Steveston Britannia Cannery

Boat Study

8 x 10

oil

Since I'm enjoying rather rainy damp weather here on the coast I thought I'd do a small study of a retired boat and cannery turned into a historical park.   A possible candidate for a larger piece.  I enjoyed doing this quick little painting but discovered that the canvas sketch pad that I was using is student grade and the oil and medium has soaked through.  Another lesson on why it pays to use the best quality materials possible without exceptions.

Earthquakes and rogue waves

orchard study

8 x 10

oil on canvas board

The last time we were in Hawaii was in 2006 and just as I was was about to step through the magnetometer at the Honolulu Airport the alarms starting going off throwing me into a panic!  I've always been nervous about the whole security procedure and when everyone assured me that it wasn't me and in fact there had been an earthquake my next thought was the realization that my husband had already cleared security and I didn't want us to be separated so I jumped thru and thankfully we were into the waiting area with a Starbucks coffee in our hands before the entire island of Oahu lost power and everything ground to a halt.  This all happened in mere minutes and we were very lucky to catch the only flight out that day to the Big Island which was the epicenter and had received most of the damage.  One of the largest quakes in years for the Hawaiian Islands.  So we arrive on the island of Maui a couple of weeks ago and what happens - the biggest quake since 2006, not one but 3 - well we didn't feel the 2nd and 3rd one but one of our neighbors also reported on a rogue wave that had come in the middle of the night.  Our travels are never dull!   Anyway while on holidays I only sketched a little with watercolors so I have posted above an oil study done just before I left.  The fall colors were so vivid as to be almost overwhelming.  Now it is very grey here and the colors are much more muted.

My Neighbors Garden

Chesapeake Garden

12 x 16

oil on canvas board

Fortunately my neighbors are great gardeners!  This garden is near our coast home and is a delight to walk by.  I sadly don't have much of a green thumb and restrict my gardening efforts to our desert home where I don't have to worry so much about watering.  Cactus and sage survive my efforts.  As usual I tried to put way too much detail in and spent over half the time on this painting taking out unnecessary information that was very distracting.  Still a lot going on here but I'm happy to leave it for now.

An Unusual Plein Air Painting Location

Fraser River Log Booms

8 x 10

oil on canvas board

Where else would one go to enjoy peace and quiet, natural beauty and timeless moments but the local sewage treatment plant!  A park has been created around it and it has become a popular destination for picnickers, walkers and cyclists and though it is only 20 minutes or so from downtown Vancouver it is possible to find a spot on a sand dune with no one in sight, only birds, boats on the river and the occasional plane taking off from the nearby airport.  The only downside is a whiff of nasty odor every now and then but I managed to find a nice place upwind with a good view of the river.  The next time I paint this scene it will be of the tug that went by as I was painting in the log booms.

Dangling off a bridge

Harbour study

8 x 10

oil on canvas board

I drove back and forth over the bridge and finally parked the car, jumped over the railing and sat on a chunk of concrete hanging out over the little inlet.  My goal was to pay attention to the values and simplify as it was quite a busy scene in front of me.  It was so restful though to sit there with my pochade box on my lap listening to the birds and the occasional dog walker passing by.  I've often seen fishermen standing on this bridge, what a wonderful place to spend some time.  No fishing this time I guess because I had it all to myself!

Simplifying

Fall Colors

8 x 10

oil on canvas board

I've been posting little but painting lots, not for the purpose of producing a finished painting but instead to play and experiment with some of the concepts that I have been learning from Stapleton Kearns blog. He is so very generous with his knowledge and there is much to learn. At the same time I want to take a far looser and more colorful approach to painting but the basic rules of landscape painting can still be applied. The little painting above is based on a scene I photographed as I was pulling out of a park after a plein air session. The sun had momentarily come out from behind the clouds and I quickly parked the car again and got some great photos. Now I see what painters mean when they say one has to catch the scene quickly or the light changes. The hard part was to try not to put too much detail in and I finally had to put down the small brushes and stick to the big ones.

Underpaintings

View to Skaha Lake

12 x 12

oil on wrapped canvas

SOLD

I've been doing an enormous amount of reading various artists' blogs and have picked up so many tips and ideas and sometimes wish I could go back and find out where some of these came from. I should really document as I go. This painting above was from a photo taken during a plein air outing and the method I used was to do a fairly detailed underpainting in one hue that being iron oxide. I found this helped me get a better range of values and an idea of whether the design was going to work. It also helped to cover all the white right away as I hate those little specks showing through. Then it was just pure fun adding in the colors!

Between Races

Ladner Marina Pochade

8 x 10

oil on canvas board

This little piece was a plein air painted a few blocks from my home on the coast.  A few buildings were taken out as with landscape pieces I find that I have problems with design if I don't change things around a little.  And although I was trying to be on the realistic side regarding hue I'm now thinking I should have used my artistic license and changed the color scheme.  I'm loving how much I'm learning by getting outside to paint.  In the meantime I've now finished my last big event - riding my bicycle from Vancouver to Whistler and have also found out that I've sold some more paintings so now I'm going to have to put the bike away and get back to some serious painting!

Ironman Week

Village Gateway

12 x 16

oil on canvas board

This lovely little village main street was one of many that we road our bikes through last summer in the Pyrenees. I often wondered where the cars and people were till someone told me that many villagers have moved to the big cities. It's so sad to see such beautiful places abandoned but I guess we have that problem here too. Well the summer is almost over, we've felt the shift in temperature with the evenings cooling off. I've had a great time with lots of family and friends to play with, sold a few paintings, didn't paint enough but will soon and this weekend will finish it off with the Penticton Ironman Canada Triathlon. I've spent much of the summer swimming, biking and running in preparation for it and though I've enjoyed it immensely I'm ready for a break. I'll have one more event to do, a ride from Vancouver to Whistler and then I plan to take advantage of the last warm days to do some plein air painting. I've spent the last week building a pochade box and can't wait to try it out!

Something different

Looking out to Sea NFS
8 x 8
oil on doorskin

My first portrait magically evolved yesterday over top of piece of board that I had been using as a practice area for testing colors. It felt very much like when one finally decides to commit and plunge into a freezing sea, very scary and yet exhilarating at the same time! Done quickly and loosely it was a lot of fun, many of the test colors left to show through. Haven't been painting much lately as I've been spending far too much time floating away the hot summer days on the lake. Today we are suffering from the smoke of over 400 hundred forest fires burning in this province and we can't even see the sun so I'm back to the easel for a while.

Breaking the second brush stroke habit

Skaha Bluff Trail SOLD
8 x 10
oil on canvas panel

This scene is of a conservation area overlooking Skaha Lake and it is absolutely stunning with sage brush, wildflowers and beautiful rock formations. If you get lucky you may see some mountain sheep. Sitting out in the sun in the middle of a 35 degree day made it necessary to just block in some values and hues and head home for the finishing up but this was basically just an exercise in putting down one brushstroke and then reloading the brush and planning before putting down the next. I often find that I dab away and have to wipe off brush strokes that pick up unwanted paint and most often it is the second brushstroke that does it so I am determined to quit that habit. Something else to work on is deciding whether the shadows will be cool or warm and I battled back and forth on this. Another challenge was pushing the distant trees back. So much learning from one little plein air piece.

Plein Air Dangers

Kaleden SOLD
12 x 16
oil on board

This should have been a plein air painting but as the original suffered a 'wipe down' fate and I still felt the need to paint this scene I did it at home. Much as I love taking my loyal little Yorkie I was worried the whole time he'd end up in a bunch of cactus or worse being bitten by a snake so I wasn't able to concentrate with him under my feet. Today he did everything in his power to get out that gate and into the car but I got away without him. I think the guilt was worse than the worry so next time he comes with me...

rain, rain, go away

in progress
10 x 8
oil on board

We live in a desert though you wouldn't know with all the greenery carpeting the hills and it's raining relentlessly so I'm working on an image that I caught at a local market last year back when it was sunny. This fellow was under a tent and I had to crop his head for the composition but I really just wanted to catch his enthusiasm with his feet kicking up to the music. Funny how little things make a difference. Had he been just standing no matter how lively the music I would have walked by. I love painting people in motion and will eventually work on dance if I can get some good resource photos.

Eye Candy

Tucelnuit Lake

8 x 10
oil on board

Saturday I rode my bike 60 kilometers down our beautiful Okanagan valley and every direction I looked was so incredibly beautiful, truly a treat for the eyes. I'm often brought to tears while I'm out there drifting silently past vineyards, climbing valleys, descending down mountain sides. The next day I gathered up my paints and along with my plein air partner Iggy the Yorkie off I went to capture some of the scenes. The one above was one of the many lakes in the area and the blue of the water was absolutely electric. I didn't quite catch it but am close I think. Today I finished it up at home but poor Iggy slept all day on my supply bag waiting to head out.

By the Sea

Cannery Study
8 x 8
oil on doorskin

I'm on the west coast right now and managed to take advantage of a few hours of dry weather to go to Steveston , an old fishing village, and join a few plein air painters. Above is an old cannery converted into a park with working canneries nearby. Lovely to be by the sea and of course had to indulge in some fish and chips. Now it is back to the usual drizzle mixed with downpours and it's almost too dark to paint.

Plein Air Adventures continued

Sand Cliffs
12 x 16
oil on wrapped canvas

Last Sunday after cheering on friends at a local triathlon I ventured off into the back country searching for a location where I could pull off the road and easily set up all my plein air painting gear. I finally found a spot that would work perfectly, got all organized, paint brush in hand, canvas on the easel and then I realized I had not brought paint. I am going to have to make a list as it seems this whole thing is as complicated as camping and I know I always needed a list for those excursions. The next day I headed off again, this time with my little 4 pound Yorkie who managed to squeak through the gate and into the car. Never wanting to miss a road trip he can often be found curled up on a suitcase or bag by the door knowing that they are destined for the car and he does not want to be left behind. He turned out to be good company and so will be one more item to add to the list.
My highlight of the week was receiving in the mail a painting from Kim Rempel which I won in a draw in honor of her reaching 100 followers! Go see her fabulous paintings at eatdrinkpaint.blogspot.com.

A very cool plein air experience

View to Trout Creek
8 x 8
oil on doorskin

Today I headed up the west side of Okanagan Lake and set up in a lovely little rest area with beautiful views of the community just north of here. I was busy getting all my stuff unpacked when I heard some rustling and up from the beach came a pair of ducks right up to my feet. They checked out my easel and then settled down right underneath it only stirring when someone was walking by as if to warn me. My little buddies stayed till I was finished and then flew off across the lake I had just painted. What a perfect outing!

Below is the second painting that I did down at Vaseux on Sunday.

McIntyre Bluff
8 x 8
oil on doorskin

Plein Air #2

Vaseux Lake
6 x 8
oil on doorskin

This is my second go at plein air and what made this kind of fun was spotting another artist scouting around for a good vantage point. I later followed her route up a back road and found several lookouts above this lake where I set up for my next painting. I often cycle by this lake wishing I could pull over and paint so today I finally was able to spend the morning soaking up the sun and listening to the meadowlarks. I am definitely hooked on plein air!

Reflections

Ladner Harbour
18 x 24
oil on wrapped canvas

This little scene is only 30 minutes from downtown Vancouver and is actually only a block away from downtown Ladner yet it feels so peaceful and quiet. I drove by on my way to get groceries last week and the reflections were so incredible I had to stop to get a photo and couldn't wait to paint it. The little tent on the dock is storage for kayaks which can be rented and paddled up the many little channels off the Fraser River. The stubby little pilings on the right have great tufts of grass growing on them and the forest behind is a nature park.

My Lucky Week

Foraging

16 x 20
oil on wrapped canvas

This week started off a little rough. Cold, wind and rain were putting a damper on my Ironman training, keeping me out of my garden and deterring me from any plein air attempts. Not to be discouraged I looked forward to the workshop I'd be going to in a few days. And then imagine my surprise when the news arrived that I'd won a painting! What a shocker - I never win anything. Time to buy some lottery tickets I think! Anyway Kim Rempel in celebrating reaching 100 followers drew a name to receive a beautiful painting! Check it out and her other paintings at Eatdrinkpaint.blogspot.com. Her work is fabulous. Thanks Kim so much!
And as for the workshop it was put on by Bonny Roberts, a great BC artist. We were able to take 5 paintings that we were stuck on to be critiqued and hopefully resolved. Fix It Finish It was the name of the workshop and the above horse which I posted last year as 'in progress' is finally now finished. Thanks Bonny for putting on a great workshop.