Day 18 of 30

Cafe study

8 x 8

Acrylic

This is a scene in the old town area of Nice where the streets are narrow and full of shops and cafes.  I could spend days wandering through the passages checking out all the wonderful food and products.

Day 10 of 30

Lean-To

8 x 8

Acrylic

One day last summer my plein air group were painting trees in a local park and as I wandered around looking for something to catch my eye I came across this scene.  A beautiful little pasture on the other side of the park, something I would never have discovered without the motivation and companionship that being a member of a group of like minded individuals brings.  I always look forward to the outings whether they are fruitful or not.  Next time I paint this I'll include the horses that were grazing there.

Day 8 of 30

Moro Bay

8 x 8

Acrylic

On our trip south in the fall we discovered a gem of a place called Moro Bay.  It is a very magical diverse area with so much to offer, beaches, wildlife, birds, marshes, parks, fishing village, artsy community and a good climate.  I could easily live here and definitely want to go back to do some more exploring.  Enjoyed painting this in the good company of my plein air painting pals indoors as the weather here is not so good as Moro Bay.

Day 7 of 30

Storefront

8 x 8

Acrylic

A funky little storefront in the cute little town of Hedley, BC.  

Day 20 of 30

Malbork Castle

6 x 6

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

Poland is an amazing country full of beautiful architecture but what I remember the most is the 13th century castle Malbork, the largest castle in the world.  The design in astounding in that it has heated floors, secret passageways from kitchen to dining halls for transport of food and bathroom facilities that are removed from the living space and act as escape routes.  It is enormous and I can now see how a city can thrive within the walls.

Details and simplifying

Day 25 Marina

6 x 6

Acrylic on canvas

Well there is a lot going on in this marina.   A lot of information and that requires some simplification and weeding out  - kind of like life...

One week to go and will I make it - not so sure right now but doing my best.  Good luck to everyone!

Notan

Day 24 Winery

6 x 6

Acrylic on canvas

My mantra is becoming " there is no value darker within the lights than within the shadow and no value  lighter within the shadow than within the light".  Not sure who this quote came from.  Of course one has to consider the actual color of the subject but it has been show that even a black subject in direct light will be lighter than any area in the shade   - oops I guess the shutters on the second story need to be adjusted a value or two lighter where the sun is hitting them.  I've gone to using 'notan' to sort this out first putting in only two values and then trying to keep everything else within those two ranges.

Keeping life in balance

Day 21 Barns

6 x 6 

Acrylic on canvas

Today was epic from the start.  An intense somewhat anaerobic hour and a half solo skateski out into the boonies the whole while taking in the beautiful scenery and taking notes on ideas for future landscape paintings, back home to finish off todays and start tomorrows painting and then up into the hills with my petzel light and a good friend for a night time trail run in the snow and back to make dinner and finally put my feet up.  Good thing it's January and I have time for all of this.  Wouldn't happen spring to fall with all the other activities going on...

Jail for the wealthy

Day 11 Jail

6 x 6

acrylic on canvas

San Marino, a tiny republic state within Italy has three towers in it's hilltop city of the same name and the above painting is of a jail for the wealthy in one of the towers.  For a sum of money one can enjoy the view for your final days on earth although you have to put up with a wet floor when it rains!

What I've learned so far...

Day 10 Castle Tower

6 x 6

Acrylic on Canvas

One third of the way through Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days Challenge (see sidebar) and I'm still hanging in there.   A few things that are becoming clear:

I'm an oil painter - acrylics are only for speed and ease of correction but will not be my medium of choice.

I can easily stay on track with a simple daily plan and minimal distractions.  This involves choosing the subject to be painted the night before and getting the preparations done so that in the morning I can immediately get to work.

I'm going to have more than minimal distractions - that's life.

I like to paint bigger, much bigger.

I'm not a daily painter  - there is way to much else to do in life and I want to do it all!

A beautiful city in Italy

Day 9 Urban Colors

6 x 6

Acrylic on Canvas

Bassano del Grappa is one of the most beautiful cities I've seen and everywhere you look is a gorgeous scene begging to be painted.  I've got plans for some larger paintings but in the meantime here is a little corner down a lane that caught my eye.  

A New Year Challenge

Lake Como in progress

18 x 36

oil on canvas

Leslie Saeta has generously started a New Year 30 Day Challenge and much as I tried to come up with excuses not to join it I finally realized this is probably just what I need.  Check it out.  I think there may be still time to join up!

The Lake Como painting above was a larger piece that I started before Christmas and isn't finished yet but I think I'll hang it for a while and maybe the issues areas will resolve themselves, ha ha.  If they haven't by the end of January I'll work on it later in the spring.  My how life gets busy...

Steveston Grand Prix Plein Air Competition

3 hour plein air challenge

11 x 14

oil on canvas board

  Not much different than an Ironman Triathlon and I'm still wiped out physically and mentally 2 days later!  The weeks leading up involved not enough training plein air trips and those times that I did get out I usually forgot something important like canvas or brushes.  A list would be needed.  Some sessions were just like transition training where I went out just to see how easily I could pack my gear, setup and take down.  Carrying wet canvases has always been a challenge.  Nutrition, hydration, clothing for all types of weather have to be thought of  but finally all my gear was carefully laid out and the process gone thru in my mind and I was ready to go. 

   The Steveston Grand Prix is organized by Mark Glavina of the Phoenix Gallery in Steveston and he and the many volunteers put on a fabulous event!  It is similar to a Quickdraw where there is a time limit to produce a painting, in this case 3 hours, but the difference is that the location is done by draw and when you are assigned a flag you have to stay within a few feet.   Below was my spot which offered a nice arrangement of buildings.

One must attempt to transfer what you see in front of you to the canvas as the light and weather changes, the clock ticks away,  and people meander by having been encouraged to ask questions sometimes wanting a little mini lesson in painting.   I found I thoroughly enjoyed the process, met lots of great people and learned quite a bit along the way.  Would I do it again?  Absolutely and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to push themselves out of their comfort zone and into the exciting world of creating that painting right in the moment.

Local heritage sites

Haynes Ranch

18 x 24

oil on canvas

With spring here and some exciting opportunities on the horizon for getting some paintings into galleries I've decided I need to ramp it up a bit, paint more and get back to the landscapes.   Last weekend I headed south for some bird photography and ended up at this old ranch, built in 1907 I believe.  It sits on a corner that I have cycled by many times but I have never before really noticed the old barns.  On this particular day I was walking around the perimeter and got some photos to bring back to paint from.  Still too cool for me to sit outside for any length of time but I'll head back when it warms up for some plein air.   There are many other beautiful old buildings in the valley that I'd like to paint before they collapse so that it will a project that should keep me going all summer.   

Painting from a sketch

The Dory

18 x 24

oil on canvas

I usually like to plunge right into a painting hoping it will be a keeper but this was done from a sketch and photo from December and I can say that it was crucial to have the sketch to refer to knowing that the mood and composition will work for me. I do love painting boats and buildings but am starting back to Okanagan landscapes as spring is coming and I'm itching to get back to plein air painting. In the meantime I'm totally obsessed with the bird photography and am up to 70 species on my list. It has opened up a whole world of life I was oblivious to before and in fact walked or ran by each day without knowing it existed. Below is a little Golden-crowned Kinglet that hovers like a hummingbird looking for bugs in the bark, too small for me to have noticed before but living right out my front door.

Apex Guest Ranch

the  Ranch

12 x 16

oil on canvas board

Winter is the time to head up to the mountains for some skiing or snowshoeing and we pass this guest ranch on the way up.  In the summer we ride up here on our road bikes as a 20 k time trial or as part of a circle route around the Okanagan Valley.  It's a great landmark but unfortunately won't last forever.  This painting was done from an older photo and I believe part of the roof has now come down and the horses are a different breed so I will have to take some new reference photos and give it a go again next year.

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!

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!

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.