Happy First of May

Today is a special day in France. Apparently May 1st is a day to offer your loved ones a sprig of lily-of-the-valley to wish them love and good luck. 

While it's not exactly "dancing around the flagpole" weather here (It's grey and rainy), it is

inevitable that flowers will be blooming any time now.

Two more cats

The black and white one's name was Whitney.  One half of a pair called

Pratt & Whitney.  I do enjoy painting anything white, fur included.  The sunlight he was sitting in cast his fur in a warm light. (Don't they always find the sunlight?)  I don't know the name of the black one and although the photographic image didn't provide me with a lot of reference material, I did

really like the silhouette of the black cat and the gray/yellow color palette.

I'm working my way forward so this one needs work on the sofa pillows.

                          6" x 6" Oil on canvas

6" x 8" oil on canvas board

Cats I Have Known

Last year I had painted my own cats.  Cats that were loved and gone from us.

This year I am painting cats that belonged to friends.  Painting tabby cats is a bit daunting because of their markings especially considering the 6x6 format.

The black and white cat just needs a bit of tweaking and it will be off the easel.

Tabby

6" x 6" Oil on wood panel

May Calendar

Well creating these calendars proved to be a lot of fun and I have a new one for you.  Just click on the image to expand and download to your desktop to open as your desktop image.

I'm just finishing three more cat paintings and may even be able to post them here later today.

Daffodils on my Easel

Daffodils 6" x 6"

Oil on wood panel

$80.00

Last season I noticed my painting became tighter when what I really wanted was to loosen up.   So now I am trying not to linger too long over these small format paintings.  I'd like to say all I want to do with this one is to strengthen values here and there which is why I'm taking a break to let me isolate what absolutely needs to be done and not sit there with brush in hand and putter away.

Wish me luck!

I've also started the May calendar which lets me indulge in digital projects.  Last month was the first one and the response was so fun, I'd like to continue.

I'll post that one sometime next week (lillies of the valley will be part of the May theme).

Apple with Grapes

                      Apple with Grapes

                6 x 6 x 2 Oil on wood panel

                                $80

We're well into Spring now and I've re-introduced the small format paintings again.  I indulged in learning many new skills over the winter but I have missed 

these small paintings.  So here is a new one - still wet and I haven't decided yet on where to sign it.  I am surprised by how much I've enjoyed painting grapes.  My next painting (on the easel as we speak) will be daffodils.

April Calendar

                      

I'm trying something new....all this playing with digital media so I thought I'd put it to good use and design a calendar.  A little late I know....but it's a start.

Please let me know if you encounter any issues.  I'd love to know if the format works.  Just click on the image and download the expanded version to use as your desktop image.....with my compliments!

P.S. I'm excited by the ability to use traditional art media like watercolours and sketching and collaging them digitally.  It's opened up a new world of possibilities.  

My Easter Greeting to You All......

...TOOK A LITTLE TIME TO GET INTO THE "SPRING" MOOD THIS MORNING BEFORE I START THE EASTER BAKING....

April Daffodils

Daffodil in Blue and White Pitcher

6" x 6" x 2" cradled wood panel

Oil

$80

A challenge to paint because of the illusive nature of the color of yellow, daffodils are still a pleasure to paint.

Spring Cleaning

It's funny how you can  turn a blind eye to what should be obvious.  I am more of an oil painter than a watercolorist so when I reach for my tubes of watercolor I resign myself to re-hydrating the dried tubes as I need them.   Dropping a bit of water into the neck of the tube and working from that.  Enough!!  So last evening I decided to slice open at least a dozen tubes and scrape what remained into these little plastic cups and label them.  So much better.... So now instead of using the watercolor palette that had the same basic colors I can now easily reach for the beautiful colors I had accumulated for years.  I still have another few evenings of doing the same to the remaining colors but now I see how worthwhile it's been.

Sketching

Something I don't do enough of but there are some self imposed projects that has renewed my interest in sketching.  For inspiration check the links at left...

one for urban sketching and the other for nature.
As an added note, I did this sketch in pencil and scanned it in to apply a blue filter to it for a project I'm working on.

I haven't used Etsy in awhile so I decided to put these three up this week and was pleased to see one of them sold within a day.  DPW (Daily Painters Website) featured the peaches in the blue bowl on black floral on Facebook so I was doubly pleased!
Speaking of which I really haven't been painting "daily" but.... creating nonetheless.  If not oils, then watercolors and digital collages.  The arrival of Spring
has renewed my desire to set up more still life subject matter to photograph and a return to the oil painting.  It must be knowing that the flowers that I love to paint will soon be available.
I'm happy to say the pears on blue gingham and the pears and daisies have sold!

Vector Birds

Having a little fun here while putting to use some of the vector tutorials I've been studying.  Vector drawing means creating images with paths and shapes.

Quite unlike painting in Photoshop with pixel based brushes and even farther

removed from traditional drawing media.  But I love learning new skills and am

really enjoying myself.  The pencil sketches below were made in order to become familiar with the shapes I would be using to create the grouping you see here.

For the top two birds, real photographic references were used.  I love how

animated they look.

This week however, I have been painting with both watercolors and oils again.

So I will be posting a new small format (6" x 6") oil painting this week.

Chickadees

Chickadees (my favorite bird) have worked their way into my artwork in just about every medium I've ever done.  I just didn't realize it until now.  Here are just a few of the versions I've done recently.  Upper left is a page from
my sketchbook.  Upper right is a digital sketch done entirely with digital paints and brushes (I'm loving the never ending access to paints, papers and
tools that working digitally offer).  The middle image is a textile piece in progress.  The same image below as an oil painting.  Working with textile
offers some novel approaches as in the use of organza layered over the tree
to create a "frosty" appearance since the original photographic reference was taken in winter.
In my previous post, I mentioned that it was important (to me) that the different approaches have some common ground.  Having favorite photographic references is one of the ways I can take the leap from one to the other.
mediums should have some common ground

Well January was devoted to playtime using digital art programs.  Aside from apps like Photoshop, I tried numerous others like Art Rage, Zeus Draw and Inkscape.  The latter is a free!! application that many have said rivals the expensive Illustrator program. My intention was to learn the fundamentals of vector drawing (none of the work below reflects that).  There is a steep learning curve if self taught but I did follow some of the many terrific tutorials that are on the web and am intrigued enough to continue.  The images below were made in Photoshop with the focus on layers and learning more of the brush capabilities.  After a dozen or so years I'm still learning Photoshop!  Some of the images here will become textile prints that I would like to work with this year.  

I also equipped my new iPad with versions of these art programs and that also meant taking the time to acquaint myself with the slightly different interface.

As February approached I spent a delicious amount of time buried in the wonderful art quilt books that Christmas brought and did a studio cleanup to

make room for more textile work.  My first designs on fabrics were ordered and received and I was thrilled with the results.  So I have a good start on a 

few small textile pieces to work on.  Many years ago, I made quilts the traditional way and had to research and question myself as to what I was drawn to now.  Raw edge, fusing, and machine quilting along with thread sketching are part of the methods I like to use.  These techniques allow me to create quilts with the same mindset as painting on canvas.

Hand dyed fabrics are what I favoured using to go with my images and that became my next focus.  Immersion dyeing, discharge dyeing and direct printing are new skills!  I had only touched on these over the years but now I have a better understanding and find it addictive!  It's not enough to just dye

a piece of cloth, when you can bleach or discharge a pattern and over dye which results in a very interesting and complex cloth.

Having arrived at this point, I am starting to hear the call of my paintbrushes and oils and am ready to return to the studio to prepare one of the larger canvases.  It's important to me that there is some cohesion amongst the different skill sets otherwise I will feel that I am being pulled into too many different directions.  But these last two months have led seamlessly (there may be a pun in this!) from one to the other and it feels comfortable.

Emilie at Three

On the Garden Path

12" x 14" Oil

As mentioned in previous posts, I have been exploring new creative paths since early January.  My brushes and paints are never far from reach as I've used them to create backgrounds for digital art and painted fabrics for art quilts but nothing that fit into the theme of my blog so I've neglected posting.  I've acquired some new skills and want to make sure I apply them (in other words see them through to the end result so I don't acquire more half finished projects).  But      I miss being here so I am going to post an image of one of the very few palette knife paintings I ever did.  This one is of my daughter at the age of three.  (She's now 24).  I don't like how I handled the garden part but I am happy with the painting over all.   I think that's because of the texture of the knife.  Texture was something I set out to introduce into my painting last year and I sort of succeeded.  As the year progressed though I slid back into my comfort zone.  Supposedly quick 6" x 6"'s became more complex and I labored (bad choice of words because I loved every minute) over them too long.   So like this painting of Emilie on a garden path, I will return to my own creative path to looser, more spontaneous brush strokes......

but first I need to finish some more projects...... 

This image started out as a photo taken in Florence of a restaurant window, with layers of very loose  painterly renderings of flowers in digital art programs and a little digital graffiti to tie it all together.  Printed on fabric, this could be part of an art quilt or a background to an illustration.

Wow!  Is it too late to say Happy New Year!?  It was a quiet Christmas and New Year's and a time to soak in family time, lots of good food (too much good food), music, and new books (lots of great books).  A time to forget about schedules, but…….it's also nice to get back to a "new" normal. 

Some of my time was spent re-organizing my studio and workspaces and list the things I'd like to pursue this year, usually based on what was successful from the preceding year.  I take advantage of the clean slate the new year provides by auditioning some new projects.  I'm feeling a tiny bit guilty about straying too far from my painting but on the other hand feel I should pay attention to the little sparks (like fireflies) going on in my brain. 

Painting.....forever and always will be painting.  A continuation of the small format paintings is a sure thing but I have some larger formats I'd like to work on again this year.  

Art quilts however are one of those little sparks that I may have to make time for.  I have a weakness for fabrics and have been steadily building a collection of silks and organzas to play with.  Now I guess I have to justify those purchases (hehe). The quilts I have in mind are more painterly and definitely more contemporary than my paintings.   Having this quieter time has enabled me to settle on a design I'd like to pursue which makes it easier to assemble fabrics and audition techniques.

Illustration…..(I'm trying to learn Adobe Illustrator by myself??)  Watercolor and digital collage snuck into my painting time the latter part of 2011 and I have this burning desire to learn how to do more vector work.   An interesting note is that the digital explorations will be an important part of the fabric used in the art quilts.  So we'll see what 2012 brings.  Focus will be an important word for me this year.

Jewellery is not a separate category for me.  It is simply another art form like miniature sculptures.  An on going journey to reach a comfort level with acquired skills.  I love the learning aspect.  (Enamelling this year!)

Focus is what I did not want to do this month of January (the rest of the year definitely).  It was meant to be a month of play, experiments and uninhibited creativity.  I have assembled my reference material, re-arranged my studio, shopped for fabrics to alter to my hearts content and practiced with many fun free apps available for digital manipulation until I decided on which ones to pursue.

Here's to 2012....a new creative journey begins!

With minutes to spare before the New Year I'd like to thank visitors to my blog for your kind words of encouragement.  I am happy with the direction I took painting smaller formats and look forward to more
creative endeavours in 2012 as I hope you are too.  May you be blessed with all that you need and most of what you want.  Love, health and happiness, Happy New Year!

A Little Something for Me

...and that little something would be "time".  The Christmas season feels closer to me when I'm creating something.  It is such a wonderful time of year for creating and yet is the most difficult time to complete anything.  I was determined to reclaim some time to do something that was not required but simply for the joy of it.  Painting at least three seasonal subjects would make me happy.  I may not get to finish this one until early next week after I return from Boston but I'm quite content to see it on my easel and if I'm lucky I'll start another.

Illustrations Framed

These are prints from illustrations created by me for the cooking school Tavola Mia.  They appear on labels on a series of imported olive oils and vinegars from Italy distributed by Maria Loggia to complement her recipes that are being published into her second cookbook.

I love how they look printed and framed as I had originally meant them to be seen only at label size.

I may design a new series specifically to be framed now that I see how they look.

This week

Michel Oosterhaut from the Netherlands has an online project where he posts a painting of an apple painting from artists around the world appropriately called "An Apple a Day"
Today my painting is featured!

I have just finished unpacking from the wonderful One of a Kind Show here in Hudson.  It's a lovely venue (the Whitlock Golf and Country Club) and the other artisans are truly amazing.  My painting of the Chickadee from two posts back found a home and my silk scarves sold out.  (Yes I know, I am a painter and jewellery designer so what was I doing with silk scarves??)  I occasionally need to indulge in some sewing projects in order to justify my craving for beautiful fabrics.  I'll post pictures in another day or so as soon as I re-group for the season ahead.  Custom order have my focus now.

Radishes II

Radishes II

6" x 8"

Oil on canvas panel

This is the time of year for exhibitions and I'm preparing for the last two of the season.  So posting is a little more sparse.  This is the last of the veggie paintings for now.  I still have some Fall subjects to post

and yet we're heading into the winter season.  The red/green color combination makes me happy.  Makes me think of Christmas........

Chickadee

Chickadee

5" x 7" oil on canvas (framed)

SOLD

Time to put up more bird feeders.  I moved from the corner of the room where the feeders hang outside my window and have neglected to notice when the feeders were empty.  It doesn't take long for these birds to move on when their food supply fails to appear and I miss them.  So that is on my "to do" list

today or else I won't have any more references to paint from!

Can you hear me now?

I would imagine they said that a lot way back when they used this kind of telephone.  I love my iPhone but this is a thing of beauty.  Painted in oils on stretched canvas. 

Can you hear me now?

Oil 8" x 8"

$120

Funny, when I was uploading this image to this blog I looked at the dial and thought I had made an error when painting the letters on the dial.  I had never questioned it before but it looks as if it starts with DEF.  I brought up the original photo I had taken and sure enough I had painted it correctly.  I can only imagine that at the slight angle the letters ABC are down and to the right and out of view.  Either that or the card that it was printed on so long ago has slipped out of place.  In any case it is a  quirk but not an error. Just saying..... : > )

I found One!

A title for my painting.   "Sweet as Green Apples"  A song by Chantal Kreviazuk.  Amazing!  I just googled song lyrics with green apples and lo and behold, that and a song by Roger Miller that I remember very well for the lovely melody came up.  Okay...."sweet as green apples" is not exactly profound but it will always bring to mind the lyrics from that song for me.  No more boring titles  : > )

You’re toast and jam
And you’re cotton candy
You’re double rainbows
Beside a setting sun
You’re wood burnin’ outside
There’s a fire growin’
You’re sweet as green apples
You must be the one

Sweet as Green Apples

Sweet as Green Apples

6" x 6" x 1.5" Oil

$85

Again, I apologize for my completely unimaginative titles   I may make it a priority tomorrow to search for something a tad more witty than what I've use here!  Soon I'll be working on more seasonal subject matter collected on walks in nearby forested paths this past weekend.  The leaves are beautiful right now and I'm itching to paint some.  I'm sure pumpkins will be featured as well.  The image posted here is a companion to one painted earlier this summer and seen in the postcard of my previous post.  I've been adding more texture to my wood panels lately and liking it.

Exhibition to benefit Hudson's Palliative Care Centre

Since I started these small format daily paintings, I have assembled themes.  Everything from Spring, garden and floral themes but a recurring theme that happened naturally were subjects from my kitchen (my studio being in close proximity).  I will exhibit these paintings at Hudson's first ever kitchen tour!

Hudson, known for it's homes and studio tours has added kitchens this year.  The tour will take place this Saturday, October 15th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and I will be exhibiting these paintings at St. James Church Hall where a display of creative tabletop settings will be on display as well as a tearoom.  Proceeds from the ticket sales as well as a percentage of the sale of paintings will benefit the Vaudreuil Soulanges Palliative Care Residence.

Yellow Rose

6" x 6" x 1.5"

Oil on wood panel
$80

I thought I had lost this rose bush last summer but it survived the winter and gave me these beautiful

yellow roses.   This is the last one of the season.  

Emails I like to get......

Last August I posted that I sent in an illustration for They Draw and Cook website.  I just received an email this morning saying my illustration is featured this week!! Although it was added to their site last August, they also do a feature where the artwork will stay up for several days so this is maximum exposure.   As you scroll down to August, you'll notice the oil painting of the daylillies has the same

peach on gingham.  There are days when that's all I do, setting up photographs for future artwork.

Blue Thread

5" x 5" Oil on Canvas

$75

What a weekend!  The 2011 Studio Tour has just ended.  The weather was stupendous and the turnout even more so.  The image above was the demo I worked on during the tour days and I finished today.  As I enjoy sewing, I had been meaning to start a needlearts theme and so this is the first of a series.

Music for a rainy day....

 Ballade pour Adelina by shadinio

End of Summer Lillies

Well the lillies ended a short while ago and I promised myself not to let them slip by without capturing them on canvas.  As much as I'm happy with this one, I need to let loose....still working on that.  I see

here that my photo is slightly blurry and a bit on the dark side.  I'll return to fix that with my next photo session.

The local studio tour is approaching fast (September 23 and 24) and I'm determined not to get stressed.

I do enjoy having people over and discussing techniques and new skills.  

Summer's Last Daylilly

6"x6"x1.5" Oil on wood panel

$85

A Painting for the Children of Africa

Over at the Daily Paintworks website they have started a "Children of Africa" challenge and this is my entry for this auction.  Bidding started today and will run for a week.  It's nice to know that there are ways we can help (if only in small ways) and DPW is making this happen.

I've been working on my smaller format paintings again but haven't been posting.  So here is my latest. (sorry about the glare)  His name is Kodi.   The painting is a wedding gift to a friend of my son's whose wedding took place a few weeks ago.   I've tackled a few cat portraits but this is only my second dog.  Fur is still a challenge especially with the short haired variety.  I wish I could do my two miniature dachshunds but they are both predominantly black and unless I get lucky with the lighting, they may never get their portrait painted.  A Yorkie may be next.  Lots of long hair and beautiful brushstrokes to describe it.

Kodi

6" x 6" x 2" Oil

Wood cradled panel

I love to paint but I like to cook too.....

Woohoo!  They Draw and Cook just posted my entry to their fabulous website.  I'm so excited!

I started out without a clear plan other than I knew I would do some watercolor illustrations of the main ingredients which is when I discovered a plan is exactly what I needed.  This is a combination of watercolor and digital art.   A fair bit of time playing with the layers in Photoshop adding shadows and
tweaking the artwork and I finished anxious to start more.  Great fun!

So Far, So Good

Still working on my small format paintings.  Except for a few weeks where I switched to watercolors as you have probably noticed from previous blog entries, I have been working on more of the 6" x 6"'s in oil.  The list is growing for all the ideas that evolve from this endeavour and I'm pretty much busy for the rest of 2011.  But I'll always make room for the next great idea.  At this point, I'm collecting ideas for themes with 9 in each category.  Animals are my current theme and seasons were another as you might have noticed from the fruits and vegetables pictured above.  Cherries have been photographed and so have plums and I still want to do something with watermelons....and on and on!  And I did want to do a series of landscapes.....

Catching Up

I've been anxious to get back to my small format paintings.   The summer weather slowed me down a bit but although I didn't work oils I did quite a few watercolors in the last two weeks.  

The painting I'm posting today was 98% finished several weeks ago but I did need to tweak a few things about it and I still might.  It is a study for a larger vertical format painting that I would like to do of a tall vase of white gladiolas and I wasn't sure about the color palette but now that I've done this smaller version, I think I like it enough to continue.

White Jug, Green Apple

6" x 6" x 1.5" Oil on wood panel

Fun with Flowers and Photoshop

I've been painting with watercolors for the past two weeks because of some illustration work that I'm doing. I forget how much I enjoy it.  These two florals are painted from single flowers that I      photographed for reference from my garden and then assembled in Photoshop......just playing. I'll try and do more while the garden has this variety available to me.  There are the Hosta flowers, yellow Rudbeckia's, Dahlias and Cosmos with a few nasturtium too.  I must get some lillies in there next time.

The grouping on the left was simply assembled in various layers playing with the hue, saturation, rotation and scale.  The same flowers were grouped differently on the right and had some additional filters applied which seemed to enhance the water-colour effect.

So Many Lillies So Little Time

Yellow Daylilly

6" x 6" Oil on 1.5" wood panel

This is the month for it.  I like the orange daylillies as much as the cultivated ones that I've purchased from garden nurseries and may try to do one of those and if it's not too late, I may still have some damask lilies to paint as well.  They're a lovely burgundy color and look more substantial than the usual ones.  Wasn't sure if I wanted to leave in the solar garden light in the image above but I figured it blended in with the background so well that I decided to keep it in.

Spring back.......

Red Tulips

6" x 6" x 1.5" Oil on wood cradled panel

This really should be in the Spring lineup but I really felt like painting something red.  I find it difficult to paint anything red because it is so vibrant.  On the up side you really get to know your paints a little better while searching for whatever it takes to bring up that vibrancy.  Primary red, permanent rose and here's where I had a bit of difficulty and that was to have found a very cool red, a magenta that tinted to almost a blue for some of the cooler hilites.  

My posts have slowed down a bit but that doesn't mean I'm not painting.  An illustration job that segued into a series in water-colour that I've been wanting to do for a long time now has been wrestling for my attention to these little small format oils.  So I may just sprinkle a few of these other mediums in among my postings.

I did warn you in previous posts that my titles are terrible.  I couldn't resist the reference to harkening back to a spring theme by calling this post "Spring back....." ok, I think I'll move on now.....

subject

Green Apple on Blue Gingham

I guess I do enjoy painting in the little squares on this blue gingham cloth since this is my "go to" set up fabric.  There is something pleasant about the blue/green combination too that looks fresh.

Green Apples on Blue Gingham

6" x 6" x 1.5"

Oil on wood panel

You may see this little set up repeated in the near future because it is the lower part of a composition I photographed a year or two ago that includes a vase with hydrangeas and a blue bottle.  At first the little florets of the hydrangea seemed daunting but I've done it before and was happy with the results so I'm encouraged to do this flower again.