Tulips

Mary, Victoria and I painted tulips yesterday.

Toya's Painting of Tulips

Victoria has been painting with me and this is one of hers. This is only her fourth oil painting. She is a natural!

Early Spring

Post Valentine

Victoria and I wanted to give ourselves a 15 minute time limit to paint, after preparing. It was a good exercise to be definite with strokes and values.

The Fam

Victoria is home on her reading week and we are having such a wonderful time together. Today we set up a still life and painted.

Study

Found a little black and white value study from long ago and decided to give it a quick try.

Grapefruit for Breakfast

Bird Bath

These grouping of Canada Geese were in this small creek last summer, preening and grooming and swimming around together. I liked the S curve in the composition, and the shapes of the geese without using too many brushstrokes.

Geese in the Reeds

Still working with my gray puddles, although the mud which had a bluish tinge looks too blue here, might need a more muddy look to see that it is an embankment. Did the geese strictly as shapes and am pleased with how they turned out - minimal strokes too!

Toronto Street Scene

So with all of these wonderful leftover greys, I put them to use in this painting because most of it is in shadow. Maybe the wall could have been a bit darker, but I think it still works.

Frozen Colours

When we drove past the ice falls last week, the sun came from the side, and the ice was a medley of colours. I wanted to recreate these nuances by using different greyed down colours. It was exciting to work with so many puddles of grey.

Ice Falls

Near Mazinaw Lake there are frozen waterfalls beside the highway that are beautiful.

Alabaster

These pieces are alabaster from Egypt. The small bowl is variegated with white and different shades of green. I am still working on the shapes of ellipses - it is getting better.

Tucked

Does this look a bit confusing?

Winter Roses

This summer, I had a big clay pot with mini rose bushes. When it was time for the fall clean up, they were still making buds, so I brought the whole pot in and now they are really blooming in full splendour. The buds reach for the light on rather long branches and so it was tricky to even attempt to keep them in place as subjects. But it was fun standing in the sun, painting nearly plein air.

Mates

Am slow with ideas lately, they are baking somewhere. Carol Marine had done an interesting composition, so I did my version.

Lemons

Today I watched a Helen van Wyk video, and tried some of her teachings.

Basket Case

Mary and I painted together today, a great start for February. This is a sweet grass basket from Charleston. I cropped the composition really close, for a zoom-in effect.

Stained Glass Plate

I am lagging a day behind again because of wipe offs/outs...what a way to end the month. The experiment was to paint this stained glass plate because of the interesting shadow it gives off. I am still after suggesting more translucency...but think I got the shape.

Grace

Time for roses again, and all their tricky captivating nuances. The brass jug has become a favourite of mine.

Three Amigos

Found some round red mangoes in the grocery store today.....time for some fresh subjects.

Waterlilies

Last summer, I drove past these lilies near Kaladar, Ontario. In the depth of winter with the pristine snow spoilt by rain, I am pulling out my photographs, sketches, and notes of all the things I would paint some day.....and the day has come.

April in Tuscany version 2

In the first version, I wanted soft pastel evening colours, and thought the result to be a bit rich in saturation, so painted the whole scene again, curious how it will turn out with more greyed down colours. The result is very similar. So - wherever I go, there I am. Good to know - again!

Baby Melon

This little watermelon graced the fruit bowl for along time, and yet it was still sweet and juicy. It was delightful to paint its curvey shape and the wonderful colour contrast.

April in Tuscany

This was done from a photograph that I have had for a while. The scene was so idyllic - I wanted the soft colours of a spring evening but it turned out quite strong . The buildings were difficult because they really are crooked, and nearly patched together, but that is their charm too.

Green Grapes

Grapes are in the house - a tricky new subject. One broke off and rolled into the little saucer. I like the colour contrast and the deep dark background, and of course my favourite - reflections.

Je ne sais pas

With these roses, my objective was to really accentuate them, and I think that happened with the darkened background. I was in the midst of posting and asked my husband what to call the painting - he was busy and said that he didn't know - but he said "je ne sais pas.....and so they are named.

Chinese Teapot

Painted at Mary's today. This teapot was complicated to draw but I think I got it. The background is brushstrokes of different grays, which could have been darker and look even lighter in the photo. I am still working on brushstrokes of mixed colours, same value, no blending and it is coming along.

Mandarin Bowl

Playing with colours.....

Winter Sky

This painting had all cold colours, so I gave it a bit of pink highlight where the emerging sun was striking the frosty snow. I am on a posting marathon, something for every day of January, no matter what. This one might qualify under "what".

Going Home

The last of the evening sun around 4:30 pm turned the sky peachy and reflected off some of the ice on branches as I skiied home the other day.

Tea Party

When the girls were small, they had numerous tea parties and these are their little cups. Sundays are the days that I find hardest to paint, and tend to study more. Today it was all about colour bias and creating vivid saturated colour - maybe that is why the background is such a high key green!

Morning Light

The morning sun blazes on the little forest where I go cross country skiing behind our house. Snowmobile trails follow the edge of the field. I wanted to get the effect of the warm morning sun and the cool snow shadows.

This little piggy.....

Another piggy challenge - for practice with shapes, values and all that wonderful stuff.

Brass Jug #2

Another quick one of the jug. Have bought some new brushes to try out tomorrow.

The Brass Pitcher

The other day, I found this brass pitcher in an antique store - what a delight! The plan is to paint it a lot more. Mary and I painted together today, with a nice wood fire to warm us. Winter does have its perks!

Frosty Morning

Since we are snowed in anyways, I am still on the hoar frost theme. I wanted to see how few and specific my strokes could become.

Twilight

Driving home from Ottawa last night, the sun had just set and the horizon was brilliant. I wanted to remember the colour sequence and paint it for the sheer joy of the colour.

The National Gallery of Canada

Was in Ottawa today at the National Gallery - saw lots of wonderful paintings - Group of Seven, Clarence Gagnon, Suzor-Cote, Shadbolt, Monet, Klimt, van Gogh...and more. It was a most inspiring day.

Nutty Ensemble

Some whole nuts were left over from Christmas, so I decided to experiment with values in the different nuts. There is very little dark, lots of mid range and some light. The open walnuts had the best contrast.

January Light

At 4:15 pm, I can see across the snow covered field, the the last sliver of light from the setting sun. Snow is on the distant Laurentians. I set out to make distinct strokes of many colours - but it turned into a blending again.

Fruit Juice

Went about it looser and definite second time around, light coming from a bit different angle. Don't see much difference yet.

The Delft Bank

Mary had this nice Delft piggy bank that we decided to paint today. It had odd slant eyes and a windmill on the other side. I decided to do something different because I have been reading about gradated dark backgrounds. The front cloth colours are blended, but the pig is done with decisive strokes. And the background is hard to see but contains blue, brown and red, becoming lighter towards the shape of the bank. Does he not look like a fat and greedy little pig!

Exercise # 1

Back to the Arthur Stern book to paint exact patches of colour - turned out a bit too green!

Melon et al

Deliberate strokes on the melon - and on the clementines but lost their essence a bit - still keeping with my challenge.

Three is Company

Back to specific strokes ! I gave the canvas an orange priming, and the finished painting has a nice glow. I was focused on not overworking anything, getting the folds and the shadows. And no blending!

Frothy Frost

Some improvement....?

Sometimes painting a magical moment in nature borders on appearing tacky. Lost are the deliberate strokes of my new plan, and something else burst forth, all frothy and pastel coloured. It was fun though, and the journey continues.

Bowl of Plenty

Today I made a real effort to work differently - with mindful strokes. I love to blend, and blend some more. A brushstroke needs to be put down with purpose, and needs to be specific. My challenge this year is to do that. It will be interesting to compare at the end of the year.
I think it will be a very mindful year....to do things with attention, appreciation and presence.

Happy 2010.