"Vermillion Lakes Fall #2", oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

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"Vermillion Lakes Fall #2", 15 x 30" oil painting on gallery wrap canvas

$1295.00, click here to purchase!

As promised, here is the large studio version of my last post's plein air painting. You will have to click on the photo to see the painting better. It is amazing to me how you get no idea of the scale of a painting on the internet, it just lacks the presence that the real painting has!

I am off in the morning to take a workshop with the fabulous Dreama Tolle Perry on Whitbey Island. You just HAVE to Google her to see her amazing work! I have tried to take a workshop from Dreama for several years now, but as soon as she offers her workshops, they fill up right away. So when she announced them last May, I signed up on the spot, and luckily got in. I hope to learn how she uses her transparent under-paintings and then her sumptuous opaque brushwork on top. She seems to never use more than one stroke of any given colour mixture. I am fortunate enough to have THREE of her original paintings, and the dance of colour and exuberant brushwork just makes me smile! (You can see her influence in the painting above, just by studying her work online). The painting below is one of the ones I bought online from her. Amazing eh?? (You should really see it in person -WAY better!!!)

After Dreama's workshop, Dave and I are heading up to do a 10 day kayak trip in the Queen Charlotte Islands. We are going with 6 good friends on an unguided trip. This is the most rugged camping/trekking I have ever done, so would appreciate your prayers!! I can't wait to see Haida Gwaii, and commune with the ghost of Emily Carr. I am taking my pen and ink and watercolours, so hope to do a bunch of sketches -no room in a small kayak for plein air gear unfortunately. We are to kayak about 120km in total, weather permitting, so I should have great arms when I get back :)

Until June then, enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

"Vermillion Lakes Fall i", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

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 "Vermillion Lakes Fall i", 7 x 14" plein air oil painting on board
$200 unframed, click here to purchase

This is the last plein air painting from last fall. I really love this one, so much so that I decided to do a large studio version, which I will post tomorrow!

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

"Rushes-Vermillion Lakes", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

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"Rushes-Vermillion Lakes", 8x10" plein air oil painting

on auction at DPW beginning at $100, click here to bid

This is another from last fall done in beautiful Banff, Alberta. I was mesmerized by the vertical patterns of the bullrushes against all the horizontal patterns of the background and reflections in the water. I really like this piece, and hope to return to Banff to paint in this wonderful spot again this year.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

"Rundle From Vermillion Lakes", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

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"Rundle From Vermillion Lakes", 10 x 10" plein air oil painting

On DPW auction beginning at $150, click here to bid

This one was done in the fall, but never posted. I had a very enjoyable day painting at Vermillion Lakes just outside Banff with a friend. There are a few more done that day to follow.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

"Sunset Over Superior", oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

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"Sunset Over Superior", 6x8" oil painting on canvas board

on auction at DPW beginning at $100, click here to bid

In this little painting, which is a study for a larger work, I was aiming at getting pure transparent colour to vibrate against more opaque passages, in an effort to try to capture the vibrance of an spectacular evening sunset. I am pretty happy with the result, now I have to get to work on the larger painting!!!

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

"The Colours Of Winter", watercolour by Sharon Lynn Williams

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"The Colours Of Winter", watercolour 18x18" image

$250 double matted with archival mats, click here to purchase

I did this watercolour for a demo a couple of months ago, and realized I never posted it. I hadn't painted in watercolour for a long while, and all the time I was doing the demo, I kept asking myself "This is SO cool -look at the way the colours run and puddle -why did I stop doing this???"

Sometimes I just feel the need to work in another medium, and I remain adamant that the way I have grown as an artist has been to try everything -one medium always informs the others. For instance, to learn about design, take time to do abstracts; to learn about pattern, take time to do some collages, etc

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

"Flow", encaustic abstract painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

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 "Flow", 18 x 24" encaustic on cradled birch panel
$1525, click here to purchase

More playing around with the possibilities that encaustic painting allows. I began with the painting shown below, all done in coloured wax. I used a part of a previous abstract painting that I did as a sketch that I tried to follow with the encaustic. At this point there were up to 7 layers of colour on the panel. I wasn't happy with how it looked and thought I would melt it all and start again. As I was melting it, amazing things began to happen and the painting took on a life of its own. I went with the 'flow' (hence the title) and added more blue and white as it was beginning to look like a waterfall. Then I placed some geometric elements to contrast all the organic stuff happening, and added the letters. This medium is incredible, and not one to be tamed too much me thinks!

Happy Easter everyone!

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

"Autumn Blues" collage and acrylic painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Autumn Blues", 11x11" collage and acrylic painting on board
on auction at DPW beginning at $150, click here to bid. After the auction it will be available unframed for $275!

I have loved playing around with tons of stuff this winter!! This began as a demo for a class I was teaching, and then put 'in the pile' for another time. I thought it was a good idea to hit that stack to see what I could come up with, rather than beginning a new painting. You can see the process shots during the workshop here (its the one on the left). If you look at that older post, and compare it with what you see above, can you figure out the changes I made?? Kind of like an artistic 'Where's Waldo' :-P

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"Opabin Waterfall", encaustic painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Opabin Waterfall", 8 x 10"encaustic painting on board
available on auction at DPW beginning at $75, click here to bid

This time I was trying to see how close to my normal oil painting technique I could get using only encaustic paint. It is possible, but it felt like trying to force a wild medium to be something it was not meant to be. I would put on a colour and then just hope that it wouldn't melt away when it was fused. There are about 15 layers of paint in this painting, and I did find many very cool effects. I think that for me, I will continue to explore the more abstract ways of using the medium, allowing it to have its way sometimes; to engage in the beautiful dance of creativity.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"The Song of Spring", encaustic painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"The Song of Spring", 12 x 12" encaustic painting on cradled birch panel
$495, ready to hang

I did this painting at the same time I did yesterday's post. It is hard to photograph encaustics well in order to capture the luminosity of the paint layers. If you click on this to see the enlargement, you will see that there are floating layers of collage text beneath the white layer. You might even be able to see the scratched into surface!

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"Counting The Time", 12x12" encaustic painting on cradled panel
$495, ready to hang

This encaustic painting will be shown in the upcoming FCA exhibition at the Edgemont Community Centre on
Mach 9th from 10am to 4pm. Another experimental piece, this time using translucent and opaque layers, and encorporating powdered graphite, and stencil work.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"Autumn Bounty ii", encaustic painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Autumn Bounty ii", 6 x 8" encaustic painting on board
on auction at DPW beginning at $100- click here to bid

This is my second attempt at the multilayered and heated encaustic. This time the layers did not include white. That white really comes up through the paint, so you have to watch out for that. I let this one be more abstract than the last one, and I really like it. What do you think?

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"Autumn Bounty", encaustic painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Autumn Bounty", 6 x 6" encaustic painting on panel
on auction at DPW beginning at $75, click here to bid

This was my first try at layering multiple colour layers, and then heating them all up to see what happens. Well it was SO cool -the bottom layer was white, then yellow, then rust then blue. The colours all came up to the surface in interesting patterns, which reminded me of fall leaves. So I took it in that direction and added a few stems, refined some shapes and then went back in with 2 lighter tints of the blue to form the sky holes. I think it is very interesting to look at, and I love the idea of 'how little can I say, and still say the subject', leaving the interpretation to the viewer. All you really have to do is give one bit of suggestion (the leaf shapes in centre right) and the viewer turns all the other bits of colour into leaves. Very cool!

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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Garden Of Earthly Delights, encaustic mixed media painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

Garden Of Earthly Delights, 9x9" encaustic mixed media painting
on auction at DPW beginning at $50, click here to bid

This is another encaustic exploration piece, this time beginning with an image that I shot many years ago in Italy. I altered the image in photoshop, adhered it to the support and then laid wax over it in vertical stips. Then I went back into the image and added oil colour to the statue and leaves. I am amazed how the wax looks like rain coming down. What a cool medium encaustic is!


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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New Artistic Adventures!!!

"Land, Sea, Air", encaustic mixed media, 12 x 16"
$200 unframed, click here to purchase

I know I haven't posted in a while, but my have I been busy! A few weeks ago I attended an Encaustic Workshop with Ken Bourassa. We had 2 days to play with wax, and I got hooked. It is amazing what can be done with hot wax, and it is so hard to control -I just love it! This is my first ever encaustic painting, and there is a lot going on in it. I will continue to post my explorations in case you are interested.


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"Circus #2", acrylic and collage by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Circus #2", 16 x 20" acrylic and collage on canvas
$400 FRAMED

This is the second of the circus theme for the ASA show in Edmonton. It was really a fun theme to work with as the sky was the limit.


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"Circus #1", mixed media painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Circus #1", 20 x 20" acrylic and collage mounted on gallery wrap canvas
$400 plus shipping

I began several paintings at a Robert Burridge workshop last summer (the master circus painter), and decided to finish a few of them for a show being held at the Northern Jubilee auditorium through the Alberta Society of Artists. The Edmonton Opera Company is doing Les Contes D'Hoffman, which is an opera based on the circus.  The show will be up until March, so if you are interested in this piece, you will have to wait for it, or pick it up from the show.


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"Annie's Midnight Garden", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Annie's Midnight Garden", 9x12" plein air oil painting
SOLD

As I am futzing in my studio right now so I thought I would post some work that I did last year and never posted. The one above is my second nocturne ever, and I did it late at night this summer in my friend Annie's garden (guess you could have figured out that by the title eh?). It was quite fun -Annie had lit a circle of candles for me to paint by, and while it was lovely and romantic, it really wasn't enough light to see what colours I was mixing. Soon out came an electric lamp on an extension chord and I was off to the races.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)
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"Winter's Mirror #2" oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Winter's Mirror #2", 12 x 16" oil on canvas
$595 beautifully framed, click here to purchase

Happy New Year everyone! I haven't been painting much at all since my darling daughter moved back home at the beginning of October, but I did get this one done. It is the second painting that I did from this reference, as the first one sold right away, and I was really intrigued with the light and shadow patterns/colours and the unusual perspective. It is part of my new show that I am hanging tomorrow at Gallery 109 in High River. The theme is "Winter" -thought I better get this show up before everyone tires of the white stuff : ) The show will be up until March when I hope to hang a mixed media show -my favorite thing to paint during the long winter when it is too cold to paint outside. Hope you can pop by if you are in the neighborhood -or if you live in Calgary, come out for the beautiful drive!

By the way, here is the first painting. Interesting to see the differences! Much more focus on the subtle colour variations in the snow banks, and less on "hit you in the face" colour. What a difference in the energy/mood of the two paintngs. I painted them both from a photo reference I took, and its been a long time since I took a look at the original one. Glad I didn't let it influence the second version. Let me know which one you like better, and why!

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"Three Sisters", acrylic painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Three Sisters", 9x 12" acrylic painting
$495 beautifully framed, click here to purchase

I did this acrylic version of the famous Three Sisters in Canmore from a photo I took along the Bow River in late fall. It was interesting doing it in full body acrylic instead of my usual oil paint, and was quite happy with the results. The painting is currently in my show at Gallery 109 in High River.


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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Merry Christmas 2012!!

"Merry Christmas 2012!", 4 x 5.5" gouache

Having fun with gouache, and decided to use this 'new to me' medium to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas! Thank you all for your support, it means more to me than you will ever know.
Blessings, my friends : )

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"Bird's Nest", oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Bird's Nest", 8 x 8" oil painting on canvas
SOLD

I did a painting from life of a bird's nest at the beginning of the year, and it was really nice to revisit the theme at the end of the year -maybe that should become a ritual? It seems like lots of people connect with the imagery -maybe it is just the time of year when we take on our nesting mindset with the advent of winter; maybe there is more to it than that. Whatever it is, it seems like a great subject for further investigation.

I recently read a great post on the Oil Painters of America Blog written by Jane Barton that is really touching home for me these days!!  She was thinking how the 5 stages of grief apply to the work of an artist. She restated them as follows:
Denial: This is not bad…not the painting I had in my head when I started…but maybe this will work…
Anger: Why isn’t this working? Why can’t I find that color? Why can’t I draw a horse?
Bargaining: OK, if you (the Art God?) just let me get this one painting done in time for the show, I promise I’ll clean up my studio and give up popcorn…and maybe ice cream.
Depression: This is never going to work. What made me think I could paint?
Acceptance: Well, this is not bad. This is going to work for now and the next one will be even better. I hope. I just have to keep working at it and I will get as close as I can before I die.
Repeat 5 stages of Painting. Order may be shuffled as needed.
Good Luck! And don’t give up!

I give that a big AMEN.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)


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"Where's The Fire?", oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Where's The Fire?", 6x8" oil painting on 3/4" panel, framed in shadowbox frame
$250, click here to purchase

Sticking with the old car theme, this is done from a photo I took of a vintage fire truck while I was in Estes Park, CO. I loved how the reflection of the cool blue sky contrasted with the heat of the truck.


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"Model A -Going", oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Model A -Going",  14 x 14" oil  painting on gallery wrap canvas
$450 -Click here to purchase (currently on display at Gallery 109 in High River)

I was lucky enough to have a reader inform me after my last post, that the car I had painted was definitely NOT a Model T, but a Model A. She also invited me to come and not only photograph her husbands fine collection of antique cars, but to be included in a vintage car journey with the Foothills Model T Ford club!!!
Now I am beside myself with excitement and anticipation -you can expect to see more beautiful car paintings from me in the near future : )

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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'Model T -Coming" Oil Painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

'Model T -Coming", 14x14" Oil Painting on gallery wrap canvas
$450 -click here to purchase (currently at Gallery 109 in High River)

I followed this car home when I was in Estes Park this summer, and ran up to the owner as he was closing his garage door begging him to let me photograph his very cool Model T Ford -of course I had to explain to him that I was an artist and wanted to paint it, and that I really wasn't stalking him!!

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"Leighton Centre" plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Leighton Centre", 9x12" plein air oil painting
Currently at Gallery 109 in High River

This is another one that I didn't post from the year. I have always wanted to paint the beautiful Leighton home, but have been afraid to try it plein air -that architecture can be difficult, especially from life. But with the experience I gained in Tuscany painting all those buildings, I have a new confidence to tackle this subject.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"Beside The River", fluid acrylic painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Beside The River", 12x12" fluid acrylic painting on paper
SOLD

I recently taught a "Acrylics As Watercolour" workshop in Grande Prairie to an absolutely wonderful group of women from the Peace River Chapter of the Federation Of Canadian Artists. This is the demo I did for them -focusing on repainting one of our successful paintings using a colour scheme (to keep their minds off the fact that they were using an unfamiliar medium!!). Below is my original watercolour that I did at another workshop. The colour scheme for this painting was a triad of yellow-green, red-violet and red-orange. So much fun to mix things up!!

If you are interested in taking this workshop from me, I will be teaching one in Canmore March 23 & 24, and one in Edmonton on April 6 & 7. Let me know if you want more information!!
Enjoy!

To commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"Bend In The Elbow", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Bend In The Elbow", 8 x 10" plein air oil painting on board
on DPW auction beginning at $80, click here to bid

This is another of my 'last of fall' plein air oils. I have painted at this spot on several occasions, always in the fall. It is interesting to see how different all the paintings are. That just proves to me that I have different artistic concerns every time I go out to paint. I just need to tune into what impresses me about the scene on that day, and try to show that in paint.


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)


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"Forget-Me-Not Pond" plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Forget-Me-Not Pond", 9 x 12" plein air oil painting on board
Currently at Gallery 109 in High River
$495 framed, click here to purchase

This is one of my favorite paintings of the year, although the photo doesn't do it justice. I am now unable to shoot my photos outside because of the low angle of the sun, snow and cold. I tried this one in my studio, and even though I have perfect daylight lighting, the glare off the paint doesn't allow for the richness of colour to shine through. I think I will have to make myself one of those photo cubes everyone is raving about. Only question is what kind of spotlight gives the right temperature so that the colours will be true?? Any tips are greatly appreciated!

I came across this great quote today, that I think I will apply to myself as an artist:
“I began see that God didn't make the horse to win at the races, but for his pleasure – to watch it run.” Peter Furler 
This gives me great freedom to just paint to the glory of God, and leave the results to Him. Amen!


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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"Cascade From Canmore", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Cascade From Canmore", 8 x 10" plein air oil painting
on auction at DPW starting at $80, click here to bid

This is one from the summer that I never got a chance to post. I have always wanted to paint Cascade Mtn as it is one of my favorites. I love the feeling driving towards Banff that the road is going to smack into it, but it turns just before it hits. There was quite a summer haze over it this day, so I had to play around to find out how to show the distance but still keep the awesomeness of the mountain.


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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