Christmas Coffee

Happy Holidays everyone. Thanks for all the kind words this past year!

My Christmas Present

Here I am with the wonderful Christmas present my husband and son got me this year. It is a painting by Carol Marine called Red Light District. I absolutely love it. Thanks Noel, thanks Evan.

What Did You Say - It's Windy - SOLD

Another beach scene. I may revisit this one in a larger format, I think I could push it further.

You Don't Say

The reference for the painting is a photo I took this summer of my Dad and Uncle standing in Lake Huron. I took quite a few photos at the beach that I have been wanting to get at for some time. Why now during the winter you ask; I believe I am procrastinating from stretching canvas on the 9 large stretchers that are leaning against the wall in my studio. These stretchers are for a series of large landscapes I have planned, I guess rather than procrastinating I should say I am percolating my thoughts for these pieces.

DSDF Portrait Challenge

This is my submission for the DSDF Portrait Challenge. I really tried to concentrate on the eyes in this painting and figuring out the structure of this fellow's face.

Blue Ornaments

There is a touch of snow on the ground here, but it still does not seem like Christmas yet so I thought I would try and get in the mood.

Haydain

Haydain you will be missed. Rest in peace, we were blessed to know you and your music.

Stripes and Limes

I am finally finished. I set up this still life wanting to challenge myself and I did. This took me about 2 weeks to finish - between painting, contemplating and experimenting. My husband feels it is too busy for him, I shall see what he thinks now that it is finished.

Study of limes on stripes

This is a study for the larger still life I am working on. I am trying to work out how best to tackle the striped background. It has a black stripe in the pattern. I mix my black from ultramarine blue and raw umber. Does anyone else mix their own black or do you use it straight from a tube? Thoughts?

Work in Progress - Striped Background

This is what I am working on this week. I am planning on doing a series of large landscapes next, so thought I would get one more still life in before I changed gears. The striped fabric is going to be quite a challenge.

Commission of a street in Germany

This is the commissioned painting of a street in Germany. It is finished and has already been delivered. The lady that I did this for was so excited that she took it before it was even dry! I am going to varnish it at a later date for her.

Black, White and Violet

And the last one.

Fresh from the Tree

Another demo.

Peter's Pear

This is the second demo I did this weekend. Peter Schlotthauer's studio was my host studio this past weekend and this is Peter's pear. He had just picked it from the neighbour's tree and was about to eat it when I got a hold of it to paint. Please check out Peter's work, he is a really talented artist.

Pink Mums

The studio tour was a lot of fun. I did not sell anything, but I did get a commission for a painting. A lovely lady provided me with a photo of the street she grew up on in Germany and asked me to do a painting of it. I am very excited to get started on the painting and see her reaction when she receives it.

The painting of mums, above, was the first demo painting I did this weekend. I did 5 all together. I will post 4 - the last painting I gave to my host studio, it was of their front door.

Art in Action Video

Orchids

The Burlington Studio Tour is this weekend. Hope to see some of you there. Check out our youtube video here. It features some of the artists that are participating.

Chores around the house

This past week I have been getting ready for the studio tour and my husband has been doing some chores around the house that needed to get done. Here is my son 'helping' his Uncle dig out the foundation of our house where we have a leak. Once he stopped throwing the dirt back in the hole as fast as his Dad and Uncle could dig it out he was a very big help.

First Prize- Best in Show

I am happy to share that my painting Road Home won first prize in the Sunrise Gallery's 1st Annual Juried Show. It is a fantastic show, with incredible works and I am stunned and honoured to have taken home an award. The show is on until November 15  and it is worth a look. 

Flower Necklace

Another painting of a necklace by Liz Meister. Hope you like them Liz!

Bowtie Necklace

This is a painting of a necklace my friend Liz Meister made. Liz will be in the Burlington Studio Tour on November 7 & 8 as well. I am painting a few pieces of her jewellery. She may use these small panels for displaying her pieces. 

Sunset Over Guelph Line

This is another large landscape I have been working on the last few days. This was a challenge and a lot of fun to paint. I think I see a series starting.

Art in Action - Burlington Studio Tour

I am in the Burlington Studio Tour on November 7 and 8. This is my first time participating in a tour and I am quite excited. The interesting part of this tour is that you will be able to see the artists at work as well as purchase finished pieces. If  you are in the area that weekend please check it out and come say hello! 

Defeated?

One last lipstick painting. These have been fun, I think I will come back to this subject matter again.

One Down

And this is the lipstick painting I did last night. One Down - I thought it was a great title for this, but now that my son is sick I hope it is not foreshadowing. My husband never gets sick, so it will be me if Evan is going to pass it on to someone.

Best Friends

I meant to upload this painting with the previous one, but got a call from the school to pick up my son. It seems the flu may have hit our home. He is resting now in bed with a bucket and his favorite cartoon. Poor little fella. So much for traveling this Thanksgiving. Oh well, I nice quiet weekend at home won't be that bad.

Lipsticks and Dots

One Lovely Blog Award

Thank you Janie for awarding me the "One Lovely Blog Award". Janie is a lovely lady who gave me this award on September 26 and I have been tardy in accepting it and passing it on to 15 other deserving souls (yes 15)- hence my tardiness. I am new to blogging and have I made 15 new site discoveries lately?  Here are my latest 5 discoveries that I go to again and again.

Smitten Kitchen -love the recipes and the delightful lady who posts them

David Boyd Jr.

Women Painting Women

Judy Mackey

Stephen Magsig

White Plate

Another purple and orange colour scheme. I call it white plate because that plate drove me crazy. It is one of those plastic plates that went through the dishwasher too many times so it is a little warped. I would paint what I saw and it did not look right, then I would paint what I thought it should look like and it was worse. I finally just painted it as I saw it and was done with it. It is not a great photo of it; I took it inside because it is overcast and really windy here today - and cold.

Road Home

This is a large piece I have been working on the last couple of days. I could not get a good photo of it - either too little light or too much. It looks much better in person.

Slideshow of some of my Paintings

This is the first slide show I have ever put together. Myra at Last Cup of Coffee encouraged me to give it a try and with a little help from my sister-in-law Marlene I got one put together. It showcases some of my favourite paintings that I did this year. Thanks Myra, Thanks Marlene!!

Peaches on Purple

I love purple and orange together! I was going through my paintings, looking at which ones were most successful, which colour combinations I liked the most and came across one in orange and purple - so vibrant that I had to try it out again.

Sydney

This painting was inspired by a photo I took of my niece this summer at the beach. I have been finding that when I work from photos rather than life I really tighten up. My goal with this piece was to stay looser.

Hillsborough Boats

I am back at my easel again. My break was a little longer than I thought it was going to be. My son got his tonsils, adnoids out and tubes put in his ears this past tuesday as an out patient. Unfortunately he got readmitted to hospital on wednesday evening and there we stayed until late friday afternoon. All is well now and he seems to be on the mend. He is my little trooper.

Friendship

Thank you to Nicki a new blog friend for awarding me a friendship award. 

Now the rules for this Award are as follows:

This award is bestowed on to blogs that are exceedingly charming.

These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends.

They are not interested in self-aggrandizement.

Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.

Deliver this award to other bloggers who must choose others to pass it on to and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

I would like to pass this award on to :

Catherine Jeffrey

At the Moorings

Finished at last. This painting was inspired by a photo I took of my son playing in the sand at my parent's cottage on Lake Huron. I am happy with it. I learned a lot and I think what I learned will make the next painting even better. I struggled with the values in the sand versus the figure and trying to make the figure stand out from the sand. The boats just flowed from my brush - thank goodness - I needed something to keep me struggling on.  

My son had his tonsils / adnoids taken out and tubes put in his ears yesterday so I will be out of commission for a few days. He is being a trooper, but refuses to take the tylenol. I think I will be spending the day cuddling on the couch with him and watching retro teletoons.

Help in the Studio

Here is my helper, hard at work on his alien from Mars painting. This may be why I am having a hard time finishing my painting.

Stage 5

I am having a lot of indecision or doubts on this one  as I paint and it seems to be taking longer than I think it should to come together. I not sure if it is because I have never painted a beach scene before or if it is my help (see my next post) in the studio that has been distracting me. One more session and I think I will be happy with it. I do find if I don't get frustrated with a painting at some point that it does not turn out to my satisfaction in the end, so doubts are good I guess.

Stage 4

I am now starting to add in some of the dark and light values. I tend to work the whole painting at once rather than concentrate on one area at a time. It keeps me from getting too precious with one area - and then reluctant to change something if it needs changing. This piece will need a couple more sessions on it before I am done I think.

Stage 3

Stage 2

At this stage I am just blocking in the larger areas and adjusting my composition. Once I get some paint on the canvas I use the handle end of my brush to scrape into the painting and then may paint over some of the scrapes until the image starts to take shape.

Stage 1

I am working on a beach scene at the moment. I thought I would photograph it in stages. The first thing I did was apply an orangey-red background. My thinking here was that the majority of the painting will be made up of blues and greens and that the complementary ground colour where it shows through will create a bit of a vibration or intensity to the painting. You can see where I shifted my figure over a bit in the foreground. I tend to work out issues (some might call them mistakes) as I go.

Apple2

Another apple. I had some really small panels made up and thought I would try painting a little faster and looser. I like this striped fabric - it keeps begging to be painted again and again.

Apple1

I did this a couple of days ago. I was having trouble uploading images onto my blog today, but it seems to be working fine now.

Takeout

This is takeout from my friends wedding on the weekend. I put it straight in the freezer when I got home so I could paint it. Mary, if you are reading this - it was a fantastic wedding and you looked like a princess to quote Evan.

Let Me Out of Here

Let me out of here seems an appropriate title. Right now I am listening to my 5 year old scream at me from his bedroom. He is on a time out for dumping his chocolate milk all over the table and floor because I apparently was supposed to add the chocolate syrup last rather than first. Who knew, it was fine yesterday when I made it that way. LOL

Work in Progress 2

Made a little more progress on this painting this morning - thanks to www.marvelkids.com (my son loves this website). I need to focus on the flowers and the glass a little more and then I think I will be done with this one. It will have to wait till Evan is in bed tonight so I can really lose myself in the painting. I like where it is heading even though it feels a little tight to me just yet.

Work in Progress

This is a work in progress. I got everything blocked in and then I am heading to a wedding this weekend, so will finish it Sunday evening.

Paper Umbrella

Cone Flowers on Green Fabric

I think I am finished with this piece. I need to photograph it again, it looks a little hazy (I did have the camera at the beach - so that could be sand). I am terrible with titles - any suggestions?

Work in Progress

This is the painting I am working on at the moment. In the left hand corner you can see the fabric that I am struggling with. I am still working out how to suggest the pattern without getting too involved in the details. I have had this  piece of fabric for a while - was just waiting until I had the courage to tackle it. The painting in the background is one I did of my husband a couple of years ago - have not managed to get him to sit still for another one.