Family Huddle

This was painted en plein air in Sicamous B.C. standing at the edge of my brother and sister-in-law's home. They have so many flowers and interesting objects in their yard to choose from. So many people walking by told me how much they enjoyed "my" yard on their walks. Yes I did fess up to it not being mine. One fellow stopped his car to tell me his wife was painting as well on her back deck so I dropped by when I was done and met a new art friend,
how great is that!




"Family Huddle"
10" x 8" Oil on 1 1/2" deep canvas
#20031718

Dancing Shadows

I loved all the flowers that grew in random places in Mexico. They popped over the stucco fences seemingly warming in the sun. The shadows were forever changing in the slight breeze.








"Dancing Shadows"
20" x 16" Oil on canvas
#20028517

Garden's First Blooms

"Garden's First Blooms"

Plein Air Oil on panel 

7" x 5" unframed  $40

     #20010615

I love everything about this painting. I sat on our front grass so I could get more of a straight on view and happily painted in the warm sunshine. The first blooms in the garden are always a celebration but do not last long with frost, snow and wind to deal with.

Winter Blues

"Winter Blues"

9" x 12" Oil on board

$150 unframed

#20001415

This was painted in between caring for my Mom in Kelowna. A bouquet she was given had these flowers just not in these colours. As I couldn't take paints in my carry on luggage, Shannon picked up paints that I had ordered at Opus Kelowna. It was a real treat to play with new fresh paints and brushes!.Painted unconventional 4 flowers instead of the usual odd number, it just felt right for this painting. 

"Winter Blooms"

"Winter Blooms"

7 1/2" x 7 3/4"

Oil on Board

$75 unframed
#20003215

Always a welcome relief to view flowers indoors in the winter. A joyful experience to paint these ones on a cold winter indoor day.

"Window Box Blooms"

"Window Box Blooms"

10" x 8" Oil on board 

$75

#20129214

This was painted a very gray, very cold day in Sicamous, definitely an indoor day. This painting sung with it's bold and warm colours.

"A Sunny Trio"

These tulips were painted on a cold day and added sunshine and fun into my day. I was having trouble with this one and my painting friends Deb and Linda gave me some helpful suggestions. I am happy with the end result and grateful for my art friends!

"A Sunny Trio"

Oil on board 8" x 6"

$50 unframed

April 21 painting challenge - "Summer Bounty"

I had been working on this painting before I went to Las Vegas with my sister Shannon, Mom, and daughter (Kristen). Really tired today and a lot to do so I am happy to sign this one and call it done. The reference for this painting is a flower pot that was on my friend Sue's back deck in Chase, B.C. The brass pot reflected all kinds of colours off the house, deck furniture and the flowers were absolutely full. Sue's gardens and flowers are always an inspiration!

"Summer's Bounty"

20" x 16" oil on canvas board

$175 unframed

April 4 Daily Painting Challenge

This is the painting for day 4 of this month's challenge. I worked with a colour that is tough for me...pink! The sun was shining on these silk flowers in my art studio as if to say "paint me", so I did. I added some calligraphy marks which is something I don't normally do.

"April Roses"

10" x 8" oil on board

$75

"Loves's Gift"

I painted this on a very cold winter day, definitely an indoor day! The sun was shining so I put this gift of flowers in the sunshine and painted with warm colours. 

"Love's Gift"

16" x 12" Oil on board

$150 unframed

"Blue Jar Of Happiness"

What a great way to bring warmth indoors...with flowers and paint! The actual jar/vase was green but seeing how I had an artistic license in hand and a favourite colour in mind.....ta da, blue vase.

"Blue Jar of Happiness"

9" x 12" Oil on canvas board
$100 unframed

Whidbey Island Workshop - Day 2

12" x 12"

Oil on canvas board

 

This is the painting I did on day 2 in Dreama Tolle Perry's workshop. We all painted this from a photocopy of a picture from Dreama. The groans were very audible as this was a very complicated picture. Dreama again showed us how she minimized the photo, did the under painting and then how to get started.  The 12"x12" was different, but it certainly worked for this picture as there was so much in it. Most people left out the folded up umbrella, but I put it in mine.

 

It was fun to work with these colours and just dove in. I was really hoping to do a building or something other than flowers so I was pleased and intimidated as well. Dreama walked from easel to easel helping us with the "wonky" chairs (which were very difficult for most people).

 

Again Deb and I stayed until our paintings were complete. I was very happy with the day and my painting.

Whidbey Island, WA Workshop

My friend Deb and I flew out to Seattle on Thursday morning, toured around, went to a couple of art stores, had a delicious lunch then made our way across the ferry to Whidbey Island. There were hilarious adventures in getting lost, found, lost, found, lost and found just trying to get away from the airport as well as meeting Mad Madge in the ferry line up! We stayed in a wonderful cabin on Goss Lake, enjoying the canoe and hot tub.

We were both there to learn and enjoy Dreama Tolle Perry's 3 day oil painting workshop. The picture below is of my name tag....perfect! Each tag was different and we read them out when we introduced ourselves at the beginning of the 3 day workshop.

Dreama talked to our group and then started a demo working from a picture. She painted a brilliantly coloured under painting and then we painted ours (from the same picture). We went back and forth about 3 times watching Dreama demo then working on our own painting. Deb and I wanted to finish ours so we stayed and closed the place up for the night.

 

12" x 12" Oil on linen board

 

I enjoyed the whole experience of painting this. I had never painted a 12" x 12" format before and really like the size. I finally found a way to enjoy the Caribbean Blue oil paint and freely created. I was using the colours Dreama recommended for the workshop.

 

 

Fall Memories - Encaustic Painting #5

"Fall Memories"

16" x 16" on cradled board with 1 1/2" sides

click on picture for a larger view

This painting was done at an FCA encaustic painting workshop with Ken Bourassa. The great thing about a workshop is the variety of art everyone produces. Over the 2 day workshop I did 5 paintings, this one was the last. As you can tell I had fun with textures. As a reference, I used a picture of 3 flowers that had been frozen with the first frost in the fall. The shiny parts reflecting in the painting is gold and bronze paint.

This is a closer view of part of one flower head just to give you an idea of the texture.

"Winter Blooms" - Encaustic painting #4

"Winter Blooms"

16" x 12" encaustic painting on board

Some of the artists in the FCA Encaustic workshop with Ken Bourassa were doing very smooth layers for their painting but as you can see, I was really enjoying making and developing textures. The whole board was covered with coloured paper and ironed into the wax base. I negatively painted around the vase with various layers of colour. The flowers are made with cheesecloth, wax and paint with 1/2 circle glass beads for centres. The stems are made of string. I even had to carve my name into the wax layers as a signature (bottom left).

The picture above shows one of the blooms in better detail as well as the varied background. The painting below is a side view to give you an idea of the thickness of the flowers. The flowers also have bronze and gold highlights to match the vase.

Deb's Lily Pads

My friend Deb and I took a weekend workshop with Rick Berg through the FCA. I couldn't decide on what to paint so Deb offered me her photographs. I loved this one with all the different shapes and it was perfect for a workshop as I had no idea how to start it! I changed some of the shapes and started with a black gesso thin underpainting to get the shapes down. I then worked on the dark tones, the light tints then the highlights as Rick had done in his demo. Rick helped me with the edges of some of the leaves to help separate and show the leaf folds.

Deb's Lily Pad

12`` x 16` Oil on canvas with half inch black painted sides.

click on picture for a larger view

Happy Tulips

"Happy Tulips"

Oil on canvas 24" x 30 1/2"

click on painting for a larger view

This painting basically started painting itself. I used it to clean my brushes off with all the colours from a  previous painting. I don't usually tone my canvas that way but it was staring at me almost daring me to start a new "large" painting. When I came back to my studio, I could see the tulip shapes on the canvas.

I was quite happy to start painting without having to come up with the idea, design, colours etc, they were already basically there. I have some texture on it as well, but it doesn't show up in my photos. I painted the sides so it can be hung without a frame. A large, nice happy, and bright cheery painting.

Paintings for sale can be found on my website.

New Lily

This is a lily and bud from a bouquet of lily's that my daughter Kristen gave to me. It was given as a surprise thank you with gratitude and love. I am going to keep painting it as it warms my heart.

"New Lily"

Oil on board 7.5" x 7"

click on painting for a larger view

Paintings for sale can be found on my website.

Gratitude with Love

"Gratitude with Love"

Oil on board 8" x 10"

click on painting for a larger view

This painting is from a bouquet of lily's that our daughter Kristen gave to me as a token of love and gratitude. The gift is always brighter and shinier when it is given with love. I wanted to preserve a little bit  in a painting, this way I can share it with others. I am hoping to do a few of this bouquet before it is gone.

Paintings for sale can be found on my website.

Spring's Delight

"Spring's Delight"

Oil on board

10" x 8"

We have had snow on the ground for a couple of weeks and already I am looking forward to spring's treasures. I really enjoyed painting this piece as the bright colours felt happy and cheerful.

If interested, paintings are for sale on my website.