Day 1 of 30

Ankle Deep

12 x 12

Acrylic on Doorskin

My first post in a long while and inspired by Leslie Saeta's annual January 30 in 30 Challenge.  I find this month long painting a day exercise invaluable as a kick start to the New Year,  helping me to find some sense of discipline in picking up the brushes more often,  finishing the work and posting it.  Every year it gets easier to accomplish the feat and I'm able to paint a little bigger as well!

January 30 in 30 Painting Challenge

Quail   SOLD

8 x 8

Acrylic

Next week brings in a new year and with that the annual 30 in 30 Painting Challenge hosted by Leslie Saeta!  This is a fabulous project to get the brush moving and creativity flowing.  I've planned ahead a little preparing 8 x 8's this time as I'm finding the 6 x 6's a little too small.  It is interesting though how two extra inches adds considerably more of a challenge to paint in my self imposed limit of 2 hours.  I highly recommend  this project and you can find information about it here.

Winter scenes

Waiting Out the Storm

12 x 9

Oil on Canvas Paper

On a walk last week I found this flicker tucked into a berry laden tree sheltered from some very strong and cold winds.  He blended in so well and the colors were gorgeous so I just had to paint him. 

Day 23 of 30

North Vaseau

6 x 6

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

Here is a view of Vaseau looking north with some fall colours and the 'golden hour' lighting.  One of my favourite birding locations.

Day 7

Mourning Dove

6 x 6

Acrylic on canvas paper

This past week of scanning through hundreds of photos from my birding outings has made me long to get out there again and share their world.  When one can watch a bird up close through a telephoto lens a whole new world opens up and these creatures take on personalities and social or life and death dramas can occur before your eyes.  Much more to paint on this subject but tomorrow I'm moving on and I think it will be equine themed.

Day 6

Yellow Rumped Warbler  SOLD

6 x 6

Acrylic on canvas paper

After yesterday's crow this warbler was a joy to paint.  I do love color.  

Day 5 of the 30 day Challenge

Crow Study

6 x 6 

acrylic on canvas paper

A very busy day today and having precious little time to paint what better a subject than a black crow.  Easy right, just black, white and all the values in between.  Easier said than done but done it is.  

Day 4 30 Day Challenge

Golden Crowned

6 x 6

acrylic on canvas paper

Here we go - a view of the topside of the Golden Crowned Kinglet showing off his colors.  

Day 3 More Birds

Kinglet

6 x 6

acrylic on canvas paper

The Golden Crowned Kinglet is such an exquisite little bird and such a joy to watch flitting about the forest in search of food.  The golden crown when visible is really striking so I'll make sure it shows on my next attempt at portraying this gem.

Day 2 of the 30 day challenge

Rough Legged Hawk

6 x 6 

acrylic on canvas paper

Well this painting was a struggle.  Didn't feel like painting a bird today but toiled away and learned a few things as I went so all was not lost.  I think with these guys one has to decide between realistic fine detail with a tiny brush or somewhat abstract with big strokes.  There is just too much going on with the feathers and subtle shadows.  

Singing in The New Year

Bewick's Wren

6 x 6

acrylic on canvas paper

This is Day 1 and the start of Leslie Saeta's 30 day Challenge for 2014.  Last year I found a vast improvement in all things involved with completing a 6 x 6 painting due to the fact that painting for 30 days in a row forced me to be organized, helped to simplify the process and made me realize that just sitting down and getting started got me over the hurdle of what to paint, how to paint it and all those other creative blocks that pop up and stall the effort.  This little wren was sitting in a bush across the street from me and was singing up a storm so I thought it appropriate for the start of the New Year.

Reifel Bird Reserve

Day 14 Cranes

6 x 6 

Acrylic on Canvas

These cranes are Sandhills currently residing at Reifel Bird Reserve in Ladner and are so much fun to go visit.  They are very tame and will saunter right by forcing those who are a little uncomfortable with the proximity right off the path.  I've got lots of resource photos on these guys and am looking forward to doing some more.

Bird Theme

Day 13 Heron SOLD

6 x 6

Acrylic on Canvas

Similar to yesterday's surprise sighting I managed to catch this heron close up with my camera as I was out walking my dogs several years ago and have been wanting to paint him ever since.  This 30 day challenge is a good motivator to get some sketches done of the many resource photos waiting to be painted.  

What a Day

Camouflage

6 x 6

Acrylic on Canvas

The day started off with me and my trail running group tackling very snowy conditions in the hills above Okanagan Lake,  a great workout, beautiful as always and in good company.  Then my husband and I decided to try our luck searching out owls lower down by the lake.  I thought we were once again skunked when glancing to my left I found myself staring at a long eared owl equally surprised and staring right back.  He was only a few feet away at eye level so I got a fabulous photo and came home to paint him for todays daily painting.  We also came across a northern pygmy owl so close I could reach out and touch him but he was sleeping and kept his head tucked away so not a great photo.   An afternoon painting and now a movie.  Life is good sometimes. 

Strange little birds

Day 5 Chukar

6 x 6

acrylic on canvas

One of our Christmas activities this year was birding with the family and on our first day out after fruitless searches for anything with wings we finally hit the jackpot, a large family of Chukars.  These very strange looking and very shy birds were foraging in the fields below the cliffs at Vaseaux Lake and kindly gave us a few poses before scurrying off.  

Whistler in September

Ladner Marsh

24 x 20

oil on canvas

I am so excited to be able to spend a week in Whistler next year having lived there years ago and rarely getting a chance to go back for visits.  The best part though is that I will be attending a workshop put on by the Federation of Canadian Artists and led by some really great painters.  Check out the website for details.

The above scene is a marshy nature reserve and is right across the street from our "city" home.  A great place to go birding or just for a walk to watch the sun go down.

A big bump in the road

White Lake Trail 

8 x 10

acrylic on canvas paper

Unfortunate and unavoidable I hit a big bump in the road namely a fellow cyclist whilst we were on a big ride in Washington State 2 weeks ago.  With numerous injuries I'm laid up for a few weeks and had planned to paint as a diversion but find I'm somewhat limited in mobility and energy so am painting from photos and back to acrylics as they are easier to manage.  The above painting is of one of my favourite places to bird or trail run.  It sounds like my trail running group had a good one there last week.

Success!

Reifel Bird Reserve

8 x 10 study

Acrylic

On Saturday Opus Art Supplies challenged all artists to come out and join an outdoor painting challenge.   Before 10 am we were to pick up our canvas, on the large size at 16 x 20, and then paint within a defined area around Opus including some downtown and the waterfront nearby and then hand in the painting by 3 pm, awards at 5 pm.  Setting the mood for the day and first up was a fun interview and photos from a Kelowna Capital News team making me feel like a celebrity and before the photo shoot was over I had spotted exactly what I wanted to paint.    Planting my gear right by the waterfront pathway ensured a steady procession of artists, walkers, joggers and cyclists many making friendly comments as they passed by.  The most satisfying were the excited shrieks from the children as they discovered another painter!  Although the time limit of five hours sounded like there would be lots of time for lunch breaks and socializing the challenges of changing light, sun on the canvas and other peculiarities of outdoor painting had me at the easel for the entire time with only a five minute break for a cookie.  The whole project went sideways for about two hours with brief flutterings of despair till things finally went back on track.  Tantalizingly close to being finished but out of time I had to wrap it up and literally run back to make the cutoff.  The painting has some unresolved areas but I felt many aspects went well and I guess the judges felt the same way as the painting was awarded 1st place! 
The above sketch was done a couple of weeks ago near our home on the coast, the pond usually full of birds but they were shy while I sat there and painted.

International Women's Day

Blueberry Field Study

9 x 12

acrylic on canvas paper

Back in March on International Women's Day I celebrated by packing up my paints and driving to a park near the Fraser River but instead of looking out over the river I parked the car facing the blueberry fields to the east.  The sunrise was glorious, radio playing wonderful classical music composed and performed by women and the heated car seats kept me toasty while the fresh air blew in thought the sunroof.  Then lunch with a best friend and sunset spent out on the dike with my birding partner and daughter watching the short eared owls swooping and diving through the marshes.  Some days are perfect from start to end!

Birds on the Brain

Osprey in progress

20 x 16

oil on canvas

Bird photography has slowed right down for me.  The trees are so thick with foliage that although I can hear them by the hundreds they are rarely seen.   So I'm going through my resource pics to find ones that I'd like to paint.  This osprey with it's mate lives just a couple of blocks from me and I was lucky to catch several shots of it moving around on the nest.  I'm trying to find a balance between realism and abstract keeping the essence without labouring over detail, minimizing brushstrokes but staying true to the image, pushing saturation of hues as always...