Soft Pastel - Sold
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Chameleon
Price: $75
Media: Pastels on Paper
Size: 12x16 in
OK back at the Toronto Zoo, and going to visit the Chameleons this time in the African Pavilion. I love to watch these creatures walk - the ultimate Tai Chi walk - slow and deliberate. Their eyes so fascinate me - on turrets and looking at different things at once - they have a commanding presence if you are able to slow down a little and spend some time watching them... like little happy dragons... seems to me they grin a lot...
♥ peace
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Are We There Yet?
Price: $75
Media: Charcoal on Paper
Size: 11x14 in
These little guys are just too cute! What is it about Pugs? I think they were the inspiration for Ewoks in Star Wars...
These little guys are just too cute! What is it about Pugs? I think they were the inspiration for Ewoks in Star Wars...
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Flamingos
Price: $250
Media: Acrylics On Canvas
Size: 16x12 in
OK here we are back at the flamingos... I love to go to the Toronto Zoo, and going to visit the flamingos is one of my favourite things to do there. These birds really fascinate me. I could sit and watch them for hours - in fact, I do sit and watch them for hours.... I really love flamingos - they have the most unique beauty... The way the head sits on the neck and the beak sits on the head... The way they move... The way they exist in a flock. It is like the flock is so much a part of their individual existence that the flock becomes one organism. They sleep at the same time, so peaceful to watch them sleeping. Then when they wake up - they all wake up... and it is like a wonderfully raucous family feud with everyone yelling at each other and jumping around and you can see that they really enjoy each other... Oh yes - and there's a pond there with reflections of the flamingos in the water - Mmmmmmm.... Yummy!
♥ peace
♥ peace
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Sunny Patch on the Creek
Price: $250
Media: Acrylics On Canvas
Size: 18x14 in
This is Petticoat Creek again - such a lovely little place. This painting is from the early spring again - before the bugs come out and warm enough to sit outside for a little while. This painting was started plein air and finished in the studio. I really love to paint in the sunshine. I never get tired of watching sunshine. It is just fascinating. In this painting I got to watch the sunshine and shadows as well as reflections dancing on the creek. I was just really happy to sit and watch the beauty unfold. The colours changing and the shadows moving - birds singing, sound of the water babbling in the creek - what a fine afternoon. The day I painted this, it was March 28th - my Mom's birthday and after this painting session I got to celebrate another special year with a special lady. Life is good!
--
♥ peace
This is Petticoat Creek again - such a lovely little place. This painting is from the early spring again - before the bugs come out and warm enough to sit outside for a little while. This painting was started plein air and finished in the studio. I really love to paint in the sunshine. I never get tired of watching sunshine. It is just fascinating. In this painting I got to watch the sunshine and shadows as well as reflections dancing on the creek. I was just really happy to sit and watch the beauty unfold. The colours changing and the shadows moving - birds singing, sound of the water babbling in the creek - what a fine afternoon. The day I painted this, it was March 28th - my Mom's birthday and after this painting session I got to celebrate another special year with a special lady. Life is good!
♥ peace
Monday, October 1, 2012
Reflections
Price: $375
Media: Acrylics On Board
Size: 24x20 in
This is Petticoat Creek in early spring. It is another Plein Air painting... The weather was very warm and the snow melted, but no greenery as yet and no bugs. I love this time of the year because you can almost feel the energy of the plant life just holding its breath till just about bursting, waiting to jump to life for another wonderfully beautiful summer... So quiet and still - but so expectantly exciting.... I found the reflections on the creek here particularly lovely. What is it about reflections on the water ? I could watch them dancing all day.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Algonquin Marsh
Price: $250
Media: Acrylics On Canvas
Size: 20x16 in
Off Highway #60 in Algonquin Park there is a road to Opeongo lake where I did this painting. I was lucky to find a beautiful view and it just seemed to need to be painted - the horse flies also really liked it. I was lucky to have enough protective clothing and enough bug repellent to allow me to make this painting. Amazing what focus can do - I would not have lasted five minutes there if I was not so intent on the process. No horse flies were harmed during the creation of this painting, although they were on occasion forcefully re-directed....
Off Highway #60 in Algonquin Park there is a road to Opeongo lake where I did this painting. I was lucky to find a beautiful view and it just seemed to need to be painted - the horse flies also really liked it. I was lucky to have enough protective clothing and enough bug repellent to allow me to make this painting. Amazing what focus can do - I would not have lasted five minutes there if I was not so intent on the process. No horse flies were harmed during the creation of this painting, although they were on occasion forcefully re-directed....
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Misty Sunset - Pog Lake - Algonquin Park
Media: Acrylics On Board
Size: 8x10 in
This is the view of the lake I had from my Campsite in Algonquin Park - right beside Pog Lake. It was such a beautiful campground. There were lots of families enjoying the park and on the day that I painted this painting, I gave an impromptu step-by-step painting lesson to a wonderful family depicting this very same scene. This shows the beautiful little bay there... many of the campers rented the yellow canoes and paddled around all day, so we had to add them to the paintings - the kids really enjoyed themselves and got a fine keepsake of their holiday.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Twilight - Pog Lake - Algonquin Park
Price: $65
Media: Acrylics On Board
Size: 8x10 in
I said yesterday that Algonquin Park is magical. Twilight seems to be extra special... I Listen to the Tree toads and loons singing and watched the sun set over Pog Lake. It becomes so peaceful and quite - it seems to get bigger in the dark too - but not scary... More alive but so peaceful...
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Sun Sparkling on Whitefish Lake - Algonquin Park
Price: $65.00
Media: Acrylics On Board
Size: 8x10 in
Such a beautiful way to spend an afternoon - Algonquin Park is just magical!
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Summer Wild Flowers
Price: $250
Media: Acrylics On Canvas
Size: 20x16 in
It was a special morning, misty and quiet... Gentle breeze started up, flowers slowly dancing in the gentle morning sunlight - impossibly beautiful... It was a plein air painting and I was working out of the trunk of my car - I have a little art car with paint splatters all over it...
Summer
Friday, September 14, 2012
Happy Apple
Price: $50.00
Media: Acrylics On Board
Size: 8x10 in
I quite enjoyed the painting process with this one - Apples have always been a favourite of mine. Outhouse flowers are from Nanny's Garden.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Swoosh of Gold...Fish
Price: $50.00
Media: Acrylics On Board
Size: 8x10 in
Fish are just so wonderful, and expressive little individuals! What is it about fish that fascinates me so much? I learnt to keep aquariums as a child and I still love watching them - never gets old.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Summer Solstice
Acrylic on Canvas - 16" x 20" - Plein Air
This painting was created on location in Duffins Creek on the Seaton Hiking Trail in Whitevale , Pickering. It was a hot and hazy day and very lovely...
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Thoughts on the Creative Process
'What can I do with what I got?' When that is my focus, what I don't got starts to loose importance.
Also, so easy for students to look at a painting in progress they are working on and only see stuff they don't like. I ask them what they DO like and then work on how to embellish that. lots of life lessons in the art making process.
Art making takes a lot of humility. I will never forget a brand new student of mine, she had never painted before. I was delighted with her very first work. She looked at it and lamented... 'It looks so amateurish!' I tell my students all the time that we need to look at what we make and celebrate what we are able to do - just like you are your own child who proudly brings a painting to show a parent... you are your own parent and you need loving encouragement - just like a child...
I find that since most folks are so very hard on themselves in terms of what they expect of their capabilities, I like to do class admiration's instead of critiques. Most folks are so good a criticizing themselves, what they really need is encouragement. We have 3 painting terms each year (10 weekly 2 hr classes)... fall, winter, spring. At the end of each session, we put the paintings up and say what we like about each of them. Only after each has been explored for it's strengths, I will make a little aside about an improvement.... Doing an admiration this Thursday.
I gave my class a little pep talk last week about the creative process, about allowing it freedom - not needing anything from it other than to enjoy doing it. Since they are already more beautiful inside than anything they could ever make, they don't need success as prop to the ego... that is where the freedom comes from. Oddly - that is also where real success comes from too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
