Back painting again!

By The Pond, plein air watercolour, 12 x 16" It amazes me how quickly our landscape changed from spring greens to summer greens this year. I took some creative licence for the colour as all the greens were all about the same. Enjoy!

Back from Alaska!

ink and watercolour, 4x6"
This is a very quick sketch/demo that I did for our newly made cruise friends Maggie and Lynn on the last bit of daylight on the last night of the cruise home from Alaska-talk about procrastination. Our trip was lovely and I had a great time with my Mom. The highlights of our trip were a beautiful sunny day in Juneau for a whale watching tour and meeting great tablemates John, Maggie, Anne, and Lynn, whom we hung out with the whole cruise. I hope to create some paintings from the multitude of photos I took on the trip. Painting from the ship while we were travelling proved to be impossible as it just went too fast, and there was so much to see and do in port that I only did one oil while in Ketchican, which I will post tomorrow.
Enjoy!

Red Tulips -sketch

watercolour and ink, 4 x 6"

This is a second sketch done for my class yesterday. These are quick (maximum of about 20 minutes) sketches done with the ink outline preceeding the watercolour washes. Quite fun and very fast and friendly.

I am about to board the Celebrity Mercury cruise ship for a one week cruise to Alaska with my Mom. We are really looking forward to it. I have taken my paints (watercolours and oils) and as long as the airport doesn't confiscate them, I plan to paint on board. I will try to post my efforts if possible during the week, but am not sure that I will be able to. So if you don't see this post being updatted this week, I will post everything when I get back on the 23rd.

Bon Voyage!

Sunshine at Last! -sketch

watercolour and ink, 4x6"
This is one of the quick sketches that I did today at the Leighton Centre for my plein air class. It was so nice to see the sun again after all this rain, and it didn't start to spit until the class was over.
Enjoy!

Martagon Lillies

watercolour, 10 x 14" image
I did this lively painting from a photo that I took at Reader Rock Gardens last year. I just love the way the vibrant flowers nod in the breeze.
Enjoy!

Poppies Again

watercolour, 7 x 11" image
Can't get enough of the great colour that poppies provide. Too bad the illegal narcotic industry has given them such a bad name. I have almost got my studio back to functional again and will post photos soon.
Enjoy!

Storm Approaching

watercolour & pastel, 10 x 14" image
They say if life serves you lemons, make lemonaide. So here is what the weather looks like here. It has rained for almost 2 weeks, which is unheard of in Calgary. I began this watercolour on location at Lloyd Park last week, but couldn't finish it because it started to rain. I decided to take it today and try to finish it with some added chalk pastel. I love the texture and the richness of colour of the pastel, with the transparent watercolour washes peeking through.
Enjoy!

Summer Light

ink and watercolour sketch, 4 x 6"
This is another of the sketches I made at the workshop. The photo reference didn't have this indication of light, but I wanted it there!
My studio is dry now, all that remains is to move everything back in and unpack it all again...yuck. With all the rain we have been having, it would have been nice to be working in it.
Enjoy!

Ink and watercolour sketch 1

"Above Elbow Falls", 4x6", ink & watercolour sketch

This is one of the demo sketches I did today for my plein air - ink and watercolour quick sketch workshop at the Leighton Centre. As it happens, it continued to pour today so we had to work inside from photographs. Bummer -even the rain barrel outside the room had waves in it it was so windy! But the class seemed to love it anyways and everyone did great work. This is a great technique for quick watercolour sketches (30 min maximum) that everyone can do. One lady in the class had never picked up a brush before and she did a couple of amazing sketches.
I will post another one tomorrow.
Enjoy!

The good, the bad, and the ugly!

In thinking about doing this blog, I realized that not every painting I did would be great, so the decision to go ahead and use this blog as a visual diary means that I will post even the work that I am not so proud of, and let the chips fall where they will! This is my first oil painting done 'en plein air' this year. I haven't painted in oils since last fall, and needless to say I AM rusty! This was a view from the Moose Mountain road, done on a day when the clouds were plentiful and the landscape kept changing in amazing (and frustrating for a painter) ways. Looking forward to more plein air sessions, and an improvement in the results! For really good plein air paintings, see my website!
Enjoy

Iris Garden

watercolour 11 x 14" image

I am just loving this loose watercolour floral kick that I am on at the moment. It is really touching my heart and filling my spirit-I can feel the movement of the flowers in the breeze, just the way God made them.
Enjoy!

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No Painting -FLOOD!

I was just getting excited about my new studio and wham, it got flooded in a heavy rainstorm yesterday. This is the result of a clash of two of my passions: painting and growing orchids. The rain barrel that I was keeping so that I would have lovely rain water to water my orchids with, so overflowed in the rain that the excess went down into my studio! So now my lovely studio is a mess, carpet taken up and hanging to dry, stuff all over the place -impossible to move in, let alone paint in. What a bummer! But I know that God is in control and He knows something I don't, so I will just suck it up and watch to see what it is that I am supposed to be doing instead of painting!

Leighton Centre Art Show Demos

Returning Home, 11x14" watercolour

Poppy Garden; 11x14", watercolour

These are the two demonstration paintings I did at the Leighton Centre Clothesline show and sale today. I got there at 1pm and the weather began to turn cloudy and windy, but no rain thank goodness. These were each done in about 1 1/4 hrs, mostly because tons of people came up to me to talk about the painting process, which made focussing a bit difficult. But I was very encouraged because the loose style just made people want to go home and paint -there is nothing better than that for a teacher! The wind made it interesting as the paint was drying unpredicably -just adds to the fun and energy. I tried to capitalize on the bleed backs and balloons as much as possible. As I look at the work now, I think I did pretty good given the circumstances.

Enjoy!