Early morning flower series #18 & #19

Early Morning Flower Painting #18

Oil on board 6" x 6"

I decided to do a farther away view and catch the vase and flower reflections in this painting. It is interesting that my pick of purple for a background has come up so often. It must be an early morning darker colour, a reflection of the darkness at that time of morning. 

Early Morning Flower Painting #19

Oil on board 6" x 6"

I had donated a matted water colour painting and a set of 6 cards as a door prize at our annual MRSSA Professional Development Day. It was a surprise and delightful to see my name on such a big screen. What a fun way to be recognized!

Portrait of Chi Chi

This loving pet belongs to my sister Shannon. Chi Chi is 2 years old and is just getting to know her new loving owners, Shannon and Jim. I was surprised at my sister's choice of dogs, but Chi Chi is so happy, friendly, playful and loving that she really grows on you quickly. In my oil class with Robert E. Wood, he suggested the orange grass and I loved the idea and the end product. Chi Chi's face was a real challenge, to suggest such rolls and folds on a flat surface was really interesting. Her eyes are big and expressive. This is her "Are you coming to play? I'm ready!!" look.

Chi Chi Oil on birch board

11 x 14 framed    Not For Sale

Kananaskis

I loved how this picture turned out! The colour, shapes and shadows all feel right! The colours were on my photo and my goal was to match them.

Kananaskis

Oil on birch board

12" x 16" framed

click on picture to see larger view

Oil painting as an MRU Grad gift

This is a painting I did from a photo Curtis (our son) took early in the morning of the plane he was about to fly. The sky colours were amazing and reflected perfectly on the white plane. I painted this in oil as a grad gift for Curtis as he graduates from Mount Royal University with a Commercial Aviation diploma. We are very proud of him!

 The painting currently hangs in the Mount Royal University library as part of the 100 year anniversary for MRU. I surprised him with the gift by showing it to him hanging in the library.

Oil painting 16 x 20 MRU Grumman Cougar plane

Fall in Chase

This oil painting is my interpretation of a beautiful fall day taken by Sue Bingham in Chase, B.C. Her photographs are often an inspiration for me and she willingly shares her talents. I love pictures I feel invited into!

I was painting this in the Robert Wood's class and Deb suggested that I paint the sky in the background instead of the brown hill. Robert helped with the colour and he added the blue on the ground and tree trunks for me. It was amazing to see it brighten up further. It was such a bold use of a colour that was not in the picture! I really did not like it until it was added to the trees. This photo does not show the colours in the painting well.

Oil on canvas 16" x 20" 1/2" deep with painted sides, no frame required

Finished oil painting

I had a hard time trying to get the background hills/mountains the right value, but am really happy with the finished picture. It evokes the feeling of calm and warmth to me. Again the photo is more muted than the painting.

Oil on canvas 16" x 20" 1/2" deep with painted sides, no frame required.

Calgary sky, winter 2011

This is an oil painting of a beautiful winter sky in Calgary. It was taken from the parking lot at work. I painted it on birch panel in oil. I had Robert E. Wood's suggestions and help during the oil painting class, I and 3 of my Creative Path Artists are currently enjoying. This is such a different medium for me, lots to learn but fun creating with it. Again, the colours are much more vibrant in the real painting! I haven't quite figured out why the colours look so bland once transferred to this blog! Anyone with any ideas?

"Calgary Winter Sky" oil on birch panel 12"x15.5"

Sunrise at Duck Lake

I have started taking an oil painting class from Robert E. Wood. My Creative Path Artist friends (Suzanne, Joan, Deb and myself) signed up together to make up a class of 10. I painted this one at home after watching his demo. I have painted this one before in water colour as a thank you gift for our friends we stayed with but it sold before I could give it away. I painted it again and gave it to it's rightful owners and now have enjoyed creating it again in oil. I am still learning how to take pictures for this blog as the painting is really quite bright and this picture shows it quite dull in comparison. Again, painting it brought back fun memories of a wonderful weekend with friends. I have it framed in a silver metal frame 13x10 3/4".

I am currently working on this Vietnam picture in oil. I am hoping to finish it tonight (might be too optimistic). Robert is very helpful and encouraging. We paint on whatever we want individually and he goes around the room to help and make suggestions. It really is inspiring to watch different pictures with different painting styles come to fruition.