My Buddy

I finally did it! I painted a picture of my dog! The photo is not that great since I made the classic mistake of varnishing the painting before photographing it.

I am very pleased how this painting turned out. Originally it was going to be more detailed with an orange background. However, this painting painted itself and I quickly realized that less was more this time.

Painting Workshop

This past summer I had the opportunity to participate in a four-day outdoor painting workshop at one of  my all time  favourite places - Killbear Provincial Park - on the Georgian Bay. One thing that made this workshop extra special was that I was able to introduce one of my good painting friends to the park.
Each morning we would leave the lodge in which we were staying to spend the day painting on location. In the evenings, after our day of painting, in which we usually completed two paintings, we would have a time of group critique. Our instructors of the week encouraged us to try painting in this 'group of seven / folk art' style of painting. I really enjoyed this since I had been trying to push my boundaries in painting this summer.  Included here are what I consider three of my more successful paintings of the week.
This workshop was a very enjoyable and inspiring experience.

Hogsback Falls, Ottawa

Hogsback Falls was my first 'Plein Air' painting of 2014. 'Plein Air' or 'En Plein Air' painting means that the painting was painted on location rather than in the studio. I also read somewhere recently  that another term used is 'Reportage'. I really enjoy painting on location since I enjoy being outdoors and usually we are out with a group. Not all my plein air paintings work out. There are some that I paint over even before leaving the location and others that I will paint over at a later date and yet others that don't work out entirely but there are some elements that inspire me to start another similar painting in the studio. Sometimes I will finish a painting while out but mostly I take a picture and finish it at home in my studio. For Hogsback Falls I reached the point where I wasn't really happy with what was happening so I 'gave up' and just started painting anything to fill the board ... this is usually where the magic starts happening for me ... when I stop trying so hard. In my last half hour I was able to get the painting to where I actually liked it and was willing to finish it in the studio. My only regret ... that it isn't bigger ... so much power confined to such a small space.