velcros.

Ming is a lightweight gear collector, her latest design is this superlight shelter for winter picnics and painting where we retreat with hot tea when it gets a bit much. Our "bit much" range is a little wider than some though.

A strangely exhilarating because not at all comfortable day. The walk out at sunset was sublime as usual. All deep pinks and blonds and blues with so much texture and so many angles created by the tidal flats and mountains behind the curving beach. Mount Baker's huge white triangle feels like it's only a few feet away under a white moon on pale blue.

We were there for 4 hours, I was reminded again why I paint landscape and the natural world. It is where I feel most real. I am romantically attached and I finally realize that is a valid way to go as an artist.

As for the paintings, they may need a little work before I post them, if I post them. Decisions need to be made.

Breakthrough paintings and discount on works

2011-12-01T15:34:00.001-08:00

I updated my Small Works sales blog with some of my larger small works. And, I'm having a December sale. 20% off all works in the new post. There are some treasures there that represent my breakthrough to a new place in my painting this year. Check them out. Here is an example.

Seasonally affected painting

2011-11-24T16:13:00.001-08:00

It is a dark and dreary day, I've been busy treading water it seems, as it streams down my window to the outside. If you lasted past that sentence welcome to my November world. Really, though, it's not so bad. Though I wake up on these heavy winter days dragging all the way, I count the blessings as I scroll through it all. Seems like a lot of office work, distractions, organizing are going into my days lately. But, I am working. I've started two pieces, one of which I am well into.

See:

And, I decided after finding out about an incredible deal on a cottage on Galiano to take off for 4 days over the Christmas Holiday. This cheers me up enormously. Galiano is most beautiful and we have been known to stroll on Bodega Ridge in our T-Shirts in December. Even if it rains it can be fabulous. We are bringing our kayaks and our bikes, a lot of pre-made food, art supplies and books.

Galiano:

Yesterday Afternoon's Delight

2011-11-14T10:35:00.001-08:00

This summer I became delighted with painting. The hard work and striving for competency has moved into fresh spontaneous responses to my environment and seeing pictures everywhere. I've even begun drawing again, in part because I was so inspired by the posting of her "Landscapes from the Bus Window" by Carol Heft on Facebook.

Just a couple of lines to catch up. I've managed to get out to try to paint twice a week every week since the summer. I've produced a lot of little paintings, done on the spot and sometimes worked on a little once I get them home. This seems to result in many paintings and a few that past my muster test. The muster test can't be described because it is mostly non-verbal reaction to what I've done. I could analyse it if push came to shove but I'm not sure I want to make it that conscious. Some paintings I like when finished but they don't stand the test of time. Some I can't see much in right away but they surprise me later on. Sometimes I just don't know and someone whose opinion I respect and trust points out good things or problems with them and I then can see and form an opinion.

Since the time change and winterish (there is hardly ever true winter in Vancouver) weather I've had a some adjusting to do. So, the last couple of trips ending up being drawing trips because there was no time to mix paints and produce anything then clean up. But, yesterday, I got away in early morning and had 3 hours to set up and paint. The results from painting plein air at Belcarra Park are here:

Marina
4 x 6"

Narrows
4 x 6"

So, What Else is Going on, Besides Selling Stuff

2011-11-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

It has been another week of gorgeous days interspersed with rain and cloud. I've been able to get outside and work, I've even taken up drawing again. I think I'll post some of my fumbling attempts here, it will be a while before I get my chops back, just wait a minute until I scan something.

Here it is, I drew it on the dyke the other day:

A bench in the woods

Besides drawing and painting I've taken on quite a bit of office work for Ming Dinh Homeopathy. I am taking on work a little at a time for a little extra cash so it's been humming around here. Nothing like home based business. I'm still in my PJs, but only because I woke up to an email delivery crisis I had to solve right away and haven't taken time to dress yet what with one thing and another.

Have a look over at my Small Works page for new pieces just posted. I feel a tiny bit strange about getting it out there and "marketing" I have to say, but in some ways I enjoy it. Let me know if I'm annoying you won't you and I will take you off my list. I do not want to spam anybody.

Oh damn, it's lunch time, must finish up on this computer and paint something.

And, I nearly forgot, Sign Up on the upper right of this page for my email newsletter and I will put you in a draw for a free painting from my Small Works page. And, if you win, you can wait until something you likes comes available, after January 1, 2012 when I make the draw!

What's Red and White and Found in the Fall?

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

I've been outside painting several times this week. Twice at the West Dyke in Richmond near Vancouver, only 30 minutes by car from my house.

Saturday I painted in a spot with all these mushrooms (amanita muscaria). The ones that make you taller and make you smaller.

I found the spot last time I was prowling round in the bird sancturary area on the dyke and came upon this little camp site that people seem to use. I set up my kit and chair in the mud.

Behind me the dyke looked like this.

And the sky looked like this

In front of me the earth looked like this.

There were bits of cardboard laid down like in a homeless camp.

In front of the fire pit I laid everything out

These are the two little paintings I came home with. They still need more work as they don't look even as finished in real life as the do on the computer. I find the computer image good for this sometimes ..showing me what a painting needs.

I like them. They are focused in on, kind of funny, a little discovery.

Before and After: The Subject and its Painting

2011-10-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

The mystery of painting has taken hold of me. It's the thing I loved from the moment I discovered painting, how when I just let go and let paint all was well. I do it, work hard at it, I let it go. The new little paintings were finally dry enough to scan, though not dry enough to mail so I'm not posting them to my sales blog for a few days at least. I took two painting day trips in the past 10 days and two days prior to reconnoiter painting spots. One to Buntzen Lake and one to Boundary Bay's bird sanctuary.

They were two great days and I made five tiny 4 x 6" paintings in those two days. I'm going to post them *all* here in the spirit of full disclosure. I don't claim them as good, they are just what they are and I will think about them for a while before before deciding what's what with them.

I don't choose the most promising and visually impactful views to paint, just things that get my blood going that I want to work from. Often the paintings don't turn out at all like what I'm sitting in front of and even when they catch the spirit of it there's a lot left out or added or both. This is not a view, it's a painting.

So here goes, I'm going to post a very quickly taken photo of the inspiration to paint and a photo of the painting that resulted from it.

This first photo is of what I was sitting in front of when I painted the piece below it, partly from the view, partly from the feel and memory I have of the Boundary Bay Sanctuary.

The dark forest floor often stops me in my tracks and I just did what I could with this little mess.

The painting below the photo is far different from it's provoking scene

This little tree is hardly close to the painting below it.

Here is the stump and tree hidden in the dark that ended up in the painting below the photo. The colours were much warmer than the photo shows though.

I have, perhaps in my ignorance, always thought of plein air painting as having to be done with faithfulness to the subject, to the light, the time of day and on and on. All I know now is that these paintings would not be the same and the experience of making them would not be the same without sitting outside looking at what I'm inspired to paint.

Some of these will be posted to my sales page soon.

Painting Out Doors: How I Do It.

2011-10-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

Salal

This summer I finally got myself outside to paint, something I wanted to do for a long time, but, for various reasons, felt intimidated. One thing standing in my way was logistics. I didn't want to stand at a (heavy) easel in a field, or lug huge canvasses about. I wanted something light and portable and intimate. Finally, I decided I could make really small paintings. I got some 4 x 6" pieces of water media paper, painted them with acrylic and taped them on to some 9 x 12" pieces of cardboard with rolled (to make them double sided) pieces of drafting tape. Then I went to the art supply store and bought a 11 x 16" plastic carrying case

My first painting trip was a car camping road trip. The next was last week, I went to a spot I camped in this spring and reconnoitered to find good painting places. I carried in all my gear for two nights including my painting kit. The little painting above is the first I did on this trip. At the bottom of the post I posted two more pieces completed on this trip.

Above is what my painting kit looks like when I'm working. The brushes and water container are out of the picture, on the ground at this point, as are the two pieces of cardboard with the prepared water media paper taped to them.

In the photo above you can see:
a bamboo place mat for rolling the brushes in
latex gloves (which I hardly ever wear!)
a bottle of media for water mixable oils
a towel cloth to thoroughly dry the brushes after dipping in water (I don't like too much water on the brushes)
water mixable oils. I use both Artisan and Cobra
not shown is the roll of masking tape used for taping the paintings into the case for carrying out when they are wet (see below)

The colours are the very basic pallet:
permanent yellow medium
permanent yellow light
lemon yellow
alizaron crimson
pyrrol red light
permanent green deep
dioxazine purple
french ultramarine blue
phthalo blue (red shade)
raw umber
burnt umber
burnt sienna
Titanium white

The rest of the kit is here:

a second cloth for wiping
only 5 small brushes
I use an old Stevenson's paint tub for water
a small bottle of medium for water mixable oils decanted into a little plastic container with lid
two painting knives
one of the two pieces of cardboard with the prepped paper taped to it

I use a disposable palette when I am painting outdoors because It makes it easier for me than cleaning up a palette at the end of a session. I am considering how to take little containers for left over paint so that I don't waste it.

I prepare four 4 x 6" pieces of water media paper by painting with acrylic paint before I leave home. I choose the colours at random, whatever I'm in the mood for on the day of prepping. I already have pre-cut paper on hand, these were a gift from my sister and make grabbing and going so much easier.

This is the very light weight stool I use.

Here are the paintings taped into the case for carrying home after they are done. At the end of my session and the trip I put all my supplies in a plastic bag for carrying out in my backpack so that I can use the case for carrying the paintings taped like so. This way that they don't get smeared.

There it is, easy peasy. Next, perhaps, city park plein air.

Here, and at the top of the page, are photos of the 3 paintings I didn't turn to mush by trying too hard, My strategy is, do what I want, anything I want, have a good time, keep it rough, fresh and simple, let it go. I don't fuss over subject matter, I paint anything that grabs me. I try to see the composition in the environment and just take the painting anywhere I want and can as I work.

Bluff

The Other Side of the Cove

I still have trouble working with people around. I try to sit a little off to the side so that anyone passing will realize I'm working and might not want to chat. This works for the most part, or at least not everybody will insist on interacting. I would like to get over this, actually and I'm working on it.

This shyness I have has been the main reason I haven't painted outside until now, I intend to deal with it. This last trip I deliberately chose a place that would have some foot traffic at times so that I could learn to feel less intimidated to work in front of others. And, it worked, I am feeling I could actually set up in a city park, maybe, next time.

What has been your experience with painting outside. Are you shy? Do you like to see people out painting? What is your reaction. I think it's normal to be curious. I know I am when I come across someone making art in public.

You can now Buy my Small Works Online

2011-10-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

I've set up a new Sales Page of Small Works just in time for holiday shopping. Support the arts by buying from artists whose work you like. And, when you shop online you don't have to risk those intimidating art galleries. If you buy art online no tedious malls and all their noise and consumer pressure.

The first person to buy a painting from my new sales page will receive a second piece, of their choice, at HALF PRICE. Please pop over there and have a look.

You can view and buy larger works from my online page here or through my website.

Lately I've been busy painting outside and will be uploading more work to the small works blog and painting new small works as well as some larger pieces in the studio. Next entry will be about my latest foray into plein air painting.