Alcohol Ink Experiments

After 10 days of Stampede ( thank you to everyone who came to see the show), it was actually a welcome relief to just play. Alcohol inks are something I've been interested in for awhile and I had the pleasure of taking a small work shop with some artists friends today. I see many possibilities and uses for this medium and experimenting abstractly was so much fun that I can't wait to try some new ideas I have. Here are three of the little cards I played with. Sorry for the poor image quality.

Stampede New Paintings

The Calgary Stampede is in full swing and I'm enjoying the experience. It's great to converse with the public about my art, as I'm pretty isolated in my studio. The feedback has been incredibly positive and I'm very humbled and grateful! I'm also very thankful Mountain Galleries is there to help me.The days are long however and I have a lot of time to paint. Here are 7 little paintings I have completed so far at my 'little studio' in my booth. I apologize for the quality of the images as they were taken with my phone.

Rocky Mountain Autumn

"Rocky Mountain Autumn', acrylic 24 x 36
Seeing as I have a lot of winter scenes, I had to paint an autumn scene to add to my repertoire of paintings for The Stampede Western Art Show. Along with my imagination, and a couple photos, I mainly used a  photo of a previous painting for reference.

Bear Bottoms

'Bear Bottoms', acrylic 36 x 48 inches. Many thanks again to Wendy Chambers for allowing me to use her photos as reference for my paintings! Wendy works for the Northern Lights Wildlife Society, which is dedicated to give injured and/or orphaned wildlife a second chance at survival, and relies solely on the generous donations of others. For more information on this organization please visit their very interesting and informative website, website

Moody Sisters

The 'Three Sisters' are the iconic mountains of Canmore Alberta and probably one of the most photographed. I had never painted them. So this morning effort is 'Moody Sisters', acrylic 18 x 36. I struggled whether to make it a warm or cool painting and adding more misty clouds or not. After applying warms glazes and then cool and back and forth again and adding clouds and taking them away,some pretty neat marks,texture and depth were emerging. Very hard to see all the nuances in the photo though.....come to Stampede to see it!

The Bearoness

This is the largest bear I have ever done. 'The Bearoness',acrylic 48 x 38. I painted her based on a smaller previous painting. Looks can be so deceiving, and I wouldn't want to get too close. I had the pleasure of video taping a beautiful young black bear ambling along the side of the road eating dandelions.
video

Wild Beauty

It's been a couple of years since I have painted horses, and I painted horses a lot when I first moved to Calgary. It's Stampede time and I'm frantically trying to get ready. 'Wild Beauty', 48 x 36 inches.This wild stallion is from the Alberta foothills and many thanks to Linda Vick for letting me use her photo.

Johnston Canyon

I went to Johnston Canyon with three fellow artist friends for a few days of Plein Air painting. We stayed in a cabin at the lodge near the falls. My knee problems prevented me from venturing to the upper falls but I did manage the lower falls and did a bit of hiking around Moraine Lake. I took tons of reference photos!

The weather took a turn for the worse and painting on location, for me, was out of the question. Although I did paint out side the cabin under the deck....does that count as Plein Air? I managed to start three paintings from the photos I took the day before. I touched them up in the studio. Still not sure I'm done with them yet. acrylic 18 x 24

Bears at the Castle

Looks like all the visitors I've talked to in the art room at the Castle ( Banff Springs Hotel), have seen bears. Some have seem them three or four times. So be careful out there while in the park. It's only fitting I should paint a couple. 'Bearfaced, acrylic 18 x 24 and 'Boo Grizzly', 30 x 30.

Boo Bear is a resident of Kicking Horse Grizzly Bear Refuge in Golden BC where Boo has being happily living since he was a cub. "This is the largest enclosed and protected grizzly bear habitat in the world. The 20-acre refuge is the home of our resident grizzly bear, Boo. Within this natural mountainside habitat, Boo hunts, plays, forages, and explores just like his wild cousins.

The refuge is open daily during the summer and provides guests the opportunity to observe an adult grizzly bear going about his daily routine. Everyone who comes to visit Boo is fascinated by his strength, agility, intelligence, and personality.' More about Boo here

 

I would like to thank the staff for allowing me to paint Boo. Photo Credit goes to Wendy Chambers her website

Day One in The Castle

A very successful day one, as Artist in Residence in The Banff Springs Hotel. I had a hotel guest sign up to be mentored my me for a few hours. She had some painting experience but considered herself a beginner. It was her birthday as well! I decided to have her paint along side me, as I guided her, using the same reference. Step by step we went through my process and I added a few touches to her canvas as we went along. She was extremely happy, said she learned a ton, and got to take home a painting signed by both her and myself. Happy Birthday Darcey!

Art Room In The Castle

Hobbling around getting ready for my Artists in Residency at the beautiful Banff Springs. Not sure how much hiking or standing I'll be able to do with my knees acting up, so I may have to bring watercolors and pastels, but I'm pretty excited. Mountain Galleries has acquired, courtesy of the hotel, a new 'art room' to enhance the residency program. This studio space is large enough for three artists to work, it's well lit, in a great location, has a great view, and lots of walls for displaying art. Any artist from the Mountain Galleries roster, was able  book a week or two and it's pretty much full all summer long. Checkout some of the fabulous artists participating this summer! Artist In Residency List. Guests of the hotel, can also enjoy this experience and are invited to book a half day to work under the mentorship of a professional artist, with art supplies provided. I will upload pictures next week while I'm Queen of The Castle.

'Only When I Dream', acrylic 24 x 48, will be one of the many paintings displayed in the art room. I look forward to seeing you if you happen to be in the area May 18-23rd. My reception will take place May 23rd from 2-5, so come join me for a glass of bubbly and some snacks.

Incandescent

This one sat in the corner, half done, for several weeks as I contemplated how I was going to proceed. Such a busy subject, but I really loved the light bouncing off the stream peeking through the brush and tree branches. Wonderful contrast, shapes and light, as the sun was starting to set. You can't see in the photo of the painting, but I used a lot of tar gel in the background to give the illusion of tiny branches and such, but maybe little too busy. I had to pare down the background trees and fade out some branches while still capturing the over all mood. 'Incandescent', acrylic 40 x 40
below are my reference photos, the original and enhanced cropped one.

Simpify

 

Such a hard lesson to learn and we hear it all the time. Simplify. What are you trying to say? Do you really need that tree or that branch? Does it add to my design or is it distracting? We all know less is more. A painting is much more interesting if you don't give out all the information, you must give the viewer some credit. He knows it's a tree, he doesn't need to see every branch. There is more mystery in not defining every object, more imagination and creativity for you and more engaging for the viewer.

It’s impossible for an artist to paint every twig or pebble; those details are best left for the photographer. We must figure out how to best show it with shapes and patterns, using brush strokes, design and mood.

 

I really liked the way this painting was turning out but did I really need that background? Was it important for my overall message? If I needed it to look like Athabasca Falls, then maybe, but I had already changed the rocks so it really didn't matter. And no, it wasn't important. I took a photo, went to my computer and Photoshopped the background out. Yes I liked it much better. So, a few swipes with my large palette knife and it was gone. A simplified adjustment.

 

From a distance this painting looks very detailed and representational, but up close you can see from the strokes that it is implied detailing with abstract designs.  'The calming Force', acrylic 24 x 36 inches

Keeping It Fresh

Have you ever had one painting that has received more attention than any painting you have ever done? In 2010, I painted 'Sunwapta Roars', and to this day it still receives accolades. Many times I have painted Sunwapta trying to recapture that 'something', and although they were all very successful paintings, I never quite achieving that same freshness.

I have been asked to do a article and show my process of a waterfall for a major art magazine ( more on that at a later date). I decided to do Sunwapta Falls with the goal to keep it fresh...not to over work it. Here is the result. 'Sunwapta In Motion',30 x 30. I quite like this one.

 

Uphill Cascade

Waterfalls are probably one of my favorite things to paint. I'm giving myself the exercise of using older paintings as my reference to try and veer off photographs. These type of paintings allow for much more freedom.

I Like It much Better Now

 

This painting had been on my studio wall for weeks. I made a few delivery trips to the gallery and always held this one back. Something about it was bothering me, I wasn't sure what, but I knew I wanted it off my wall. Although I had wanted to simplify the water...it was boring, dark and dull. I also thought the red was too red. So I needed to spice up the water without changing my focus, tone my red and lighten my shadows. I like it much better now. Acrylic 20 x 28

This next painting, many of you will disagree with me. Although there was nothing really wrong with it, I found it lifeless. It was too representational, boring and grey. No excitement. I reached out for a second opinion from my gallery owner/friend Wendy Wacko, and after some thought, she came up with a couple of recommendations. She pointed out that my back, middle and foreground all carried the same weight. She suggested I simplify the heck out of the foreground, use my imagination and make the mountain the star. Good advice. I ditched the photo and brought out my palette knife and dived right in...I had nothing to lose. Good bye to the trees. It was actually quite satisfying making up cliffs and edges. More mystery. I like it much better now. Acrylic, large 48 x 72. Not the best photo...must see in person.

Andrew McDermott Pastels

 

The FCA Calgary chapter brought in Andrew McDermott ( current president of the FCA ) , for a pastel and acrylic workshop. Having never used pastels and being in the mood to try something different, I eagerly joined 13 other artists for a fun filled two days of pastel dust. It was nice to interact with other artists and get out of my basement studio, away from the stress of deadlines. I was thrilled to have a live model, something I want to do more of , but I realized fast that I needed a lot more practice with my drawing skills. We all did little exercises and various timed poses. The second day we did a step by step painting from the same photo.

As well a very talented impressionistic artist, Andrew was an excellent instructor and we all had a bit of fun. I even managed to learn about pastels. I look forward to doing more drawing and maybe some pastel painting down the road, but now my mini break is over and it's back to work I go. Thank you Andrew and my fellow participants for a great time.

To see more of Andrew's work here is his website  Andrew McDermott

Here are some of my, not so impressive studies, and the second day painting above.

 

More Little Ones

 

Two more little semi abstract landscapes. acrylic 9 x 12 and 16 x 8.

Time To Loosen Up.

I'm working on a series of paintings that I absolutely love to do. Be it waterfalls or mountains, I never know what will unfold in these small semi abstract paintings. Most of the time I won't use any reference or maybe a favorite painting to jump off from. Lots of gel, texture and glazing. I initially mixed a ton of various warm and cool greys with gel. I had so much that I ended up starting five paintings! ( can't waste all that premixing ). This is about as structured as I get, I do not have a set formula or method of painting. So I lay down the paint with a palette knife, sometimes with no idea in mind and sometimes with a vague one. I wait until the next day before I can continue. I will add more palette knife work, scumbling with brush or rag, and glaze, in no particular order, and see what emerges. Sometimes I will repeat this several times, sometimes the painting is done within minutes. Painting this was allows me the freedom to work within  the 'zone', not worrying about being realistic, deadlines or any other stressful things....so very satisfying.

Above is  one I completed this morning. acrylic 9 x 12. I did use a reference for this one.

By the way, one of my other 'abstracted' works, I just found out, made it into the top 15% in the Monthly Boldbrush contest. 'Cascading Abstraction', 12 x 12. see below.

Wooded Meadow

 Here is my larger version of my previous study, acrylic 48 x 48 inches. Hmmm.... now that I'm looking at it...maybe more flowers/foliage in the foreground?

Wooded Meadow Study

Well, it wasn't exactly a meadow....more of a clearing. Referenced from the Vermillion Lakes road, in Banff in the late Fall. acrylic 20 x 20 inches, a study for a much larger painting. Here is original photo and the cropped/enhanced one.

Color Along The Bank

A large 48 x 48 acrylic. I have a solo show coming up in May and I really want to add some warmth  to my paintings as lately I seem to be doing a lot of cool colors and winter scenes. This particular one metamorphosed from my original intent so I ditched the reference. It's not quite done, but it has taken a long time to get to this point. I will do more along this vein to workout my struggles.

Couldn't Help Myself

I couldn't help myself, I just had to add more. If anyone is interested in seeing what my art would look like in your home, please send me a photo of your room. It really does give you a better idea of what it would look like, relationship, color, scale, and framing options. I also increased the size on two of my paintings to see how they would look in a larger scale. ( first image )