How Long?

Lately, among a few members of our church, we have been discussing the need for clean water in many communities in Africa. How Long is a painting that was inspired by these conversations and dreams of providing fresh water to those who don't have access to this basic necessity. How long before people in Africa and other parts of our world can enjoy this commodity that we take for granted here in North America?

September Gold

September Gold is my third painting in a series of four mini butterfly paintings that I want to do. Unlike the other two paintings, I have not painted a larger version of September Gold. I have found while painting this series that I begin to notice detail as I paint that I never noticed while just looking at the photo and definitely did not notice while taking the original picture! I find that it is these small details that end up making the painting work. More than that however, it is the small details that make me appreciate the beauty of the butterfly a lot more and ultimately the creativity of its Creator.

Fall Colours

Fall Colours is a small study in preparation for Fall Reflections. The beauty and abundance of the fall colours make fall a very inspiring time of year for me. While hiking in Gatineau, Quebec this past fall, the contrast between the riotous fall colours, the evergreens, the birch trees and the blue sky really attracted my eye. In Fall Colours I tried to capture that contrast.

Fall Reflections - SOLD

Fall Reflections is a scene which I painted from memory of Meech Lake in Gatineau, Quebec. My husband and I had gone on a hike this fall and the reflections of the fall colours on the water intrigued me. In order to paint this scene I used one of my painting books to learn how to get the effect of reflections on the water and ripples on a calm surface. One of my frustrations right now with painting is not being part of a class or group where I can get some constructive criticism about my paintings so that I can improve. Since being part of a class at this time is not really an option, I would welcome any constructive comments here on my blog.

Fisher Woman

Fisher Woman was copied from one of my painting books. One day I sat down and decided that I wanted to try to paint something without first drawing it which I normally do. I was quite impressed with the results. It was also an exercise in mixing and using warm and cool colours. The more I paint the more I realize how much there is to know about the medium, technique, colour theory etc. However, I also question how much I should just rely on my own intuition and how much I should set out to learn. I feel that reading my painting books can be both inspiring and frustrating.

Woman in Her Garden

Woman in Her Garden was inspired by a photograph of an old Romanian woman in her garden shown by a missionary visiting our church. It was on the drawing board for about a year. Even now I toy with the idea a naming it The Unfinished Painting. It is one of those cases that I am not sure if it is finished or that I am just too afraid of ruining it by working on it further. Any comments one way or the other?

Killbear Sunset

Killbear Sunset holds many fond memories for me. We have camped at Killbear Provincial Park, with my extended family, on and off for the past 25 years. This year, for the first time, I went on an Art Tour with my sisters, mother and niece. The Art Tour inspired me to paint the following four paintings. Watching the sunset at Killbear, on pretty much a daily basis, is a tradition that we have observed through the years. It never loses its appeal for me to finish up with dinner, take my coffee down to the rocks on the beach and enjoy the beauty of creation and the fellowship with family and friends after another wonderful day at Killbear.

The Killbear Tree

The Killbear Tree is a painting of what I would consider the landmark of Killbear Provincial Park. Over the 25 years that we have continued to return to the park, we have seen this tree grow from a sapling to what it is now. We have countless photos of this tree so I thought it was time to do a painting. The clouds in the background remind me of the many times we have sat on the beach in full sunshine and observed rain and storms make their way around the entire bay and miss the park completely. There have also been times that we have watched the storms develop; as the skies turn from blue to grey to turquoise to black. Georgian Bay definitely has many faces!

The Killbear Tree 2

The Killbear Tree 2 is, as the title suggests, my second attempt at painting this particular landmark. While we were on the Art Tour in Parry Sound I made a point of checking out the titles of the watercolor books that the various artists had on their shelves. There was one particular book, The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook - Landscapes, that appeared several times so I borrowed it from the library. As a result for this painting I used some of the techniques described in the book.

Beaver Dam Beach

Beaver Dam Beach is a scene I get to look at as I sit on the beach at Killbear. It is a scene that always thrills and inspires me.

Farewell to Summer

Farewell to Summer was copied from a photo that I took in my garden one September afternoon. It was the second day that my children were back at school and as I sat in my garden and observed the activity going on around me, I thought that butterflies on the different flowers would make some interesting photos. When the boys returned from school and asked what I had done with my time they were quite surprised to hear that I had spent time taking pictures of butterflies. Using a very sarcastic tone of voice my one son asked if I chased after and caught them too! Oh the youth of our day ... no appreciation of the simple beauties that surround us!

Farewell to Summer - Mini

Farewell to Summer - Mini is a smaller, close-up version of the previous painting of the monarch butterfly sitting on Helenium flowers. As you may have noticed with the previous painting this series of paintings was done in acrylic paints. I had bought some acrylics for another project and decided that I would try my hand at doing a painting with them. They are a nice change from watercolour since they are so forgiving! I think I changed my mind about how to do the background in the previous painting three times and could actually get away with it, whereas with watercolours that is impossible! It is interesting to hear different people's reactions to the different media. I tried to reproduce Farewell to Summer in watercolour but considered my attempts rather dismal but a friend of mine preferred that to the acrylic. Judging from different people's reactions to all of my paintings, I am beginning to think that people are either drawn to watercolour or to acrylic paintings. For myself, I think I would have to say I appreciate the skill and technique needed and used in both mediums.

Farewell to Summer 2

Farewell to Summer 2 is copied from another photo that I took in my garden on a sunny afternoon in September. I found that the orange of the butterfly was quite striking against the white of the Garlic Chive flowers. You may be wondering why the dark background in this series of paintings. To be honest I don't really know myself but in my mind's eye, as I contemplated doing these paintings, the background was always a dark blue colour. Primarily, I feel that it brings out the subject clearly since blue is the complimentary colour of orange. My husband's comment was that when he thinks of butterflies he thinks bright sunny days not dark moonlit nights as these pictures seem to indicate. My response was (to sound artsy and all) that the darkness was the tension in the picture that will keep you coming back to it. Actually, I think the dark moonlit or dark forest aspect of the painting gives it a 'magical fairy-like' quality.

Farewell to Summer 2 - Mini

Farewell to Summer 2 is a close up, mini version of the previous painting. It is an interesting exercise to try to reproduce a painting since it gives you another stab at trying to perfect your technique on the different elements of the composition. I found that there are some things in this painting that worked better than the larger one but there are other aspects that I prefer in the larger one.
I am hoping to paint two more mini butterfly paintings then will mat and frame all four minis in one frame.

Cape Hatteras House

One thing a painter should practice is to paint 'au plein air' which means to paint outside or directly from a model rather than always from a photo. I decided to try my hand at this during the spring and summer of 2007. When we went to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina I brought along a small watercolor pad and a small painting palette. Cape Hatteras House is the house next door to where we were staying. The next three paintings were all done 'au plein air'. I have had varying successes with my 'plein air' paintings; these are probably my best ones so far.

Deck Chairs

These chairs were located on one of the three decks at the house that we rented in Cape Hatteras. The fact that the chairs were out of the wind was one thing that attracted me to this spot. However,the main thing that I wanted to capture in Deck Chairs was the cast shadows of the deck railing and over hang. I spent an enjoyable morning doing this painting while the others were out kite surfing.

Early Morning Reflections

Early Morning Reflections was painted at one of my favorite spots - Killbear Provincial Park. As the title suggests this was painted early one morning, before breakfast while sitting on the rocks looking down over the bay. It was so peaceful and relaxing.

Nathaniel

Nathaniel is a painting of a young boy who attends my church. My son took a photograph of him several years ago which I had always thought would make a good painting. Finally, while on vacation in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina this past spring I got around to painting it. Nathaniel and the following painting Resilience are both experiments in painting portraits since I have never really done that type of thing before.

Resilience

Resilience was copied from a black and white brochure which I received at church for Aids Awareness Sunday. I was attracted to the look of courage on the girl's face. Also, soon after I painted this picture I read a book about a black slave girl and her courage and resilience which made me think of this painting: hence the title Resilience. Another factor that inspired me to paint this picture was a retired woman in our town who took up photography and traveled to Africa to photograph the people there. She now sells her work to raise money to build wells for the villages in Africa so that the people can have access to clean water. Her photos are awesome! I truly admire her for what she is doing.

Redeemer Christian High School

Redeemer Christian High School was painted for a retirement gift for the principal. We had the guests at his retirement party sign the mat (frame) around the picture. The painting is a copy of the 'official' photo used in much of the school's promotional material, however, I added the students to the foreground. I used my son, Christopher, as a model for the person with the blue sweater since originally (in my pencil sketch) it was all girls sitting in front of the school and my sons did not think that that was fair.

Larose Forest

I was inspired to paint Larose Forest while cross country skiing. Larose Forest is located about a twenty minute drive from my house yet I had never been there in sixteen years of living here until last year (2007) fall when we went for a walk with a bunch of friends. I ended up walking there three times in the fall and skiing there three or four times during the winter. I guess you could say it was one of those hidden gems waiting to be discovered. What inspired me to paint this picture was the fact that I was surrounded by all the snow and evergreen trees when I suddenly came upon a tree with leaves still clinging tenaciously to its branches.

Geese

Geese is a subject that is very much a part of my year. Both in the spring and in the fall we get large flocks of geese flying over our house. The sound of the geese in spring is a very joyful and celebratory greeting but in the fall it becomes a rather melancholy farewell. This particular scene can be seen from our front veranda. This was a study on painting clouds. I had actually thrown these cloud painting attempts away but then decided to see what would happen if I painted a scene with the clouds...

Winter Barn 2

One Saturday I found myself home alone so I decided to spend the day painting. In those few hours I actually made three small paintings!

Winter Barn 1

Winter Barn 1 & 2 are scenes that I see out of my back windows. These actually started as cloud studies and so as not to waste paper I decided to paint a quick little scene once the sky was dry. These two little paintings are among my favorites.

Abandoned Barns

Abandoned Barns was an exercise in perspective. It is a copy of a painting in one of my books. I feel that this painting helped me to go to another level in my abilities. Besides practicing different kinds of perspective, I also experimented with colors, color mixing and painting in layers. I was so pleased with my results that I had Abandoned Barns printed and made into my annual Christmas card in 2007.

Winter Trees

Winter Trees was an exercise in perspective from one of my Watercolor instruction books. I found that I really enjoyed painting trees while doing this particular painting.

Chinese Lantern

I bought a couple of instruction books for watercolor painting. Chinese Lantern is one of the exercises in the book. Here I was learning about light and how it affects the objects around it.

Red Currents

There are several red current bushes in my backyard which need to be harvested at the beginning to mid July. This is a big job but the Red Current Jelly is so yummy! One year I decided to do a photo scrapbook page documenting the steps involved from transforming the currents on the bush to the jelly in the jar. The photo of the currents on the bush just begged to be painted. This is the only painting that I have done so far in which I experimented with watercolor pencils.

Daisy

Daisy is the third painting of a series where I progressively zoomed in on the subject. This was one of my first paintings in thirteen years. I was quite encouraged with the results.

Apple Blossoms

Apple Blossoms was painted using a photo of our apple trees in the yard. The reason for the small painting size is that I had heard that it was quite trendy to bid for and buy small paintings (2.5" X 3.5") on the internet so I painted a few and hoped to make my millions. There was one problem, however; I liked my paintings too much so I didn't want to sell them! I eventually gave Apple Blossoms away as a birthday card to my Father-in-law who also had several apple trees.