Northern Flicker

This painting is from a photograph Sue took in Chase B.C. Sue is very generous with her artful photographs and sends me ones she knows I will enjoy. I just wish I had more painting time. I hadn't really painted a bird close up before, but with such a good photograph, the challenge seemed possible. Another photograph on the calendar Sue made for me was a great reference (March).

Northern Flicker

Oil on Board 12" x 16"

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Early Morning Flower Series #31 and #32

Early Morning Flower Painting #31

Oil on Board 6" x 6"

I am still in Sicamous and haven't had a chance to paint, so happily can post some of my flower painting series. It is interesting to see my colour choices on each day when they are together in a post like this. I try to challenge myself with something different in each one, changing up flowers, colour, design, thickness etc.

Early Morning Flower Painting #32

Oil on Board 6" x 6"

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It is much easier to get out of bed early in the morning to start a painting before I head to work....much harder to quit before I am mentally or physically done. It is amazing how physical painting is. I stand when I paint and move back and forth...kind of like a mini early morning workout, a painting tai chi!

The Summer Office

The Summer Office - a gift

Oil on Board 13" x 10 1/2"

This painting is of Bruce sitting in his boat answering emails and phone calls. The water was peaceful after water skiing with Bruce, Brent and Sterling (aka "big head boys") last summer. Sterling snapped this picture with his phone for me from his deck. I loved everything about the picture and wanted to capture the still water, the reflections, the slant of the boat, Bruce, Sterling's dock and Sicamous in the distance. It is wonderful painting a scene you know so well. It brings back the event, people, sights and sounds, heartwarming really.

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Early Morning Flower Series #29 and #30

Early Morning Painting #29

Oil on Board 6" x 6"

I think because of the oil shine, this painting came out so muted. It is a very soft looking painting. There are bits of bright orange that doesn't show well in the photograph, especially on the flower tips.

Early Morning Painting #30

Oil on Board 6" x 6"

You can just see how much fun I had with this one! It was after a rare full night's sleep, a celebration with paint. This one has very thick paint on it and screams fun!

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From Spain to Sicamous

I had set this blog with paintings to post while I was away, but something did not work so I will keep posting the work I had set up. I will not have new painting work for awhile, but will continue posting my flower painting series!

This is a picture of Costa Brava in Spain. We were basking in warm weather, with a great group of people at a B & B trying to deal with the rapidly rising water in Sicamous, B.C. on Mara Lake as our cabin was starting to flood. We went from this view of Costa Brava Spain:

To this:

My husband Gord and I had finally gone on a long awaited celebratory holiday in Spain. The water levels were in the normal range for Sicamous so everything was a go. What we did not bank on was extreme rain and therefore Mara Lake rose to flooding levels in record time. Gord's Mom (Noreen) and Tom were here for a couple weeks of holiday time only to be stressed by the very quickly rising lake level. The normal procedure and protective aquadam was not put in quick enough or properly by the company hired to do this and Noreen and Tom suffered the stress of not being able to keep back the rising water.

We were up for 26 hours, arrived home in Calgary (from Barcelona) at 1 a.m., went straight to bed to wake up to the phone ringing at 5 a.m. to tell us the water had come in. We put our suitcases back in the car and headed to Sicamous. We were about 45 minutes away from Sicamous to find out the rain had created a mudslide and the highway was closed. We were rerouted, had to take 2 ferries and the normal 5 1/2 hour trip took 19 hours!

Thankfully we had the help of my brother Ken, his wife Marg, Carl, Leslie (Gord's sister), my sister Shannon and Jim to hold the water at bay awaiting our arrival.

We arrived completely exhausted to find the basement filling up with water and a work team had hooked up sump pumps, hoses, wet vacuums etc and were battling the water. The lake peaked 2 days ago and we are now seeing some of the lawn on the side of the house etc. We are so grateful to Noreen, Tom, Len, Gladys, Ken, Marg, Leslie, Carl, Shannon, Jim, Claire, Steve, Colleen, Brian, Jack, and Lynn and for their support and help!!!!

And today's view:

This is a picture of our yard from the road (under water). We are finally seeing some grass and side yard again. The big worry is boats going by and the wake moving our Aquadam. The weather is overcast today and all the boat launches in town are flooded so it should be okay.

Early Morning Flower Series #25 and #26

Early Morning Flower Painting #25

Oil on Board 6" x 6"

Well I am happy to celebrate (with a bouquet of flowers) that I am half way in my flower series! I am getting up extra early before work to start these. I quickly gave up trying to get them done with the time I had but looked forward to finishing them after work. It is a great stress release. I am both very physical and tactile and these serve both those traits.

Early Morning Flower Painting #26

Oil on Board 6" x 6"

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Early Morning Flower Series #33 & 34

Morning Flower Painting #33

Oil on Board 6" x 6"

It was raining hard the morning I painted this. I couldn't bike to work so I had a little more time to paint. It takes me about 35 minutes to bike to work and 10 minutes to organize myself (make a coffee, put lunch away etc).  I think I chose the watery background based on the weather.

Morning Flower Painting #34

Oil on Board 6" x 6"

Funky, cheery, fun and bright...a good day ahead!

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Early Morning Flower Series #27 and #28

Morning Flower Painting #27

Oil on board 6" x 6"

Enjoyed painting a light background and a darker flower. Red is one of my favorite colours and I really have not used it boldy in this series before this one.

Morning Flower Painting #28

Oil on board 6" x 6"

Love, love, love using this Caribean Blue by Holland! It is easy to get carried away with it so I try to limit it by mixing with other colours.

Early Morning Flower Series #23 and #24

Early Morning Flower Painting #23

Oil on board 6" x 6"

What a wonderful way to start a day!! The tough part is quitting to go to work. These paintings really flowed and I loved putting the thicker paint on. Each painting is a different challenge.

Early Morning Flower Painting #24

Oil on board 6" x 6"

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Eagle Valley Brush and Palette Club

This is a wonderful group of Artist in Sicamous B.C. They meet every Friday at the historical Red Barn. I try to join them every chance I get when I am in Sicamous. This week they were working on water colour. They had sprayed their paper with a gold webbing, let it dry then painted over top of it. I brought supplies to work in oil so could not join them, but delighted in the process and the final outcome. Everyone's looked so different as some painted scenery, others flowers etc. Betty teaches a new process or the group challenges themselves with different instructors, projects and work individually. It is a wonderful community of artists and friends that greet me with open arms and hearty laughter.

Betty had brought this Gladiola from her garden. The colours were very striking so I used it as my still life for the day.

Betty's Gladiola

Oil on board 8" x 6"