Winter Wonderland (in case you weren't convinced)

Although it was -38 degrees Celsius with the wind chill, Kya was not hindered. In fact, she loves winter!


(chewing and playing with her leash is her way of saying "hey. look at me - aren't I so much fun?")

Winter Wonderland

It has been a real winter this year. We've had snow since November and it doesn't show signs of leaving any time soon.

















I think Winter gets a bad rap.

Sure, it's cold, but it's also so pretty. If you actually stop to look at it - really look at it - it's gorgeous. The subtle colouring and sharp lights and darks. Everything is pared down to the essentials, like a Japanese print.



















Kawase Hasui,
Snow at Kamibashi Bridge, Nikko,
1930

















Kawase Hasui,
Hall of the golden hue, Hiraizumi,
1957

So, the next time you find yourself groaning about the snow and cold be sure to dress up nice and warm and go out and enjoy it instead.
























Kawase Hasui,
Ikegami Honmonji Temple,
1931

Springtime studio progress

I recently went on a gallery walk, and as it would happen the sum of all the galleries visited had an interesting affect on me. There were various landscape paintings; from the simple and elegant landscapes of Bob Sinclair at the Scott Gallery, to the sweet and chunky landscapes of Catherine McAvity at the Agnes Bugera Gallery, and finally the vibrant and bold water series of David Alexander at the Peter Robertson Gallery.

I took some ideas from what I had seen back with me to the studio. I wanted to try putting down free and brightly coloured shapes borrowed loosely from landscapes in watercolour and see where it went from there. I stretched what I thought was watercolour paper on to board. Once I got the paper wet I realized quickly that it was not watercolour paper at all. It started to pill, so I carefully finished stretching, trying not to use any more water and little handling of the paper. Once it dried it didn't seem so bad so I thought I'd at least use it as a test. I applied broad areas of watercolour, but once again as soon as the water touched the paper the surface started to fall apart. Frustrated I went home. On my return trip to the studio a few days later I discover the dried paper didn't seem as horrible as it had when I left it. Rather than attempt more watercolour I decided to work over top in pastel. Here's a little sampling of what happened-



I was pleased that it was successfully salvaged, especially considering I had thought of the piece only as a test that would most likely be thrown out. I wasn't especially happy with the path. It seemed problematic wedged in the corner and slightly cheesy. I had thought of reworking it but decided I didn't want to get too fussy, so instead I cropped the original image into two separate images.

One here -



And the second here (on the board on the easel)-



I'm still a little unsure of this second one, which is why the cropping paper is at the bottom. I'm still trying to decide....

Encouraged by this start and armed with actual watercolour paper I made my second attempt. I stretched the paper and did a loose and bright watercolour wash. Here's what it looked like -



I came back a day later and worked over top in pastel. I'm quite pleased with the results -



A detail -



Somehow with all this bright loosey goosey drawing has the studio feeling full of spring fever.



PS - click on the above pictures to see them nice and BIG.

Holiday Cheer

My Christmas elves and I wish you all holiday cheer!

Quick Studio Update

I've had a visiting studio friend a couple of times this month. It's quite nice to have someone to work with from time to time, and I think I didn't realize how much I miss having my old work mates around.

Some quick snaps -- Grace working away, isn't she cute?

I liked her set-up so much I needed to do a quick sketch. I could see it as a large painting with all those colourful stacked table tops.



Putting Dave Cantine's advice into practice and using the paint chips to tweak a painting.

Studio progress (studio visiting)

Today was a nice day at the studio. It was spent mostly visiting, drinking coffee, and picking paint colours. I love the current (and I'm sure original from 1953) baby yellow and pink, but it's quite dirty and as one of my studio-mates pointed out --- the pink kind of reminds her of boiled hot dogs. Enough said. So we spent today trying to pick vintage inspired colours that would suit the style of the studio. We were especially inspired by the old metal office table we have in the main space - grey and green. Sturdy and utilitarian but still soft and pleasant. Added bonus- other colours look great with it. So I think we are going to try a dirty greenish grey for the wainscot, with shiny bright white for the trim, and slight off white for the walls. Now when are we going to find the time to do all that painting?



We also went on a quick tour of the architectural clearinghouse. I was looking for an old enamel kitchen sink to replace one of the existing bathroom sinks. Something a bit better for washing brushes and studio goo. We saw a few possibilities, but nothing I needed to take today. We did see these beautiful toilet tops and old radiators. I also got a fantastic black and white metal cart --- with casters! -- for $10! Woo hoo.



There was even a few hours of painting, which didn't feel like it amounted to much but I think actually did. I keep reminding myself to be patient, but starting painting after a break feels like learning all over again. I am impatient for results.

Happy Halloween

Tonight was the annual Superfriends Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza. We were a smaller crew than in years past, but apparently no less messy.



My favorite is this view from inside the pumpkin......scary.



Happy Halloween.