Take A Stand

acrylic 24 x 24

Another moving highway view I had started a while back and just finished.

Foothills Art Club Demo

I drove out to Cochrane last week to do a demo for the Foothills Art Club. I think I have painted enough Echo Creek, although they are all a little different and great for demo purposes, to show the palette knife technique and still have a painting almost finished within and hour. Here are the two finished pieces from that demo.

Uplfting

 This painting ended up being a real challenge and full of surprises, but I like  the outcome. I loved the mountain in my cropped reference photo but thought it needed more defined trees ( shapes ) on the bottom and maybe some reflective water, so I chose another reference photo. The mountains came together quite quickly but when I added the autumn trees and water, something was not right. I changed the color of the trees, the back hills and still it wasn't working for me. I made the trees larger and eliminated the water...nope that didn't work either. I brought back the water and took away the trees.  At this point, before I added the trees again, it finally dawned on me. I had too much going on in the painting and needed to simplify. I had accumulated a lot of texture and layers from scrapping and such and was really liking the effect ... I managed to make trees without painting them! Time to simplify. I still needed to connect the top and the bottom. Just a couple of autumn trees did the trick and I was happy with the mood.

Here are the two enhanced reference photos and my painting ,acrylic 15 x 30 inches

Highway Photos

 

'Catching The Light' acrylic 24 x 28.

Literally, I was trying to catch the light along the highway mountains from a moving vehicle. My husband always just wants to get where he is going. It's always " Sorry honey, there is no where to stop." or " Sorry honey, you didn't give me enough notice." Ha-ha. I'm sure many of you have experienced the same thing. That's why I like to go out on my own and spend the day shooting photos, but even then, I always miss some good ones.

I've included my original photo as well as the cropped/straightened photo.

Finished Paintings from Swinton's Demo

I have now completed the three paintings I was working on during my Demo at Swinton's Art Supplies.  I promised I would post them on my blog so here it goes:


 Demo 1

Wanting to show my palette knife techniques, I chose a 16 x 40 canvas, a reference photo, and a completed painting I had done a few days earlier of a creek scene in Banff. I got as far as I could and had to let the paint dry before adding the foreground in my studio.


Demo 2

I had half completed this painting at home and I still needed to show how I did the foreground trees. I refined them in the studio. ( acrylic 15 x 30)


Demo 3

I had under an hour to paint a mountain scene from scratch. I wasn't prepared with a reference photo so luckily I had my I Pad with me and used a painting I had done a few months ago. I spent more time refining this then I did at the demo and, I was afraid I was going to lose the freshness. Acrylic 20 x 24)

workshop

Workshop at Swintons.....fabulous!
More to follow

Path To My Light

A couple of smaller paintings I was experimenting with, trying to decide what to paint for my demo.

Light On The Edge

A sneak peek at what I may be painting for my demo at Swintons' this Friday night ( link )...so if you are around, come watch and have a glass of wine with me. I wanted to paint something that would showcase my use of a palette knife best. This one I finished yesterday, is acrylic 16 x 40 inches.

Beauty Within The Burn

'Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.' - Andy Warhol.

Acrylic 24 x 30 inches. There was a fire this summer in near Purcell Mountain Lodge ( they hosted the firefighters). We were fortunate enough to hike there this fall and see this amazing area.

'To the artist, there is never anything ugly in nature.' - Auguste Rodin

This painting was a challenge and a little different for me. I wasn't sure quite how I was going to tackle it. So I did what I normally do when I don't know what I'm doing...bulldoze with gusto and see what emerges. I kind of like what happened. Working fast and furious for the first half and then getting tighter as I painted negative spaces. 

Sunrise On The Selkirks'

Words, nor this painting, can describe how I felt as I walked up the meadow in the early morning to watch this breathtaking event unfold in front of me. Spectacular! Acrylic 16 x 40 inches. Sunrise overlooking the Selkirk's from the meadow in front of Purcell Mountain Lodge.

Purcell Triptych

 

My first triptych. Each is 16 x 48 inches ( together 4ft x  4ft).  I wanted to make sure each piece could stand alone. I didn't know how to stitch them together in one image using Photoshop. I googled and found a free site...only problem is the image file isn't very large and has rounded corners...but you get the idea.

Many thanks to Peter Stuhlmann for stitching my images together...please checkout his unique,abstracted and innovative work...link

After The Dusting

  

acrylic 10 x 30 inches
Another version, but I like this one much better. The orientation of the canvas is much longer and better suited for what I had in mind. I'm still not satisfied with my drawing, nor the mood I felt when I was there, so I will revisit this again. Below is the original photo and the cropped photo

The Calm After

Another from the Purcell's. More texture on this one. I had a previously toned and textured canvas to paint on. Acrylic 24 x 36 and detail of such.

Purcell's First Blanket

 

acrylic 24 x 48

It was a really treat witnessing the first snowfall of the season on top of the largest alpine meadow in Canada from the Purcell Mountain Lodge. Most of the snow had melted down below, but stayed on the peaks. It was gorgeous! I tried to capture the illuminating glow as the rain/snow abated and the sun peeked through. I will try a few attempts at this.

Purcell Brush

acrylic 12 x 24

Here is another painting I started at the Purcell's but finished in my studio. Hmmm...just realized my trees are the same distance apart...I need more variety. Should be an easy fix. Below is my reference photo.

 

 

Purcell Mountain Lodge Painting Trip

Such a wonderful week! We had it all, sunshine, rain, fog, snow, and rainbows. And of course great food and awesome company! I could write a book, but I'm tired, so for now I'll just post some of the paintings I did at the Purcell Mountain lodge. ( If you are my Facebook friend...I have posted some photos    link )

acrylic 20 x 20 inches

acrylic 20 x 20 inches

 

 

acrylic 10 x 20

 

acrylic 8 x 16

acrylic 12 x 12

 

acrylic 12 x 12

 

Passionate Shannon

Large 30 x 60.
Based on Shannon Falls, near Squamish BC.

My Poodle Has Wings

Acrylic 30 x 36 inches.

Recently I was talking to a friend, and she really liked my paintings with splashes of red. 'But we don't have red trees in Alberta', I replied. 'So', she said, 'If I wanted to paint my poodle with wings, I could...it's an artist prerogative."

So this is for my friend, a pretty accurate scene from Moraine Lake...except for the red bush.

Summit Dreams

Acrylic 36 x 48

Thought I'd try a little more color to my mountain peak series.

Towards Moraine

acrylic, 40 x40

Well, it's the back end of Summer. Our company has gone home to England and our holidays are over. I feel like it's been ages since I've painted ( other than a few hours here and there ). I feel strangely lost and need to get back into a studio routine.

I started this painting after once again being inspired from a recent trip to lake Louise and Moraine. I wanted to paint Moraine with a different perspective so I got down low on the logs with the stream flowing through and the mountains in the back. I loved the photo but the painting didn't seem to work. 'If you think something is not right...then it probably isn't'. I toyed with the idea of leaving it, thinking that someone would like it....but someone was not good enough...I had to like it.

It needed a major change. Two things came to mind from a Brian Ayteo workshop I had attended. 1) 'If you think it...do it'. I couldn't let the fear of ruining it enter my head. 2) He told me I was at stage in my work where I could rely less and less on a photo.

So I took the bull by the horns and went to work with my large palette knife. It became less about the place and more about the creative process. Even though this particular scene doesn't exist, I still think it is recognizable as the mountains above Moraine lake.

Athabasca Symphony

Another from the Athabasca Falls series 30 x 60 inches

Athabasca Converge

Here is another effort from the Athabasca series I am doing. Acrylic 36 x 48. Although I have painted these falls many times, I never tire of them. And, after spending a lot of time there recently, it has inspired me to do more. I still find it interesting  to view my older works and compare the differences and analyze how much my work has grown or changed.

Two Views of Edith Cavell

I'm having a wonderful time so far here at JPL in Jasper! Good eating, exploring and of course painting. I have to admit though, this 'artist in residency' for the week, is a little exhausting. I'm painting for longer periods than what I'm used to, and at a faster pace, not to mention interacting with the guests. It's a good learning experience and I'm very thankful I have the opportunity through Mountain Galleries and Fairmont to enjoy these perks. Here are two paintings of MT Edith Cavell. 36 x 48, and 30 x 30.

Sea To Sky

We had a fabulous time in Vancouver/Whistler! I was to do a painting demo for Mountain Galleries in Whistler during their Sunday market, so my husband and I decided to make it a mini holiday. We spent a night in Vancouver and took the Rocky Mountaineer in the morning to Whistler. The views were spectacular ( facebook Pictures ). My friend Doria showed me a few Whistler lakes and some favorite bear sighting spots ( to no avail). I took the gondola up Whistler mountain and then the express to the peak. Truly magnificent. The next morning during the market I managed to do three demo paintings from my experience on top the mountain, while it was fresh in my mind. We had a fabulous meal and were off the next day for a wonderfully relaxing train ride back. The sights again were awe inspiring and I created many paintings in my head as my mind wandered, and absorbed the experience. I was truly spoiled and loving every minute of it.

I also found out my painting 'Where Magic Happens' won the 'Outstanding Acrylic' award for June, in the Bold Brush painting contest. Boldbrush winners