Montreal Lookout

We were in Montreal this past weekend visiting our daughter Alexandra, who took us for a walk in the Parc du Mont Royal where there was a wonderful lookout over the city, with the St. Lawrence River in the distance. Fall has promoted a focus on painting compositions with orange and blue.

Tamaracks

Since it was suddenly so warm - our Indian Summer? - we went out to paint. Humidity was high today, giving better contrast, and the only colour left in our fall landscape are the bright orange tamaracks.

Paint Out

Today I joined the EOAA paint out near Lake Clear. The weather was great considering there was a rain forecast. The leaves are essentially all down and yet it was beautiful in the many variants of grey. It was a great experience all around.

Pumpkin Row

The pumpkins are still in the field behind us. I am focused on warm and cool colours right now - the orange being warm, the bluish vegetation cool. I am wondering about the tiny bit of fourth pumpkin seen at the top - maybe I will grey it down.
Have reposted - lost the sharp edges and greyed it...more subtle?

In and Out

During a busy time of travel and activities, I tend to get out my painting routine, with the result that I feel "off". The best way for me to get into the groove again is to go back to basics - doing still lifes. It is amazing what is involved in a simple little set up - all the challenging components of painting.

Pumpkin Field

>This Thanksgiving, we had several guests in the house, and Pia from Hamburg showed me all the photos she had taken of pumpkins, behind my house! I was so surprised to find a long strip of pumpkins behind us. They were blocked by the trees but now as the leaves fall, we can see it. Of course Mary and I had to go out there and paint. The hills were so blue and the pumpkins so orange..... and I keep working on the pumpkins to get the front ones to pop out a bit more.

Schoolhouse Road

Mary and I went out today - although the sun was shining this morning, it was overcast by the time we went on location. The yellow populars radiate from the general greyness starting to come over the landscape and there is the wonderful smell of fall in the air. I was focusing on a few simple solid shapes that held a design together.

Red Maple

A flaming red maple in autumn - just had to be painted. I had painted this same tree in late spring when the field was ploughed and trees were all green.

Fall Trees

Blazing Maples

Combermere

Back from Germany, filled with new impressions, and out with Mary to paint...asap. I haven't painted since Mackey Station, and really missed it, so it was wonderful to get those brushes going again. It was a beautiful day to be out in the splendor of the fall colours.

Mackey Station

It is wonderful plein air weather, so Mary and I went on a road trip scouting for locations. We painted this scene at sunset, because we liked the design.
'Tomorrow I am leaving for Hamburg Germany...back in October. Will definitely sketch and take photos.

Red Apples #2

Red Apples #1

Up the Hill

We had time to do another quick sketch yesterday. The grasses were turning yellow but I have exaggerated the colour. A highway actually goes through there. I like the sky...it actually glows.

Hidden Corner

Today Mary and I met at a small lake where we had wanted to paint all summer. But it was windy and chilly and as a result, we were uninspired. So we continued down the road to a laneway that I had often wondered about and there we parked ourselves, sheltered with a great view, and happily painted and drank hot tea. The sumac was still very green, but I wanted colour, so here is colour, soon to be anyways.

On the Farm

Mary and I went to paint and repeat abundance from my brother-in-law's garden. A storm was brewing, so we set up to paint under a roof. Sure enough, it started to rain, then pour, then thunder and lightening. We finished our paintings and went in for coffee.

By the Fence

I get very mesmerized when painting with so much yellow - it just draws you in.

Breakfast Bunny

One more bunny painting that actually was really difficult to get the values....but the dish ellipse came easier than usual.

Nico Swimming

I was standing on the dock at my cousin's cottage, watching the kids swimming, and captured Nico in the water - reminded me of a Sorolla painting. This is my attempt at painting it.

Stillness

So I have been painting every day, just not able to post from the cottage. This was painted on a hot, humid and quiet/still morning. It was an exercise to get the values of the background trees, and to not niddle with the flowers or the pine boughs. I like the yellow sky - the more I looked, the more I saw that the sky truly had a yellowish hue to it.

Ralph

It was raining - I was tired of still lifes...so I painted my car from the kitchen window. Great exercise for drawing shapes!

Going to the Lake

It has been humid, misty weather and the hills turn so blue on the way to the lake. I have enjoyed this view all summer when travelling back and forth. It can only be seen from this one spot on the highway, and I could not stop, so I painted it from memory, simplifying the shapes.

Peekaboo Bunny

One more bunny painting - going for light as dominant value, blue dominant colour.

Lazy Hazy Day

It has truly been those lazy hazy days of summer lately, and this little painting was to honour the lake. I dropped all the learnings and just painted what was in front of me. The sun was shimmering on the water and blue was soft....nice way to end a wonderful August.

Together

These are two different varieties of sunflowers in my brother-in-law's garden. It was a challenge to get the darks of the upper one without being too dark. Am enjoying this subject a lot.

Hello!

It is sunflower season again and I am back at painting them. This time felt a lot easier and looser, even though it looks like lots of details. The leaves are just shapes of light and dark, the petals were modeled at the end. It was a very satisfying experience.
Frohe Geburtstag Claudia in Hamburg!

Time for Tea & Oranges

Mary and I painted together again - both on the same subject - and we struggled with our cup shape until we finally got them - such a simple looking thing took so long.

Brook at Wolfridge

My posts are coming in lots instead of days - that is because I am without internet at the cottage, but I am painting.

My husband brought me to see this creek at the golf course where he had just played. We had had torrential rain, so it was rushing and full like in springtime. I focused on simplification of the area, painting shapes and minimal detail.

A Hat for Me?

More of the rabbit......

My darling Clementines

The ceramic rabbit is a wonderful little project to paint because it requires me to pay a lot of attention to each stroke, and to get away from my love for blending.

Holding up the Watermelon

Where am I?

After the workshop, I have been working on the exercises that we came home with and therefore no posts. But one day while sketching, I noticed the shadows created by this ceramic rabbit that I had used as a paper weight on a road map in the wind - at the beach. Since then I have been painting him - he is my muse while I work through the exercises.

Rabbit & Tomatoes

I was thinking here dominant value and dominant colour, and getting the values correct on everything!

Workshop Mango

Just back from a wonderful workshop with Carol Marine. What a phenomenal teacher! Every step was well thought out and organized for maximum learning. Great demos and exercises really helped to experience the concept.....my brain was fried by the end. And with the handouts and exercises, there is so much to continue with at home. The three days were filled with tons of valuable information, delivered in her clear and lovely way. No wonder everybody is crazy about Carol! She is awesome. Thank you Carol.

Three on Lime

Tomorrow morning, Mary and I leave for a Carol Marine workshop in Hudson River Valley, New York. So I painted this with Carol's work in mind. We have been following her blog for at least two years and love the simplicity of her daily paintings. She really gets design, values and shapes. We are so thrilled to go ...... and learn lots!

Petunia

This petunia flower stem broke off during planting and was rescued. Flowers are a difficult subject, one that I return to time and again for the learning. It takes a lot of squinting to see the many variations of value in one blossom!

Yesterday and Today

The garage beside the old store - the ground in front looks wet, might be that I am blending again. Will go back and put in some solid strokes.

The Old Store

This used to be a busy little general store close to the lake. The now grown children remember the many trips for ice cream cones. It is closed now, the owners retired. It sits and waits. I wanted to paint it with simple strokes, not too much fussing.

A Quiet Moment

A quiet morning on the lake. I am still aiming for design and for simple shapes.

The Shed

The cottage shed - old and a bit leaky but still filled with summer treasures. I was aiming to simplify but my challenge became values as the light changed. Finally it came reasonably together and at the end, I added the blue stroke to enliven the inside of the shed.

Lazy Hazy Days

At the lake today, with the family therefore a bit distracted while painting. It was one of those leisurely days of summer. I wanted to paint strokes, shapes and not over noodle everything....in other words, stay simple. Then I decided to experiment with a shift in hues in the sky, after reading that chapter in Carlson's book. But I am guilty of "blending" those shifts - again. I have to go back to the rectangle exercise.

COPY of Lawren Harris "Baffin Island" c 1931

On our latest trip to the AGO in Toronto, my son Frederic asked if I could reproduce his favourite painting of the Canadian Group of Seven, Lawren Harris. I thought this was a wonderful opportunity for great learning and have been working on it since Ian's workshop - what a way to immerse into shapes! It is nearly finished, still some tweeks, and here is what I have discovered:

1. First drew in the shapes freehand, it looked perfect, and yet I have managed to get my own sizing in there, which only shows up at the very end - like today! Some good grid work next time. Which brings to mind,

2. How close can I manage to reproduce anyway? Even repeating my own paintings is never quite the same. Besides my drawing errors, there are variables that I don't know like...

3. what blue did he use for the sky? At the gallery, I did not think it was ultramarine. I checked and rechecked colours, of course from books and reprints which aren't fully reliable. I first painted the sky in phthalo blue, let it dry, then decided it must be cobalt blue, painted over only to get closer to the mountains and realized, it can't be cobalt. Maybe he had used several blues...? And to keep colour harmony, it would have to be one that mixes the lovely lilac for the shadows, so not phthalo.....so....

4. wouldn't it be awesome to paint in front of the original, to see it live, even if behind plate glass. I think copying masterpieces were a strong learning method in the past.

5. And then there is the overwhelming feeling of walking in someone's footsteps. I actually felt honoured to be copying Lawren Harris' work, and mused on what he was thinking, what inspired him, what he was translating onto canvas, how he did his brushstrokes etc. I found the whole experience very inspiring and exhilirating.


Of interest, the original is large and imposing and last sold for $2.2 million. The owner Ken Thomson bequethed it and his whole massive art collection to the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Three's company

It is cottage time and oddly enough, while preparing and packing, I managed to paint. The cherries are nearly black and I wanted to make them redder, but stuck to matching the colour - post Ian's workshop.

Daisy

What do they call this - a vignette? Maybe it would be better if the whole background were painted in....
After the structure painting, I had to do something real light....

City Hall, Kingston Ontario

While in Kingston for Victoria's graduation, I had taken a photo of this structure for the shapes and for the light effects. My aim for painting was to keep it simple and just focus on shapes and values. Structures are demanding - a slight shift and they are off balance, crooked, leaning or just wonky. So when I say simple, I did not mean easy, although ultimately, wouldn't that be a lovely goal.

Simplicity

Coming home from Ottawa today, along the Laurentian foothills on the Quebec side, I was looking for simple shapes to do a quick study tonight. I just have to keep up the momentum from the workshop, and the only way is to paint.

Susy

Today was so hot, the water was beautiful. I am still working on simplifying and painting shapes. My brain pathways are very sneaky - they quickly go to curves and roundedness. So much for small rectangles.

Back to Step #1

Funny how it is coming home from a workshop - all of these great ideas and momentum to just paint, paint, paint....but instead it's house guests, birthdays, holidays....etc. I did put things in order, hauled out exercises from past workshops, compared...and then repainted the Driftwood Park one, as just shapes. I think the back hills need to be bluer, but the idea of simplification is there.