Bow Lake Beauty (oil on panel, 9"x12")

I set up reminders for all the FCA jury deadlines earlier this year. Last week my phone began to remind me daily of the impending cut-off for the Small, Smaller, and Smallest exhibit (works up to 164 square inches). Those reminders were beginning to get on my nerves :-).

On Thursday I decided to take off my hand brace and see how it withstood a painting session. I limited myself to short sessions and long breaks with ice and heat for my hand. Habits gather rust. Planning a painting is much easier when you're doing it regularly. Finding a subject was the biggest challenge. I have a huge collection of reference photos but nothing new felt right. I selected these trees along Bow Lake because I've painted this view before (Here). Having the mood and plan in my head was half the battle. This ensured I didn't spend a bunch of my time planning...I could just dive in and paint.

My hand cooperated reasonably well. It's a bit shaky and small, repetitive movements are a challenge. But, we made it through and I'm pretty happy with the result. Whether Bow Lake Beauty is accepted into the show or not, I really enjoyed painting again! Have a great weekend!

 

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Athabasca Falls (oil, 16"x20")

Athabasca Falls, in Alberta's Jasper National Park, is stunning all the time. But when we visited in June last year it was thundering even harder than usual after more than a week of steady rain. Awesome doesn't begin to describe the power. I've taken a shot at painting it this week. I'll have one more session to settle a few details but it is close to done. Cheers!

 

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Rocky Bloom (oil, 8"x10")

On the rocks along Sheep River, near the falls, these tiny lavender flowers go about their blooming business as they are designed to do by their creator. They do this despite their rocky perch and sandy soil and despite the likelihood that no one will sing their praises. They do this for the audience of one, their creator who does all things well.

 

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The Gloaming at Sheep River Fall (oil, 24"x24")

I first painted The Gloaming at Sheep River Falls in early 2012 and I hung it in my home in Calgary. I saw it every day and something really bugged me about it. Sometimes it takes me a long time to figure out what I want to change andthat was the case here. Indetermined not to hang it here in Lloydminster until I figured it out. There were just a few minor changes:

• The blue of the sky and water was too warm. I glazed turquoise lightly over the sky and in places on the river.
• The tips of the trees on the left, although lighter, were too warm. These I glazed with an almost grey mix to dull and cool them.
• The foreground rocks were also too warm for this time of day so I toned them with mixes of greens and blues.
• The water spray is in full shadow at this time of day, so my water was far to light and bright. I scumbled the blue and greenish greys into the white water to tone it.

There were a few other tweaks but those were the primary issues. What do you think? I like it much better now than I did before. Have a great day!

 

The Gloaming at Sheep River Falls - before...

 

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Misty Spirit Island (Oil on canvass, 6"x6")

I had a refreshing break from the winter weather when we visited Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico for a week over Easter. This tropical paradise is between Acapulco and Guatamala on the pacific side and has warm, almost guaranteed, weather. We saw one cloud, one day. Mexico moved to develop and protect a large portion of the area as Huatulco National Park in 1998. As a result, the most delicate coastal areas are protected from resort development. Those resorts built south of the national park are limited to just a few of the 18 bays. Although I didn't shop much in Huatulco, I did manage to bring something home from Mexico. However, I'm finally feeling a bit better and I'm back in my studio so - yay! Nothing can make me fall out of love with Mexico. Nothing.

Contrast that with the subject of this little painting...another gorgeous paradise -Jasper National Park. Long snowy winters and short, dry summers, are the norm in Jasper. Spirit Island is an iconic landmark in this area. It's accessible only by tour boat (or canoe/kayak but I don't count that ;-). I visited this gorgeous spot on an overcast day in late September 2007, just days before the end of the tour season. We woke up to a cold, drizzly morning. But, being optimistic about the weather Gregg Johnson, our painting instructor, led us onto the boats. We watched rain stream down the boat windows during our 45 minute ride. But, as we rounded the corner to Spirit Island, a weak sun was attempting to burn off the fog. The color of the water is incredible - more towards emerald than this little painting indicates. Simple put - the place is stunning! A fantastic place for plain air painting and a great reference source as well. Cheers!

 

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Bow Lake Sentinels (oil, 9"x12")

I loved my painting time yesterday and today and I can't wait to do more. I've missed mucking about in my paint. This was fun, most of the marks made today were done with palette knives. That's so much fun - it makes such surprising ( and sometimes alarming) marks. It requires wholesale scraping off at times, it's MESSY! If you wait too long, it's harder, sometimes impossible, to scrape down and rework. Sounds somewhat like life doesn't it? However, since oil paint takes quite a long time to dry to the touch, never lose hope :-). I'm not sure if this one is done but I'll let it dry for several days before I mess with it further.

Cheers!

 

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Leighton View [8”x10, oil]

Last Saturday I wandered out to Leighton Centre to do some plein air painting.  It’s nice out there on the weekend as there are a number of other artists painting and other folks visiting the gallery and schoolhouse.  It certainly makes me feel less nervous about the cougars that have been seen prowling around in that area lately!!!  Anyway, this is a bit of the vast, panoramic view from the Centre…  if you live near Calgary but have never visited the Leighton Centre, you are missing out!!!

Cheers!

East of the Rockies [oil, 9”x12”]

I joined my friend Sharon on Tuesday afternoon for some “car painting”.  It was my first experience with plein air from the back of a car and it was fun!  I pretty much reworked this entire painting when I got home though…  and I like it better now.  I was feeling the farming aspect of this scene – the grain bins and the rows left over after last fall’s harvest.  The idea of that is coming through better now.  However, I’m struggling with the “less is more” concept of plein air.  I need to be more selective and simplify more…  that apparently takes years to learn, not just a mere few months.  Cheers!

Western Glow [oil, 11”x14”]

When God blesses us with a sunset here in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, it is spectacular! I painted this today from a photo I took last summer.  The sun sets far in the north in the summer and the view from the balcony of our Crestmont home was an amazing place to watch the magic – I miss that balcony now.  We don’t have the same view, but it’s a very short walk to another great sunset viewing spot here in Tuscany [Calgary NW].  These blue mountains are beautifully draped in snow right now – it’s another type of gorgeous.  Cheers!

Rock Isle Lake Thaw [oil, 16”x20”]

This painting has been reworked since I posted it on February 18th.  Taking a more critical look at this made me realize that I had lost the value pattern [see the previous post for the red and black version] that I was going for.  Those of you that have been up to Sunshine Meadows know that there are many spots to view this lake from.  To get back to my original value pattern and simplify, I replaced a section of the foreground with water.  I also warmed up the bottom of the sky just a bit, showed some warmer and lighter sections on the mountain above the isle, and added more of a bank on the isle.  I hope you like it!

Rock Isle Lake Thaw [oil, 16”x20”]

 This is the second painting done using a method demonstrated by Rick Berg last at my CCPS meeting.  The steps differ from the usual way I paint in oils in several respects.  For those that are interested in those steps, here they are in short:

This is a photo of Rock Isle Lake on Sunshine Meadows.  It’s gorgeous!  This was an early June day and we had 3 seasons in 5 hours – fall, winter, and spring.  I have another photo from a slightly lower and wider angle that I photoshopped [adjust, threshold] to convert to simple black and white shapes.  I had a board previously painted red and I sketched these large shapes onto it, first with pencil and then outlined with a black Sharpie. 

I then painted these shapes with black acrylic gesso.  Once that was dry I glazed the entire surface with acrylic Transparent Red Iron Oxide [Golden’s].   Then I got out my oil paints and worked in the lighter colors for sky, water, and the highlighted rock shapes.   I left the greens and finishing the rocks until the last stage.  At this point I found I was painting as I normally do…  but I got a bit stuck on the reflections.  I found a YouTube video that helped quite a bit.  I’m pretty happy with how this one turned out and I think I’m finally beginning to paint with a particular style of my own.  It’s the largest oil painting I’ve done.  Once this is dry I may go back into it and up the contrast in the sky just a bit.  Enjoy!

Wisps Over K-Country [oil, 6”x8”]

This is the view from a pathway beside Allen Bill Pond looking towards Kananaskis Country. I love clouds, and painting clouds…  these are cirrus or mare’s tails.  Their feathery appearance makes them looks like they’re dancing across the sky.  Our weather continues to be gorgeous here, although the wind is up today.  It’s been perfect weather for harvesting this September – much needed due to a late, wet spring.  Cheers!

May Showers [oil, 9”x12”

I just had to get out of this house today…  packing and reorganizing seems to be the theme at our place right now.  It’s been inspiring to reorganize my art room and find all kinds of ideas that I’ve jotted.  All are now safely stored away in a much more organized fashion.  My art accounts and invoices are also.  Phew! 

So, to reward myself for all that hard work I grabbed my gear and headed to the park on the ridge in the community of Tuscany.  Set up is so fast with my BestBrella and my Alla Prima pochade box.  I was looking west towards the Rockies and the clouds were rolling towards me.  I expected rain before I finished so I was hustling to get started.  That’s when I discovered that, although I remembered the all important mosquito repellant, I’d left my medium pots at home.  No walnut oil nor thinner to help with paint control. Too late for that – I sketched in quick and grabbed my palette knives.  Consequently, this painting is thick.  I basically slathered the paint on with my knifes and used a bristle brush on most of the sky – it was amazing how fast those clouds were moving!  But, the distinct line of dark was constant like this for a long time.  It didn’t rain on me but it certainly was raining at Springbank Airport.  Eventually the wind picked up enough that I had to collapse my umbrella but I kind of like this painting – LOVE painting with the knives [loved the sale at Curry’s too]! 

Rock Isle Lake (20x14, watercolor)

A year ago I attended the Sunshine Meadows Plein Air PaintOut near Banff, Alberta.  The area is spectacular – what a gift our beautiful mountain parks are!  I nearly froze solid up there on a day that couldn’t make up it’s mind whether to snow, sleet, rain, or shine.  The overcast conditions made for the most spectacular photography though.  The purpley mountains set off the new, yellowish green growth perfectly.  My favorite spot is the basis for this watercolor painting – Rock Isle Lake.  Spectacular views and the cleanest, purest air I’ve ever breathed.  This year the PaintOut is August 5th so hopefully the weather will be more cooperative.  Regardless, it will be a day of fun and fellowship with other artists and enough photo reference material to last a lifetime! 

Collage 180 degrees...

The collage start that I posted yesterday bears little resemblance to this image. However, if you take yesterday's image and turn it upside down you should be able to see some of the "bones" still intact. [Flipped image is at the bottom of this post]
I worked off and on for a few hours this afternoon battling the strong straight lines that I had in the original composition. Even more challenging was the extremely large red shape. I finally just ripped it off and started again with a variety of dark papers in mid-value analogous blues and mauves. After a while I liked most of the big shapes but I was still quite concerned about the very dark "lightening bolt" shape. As I turned it around and thought about it, I could see mountains and a road! Finally this project was talking to me... (and yes, I know that sounds crazy. Whatever!) After that I puttered a bit longer strengthening what I saw and adding a bit of structure to it. So far, so good... I expect the class will have some helpful critique for me tomorrow. Bring it on!
Have a great week everybody!

Yesterday's image flipped upside down for your reference.

Mountain Lake (22"x15") acrylic

The Canadian Rockies just a few miles to the west of where I live has hundreds of beautiful winter views like this. I've managed to capture the cold feeling from the late afternoon sun on the ice and mountain. However, I'm struggling a bit with these foreground trees. Looking at them this evening I realize the snags and branches are simply too dark - possibly another case of the acrylic paint drying a bit darker. I'm excited about moving on to still life and figures for a while. Cheers!

Work in Progress...

This is my first painting attempt using fluid acrylics from the outset. I love how they flow almost like watercolors. However, they dry very quickly so I was behind the eight ball as far as edge control goes on this larger format (22x15 inches). Stay tuned as I'm definitely not done with this one... Happy Valentines Day!

Rocky Mountain Clouds (11"x7")

Last Wednesday class we worked with a landscape photo, did up a quick value sketch and made quick adjustments to composition required for a good painting. Then we were to paint a small painting matching the original photo closely and another painting pushing the colors into something more exciting and dramatic. The photo I had (thanks Sally) was similar in colors to the left most painting above. I don't mind it but I really like how the piece on the right turned out. It's pretty much the same scene but I changed things around using the triad green gold/ultramarine violet/scarlet lake. The color scheme really makes things sing... Enjoy!

Dolphin Sunset (10"x14")

The circular patterns that came out of one of my recent "starts" immediately reminded me of jumping dolphins. So, I developed it along those lines. I've never seen this particular green in a sunset but it works in my imagination and that's all that counts here. The dolphins looks like they're having fun! Enjoy!
Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers! Tomorrow is election day in Canada - VOTE!

Foothills Fury (21"x14")

This was the scene a week ago heading west out of Calgary on the TransCanada Highway towards Cochrane. A rare fall thunderstorm blew in quickly over the foothills. Five minutes later it was pouring rain. It lasted only an hour before our beautiful weather returned with the sunshine radiating clear and warm from it's position low over the Rockies. We've had some lovely days this fall... and I've plenty of beautiful photos to show for it. I believe I've got enough photos for a lifetime of painting. The issue now becomes remembering the context and feelings that belong to each - without that they're just photos.
This half sheet painting is larger than I'm used to working. Quarter sheets seemed a bit small for the landscapes lately - this give me a bit more room to play with. I had trouble with the sky on this one. In the small format it looks livid and somewhat foreboding which is exactly the mood I'm going for with these storm clouds. However, I needed several applications of paint to darken the lower part of the clouds. It never ceases to amaze me (and it should) how much lighter watercolor paint dries! A single, dark application may have been more effective close up. That said, I like how the faint mountains turned out - just peeking out of the mist and rain in places. Enjoy!