Cambridge Favourite

 

Cambridge Favourite

12" x 12" oil on panel

Available from Etsy  $250 -  shipping included in North America

Living in a short season climate, growing fruit and vegetables can be a challenge.  But strawberries always come up trumps and there are usually some appearing in the garden each summer.  Their flavour is so intense when freshly picked and sun warmed.

This variety, Cambridge Favourite, is a classic and good for northern climates, always cropping reliably.  This was gathered early one morning, beating the birds to the harvest, then sliced to reveal the inner workings before painting.  The aroma of fresh strawberries made it difficult to paint instead of eat, but I confess, I had a few on the side to eat for inspiration.

Boating

 

Trinity Punt

 
I'm making some inroads into my series of 15 wooden boat paintings that I'm producing with an art grant that I was lucky enough to receive this year.  The challenge is finding wooden boats as they're becoming scarcer as people switch to fibreglass which doesn't require the same level of maintenance and weighs much less than wood.

However, with diligent searching, many miles of travelling into coves and bays and tickles and a LOT of photosgraphs and sketches, I'm getting material together and have the first painting completed and the second on the easel which is two thirds complete.  I am working towards a solo exhibit in the spring of 2015 at Peter Lewis Gallery and want to hold my cards fairly close to my chest before the exhibition. I'll show sections of paintings that I'm working on but  not the completed pieces.  They will be revealed at the exhibit.

Of course, its always difficult to be reserved in terms of art sharing, as so much is shared online in so many ways.  So I ask for patience and I will share what I can, when I can.  These large pieces will likely fill my easel non stop over the next six months or more but there will be other paintings as relief from the large work.  But you  may see glimpses of pieces in progress like this peek through the studio classroom window at dusk of the first painting in the series.


I'll be working on a book of sketches that will accompany the boat paintings and will share some of those as they are produced.  I don't know which will make the final cut but as I do studies and sketches of most paintings as well as in the field, there will be enough to share freely.

Organization

  Dried and Salted - SOLD

12" x 24"  Oil on canvas

I've done the evitable mistake that seems to be an annual event with me.  I erased a group of reference images, some of which were important to future work, from my computer while organizing images into groups. In my flurry of efficiency I emptied the Recycle Bin too.  Of course I would do that right away instead of waiting weeks or months with no chance of salvation.  Sigh.

Like most artists I put off the work that I least enjoy, until it becomes necessary to organize just so I can find things.  That includes my studio as well as my electronic world.  But I did it and no one died (aside from a bit of my brain!) so I will bite the bullet this time and hook into an a more advanced backup system for my computer.  I have an external hard drive that is nearly at capacity and still don't add all the information I should on a regular basis.  I have a 64GB memory stick where I store important current files that I use frequently, but live in fear that I'll lose it.

I'm sure I'm not alone in my lack of organizing and storage.  Come on, you can confess.  We all do it - or more to the point, don't do it. Human nature is to procrastinate until an event pushes action.  Old dogs can still learn new tricks and I've learned mine.  It just takes awhile.  Then there is the discussion around external hard drive or offline/cloud  based storage.  The pros and cons of both are discussed here.

So now which online site to choose?  It seems most are in the USA, which is ok, although I'd prefer a Canadian company, but the ones I have sourced seem geared more towards large business instead of smaller clients.  Going US means it becomes pricier with the currency exchange rate being what it is right now.

How do you store your computer data?  External hard drive or online storage?  What is your favourite online storage site?

Traffic Box Art

 

In March I submitted a design to Clean St.John's for their Traffic Box Art program.  This program is designed to help reduce graffiti and beautify the city.  This is the 3rd year of the program and annually 8 artists' designs are chosen to be painted on traffic boxes at intersections around the city.

 

I was lucky enough to have my design chosen for this year and over the last couple of days have painted my assigned box.  The city will apply a protective covering then it should be there til the box is replaced or damaged.   The box is located at the intersection of MacDonald Drive and Portugal Cove Road - a busy and noisy environment to paint in. Here's a 'before' image of the traffic box at a quieter moment.
 

 

I had lots of support from drivers and walkers on the design and even a couple of painting job offers :).  The weather was hot, hot, hot and windy with the latex paint drying almost as soon as it hit the hot metal of the box.  The first day was truly unbelievable wind and I was covered in paint, creating a whole new set of dedicated painting clothes as the wind whipped the paint off the roller or brush.  Combine that with too much sun and a nasty fly bite on my forehead, I was a mess on all levels.

The positives were many.

• I created a large piece of art that I likely would not have normally tackled, the box being taller than I am!
• I completed the piece in about 9.5 hours in pretty extreme conditions of high winds and heat.
• I pushed my colour theory using a limited palette of latex external house paints.  
• I connected with a section of the public that may never have seen my art otherwise.
• I brightened a place in St. John's that I hope will make drivers and walkers smile when they see the box.

You are cracked

Some days its good just to play and that's what I was doing when I had some time to myself.  This was the result.

It was inspired by a section of a book about creating imaginary creatures out of sidewalk cracks.  Remember I told you it was play. :)  The book is called Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals by Carla Sonheim. Anyway, in this chapter the gist is that you find a complex crack in a sidewalk or path, photograph it, make several copies of the image, then find all the shapes you can within the crack and gesso around them.  Its quite interesting to see just how many shapes you can find, especially if you keep turning the paper to view from all angles.  Try it for yourself with this tutorial - Blob Hunting.

In the crack I used, a dog seemed to be the dominant shape that I saw so I figured I'd go with that theme.  I used pen and ink to create the shape outline, then watercolour and more pen to complete it.  There was no plan which is the beauty of playing.  The unknown result is part of the appeal.

Of course the name "Cracky" Dog immediately sprang to mind for a couple of reasons.  One, because the piece was inspired by cracks in the sidewalk and two, because "cracky" is the Newfoundland name for a small, noisy mongrel.  It seems a common phrase in Atlantic Canada and I've heard endless times.  Usually reserved for those little "purse dogs" who bark constantly at everything and everyone - also known as "ankle biters". :)

Its a fun thing to do and pushes creativity without pressure.  So next time you're walking on a sidewalk (I live in the country so I have to go to town to get sidewalks), grab a shot of some cracked pavement and see what you can create with the shapes.

Boat hunting

I've taken a couple of weeks holiday and have been using my time searching for boats, planning paintings and generally working like crazy on the art side of my life.  Funny how we think of holidays as relaxation - seems that's not on the cards for me much, but I do fit in some lounging time to sit with my coffee or wine in a chair in the garden.

I travelled all over the Burin Peninsula for three days, searching every cove and harbour for wooden boats.  Armed with a tireless driver and knowledgeable navigator, boats were found but it did take some looking. The trend is towards fibreglass boats instead of the traditional wooden boats and I can understand the change, as it makes fishing easier with low maintenance and lightweight structures.  But the lines and shapes of a handmade wooden boat are things of beauty and its sad that they are becoming harder and harder to find.

The boat that is reknowned in this region is the Grandy Dory, a large sturdy  fishing boat used for generations of inshore fishermen.  It proved very difficult to find one in the water, but finally on a day that was pouring with rain, one turned up. 

I am creating working sketches to go along with the paintings for my wooden boat series.  I'm using pen and wash to create the sketches, along with notes and additional information about location and boats that will be included in a small book about the paintings.

Sketches

Sketching is the exercise for artists.  It keeps eye/hand coordination sharp and drawing skills intact.  Like anything that you wish to become proficient at, it takes practice.  Daily practice. Its easy to say there is no time to sketch, but I disagree.  There is always time.  However we choose to use it becomes the issue.

I choose anytime, any place.  Here was my vantage point for the top sketch.  A trailer was left in the meadow and it made a comfy platform from which to sketch in the sun.

One of the portions of my current art grant project is the production of a book of sketches on the boats that I will be painting.  I don't think I would have ever ventured down such a path if my sketching and drawing skills weren't polished enough to consider it worthwhile.

Tomorrow I head to the Burin Peninsula in hunt for some traditional boats specific to that region.  Hopefully, I'll find a Grandy dory in its birthplace, Garnish.  Between sketches and photographs I hope to have some material for a couple of paintings.  There's a French influence on the Peninsula, which is made up of numerous small towns and is the gateway to the French islands of St. Pierre & Miquelon.

These sketches are in a Stilman & Birn Alpha Series 9" x 6" sketchbook, using pen & ink with watercolour wash.

Sweetwater

 Sweetwater

6" x 8"   Available from Daily Paintworks

I've wanted to try a collage using torn paper as the medium for awhile.  There are some beautiful pieces from artists around the world and the process seems fairly straightforward.  I had some decorative papers in the studio as well as a handful of newspapers and the star of the show - a KitKat wrapper!

Armed with paper and a liquitex varnish medium I made a HUGE mess of tearing paper, gluing, peeling, layering and generally covering myself with a layer of paper and glue.  However, I quite enjoyed the process and will try it again.  Its very similar to painting with a palette knife. The colour goes down in blocks,  mixing on the surface is not possible (with the exception of layering tissue), and the overall look is impressionistic.

I used a prepainted canvas panel for the substrate.  The painting on it was  reject that was due for elimination, so it was a perfect candidate for my experimentation. And with the use of the red KitKat wrapper, the name just had to be Sweetwater...

Iceberg season

Oh I'm slacking again in the blog posting department, but I have excuses, honestly!

Its iceberg season.  This is a bumper year for them and they sail past in numbers, some closer to shore than others.  Some are huge and very spectacular and of course I had to get some photos of them.  It seems like the weekend flew by in minutes and left me wishing I could rewind and do it all over again.

These shots were taken off Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America.   My camera's zoom doesn't do them justice, they are quite beautiful.


I was involved in the art opening for the group exhibition at Peter Lewis Gallery on Saturday night.  The opening was well attended and one of my paintings sold at the opening, one of my favourites - Fox Point, seen on the far right in the image below.  I had five paintings in this exhibition, mostly boats, which are a prelude for the series I'll be working on this year.

I've been working diligently on a 24" x 48" boat commission.  I'm afraid I can't show the piece to you until its approved and shipped to the collector.   While I wait for a layer to dry a little I started another for fun.  This is called Smooch and is 10" x 20" on canvas.  I loved the combination of colours and of course those gouramis ready to lock lips always make me smile.   I hope to have it and the commission finished by the end of the week.

 

I'm doing some planning on where to go for my boat hunting expeditions for my art grant project.  As I, along with a lot of other artists, did not receive full funding for the grant due to government cutbacks, I've had to rethink my travel plans in hunting down the appropriate boats.  That and time, becomes a challenging factor.

But supplies are on their way and I have some sketches up for consideration for the 15 paintings that I'll need to produce before the spring.  Deadlines work wonders for inspiration.

Jewels of June

I'm happy to be part of a group exhibit at Peter Lewis Gallery.  I'm in very good company with five other artists, so it should be a visual treat for those attending.

I'll have some of my new boat paintings in this exhibition which is a preview for the series of paintings that I will complete this year for my grant project.  I'd love to meet you there and tell you more about the background of the paintings.

The opening is on Saturday June14th from 6:30 - 9:00pm and the exhibition will continue until July 5th.

I've just splashed out an obscene amount of money on supplies for my new series and even if it is grant money, it still makes my heart beat a little.  When I reach the point in a funded project where I start purchasing and planning, it turns into reality.  That reality turns into momentum and the closer the deadline creeps, the stronger the impetus.  I should have the project completed by the end of March 2015 and ready for exhibition in the spring of 2015.

Study for Pink Gin

I won't be sharing the paintings with you through my blog or website except through snippets here and there as I want to make a splash at the exhibition.  But it won't be silence and there will be lots more art and sketches to share along the way.

Catching up

 

Underwater Attitude

Available from Daily Paintworks

 

I have been extremely busy since the last blog post and while vowing to up my game at the start of the new year, I haven't always met my promise of twice to three times a week. Forgive me. I shall try harder.

Summer becomes the season for gallery activity locally with seasonal galleries reopening after languishing all winter and exhibitions taking place, projects coming to life and weather (at last) improving. As with each year, I bemoan the fact that I am so busy with the season, but I enjoy it also, as productivity and deadlines are the things that drive me forward.

 

Pink Gin

20 x 24" oil on canvas

Available from my website

 

So many paintings have headed out the door lately that I barely have anything left in the studio and work continues to build with commissions, teaching for workshops and private lessons as well as a major project taking form.   I was lucky enough to be provided with a grant from NLAC that will allow me to create a series of wooden boat paintings using a palette knife. I will also produce  sketches of the chosen boats, the type of boat, its environment, etc. and make them available in hard copy as well as e-book version.  This exhibition will culminate with a solo exhibition in early summer 2015.  I like to allow myself plenty of time to fit in everything I need to do for this as well as all my other work.

Moored Speedboat

pen and wash, Stillman & Birn sketchbook

One of my designs was accepted by Clean St. John's and I will be painting it on a traffic box in the city in July.  I can't tell you much more than that right now, but will find ways of sharing the experience and the final painting with you as it progresses.  Its great to see colourful original art around the city and research shows that it deters vandalism through graffiti so I hope the program continues until every traffic box is painted.  If your city doesn't have a public art program then start one! It brings community together and supports local artists.

Revisiting Zorn

 

Each artist formulates their own palette over time by adopting an initial colourway based on another artist or through an instructor's choice.  But as subjects change and experimentation occurs, additional colours are added that enhance what the artist tries to achieve and a personalized palette of common colours are used that become part of a signature style.

yellow ochre, cadmium red medium, ivory black, titanium white

 

Even though I do mostly boats and water now, there was a time when my main interest was in portraiture.  And for portraits, the Zorn limited palette cannot be beaten, in my opinion.  Skin tones ranging from lights to darks are endless using the four colours of cadmium red medium, yellow ochre, ivory black and titanium white.  A few years ago I used a Zorn palette to paint this portrait of Bill Grant.

In portraiture a limited palette is quite useful as it forces you to create colours and removes reliance of convenience colours in tubes.  The range of values and hues that can be achieved with limited colours can be explored using a colour chart.  This becomes a reference for future paintings when you're considering the colours you need to achieve an accurate representation of what is front of you.

With internet services all over the map lately and completely dying last week, I took advantage of some time where I would not be distracted to create another of my colour charts.  You can read my previous blog posts about creating colour charts here and here and here.  The chart shown here is based on the Zorn palette and shows the amazing range of colours that can be achieved using just a few colours.

Old work

 Parisian Reds

8 x 10   oil on panel  Available on Etsy  $65

What do you do with old paintings that don't sell?  We all have them.  Usually they are pieces that were done when learning a technique or starting out on an artistic journey, they may even have had gallery space, but they never found the right connection with someone.  This one below, Single Red Female, is one of those pieces.  Its been shown in exhibitions, available online,  yada yada, but hasn't found its forever home.  Its on my hit list for removal. 

For me, I paint over pieces where possible, depending on the surface and medium and recycle them that way.  I may keep a photographic record - or not - depending on how painful the image seems to resonate with me.  But it is transformed into something new.  It may take elements of the original that are incorporated into a new piece or it may be totally obliterated and disguised.

Trotting out old pieces over and over for sale at reduced prices is a bit disrespectful for collectors who have bought from you at full price and tends to devalue your work.   The occasional studio sales is fine and we all have them, but not for old work that isn't the best, its for genuine unpredictable sales of usually small pieces that may not be gallery worthy but still quite beautiful for someone looking for an piece of original art.

The ultimate of course is destroying the piece. It eliminates it from view, it confirms that you have moved on in your art career and that nothing becomes too precious.  Fire is the all consuming and a little caveman-like method, but quite satisfying.  Simply tossing pieces out with the trash becomes fraught with danger as they could be 'rescued'.  And would you really want your rejects on display or worse still, resold without your knowledge perhaps even under a different name?  No, permanent destruction or disfigurement prior to trashing them is required to ensure you don't lose sleep at night (or potential revenue!).

How do you eliminate old work that doesn't sell?  Do you recycle, eliminate or pass it on?

Northern gannets

I've had a bad internet connection for the last week or more that slowed to a creep over the weekend. Fortunately a technician came out today and was able to finally repair it so I'm back up to speed again. It almost reminded me of dial up speeds.  Remember those?  Yikes!

A couple of years ago I took a trek to the Bird Rock at Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve where thousands of northern gannets nest.  One of the largest nesting colonies in North America.  The birds are magnificent, flying over the ocean, sailing past on huge wings and gathered, covering every inch of rock on nests of grasses and fishing nets and ropes found in the ocean and on the shore.

 

I did paint a gannet  in flight and enjoyed the process of finding form and feathers.  I was revisiting my trip in photos there and zoomed in on a section of an image where a line of gannets nested, each with a different post and it got my mind thinking about painting it.  As I often do, I created a study to help me make up my mind.  Pen and ink, with watercolour wash sealed the deal so I think this may be a future painting.

I did this in a Stilman & Birn sketchbook in the alpha series, 9" x 6".  I love how forgiving the spine is to bend so I can draw across the page and how accomodating it is to washes of colour.  It ripples a little but not much.  I'm working my way through the series of S & B sketchbooks to see which ones I like best.

Let me share a little of the experience with the gannets. There are lots of other birds that call it home there too:  Thousands of gulls, razorbills, common murres, black-legged kittiwakes, northern gannets, and double-crested and great cormorants nest here. Its where 20,000 scoters, oldsquaw, harlequin, dovekies, thick-billed murres, and kittiwakes winter.

I think you might like to visit...

Tide's Edge

 Tide's Edge

12" x 36"  oil on canvas

Available for purchase from my website

I really need to up my game as my promise of a minimum of two blog posts a week is not materializing consistently enough.  I will try harder.  Its not as if I don't have things to share, because I do.  Fitting in everything I want to do becomes the challenge.

This is my most recent painting, Tide's Edge.  I love long rectangular canvasses, they are such perfect shapes for waves and repetitive patterns.  Last week I drove to Pouch Cove, just the next little town on the coast, to purchase some canvasses and an easel from another artist who was leaving the country.  I came away with two easels, more canvasses, brushes, paint and  books, all in excess of my original expectations for my dollars.   Its pleasant when something like that happens, both in helping out another artist and of course overachieving expectations.  I am considering how to pay this forward for the future.  I believe when good things land in your lap, there is an obligation to do something similar for another person.  The form it takes varies, but it must happen.

I've been fighting technology to create a short video showing the process of creating this wave and software keeps crashing at crucial moments.  So until I conquer that process, here are a couple of progress shots of the piece for those interested to see how shapes and colours change and evolve in the creation process.

 

 

Observational skills

Artists look at objects differently than most people.  They observe detail in shape, value, colour that differ from what their 'left brain' tells them should be there.  The analytical side of the brain tells us that an apple is round and red.  Wrong.  Even if round and red, there are many changes in colour and shape that occur and must be translated into a drawing or painting for it to look recognizable as an apple.

Learning how to observe is one of the most important elements of learning to draw and one of the techniques I use in drawing workshops is blind and continuous contour drawing.  This focuses the mind on exploring an object and blocks out the analytical side which keep trying to tell you how something should look, instead of how it actually looks to your eyes.

Blind contour drawings are done by observing an object and drawing it without looking at the drawing as it progresses. The tip of the pencil never leaves the surface of the paper and you are forced to really look at the nuances that occur in the subject instead of comparing it to the drawing.

Continual contour drawing takes it up a notch by allowing you to look at the drawing and the subject but still never allowing the tip of the pencil to lift from the paper surface.  It forces you to observe and make decisions on what areas will have crossed lines and where they should go in creating the drawing.

Neither blind or continuous contour drawing could be called realistic but they are often quite abstract and beautiful.  These are a couple of demonstration drawings that I completed in a drawing class this morning. The moment when a student really starts to understand how their observation translates from preconceived 'left brain' drawing into true representation of an object is amazing and always makes me smile.  I see lightbulbs fill the studio classroom as it happens and I will never become tired of that moment, because I know people are heading down the path of learning how to really see.