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Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020
Cedar Silhouettes, 16H x 20W inches soft pastels on paper… practicing sky.
Alberta Bound
Tuesday, January 28th, 2020
Alberta Bound, 18H x 24W inches dry/soft pastels on 140 lb cold pressed.
Smoky Lake Summer
Wednesday, April 12th, 2017
Smoky Lake Summer, 14H x 20W inches watercolors on 140 lb. cold pressed premium. 20H x26W inches approximate size framed. This is my favorite summertime memory of Alberta… miles of moving shadows across bright Canola fields and expansive, moody skies. The painting started off without the tree but needed a focal point. Detail images:
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New Mexico Sunset
Saturday, February 7th, 2015
New Mexico Sunset, 11 x 14 inches oil pastels on paper, white mat.
Stars in the Sweetgum
Thursday, June 28th, 2012
Stars in the Sweetgum, 12H x 9W inches charcoal and colored pencils on paper, preliminary study for a larger painting of the Sweetgum tree in our side yard.
Portraying darkness is an excellent way to study color. Inspired by travels on clear nights when speeding by tree silhouettes, there’s an illusion that horizon is absent, and the stars are in the trees. I often marvel how dark skies can still be so colorful, ranging from rich teals, purples, sometimes shades of red and orange.
Dawn at Bell Rock
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
Dawn at Bell Rock, Arizona – 24H x 18W x 2D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted, trim frame. Below: phases 01, 02 and 07
Neighborhood Heron
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
Neighborhood Heron, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted. Frame unnecessary. Hang on a wall or display on a flat surface. Signed on the side so as not to impose on the composition.
Sold but a similar piece can be recreated upon request. Please allow 7 days to paint before shipping.
Started with a base coat of very watered down translucent pthalos green mixed with cerulean blue. Spraying rubbing alcohol over a damp painted water-based surface then allowing it to dry without moving it will create starry, spotty textures. Salt shaken over wet paint allowed to dry, then wiped off with a dry cloth will produce similar effects.
Alcohol loosened up the entire surface of paint, so using fingernails under a damp smooth t-shirt cloth, I rubbed off areas to shape the heron and winter trees. This represents a super argument for the wingin’ it methods!
In college I took a pottery course for one semester, and the thing I remember most is the instructor saying how it’s a good idea to allow some of the raw characters of the materials we work with to remain and “speak” without trying to smooth over and perfect everything. She was of course referring to clay, but over the years I’ve found that it applies to many other mediums also. In Heron, the branches extend into the body of the bird, connecting it to its environment. The effect also does a subtle play on the motion of its flight too.
Showcased in the J. Mane Gallery’s Fins, Feathers and Fur 2020 exhibition.
St. Catharine’s Sunset
Friday, February 27th, 2009
St. Catharine’s Sunset Ontario, Canada just north of Niagara Falls, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted. Frame unnecessary. Hang on a wall or display on a flat surface. Signed on the side so as not to impose on the composition.
There is no one method for starting a painting. When faced with a blank white surface, sometimes our mind can go blank too. When that happens I use a base color that inspires energy. Here, water and paint were dripped down a wet surface of Hansa Yellow Deep. Painting intuitively with a wide raggedy old brush, the fraying bristles are used to advantage, and those marks direct how the painting proceeds.
This painting is dedicated to my Mom, born in St. Catherine’s, Ontario, Canada whose birthday was two days ago.
Jack Pine
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
Jack Pine, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas and detail of right side; wrapped sides painted. Signature is on the side, so one is superimposed here on the front. Hang on a wall or display on a flat surface.
Going for the magic every hour
Friday, August 15th, 2008
Magic Hour finished (Gitxsan Totem Pole, Thunderbird Park, Victoria, BC Canada), 60H x 40W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, sturdy home-built stretcher frame, wrapped sides painted, narrow trim frame. Here is an earlier post with information about this totem pole.
Great moments in painting are addictive, when so completely immersed in the work that time becomes non-existent… The Zone! I’ve had a good week with this one, partly because of getting past the habit of trying to control the outcome. Things happen in every painting that are not planned, and the endless choices are part of the fun.
Painting is considered to be a two-dimensional undertaking, but it’s so much more. While lost in the work process, all the dimensions of the subject are explored, including the deeper dimensions of ourselves. While painting we discover our convictions and the means to ask how far we are willing to go to stand up for them.
Work every day is about continually reevaluating decisions, taking responsibility for choices made, being honest about mistakes, shortcomings and limitations of media and self, and digging deep to find compromise between technical and intuitive solutions. It’s about control of all those elements, combined with easing up on trying to control too much. All this and more translates onto a flat surface as we hope to give the illusion of depth…if that isn’t magic, I don’t know what is!
Post-dated Note: When choosing this totem pole that is erected in Thunderbird Park at the RBC Museum in Victoria, I didn’t realize that it’s the same one that Emily Carr painted in 1928. More magic! Here is a link to more information about this totem and the Gitxsan Poles moved from Gitanyow (formerly Kitwankool) B.C.
A word here about artists’ representation of First nations or any other cultural/historic works: subjects are painted with the greatest honor and respect, with purpose to study and draw interest to the importance of appreciating our multi-cultural world and the unique characteristics of each and every culture. This is what artists do. Our differences as cultures are connected across time and place, as there are many common traits and themes expressed through Art everywhere.
Robert Genn and readers of The Painters’ Keys have some very interesting comments all around the board about this topic.