I've been a bad girl!

I have lots of paintings to post - I have been too lazy to get on the site and update. Sometimes trying to orchestrate my thoughts is more trouble then I care to deal with. LOL It's been a very busy 2 months; studio tours; vacation up @ Port Severn - me painting, guys fishing; vacation at Honor Mi with Patty & Lauren (we did a stack of plein aire pieces) and a 60th bday!!!

First in line are the 3 paintings I finished in September - just in time for the Studio Tours. I don't think I needed to rush to get work done; it was a fairly sparse attendance at my studio. I will return tomorrow to post the next group - pleine aire in Honor.

These are all 18 x 24, acrylic on canvas. The 2 bouquets have been adjusted after Lauren, Patty and I had a 3 way skype critique yesterday - I might not have quite succeeded in correcting the flaws. Bouquet 1 needed some warm tones through the central area to tie everything together - I think that it works now. Bouquet 2 needed something to tie the 3 circles together - a rectangular window was suggested and I ended up deciding on the round one in the background - not sure if this one is successful.

something for the fisherman

bouquet 2

bouquet 1

dilemma & resolution

This is one I created as part of a show by a photographer friend of mine. He invited several artists to pose for him, while working on a painting which was later to be included in the show with the portrait of the artist. This is were I ended up - doesn't resemble the photo he is showing beside the work!!

24 x 36 acrylic on canvas



this is the photo and the start of the painting

in progress

today I did a bit more work on the 3 long canvases
I need to decide which direction to take them in. Although it's fairly obscure in the one, all 3 are based on figures from the life drawing I did last winter. They all have a shelf liner block out on them - were the paint is sort of resisting - and I have added the first glaze/wash of acrylic. I use Golden products because I really value the transparency I get with them. I had laid in some splashes (slightly controlled) of GAC 500 before both the shelf liner and the paint. These are visible as lighter areas on the canvas - so 2 kinds of resist on the go.

madness takes control!

Whew! I finally have some time to paint again. I spent most of May & June (when not golfing that is) working on our local Studio Tour. I am the chairperson; web designer and brochure creator by default AND let me assure you - that won't happen again!!! With 24 artists on the tour, you would think some of them would have time to do some of the work - ha! I always was a dreamer.
The results of my work can be seen at http://www.sarniastudiotour.com/

Yesterday I started 4 new pieces - one was a sheet on which I had started to scribble some ideas - I sort of flowed into it. The result is very different from my usual work. I got into stencils and stamping to create value and movement. It isn't complete but I'm letting it sit for a day or so before going on. I might turn it around and decide on a different orientation before it is finished.
16 x 22 acrylic on paper

I have 2 animal portraits to do soon as well - but they can wait.


The other 3 pieces are the gesso print with masked out windows ... look back a bit to see what I'm talking about.
The 3rd one is one step further along. I decided to base these on some figure studies I had from a year or so ago - hopefully the figure will end up just "subtly" there.
these are 16 x 22 acrylic on canvas

Introducing Lexie & Penny

I have been laying low for the last couple of weeks. I still can't get inspired to do anything else - but at least this time I had a commission to work on. The photos for this pair of pups were pretty obscure - lots of glare from the flash - so I had to look at references on line to get accurate ideas of the eyes and colouring of these 2. At the end, the client is thrilled so it was all worth it.

inspired

I've been painting very little this entire winter .... just couldn't get enthused or inspired. My buddy Lauren posted a cool painting the other day and that got me going. I was reminded of the intrigue caused by transparent layers and started this one with watercolours. Layers of Gac and glazes in acrylic brought it to this point. I'm going to let it sit for a bit while I think about the composition. It is out of balance and the largest circle/globe needs tonal work.
12" x 21" on 140 lb w/c paper.

My best boy

I finally got to this painting of Larry and maybe because it was a memorial - he looks a bit pensive and much softer then my previous versions of him.
10" x 13"