Radiate Above

Acrylic 48 x 36

Driving in your car though the mountains, you always see the small cliffs of rocks on the side of the road. Some natural and some blown away to make room for a highway. I love the rock patterns, the snow, the small surprise waterfalls, and sometimes a sheep or two.

Highway Stretch

My gallery wanted some big paintings from me and I'm happy to oblige ( most have sold I pleased to say). All my mountain scenes have gone, so I thought I'd try another using a long format. 30 x 60 inches, I stretched out my drawing a bit to fit the canvas. I thought it would be an easy undertaking but I developed a few problems. How to keep my right focal point and yet connect both sides of the long painting. I wanted to avoid it looking like two paintings stuck together ( maybe I should have done a diptych ). I'm not sure I achieved this, so I'll put it away for awhile and bring it back out with fresh eyes.

Ode To Tom Thomson

acrylic 24 x 36

Tom Thomson has always been a huge favorite of mine and a big influence, as well as the group of seven. ( I still consider him part of that group). some people have compared a few of my paintings to the group of seven. ( obviously an over statement, but very flattering nonetheless. ) I particularly like his Northern River paintings. I had an old painting which needed fixing or painted over. I tried to fix it but I wasn't happy, so I decided to paint over it with Tom Thomson twist in mind and having some of the old paint showing through. I used his Northern River series as reference.

I've no idea what the legalities of this is or how ethical, but I don't consider it a copy. I do think it has more 'Wilder' written all over it, and nowhere near as good and elegant as his,but it was fun to do.

After The Storm

acrylic 24 x 30 inches. I started this painting a long time ago at a Brian Ateyo workshop. It sat against my studio wall waiting for me to do something with it. I wasn't sure whether to fix it or paint over it. Finally, today, it screamed at me to fix it.

Winter Wonderland

acrylic 36 x 36 inches

Going Home

Here are a couple from last years walk around Griffith Woods...I'm pretty sure now, after the floods that it doesn't look like these anymore. I will go back in the spring and see.

This is the first time I've added animals to my landscapes, but I loved the photo I took, with the contrast of the geese against the snow. acrylic 24 x 24

The other little one 10 x 20, I like, but for a small painting, I got a little fussy and tight.

Winter Palette

While drinking my morning tea and browsing the internet, I made my decision on what I was going to paint this morning. But as usual I changed my mind...again. An artists' and womans' prerogative I suppose. Most times I don't make up my mind until I actually have the canvas in front of me and even then, sometimes I'll change it up half way through. This morning I happened across work by Tibor Nagy, one of my favorite artists and it jogged my memory of another artist I hadn't visited for awhile ....Lynn Boggess. ( link ) His website was not updated and I wondered what work he had produced in the last 5 years, so I visited all his galleries. I am so greatly inspired by his work and how he welds his palette knife. One of these days I will get brave enough to try oils...so buttery and luscious. This piece I briskly did this morning, was inspired by him. 'Winter Jumble' acrylic 20 x 24 inches

Winter Snow Patterns

I just finished a couple of small snowscape studies...seems fitting at the moment. I'm going to paint more small studies, trying to figure out which ones will look good in  large formats.
These two are 20 x 20 inches and 12 x 24

In The Midst Of Red

'In The Midst Of Red'. large acrylic 36 x 60.

I took a small break and now I want to do a little experimenting. I watched a video of Ontario artist Linda Kemp ( love her work ) and was quite intrigued with her method. I wanted to try and incorporate some of her techniques into my work and see what would transpire.

I used an older painting of horses, which I had hanging my wall for a number of years and the family was getting tired of. I also had promised my daughter a large painting for her home and seeing as she prefers more abstracted work I thought this would work.  With no commitments in mind, and fully intending on playing outside my box...I took a large brush, some white gesso and slathered it over the horses muzzle.

I had no idea how this was going to turn out, but I did have a reference photo I was somewhat following. I still think it is recognizable as my work and I'll play with it some more, but...the gallery may get this one after all.