From the Garden

 These six small paintings are done 'en plein air' in my garden over the course of the summer. I am not a botanical painter but I thought that it would be fun to keep a record of flowers that bloom in my garden. I was quite pleased with how most of these paintings turned out.

SIDE NOTE:  I learned just last week that a serious Botanical painter would make sure that there were the right number of petals and leaves and stamens  on each flower otherwise it would never get accepted into a botanical art show! I, on the other hand, was just aiming to have my flowers be recognized for what they are.

Plein Air Painting

Mer Bleu

It has been almost six months since I last posted any of my paintings but it doesn't mean that I was idle; actually I was quite prolific this summer. 

Miller's Market

Each week I went out with several other artists to do what is known as 'plein air' painting which simply means to paint on location. This summer was an ideal year to do this. We went to several locations in and around Ottawa starting at the beginning of June right through to the end of October. 

This is my second year of participating in these paint-outs. Last year I would do pencil sketches at each location and this year I decided to do pen and ink with water colour. Mer Bleu and Miller's Market are just two of the twenty-eight paintings that I did this summer.

I have found that painting 'en plein air' has been a very valuable experience for me since I feel that I have evolved a little bit more as an artist over the course of a summer. Of the twenty-eight paintings that I did in my sketch book I can point to two or three of them as turning points in how I approached my paintings. Mer Bleu was one of my turning points.

Perhaps over the course of the next month or so I will attempt to photograph and upload some of my other  plein air paintings.

Sunset Barn

Sunset Barn was my attempt at a loose watercolour  painting. I was also trying out some new brushes that I had recently purchased which are a bit larger than the brushes that I usually use. I decided that I wouldn't draw anything with a pencil before painting. However after I painted the sky, the barn and the tree line some colour for the snow in the foreground I realized that it needed more in the foreground but I wasn't sure what so I left it for awhile. When I finally decided what I could do with the foreground I did end up putting in some light pencil marks as guidelines. I am very happy with the results of this painting.

Gift Tree

Gift Tree was a gift for my sister's birthday. Several years ago I painted some Jack Pines for my mother and a couple of sisters. Since then my eldest sister has wanted to commission me to do  a painting of a Jack Pine for her. Since she just celebrated a significant birthday I decided to give her one instead.

Walk in the Woods

Walk in the Woods is an acrylic painting that I did from a photo that I took while doing a hike in Hamilton while visiting my parents. I used a black canvas as a starting point since I wanted to see how this would affect the colours of the paints. Also I was watching a video on YouTube which talks about being able to achieve more depth by leaving some of the canvas exposed. Finally I was hoping that by starting with a dark canvas I could really accent the light in this painting. I am not sure that I achieved all my goals but I am pleased with the outcome of the painting and did learn a few things in the process such as getting the rocks to look textured. Every painting is an adventure and a learning experience.

Pensive Moment

Pensive Moment is a drawing of a photo of my nephew taken several years ago. For this drawing I toned the entire paper with graphite then erased the highlights and darkened the darks. I really enjoy this technique - as my husband would say I am releasing the picture from the paper. I am really pleased with the outcome of this drawing.

Two Trees

Two Trees is a painting which I attempted to do in the impressionistic / Group of Seven style. This one was done on a piece of Masonite board rather than canvas. I struggled with this since it was a much smoother surface than what I am used to.

Jack Pine .... again

I tried to paint this tree using and impressionistic style and also with a Group of Seven flavour. I'm not sure that I totally succeeded but it did end up being loser then I normally paint. I am pleased with the result.

Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland was done as a challenge for the Manotick Art Association christmas party. We had to do a painting that incorporated the words ring, star, technology and road. At first it was a daunting assignment but once I really started thinking there were several images that would have worked.
Another criteria that I set for myself was that I would be able to use my work for a Christmas card - which I did. That is one of the reasons why I didn't post it right away since I didn't want to give away my secrets. Another reason is that I was having trouble logging into my blog for awhile. Over the next little while I will try to update my blog since I have been working...sort of.

View From the Condo - Mt Tremblant PQ

View From the Condo was a scene from our ski trip to Mt Tremblant last winter. Our trip was a Christmas gift from our children. The condo is owned by my son's girl friend's parents.