Tuesday

"Red Peony Bouquet", oil painting from still life by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Red Peony Bouquet", oil painting from still life, 16 x 20"

Here is a bouquet for you to brighten your day (I hope!). I did this one from life with my painting buddies Ingrid and Alice. Ingrid had a huge bucket of silk flowers, and it was up to me to make an arrangement. I set it up based on the large red peony, but all of us were cursing the 'blasted red peony' by the end of our painting time.

My kids are all home for the holidays so I haven't had any time to paint. Which is just fine with me, as I have really painted my brains out since the spring. The rest is good, and I hope it leaves me refreshed and stimulated to dive in again after New Years. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and wish you a wonderful New Years Eve.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Thursday

"Low Winter Light", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Low Winter Light", plein air oil painting, 8 x 6"
$100 unframed, FREE S&H

This is my last plein air painting, and I did it very quickly at the end of the day as the light was dipping low in the sky. The weather has been lovely this week, but instead of going out painting today, I went out with my hubby and 2 of our kids to chop down a Christmas tree. Although it is a bit sparse in places, it really makes the house smell like Christmas.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Monday

"Fire and Ice", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Fire and Ice", plein air oil painting, 8 x 10"
$495.00 framed, FREE S&H

Another view of the open water at Fish Creek Park, also done on black panel. I can't wait for a chinook to go out painting again. I just love painting plein air in the winter, because you can see all the colour -winter photos never do the scene justice.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Friday

"Fish Creek Winter Colour", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Fish Creek Winter Colour", plein air oil painting, 9 x 12"
$595.00 framed, FREE S&H

Another plein air day, this time at Fish Creek Park by Bannister Road. I painted this from the walking bridge, which was one of the only places to set up that was in the sun -as it was a cool -6C, that was important. Interested walkers and joggers stopped to ask questions and to admire the progress. You could tell one or two might have painted themselves, and were impressed that I would paint out in the cold. The paint is a lot stiffer in the cold, so a palette knife really helped. This is my second painting on black gesso, and I think I really like it -forces you to get the values in correctly and quickly.

On a positive note, I just found out that I got two paintings selected for the Richeson 75 Small Works book that will be coming out this spring. They said I missed being selected for the show by a hair. Oh well, next time. I will post the link when it goes up on the Richeson site.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Thursday

"Twisted" -acrylic demonstration PART 3

Step 10: White paint was added to the snow once again, leaving some of the more neutral white to show in places.

Step 11: Light blue/violet was used where the snow on the boughs would be in the shade. My imaginary light source is coming from the upper left.

Step 12: More sky washes to increase depth and interest.

The final painting. Smaller branches were added, the light shadow patterns refined, more foliage added, the sun more pronounced and sky holes refined. I hope that you have enjoyed this demonstration as much as I did painting it!

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

"Twisted" -acrylic demonstration PART 2

Step 5: an opaque muted blue/violet was placed over the foliage where the shadow of the snow on the branches would be, and on the ground.

Step 6: A warm opaque white was put on the top of the snow caught on the branches, remembering that some of the branches would be facing you, and that the snow would be caught on the lower, larger branches. Tree tips are springy which allows the wind to knock the snow off the tops of the trees in short order.

Step 7: The entire painting was glazed with a neutralized quinacridone burnt orange in order to bring the whole into colour harmony.

Step 8: The background is begun with opaque washes. This step allows you to go back to refine the shape of your tree. Don't forget the interior 'sky holes' -there have got to be places for the birds to fly through!

Step 9: Some blue green and blue violet washes are added on a reverse diagonal to the twist of the tree.
Stay tuned for one more post for the finishing stages.

"Twisted", acrylic demonstration by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Twisted", 11 x 15", textured acrylic on watercolour paper

I did this demonstration for my last mixed media class of the year. It features working on a textured ground, and building up of translucent layers of acrylics. See below and the next 2 posts for the process.
Step 1: I textured the paper with light moulding paste in the centre where the tree will be, trying to be random with the paste, and applying it with a palette knife. The outer edges have gesso and gel medium on them, which were then imprinted with the lid of the gel jar. Care was taken to make sure that the negative space between the tree and the edging was interesting. Remember: Shapes first!! After the texturing had dried and cured for a week, a quinacridone magenta wash was brushed over the surface and allowed to dry.

Step 2: A quinacridone gold transparent wash was then brushed over the surface in areas, and was wiped back in others. Here you can see how the different mediums take the paint differently. The gel is non-absorbent, the gesso semi-absorbent and the moulding paste very absorbent. This gives an interesting quality to the paint surface.


Step 3: Brushloads of green paint were applied with the brush flat to the surface so the paint would be deposited on the high places in a random way.

Step 4: Green folliage applied, along with some browns for the trunk.
See next post for more steps!

Monday

"Mountain Bound", watercolour painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Mountain Bound", watercolour painting, 15 x 22"
$775.00 framed, FREE S&H

This is a demonstration that I did for the Strathmore Art Club. The photo I had was taken in the summer, and I made a neat value drawing from it, emphasizing the S in the road and the mountain shapes. I thought I would try it as if it was a winter scene for the demo to try to give "permission" to the group to play with their subject matter, especially with photographs.


Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Sunday

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

"Leighton Winter" plein air oil painting, 8 x 10"
$495.00 framed, free S&H

This is from my second day out this winter. I did it from my car, after I completed my meeting at the Leighton Art Centre about my solo show there in March (stay tuned for more exciting details to come!!). I thought it would be interesting to tackle this subject again -below is one I did this spring from the same spot.

"Summer Blues", plein air oil painting, 9x12"

This is the first time I have seen both paintings together and I think it is rather cool! I will have to return to several favorite warm weather spots to see if I can find a place to paint them this winter.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Saturday

More Scotland paintings!

"Water Lily", watercolour, 10.25 x 10.25"
This is my favorite of my Scotland paintings -probably because it is a subject I feel comfortable painting! It is done in liftable, granulating colours, which really give it a nice feeling.

"Anstruther Harbour -Scotland", watercolour, 15 x 22"
It was a task to simplify this very complicated scene. I think it turned out ok in the end, but I did have to go back into it to spruce it up once I got home. Plus a seagull crapped on my sky and it just would not lift off, so I had to paint over the watercolour sky in casein. The joys of plein air!!

"Crail Cliff", watercolour, 7 x 11"
This cliffside was covered with heather, and I tried to capture the riot of colour without getting hung up in the detail.

"Johnie Do's Pulpit", watercolour, 10 x 14"
This is a neat rock formation sticking out just off shore. It is full of interesting local history, as you can tell by the name. It was interesting painting the surf as that is something that I have very little experience with. Do you know that waves never look the same way twice?

I have a couple more paintings that need to be finished, and perhaps I will post those later. I find it is kind of hard to get enthused about them at this point. I guess I should have a look through my Scotland photos so I can relive the moments.

Thank you to all of you who took the time to write to say you really liked the paintings in my last post, and to others who wrote to say that they are glad that I posted some that I wasn't crazy about. I am trying to keep it 'real' here on my blog, and it is very real for artists to produce paintings that aren't great all the time! Your kind comments really lifted my spirits :)

Enjoy!

To purchase these, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Friday

Scotland paintings and the mentor experience

Anstruther Beach, 6.5 x 10" watercolour

Anstruther Schooner, 6.5 x 10" watercolour

View From Anstruther, 6.5 x 22", watercolour

Kellie Castle, 22 x 15", watercolour

I have finally decided to post the paintings I did in Scotland. I haven't worked at all on these since I have been home, and I find them quite unsatifying to look at, although I do like the first one. As I have been processing my experience at Stephen Quiller's workshop in Scotland, I have realized several things. Firstly, although I am a plein air painter, my usual medium for this is oils, and my approach is direct. Stephen's medium is watermedia, and he employs many layerings of lifting and applying colour to build up the painting. In addition to these fundamental differences, I was working on unfamiliar paper (300lb rather than the 140 I am used to -the 300lb seems to suck up the colour resulting in lifefless colour in my hands), in an unfamiliar climate (much more humid which makes a huge difference in drying times), with unfamiliar subject matter (not used to boats and buildings, never painted Scotland before -different light), vertically (I paint flat in watercolour), on top of the different style of painting. Now I can use these as excuses, or I can focus on what WAS great about the workshop. Stephen taught me so much about simplification of a complex scene, focus to keep the main things main, and technical paint application methods. All of these I can take into my work here back home. Although the paintings aren't anything I am very proud of, it was an experience I will never forget!

I just read Robert Genn's latest clickback describing the phenomenon of post-workshop letdown -a good read! This got me thinking about my own experience, and I have to say, you must give a workshop time to percolate, meditate on the whole thing, and come to terms with the good and the not so good of it. I think the same is true of any classes that you take. As the teacher, and also being a student, I think I realize the joys and limitations of studying with a mentor. My attitude is "Take what you think is good and leave the rest. Be true to yourself and your vision and don't give it up for anything -rather hone it to perfection. Mine your instructor for everything you can get, and then make it personally yours".

Enjoy!

To purchase any of these, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Tuesday

"Winter Pathway", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Winter Pathway", plein air oil painting, 8 x 6"
$350 framed, FREE S&H

This is the last painting from my plein air day last week. It is the pathway leading down to the river at Voiter's Flats, and just moments after I finished it, a couple of cross country skiiers slid on by and I missed the opportunity to catch their red coats flashing by. Next time...

By the way, there are 1o spots left for international women artists to participate in a show in Ontario honoring International Women's Day. Each artist will produce a 24 x 24" painting that will be hung in a gallery and a book will be made of all the art produced. Some of the proceeds go to Haitian relief. They need to know in the next 36 hours, so if you are interested, please see their blog for more information.


Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Monday

"Fish Creek Rock Band", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Fish Creek Rock Band", plein air oil painting, 8 x 10"
$495 framed, FREE S&H

This is my second painting from Friday at Voiter's Flats. Just noticed that the title sounds like a singing group -the colour and texture sure were singing that day!! Can't wait for the next sunny, warm day when I am not working.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Sunday

"Frozen Creek", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Frozen Creek", plein air oil painting, 8 x 10"
$495 framed, FREE S&H

I have made a decision to try to get outside to paint as often as possible this winter, and on Friday it was a balmy +1C and the sun was shining -what more could I ask for? I went down to Fish Creek Provincial Park at Voiter's Flats and did three paintings, with my painting buddy Jan keeping me company (he did 4 paintings, but forgot his box of acrylic paints, so he had to use my oils. I keep trying to get him to convert to oils and I think this day might have helped :) Everything is so different in the winter, from the colour of the light to the wonderful bounced light in the snow shadows -so much to learn to see.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Thursday

"Wooded Places", mixed media painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Wooded Places", mixed media painting, 12 x 12"
SOLD

I haven't done a collage painting for such a long time, and it was SO fun to do. I paint and decorate all my own collage papers, and the paintings begin with a random smattering of them. Then I look and look to the painting to tell me the direction to take. This one began easily as the two main trees were suggested in the paper, and off I went painting, covering up, repainting, simplifying and then making busy again until the whole thing began to form a cohesive unit. It would be neat to have several of the exact same starts to see the different paintings they would become.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Wednesday

"Rundle Ridge Spring iv, acrylic painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Rundle Ridge Spring iv, acrylic painting on 300lb watercolour paper, 11 x 15"
$425 framed, FREE S&H

Here is another go in the painting series posted last week, based on my plein air oil painting. This time I have kept the colour scheme of "Rundle Ridge Spring ii", but this time I have used the acrylics transparently, translucently and opaquely. It is really neat to see this beside the totally transparent painting -the mountains look more weighty and the sky is very atmospheric. I began the painting with a yellow/yellow-orange underwash over all the paper. When that was dry I layered translucent blue washes over the sky, lifted some clouds and then floated in some white. The yellow underpainting is visible beneath the varying opacities of the sky giving a very cool look to the sky. The mountains were painted opaquely at the tops, moving to a more translucent at the bottoms. The trees were done transparently and the water had the same translucent washes as the sky. This is a very neat way of working -I am hooked :)

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Thursday

"Early Winter Colour", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Early Winter Colour", plein air oil painting, 9 x 9"
$495 framed, free s&h

This is my very last plein air oil painting before the snow began to fall here in Calgary, and is another time when the abstract patterns of the landscape was my focus. We had an amazingly long fall with warm weather stretching well into November, although the leaves fell by the middle of October. Now we are under about 8" of snow, and anyone who is able to do so is staying home and off the roads which have become skating rinks. Can't wait to get out painting again when the sun begins to shine off of all this white.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Friday

"Rundle Ridge Spring #3", acrylic painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Rundle Ridge Spring #3", acrylic painting, 8 x 11"
$110 matted, FREE S&H

This is another go at the painting posted on Tuesday. This time I decided to change up the colour to one of my favorite tertiary palettes -yellow-green, red-orange and blue-violet. The acrylics were used totally transparently in a watercolour manner, only a few tree trunks were added opaquely. Totally different feeling in this one - I love seeing what I can do with an image to get more out of it!!

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Thursday

"All The Leaves Are Gone", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"All The Leaves Are Gone", plein air oil painting, 8 x 10"
$495 frames, FREE S&H

This is one of my latest plein air paintings, done at nearby Fish Creek Provincial Park. The huge park provides many different views of the creek and neighboring landscapes. I kept singing the Mama's and Papa's song "California Dreamin" while painting, and although that is about a winter landscape, it seemed appropriate for this last warm late fall day.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Tuesday

"Rundle Ridge Spring ii", acrylic painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Rundle Ridge Spring ii", acrylic painting, 8 x 11"
$110 matted in double archival mats, FREE S&H

In my mixed media class we are learning how to use fluid acrylics in some of their many possible ways. This week, we looked at using them in a watercolour fashion: transparently. The benefit of using the fluids really pays off this way -the paint dries just as nicely as it looks while it is wet (no dulling as with watercolours) and you can use all of your watercolour techniques with the exception of lifting dry paint. Lifting while wet as well as puddling colour together works exactly the same way, but the end result is gloriously brilliant colour. This painting was done from a plein air oil painting I did this spring -see below. I tried to keep the colour the same, but for the acrylic I only used 3 colours for the entire painting: darilyde yellow, ultramarine blue and quin. crimson.


"Rundle Ridge Spring", plein air oil painting, 8 x 10"
$495 framed, FREE S&H

This is the photo of the location that I did the plein air painting from. It is wonderful to interpret a scene en plein air, and then use that study for future paintings. I think I will continue on with this painting, to see what else I can get from it!

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Sunday

"Reinterpreting The Old Man", acrylic painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Reinterpreting The Old Man", acrylic painting, 12 x 16"
$695 framed, FREE S&H

This week I did a demo for a local art group focusing on the use of fluid acrylics -my favorite kind! I used my value study for "The Old Man River" -the same one that I painted in my Watercolour Workshop DVD. I used a tertiary triad of red-orange, yellow-green and red-violet, and decided to keep to a warm dominance. It certainly is HOT, but it makes me smile :) I primarily used the paint transparently, like watercolour, but added some opaque and translucent notes at the end.

Just for reference, below is the painting from the DVD, done in watercolour. I changed the sky in the new painting, because it just wanted to be like that!! Like I always say, plan the best you can, but then be prepared for the painting to take you in new directions.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, a DVD, or to commission your own painting, please email me.

Thursday

"Bouquet iii", acrylic painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Bouquet iii", acrylic painting, 12 x 16"

This is a step-by-step demo I did with my mixed media class and my advanced watermedia class. It is a 'Sharon' take on a Bob Burridge class exercise. It was a good way to demonstrate the flexibility of acrylics. The painting was begun by splattering dots of yellow, pink and blue on watercolour paper. After this dried, we drew the vase and table shape and then glazed the table with an orange made from the yellow and pink. The vase had a translucent veil of light blue floated on and then the stems in the water were painted wet on wet. Next an opaque of blue and white was made (no water in the paint) and the flower shapes were painted negatively. Lastly the flowers and leaves were suggested in a random way with transparents and opaques. This great exercise showed the three ways acrylics can be used; transparently as glazes and washes, translucently in thin watery opaque washes and opaquely with thicker paint, as well as stressing negative painting.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Sunday

"Sun Streaked", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Sun Streaked", plein air oil painting, 8 x 6"
$495 framed, FREE S&H
$175 unframed -limited time offer until Nov 11th!!!

This is another painting from our camping trip to Chain Lakes Provincial Park. I was intrigued by the warm light and cool shadows in this one -it is actually a close up part of the larger "Chain Lakes View" scene.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Thursday

"Sunset ii", watercolour painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Sunset ii", watercolour painting, 7.5 x 11"
SOLD

This is the second sunset demo from my class on Wednesday morning. This time, I painted the clouds on dry, white paper, puddling in the colour, and then put the lower sky with the pale yellow in afterwards. When that was dry, I put in another layer in the lower sky of duller orange, leaving the bright yellow to shine underneath the clouds. The colours of the clouds are a bit brighter on this painting, because they were put on white paper instead of the yellow-orange of the previous post, but it was a bit more difficult to place in the sky colours around the cloud shapes. I think it is kind of interesting that both painting methods worked equally as well.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Wednesday

"Sunset i", watercolour painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Sunset i", watercolour painting, 7.5 x 11"
SOLD

I did two sunset demonstrations for my experienced beginner watercolour class this morning. This is the first one. It began by painting a graded wash over the entire sky area, lemon yellow at the horizon and grading through gamboge, to an orange made with gamboge and quinacridone rose and/or scarlet lake, and ending with pale thalo blue. Then the clouds were painted on top of the dry sky. Edges were softened and colour puddled to add interest to the clouds, and then the orange sky colour was painted at the horizon up to the bright yellow 'halo' beneath the lower cloud bank. Edges of the topmost cloud were lifted and yellow-orange to pink painted in the lifted area. The water was painted with a combination of phalo and ultramarine blues, then a damp brush with orange paint on it was placed in thin horizontal bands while the blue was still wet -this pushed the blue away and deposited the orange cleanly with no back runs. It is all in the control of the water on the brush compared to the amount of water on the paper, and takes lots of practice to get it right. (Too much water on the brush would lay too much paint down and it would swamp the blue -too little water on the brush (mixed with paint of course) and the blue would lift up into the brush load, mix with the orange and make a muddy neutral.) Lastly, the suns reflection was lifted in the lower water and orange painted in it. Of course there was lots of playing around with the cloud shapes to get them just right! Below is the photo reference -taken on Lake Superior one summer on our way to the cottage.



I will post the second demonstration, done in a different method tomorrow, so stay tuned. If you would like some great instruction in watercolours, please consider my "Watercolour Workshop" DVD -see the sidebar on the blog for more information and a preview.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Monday

"My Favorite Time Of Year", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"My Favorite Time Of Year", plein air oil painting, 12 x 16"
$695 framed, FREE S&H

This is also my favorite painting of this fall. It is really too bad that I didn't get more opportunities to paint out while the leaves were still in full colour. I also didn't get very far on my quest to paint large outside, although this IS large for a plein air, but I wanted to do some 16x20" ones. Next year.

Yippee!!! I had my best Calyx show EVER yesterday. Thank you to all my great friends for coming by to support me. Hopefully our Calyx show in Edmonton on Nov 6th will be a great one also.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Saturday

"Chain Lakes View", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Chain Lakes View", plein air oil painting, 8 x 10"
$495 framed, FREE S&H

This is another of the paintings I did while we were camping in Chain Lakes Provincial Park. Unfortunately, that was the only time I was able to go painting in our new van this year. It is now in storage for the winter, but I look forward to getting it back in the spring for new adventures.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

Friday

"Fall Twilight:, plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Fall Twilight:, plein air oil painting, 11 x 14"
$625 framed, FREE S&H

Another fall painting, done at the end of a beautiful painting day as the sun was going down. This scene is one that I will keep in my heart for the long, cold months ahead.

I am busily getting things ready for my big Calyx show on Sunday (see sidebar for details). It has been a very busy fall, compressed by my trip to Scotland. My last show will be on Nov 12 to 26th in Edmonton. Then I will be able to rest -like for a couple of days before Christmas preparations begin...

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.