Ontario
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Friday, August 13th, 2010
When I’m back in Dallas blogging regularly again, these photos will be posted on the photography website. An unplanned extra trip from Alberta to Ottawa; in Ontario a second time, means I won’t be back until the first week of Sept. Here are a few photos I took on the shores of Lake Superior just east of Wawa, ON.
Viper’s Bugloss
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Viper’s Bugloss, 18H x 24W inches soft pastels on paper.
It’s tempting to pick these for wildflower bouquets, but the plant is very irritating to the skin, so are best enjoyed left where they are, growing en masse in summer fields beside the highways in eastern Ontario, Canada.
I was curious about the name… according to the Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism edited by Michael Stuart (c. 1979, 1987 ISBN 0-9999-48911), they were formerly one of the most respected plants used for the treatment of viper’s snake bite venom.
The Visitor: Raccoon
Thursday, March 5th, 2009
The Visitor: Raccoon, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, sides painted. Frame unnecessary. Hang on a wall or display on a flat surface.
Progress and process details:
Jone’s Falls
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
Jone’s Falls, near Thousand Islands, Southern Ontario, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted. Frame unnecessary. Hang on a wall or display on a flat surface.
Sold.
Some barely noticeable lines were scratched on wet paint here and there, and they break up the space into sections now, if you compare the 3rd thumbnail and the finished piece.
Dancing With Trees 03
Thursday, February 19th, 2009
Dancing With Trees 03, 85H x 45W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted, trim frame. Signature piece for the Dancing With Trees exhibition, formerly entitled ‘The Majesty of Trees’. There is no black in this painting; the darkest areas are dioxazine purple. Aside from a couple of areas that are still questionable this painting is now finished. Specifically: I’m not sure about adding shadows and contrast on the bark of the main trees because it may take away from the cheerful expression of colors.
Progress in previous posts: January 19th and 30th
The name of the exhibition changed to ‘Dancing With Trees’ to avoid plagiarizing the title of a book, ‘The Majesty of Trees’.
End of Tulip Season
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
Finished today: added some life to End of Tulip Season, 14H x 11W oil pastels on paper.
Images of progress
Except for the fact that paper has a limit to how much it can be reworked before it starts stretching, I could keep revising these drawings in the Paper Places series continually! Some of them are finished in a day, and truly finished. Some drawings seem OK when they are finished, but have areas that are not quite there yet, so they are left for a month or a year or two then taken out and reworked. It’s great exercise playing with color and composition. Some are taken too far, but with regard to learning, effort is never wasted. Change characterizes this series too; change of place, change of time, change of styles, changing what’s already been changed.
Method reflected by purpose
Friday, January 30th, 2009
Left: Hemlocks, Queen Charlotte Island, 1980 – 48 x 48 x 2 inches 
acrylics on canvas, painted plein air. Right: Birch, 1993 – 6 x 4 watercolors. I have been trying to return to the same carefree approach I painted with during the earlier years. While some of my first paintings were a little on the sloppy side, the look and feeling of life in the work comes through the first reactive sloppy-looking brushstrokes. Too much refining tones down that energy. It has taken about six years to rid myself of a lot of habits that developed by painting murals, like tidying up too much and mixing colors on the palette as opposed to just throwing the color onto the canvas. Not that mural painting is valued as less than canvas paintings, but they require entirely different methods, and because their intended purpose is slightly different, so is the approach to painting them. Switching back to canvas now, even if the surface is large it’s taken six years to re-adapt to the process of painting on canvas. All that I think I know can get in the way sometimes. In Dancing With Trees 03 I’m rediscovering some of the joy that pushed everything forward in the first place. Virginia, you say that this sings and dances…well, that’s exactly how I feel while painting this one.
Dancing With Trees 03 work in progress, 85H x 45W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, sides painted
Shadows of Summer update
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
Shadows of Summer, 60H x 40W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas.
Eastern White Pine
Friday, February 1st, 2008
Eastern White Pine 18 x 24 inches oil pastels on paper, professionally framed, total size 21 x 27 inches. Sold.
Finished today, and the first drawing in a long time that I didn’t stop to document along the way…that breaks the momentum of work sometimes. This one kind of flew out for a change! It can be viewed in Arlington, Texas at AVAA’s 32nd Annual Regional Juried Art Exhibit, February 15 – March 28, 2008.
Cedar, Stony Swamp
Monday, January 14th, 2008
Cedar, Stony Swamp, Ottawa, ON, Canada, 12H x 9W inch watercolor and graphite on 40lb cold-pressed premium watercolor paper. Framed size 26H x 22W inches.
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