Struggling Again

I am struggling with my landscapes again but it is intentional.  I am playing with what I learned from John Anderson but not very successfully.  I have been painting a lot but so far outside my comfort zone that I have produced nothing that I could post without being embarrassed.  I will keep at it and post when I feel that it won't damage my ego too much.

Every once in a while I complete a portrait that I am really excited about.  When a portrait is successful I can actually see the person when I look at the sketch or painting.  I don't see the artwork but the actual person. When it happens I feel like I must have captured something more of that person than just a likeness and it works with this sketch of Philip.  He has a very intense but warm look in his eyes and is obviously very comfortable with who he is.  I liked him immediately and maybe that is what helps produce a good portrait.

This one excites me.

Oh What a Week!

I spent last week at the Haliburton School of the Arts in Haliburton Ontario.  I took a beginners plein air oil painting course with John Anderson.  I love John's work and hoped that I could learn a little about how he paints.  I was in mental overload by about Tuesday.  We painted ten paintings in five days and learned far more than I could process at the time.  I will have to work with it and hope that I can remember at least some of what he taught.

We spent a good part of the week working with two colours.  He would give us a pair of complimentary colours and demo a painting with them.  We would then emulate his painting.  This was painted on Tuesday with Blue and orange  with just a little orange-yellow to create the greens.





This painting was painted on Wednesday morning using purple and yellow.  It was a huge pine tree with the top missing in the middle of a field.




This one was done Wednesday afternoon using only red and green.  I have the tree trunks too thick and the house too large but it was a fun exercise.





On Thursday we went to a farm that had been in the same family since 1912.  At this point we were allowed to open up our pallets and use whatever colours we wanted and we could wander the farm an decide what we wanted to paint.  I tried red/green with this field but just had to pull out the yellow to catch the glow on the top of the hill.  The clouds are a bit too white but I like this.

On Friday we went to Ritchie Falls and again chose our own subject and palette.  Most artists went to the lower falls but three of us chose to paint the falls under the bridge.  I have the rocks on the left too close in hue to the water.  I should have cooled the rocks a bit more.  This isn't a great painting but I was exhausted by this point in the week so I am pretty happy with it.


I am already looking forward to taking John Anderson's advanced plein air class next summer.  It was a very intense painting experience.  I can't wait to get out with the Monday Painters today.

Finally Some Time

In the last three weeks Debbie and I have co-hosted a meet of about two dozen watercolour artists and some of their spouses from as far away as England and Australia and I have curated an exhibit of 53 paintings by fourteen artists at the Dundas Museum and Archives.  I have had little time to paint and even less time to post.  Both were huge successes so I can relax and get down to some serious painting now.  Once I find the leak in the pool that is.




This first painting is of Paletta Mansion in Burlington Ontario.  It has a huge porch on the front with a cupola on top of it.  The house is stone but the trim and cupola are a warm tan colour that glowed in the warm sun.  I was pressed for time and rushed the windows and trees at the end.




This second painting was painted yesterday at Sherman Falls.  We had about twenty Monday Painters out.  I think that just maybe the group show has inspired everyone.  I am pleased with this painting.





A small group of the watercolour painters went out to paint the town of Dundas.  We sat in the hot sun across from the Carnegie Gallery and sketched. This is my journal sketch.




This last sketch was done on Saturday.  We went to Sarnia to visit friends who gave us the grand tour.  We needed a break so I sat and sketched under the Bluewater Bridge.  It is unbelievable how turquoise the water in the St Clair River is.

Monday Painters Show

About fifteen years ago a group of eager students in Catherine Gibbon's outdoor landscape class at the Dundas Valley School of art decided to get together once a week, outside of class, to paint.  The group is very informal (a mailing list ) with one member sending out an email each week to let everyone know where we are painting.  We paint outdoors all year and I have been painting with them for a couple of years now.

I am excited to say that fourteen of us are having a group show, in which I will have four paintings.  It is titled "Plein Air Painters at Large" and will be hanging at the Dundas Museum and Archives from June 16th until August 18th with the artist reception on June 19th from 5:30 pm until 8:30 pm.  It will be a good selection of contemporary landscapes by local artists and everyone reading this is invited to come join us.

RIP Robert Genn

I feel like I have lost a very close friend however I have never actually met Robert Genn.  I have for a few years looked forward to receiving the twice weekly newsletter that he sends out to artists around the world.  They were at times inspirational, philosophical, spiritual, informative or thought provoking and usually all of these.  He will be missed by many.

Onward to happier things.  Maybe.  I haven't been posting however I have been painting a lot.  Just not very successfully.  Boats and buildings are not my forte and I question whether I should paint more of them to get better or just keep working at what I do well.




This first sketch is Vivian.  She is one of my favourite models and often poses for the BFAA sketch group.  She sits well, has big dark eyes that are very intense and yet warm and humorous and a face with lots of character.  I don't have a perfect likeness but I am happy with it.




This second painting was done at The Sovereign House in Oakville.  I struggled for
ages with the perspective of the house with the addition at the back and the porch on the front.  I chose a very awkward angle.  I finally got the perspective right but I ran out of time so this painting isn't and probably never will be finished.

This last sketch was done at camp on Saturday.  This is another one of the nature centre at Scout Camp Nemo.  I plan on sketching more locations around camp and then using the images to print up note cards to be sold as a fundraiser for the camp.  We shall see how far I get.

Niagara-on-the-Lake

Debbie and I spent an amazing weekend at Niagara-on-the-Lake.  We arrived Friday night to a very warm welcome at the Historic Lyons House Bed and Breakfast.  Howard and Yolanta are fantastic hosts and made us feel instantly at home.

I didn't have time to paint full paintings but I did some sketches.  These first two are the front and back of the B&B.  I would stay here again in a flash.  Everything about our stay was absolutely perfect.

If there hadn't been so many things to do in town we could happily spend the long weekend in the back garden.






On Saturday we wandered the town and then visited Fort George which was an interesting step back in time.  We wandered some more and ended up at The Queen's Royal Park which had a magnificent view of fort Niagara across the river.




From here we headed to the Prince of Wales Hotel for high tea.  They were full and there was an hour wait until we could get a seat so Debbie went shopping and I plopped down on my stool across the street and sketched the hotel. I was getting tired so this is a pretty weak sketch of a very busy building.  The huge pick up truck that parked in front of me didn't help.

After high tea we went back to our room for a nap before heading to the Shaw Festival Theatre to see Cabaret.  It was incredibly well done but a bit macabre for vacation watching.  We spent Sunday on a delicious wine tour that took us to five wineries followed by seafood pene in The Old Angel Inn for supper.  The inn was very British and was established in 1886.

It really was an amazing weekend and even better since it was a Christmas present from our children.

Open for Business

This winter being a Scout Leader started becoming a chore for me.  The politics was wearing me down and as I got more and more involved in the art world committing myself to camp every Saturday became impossible.  And then yesterday happened.  I was at camp sitting on the deck of the HICOP (the nature centre where I volunteer) listening to the giggling and laughter of youth playing in the camp and watching crows chasing a soaring hawk out of their territory.  The only place in the world that I would rather be is in my own back yard relaxing with Debbie and a glass of wine.

I sat in a tee shirt in the sun and painted this sketch of the nature centre signs and one of our bird feeders. This is 5" X 7" and painted in a cheap watercolour book but it was relaxing and fun.  Days like yesterday I can't imagine giving up volunteering and I am sure that a balance can be found.