Still life

Pears with a Red Pot, 8x10, Oil on Board



This is a quick still life I did at my friend and painter-pal Tracey Mardon's house. We try to get together once a week. I found this interesting red pot (with a gerbera) and some pears in Tracey's
kitchen and, voila!

















This is a close up of the end of the pear on the left. Thought it might be of interest to see the brush strokes in detail.

Beaver Pond at McTaggart

Beaver Pond 5x7 oil on canvas
Soon you will recognize this little corner of my world...

Saturday we had quite a few passers-by including a group of "lost" hikers and a jogger jogging in circles. A bit distracting! It was undoubtedly the warm weather and the threat of snow for Sunday that brought us all out.

I've been trying to use fewer strokes and more color. This little painting is a good example of what I mean. (The color may have been enhanced; I was wearing my rose colored glasses!)

The Clay Paths

Saturday found me back at the beaver dam.

I set up under some huge spruce trees; my seat was a stump the beavers left. This painting looks at the two paths coming off the beaver dam and around the corner.

The sun was so bright that the clay looks almost white. The dogwood were red, there was a little bit of green grass along the edges of the path and the little spruce trees were finally fully green. All day the sun played hide and seek in the clouds and the wind chased the clouds across the sky. It was a real coat-on-coat-off kind of day! And still no mosquitoes. Beautiful!

Clay Paths, 8x10, Oil on panel

April's Flowers

April in Alberta. What could be browner? And you know how I feel about brown!! Isn't April supposed to feel hopeful? No snow, long days, almost warm weather, bright blue skies and yet...it's gray and gritty. In the Woodbend natural area in April, all I found to paint was the field you saw several blogs back. Then I looked through the photos I took that day hoping I'd find something a little more inspiring!

It took some hunting but I managed to find some colour, these pretty pussywillows. Each one that was in full bloom looked like a miniature flower bed.

This is the paintng I am donating to "The Cause"- to keep the Woodbend natural area from being turned into a gravel pit.

I call this April's Flowers, 5x12, Oil on canvas

Riches!

Some days there is too much to paint!

I was introduced to a little piece of heaven yesterday by a new painting buddy, Terry. I couldn't understand why he was so excited about showing us this particular spot. Now I know. There wasn't a direction you could turn without there being a subject for a sweet painting. It was beautiful!

It was also mindboggling.


How to edit any part of that scenery onto my itty bitty canvas was going to prove to be a challenge. I finally focused on the biggest tree at the end of the beaver pond on which we were standing (we actually were on a very old dam that is about 15 feet wide and thirty feet long). In order to fit this view onto my canvas I had to eliminate several spruce, a lot of beaver-cut logs, some bushes, a muskrat, two ducks, a Canada goose, a raven, four beavers and, uh oh, three mosquitoes. What I'm trying to tell you is, there were a lot of distractions!







Old Man, 5x7, oil on canvas

Off the Walls

Some of my readers have been following my artistic progress for some time (since Before Blogging) and they have asked me to post more of my early work.

Although this blog was originally intended for you to follow my progress from now, I see the value in knowing where I've already been.

I've decided to continue to post my older pieces under the heading "Off the Walls" since that's where they are...well, actually they're ON the walls; but you get my meaning! These posts will be an ongoing but not regular feature. Like little surprises.

The following painting is from a photo of my daughter Stephanie taken when she was about two years old and already enjoying the attention of the camera. This is a nice photo and made a great subject for a painting. It's a favorite for a lot of reasons and happens to have a place of honor on one of MY walls!

Stephanie, 18x24, Oil on Canvas