And Sable was her name..........

This little sweetie, now departed but oh so loved.

Sable

Oil on wood cradled Panel

6" x 6"

End Result

I created a toile* style fabric with sketches of my home town and was pleased to see the end result
of one of our local residents have her chaired upholstered in it.  I have sewn many pillows from this fabric but it's the first upholstered piece I've seen....and I'm thrilled!
*toile de Jouy |ˌtwäl də ˈZHwē|
nouna type of printed calico with a characteristic floral, figure, or landscape design on a light background, typically used for upholstery or curtains.ORIGIN originally made at Jouy-en-Josas, near Paris.

A Trio of Geraniums

A Trio of Geraniums

12" x 24"

Oil and Collage on Wood Panel

I've always wanted to pair collage with oils as I mentioned in one of my previous posts.  I'm excited to do more like this.  Maybe it's finding unexpected patterns and textures peeking through here and there.

White Geraniums in Silver

8" x 10"

oil on wood panel

Remember my previous post about painting geraniums?  Well I may have been a little premature.
Painting white geraniums without the best lighting conditions did present more of a challenge.  I do enjoy painting white flowers because of the nuanced colours that appear when painting anything white.  But my photographic skills were not up to par and it was rather difficult to ad lib colour so although I'm satisfied, I'm not thrilled.

And now summer begins....

I haven't been posting much lately but that's about to change.  Spring was all about preparing for a two day outdoor craft market.  Only this time I was part of the organizing team as well as a participant.  We prayed for good weather and that's exactly what we got.  It was amazing!  On to the

next weekend........a wedding at home in the garden!!  Two major events one week apart but many weeks in the planning.  Again, prayed for good weather and that is exactly what we had. (In a season that has had a roller coaster of a weather pattern too!)

We had the food part catered and thought we'd make our own dessert table but enough is enough!  We used a fantastic bakery to provide us with mini pies.  They are called Rustique Pies and that is what they specialize in.  Cutest little individual pies and tarts as well as a variety of baked bars, meringues and every type of home style baked goodies.  

Now when it came to the wedding cake, I decided to try what has become wildly popular, the "Naked Cake".  When told about this by my daughter (who is a wedding photographer) I was highly skeptical.  But just browsing through Pinterest was enough to convince me.  Leaving the cake "au natural" with just a filling/frosting in between the layers and then garnishing the cake with fresh flowers and fruits seemed right up my alley.  I do have a tendency to live dangerously (in the kitchen) and made this for the first time for the wedding.  It was an almond flavoured cake and went together beautifully but if I had it to do again I would've made sure the imprint from the cooling rack was disguised.  Something I didn't notice until I looked at these pictures!  More flowers would've done the trick.  But if that's the worst that could've happened, then I am extremely grateful!

Geraniums

Who would've thought geraniums with their little florets would be so appealing to paint?  The clusters that make up one flower would seem daunting.  But each little distinctive flower that make up the whole are so simple that I've returned to painting these several times over.  This time I wanted to try a little collage for the background.  This one is not finished yet but I think I will try a few more like this and perhaps add my drawing first so I can place the papers more strategically.

12" x 24"

Oil on wood panel with collage

Painting Metal

I was about to say I'm challenging myself to paint metallic objects.  But it really isn't all that challenging.  If you just get the contrasts right, getting a metallic sheen isn't that difficult.
I've set myself up to paint a few more.   It's really quite fun.

Small Dailies

It feels good to be painting small formats again.  I've been doing more watercolor/calligraphy/illustration work lately.  As it happens I am having major renovations (upstairs bathroom and bedroom) at the moment.  So I find myself gravitating to my comfort zone while all the noise and chaos goes on upstairs.

New Card Designs

When I'm painting traditionally I try not to have too many surprises.  Everything is carefully executed. I'm working on being a little more relaxed with my brushstrokes.  But painting in water-colour for illustration, I just start out with a much more playful approach.  Actually letting back runs and surprises happen.  Just letting water-colour be "water" colour.  And for that reason I just love creating for the illustration market.  An agent would be awesome.  Marketing is an art unto itself.

The Start of Something New

Every year, early in the new year for the past three years, I've been taking a 6 week workshop in enamelling on copper.  Having worked with copper when creating jewellery, I had collected many of the necessary components needed to also work with enamels.  A second hand kiln I bought came with a box of enamel powders which, at the time, seemed completely foreign to me.  But now I've been bitten by the bug, and have just ordered more new colours and have a sketchbook of ideas.  I love how one medium can morph into a new one.  For example, using my jewellery saw to cut into the copper shapes created a more exciting copper blank to embellish.  I have to now concentrate on planning my firings to avoid losing the layers of colour to over firing.
It is just challenging enough to be rewarding.

Switching Media

  

Porcelain Garden

Acrylic

 12 x 16 inches on wood cradled panel

I've used acrylics a great deal in the past and now and then revisiting them.  I used them more for

decorative painting but now and then I come back to trying them out as a fine art medium.  I don't

paint the same way as I would with oils but this time I thought I'd make a concentrated effort to use them this way.  I have a friend who runs a tea room and florist shop so it's always so tempting to

re-arrange her wall of teacups (little works of art on their own) and take pictures.

This will be part of a series.  How many are considered a series?  Hopefully more than three.  Oils

are a pretty strong call for me but acrylics and watercolors give me joy too.

I will be adding a closeup photo later today.

Collage

Having fun these first few months of the year participating in Lilla Rogers MATS Bootcamp 2015.

Working towards assembling a portfolio of work for possible licensing.  I've done a sprinkling of

freelance illustration work but would like to have a stronger presence in that field. 

It's that time of year......

.... when hearts are a flutter....

A New Year and a New Interest

January is a time of renewal and the time to explore new interests...Illustration.  Not really new but I 

never really pursued this type of art making.  I did do some illustrating in the late '80's and early 90's

having taken a fun course from a local graphic design studio that had clients like Helene Curtis, Bayer, Participaction (a government sponsored health and wellness initiative) and La Senza lingerie. That led to actual assignments. So without the formal training as an illustrator, I was fortunate to have these designs in my portfolio.  But that was a long time ago before I became enamoured of computer digital arts.  But being self taught and actually putting these new found interests "out there" is quite a bit different.  Which brings me to the here and now.  I decided to take a "Bootcamp" style of online

courses from Lilla Rogers.  A series of assignments over a six month period to hone the skills needed by an Illustrator in the 20th century.  And who knows...maybe even be represented by an agent.

First assignment was to research Edwardian jewellery (brooches specifically) and ultimately create a cover for a journal.  My first design was the photo below of the sapphire stone brooch.  And although I did like the result, I realized it was too much within my comfort zone of being quite literal in the depiction of this piece of jewellery.  After seeing the work of many accomplished illustrators who are

also doing this bootcamp, I realized that the suggested theme was merely a starting point that led to 

many wonderful interpretations.  So for my month's end submission I completely changed my approach.  The jewelled dragonfly is my "nod" to the theme and design became my purpose.  Still within my comfort zone but without being so literal.  The mockup of the presentation is also new to my skill set but necessary in order to pitch an idea.  So within this first month, I am already learning a great deal.

One More Cat

I came across this cat on an adoption site I think.  It is just the right type of photo that makes for a good painting.  This was the initial block in and now all that is left is finessing the brush strokes.

Keghan

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

I do enjoy painting white animals.  Both Dallas of the last blog entry and Keghan of this post were done this week and were lovely to do.  The same can be said of black.  There are a lot of colours involved in painting black and white.  The challenge is to start with a depth that allows the final
punctuation of pure white or pure black to be effective.

Dallas

6" x 6"

Oil on wood cradled panel

Dallas belonged to our Fire Chief, a neighbour, a friend.

Ronin and the Red Door

6" x 6"

oil on wood cradled panel

I knew when I saw this photo of my nephew that it could make a good reference for a painting.
However painting a portrait that included plaid on a 6" x 6" canvas was maybe a little ambitious.
Head size is less than 1.25" high so I tried my best to get a good likeness.  Will stop now and not
overwork.  Just letting it simmer for a bit and will decide what's left to tweak.

A Good Start

I should have known that getting a likeness on a surface this small (6x6) would be a bit of a challenge but it's more than just the face, it's the body language too.  The head is about 1 1/2" high so I just kept telling myself to keep it simple.  I've since painted the (plaid!) shirt and the jeans so I have only the red door to finish.  My daily paintings sometimes do take a bit more time but the light is not the best to paint by right now so I'll finish this one up in the morning.

Woodland Wreath

One of the Christmas cards I designed this season.  And I have ideas for many more but there is only so much time left.  At least I know I enjoyed making these enough to continue with into the new year.