earth quilt

Earth Quilt      36" x 36"    oil on canvas

If you look at this painting, you'll see that the top sections of the grid show elements of sky, the middle section shows trees and vegetation, and the lowest layer is on or below the surface of the earth. It's like a cross-section grid. Almost all images were created with stencils or block printing.

This is the last painting I did before we lost Adam. Since then I haven't put brush to canvas. I was ready to finally try it a couple of weeks ago when I wiped out on my bike, riding fast downhill on a rainy day. I broke my right hip (first point of contact), right elbow and bike helmet! Thankfully I was also wearing the padded cycling gloves Adam gave me for Christmas. I'm feeling pretty good 11 days post-surgery, but mending bones is an infuriatingly slow process. After I'm done with this latest drama I wonder how it all will affect my creative process. But for now I'm happy to just wake up in one piece (both physically and emotionally) every day!

adam

 

September 26, 1994 - March 3, 2013

We love you.

works in progress

I'm just waiting for the paint to dry on this commission (below) so I can varnish it and get it up to Whistler. Now I'm back working on the other one, which I abandoned in October. Such a different approach to each painting. One was a sort of organic experience in total immersion; the other is more like solving a puzzle.

Forest Rhythm    24" x 48"   oil on canvas

the update from here

Last weekend was fun-fun-fun, from start to finish. Greg and I went up to Whistler on Saturday morning, arriving at around noon, and the afternoon was spent in creative mayhem. The workshop went well, though I think I tried to cram too much into just three hours. As you can see, it was an all-ages fun fest in the gallery loft.

I learned a lot about pacing and the variation in what the individual artists achieve. I love that they made it their own.

There's a reason it's called White Dog Studio Gallery. Yes, it's a working gallery and yes, there's a white dog! (That's my brown blur behind Luna, and Penny, busily being a gallerist, behind her!)

A dog-friendly studio gallery in the beautiful Whistler mountain environment with an outdoor playground everywhere you look? My fantasy place. With that in mind, Sunday dawned pretty much perfect, so we took both dogs and headed into the hills to go snowshoeing. We didn't see another soul all morning.

I kind of hated coming home after that!

wild whistler

a picture's worth

Happy New Year ~ two weeks late. Since May 2005 I haven't missed a single month of blogging and I don't propose to start now, so, in lieu of content, here are a few of my favourite photos from the past 6 months.

feliz navidad

Here it is, halfway through December already, and I haven't posted anything for over a month. This blog has slowly devolved into a news page of my real world art activities ... which is fine. It means I don't have to abandon blogging altogether. Lately I've had to visit my old blog to find an image or some info and it's been interesting to look back. Back in those halcyon early days of blogging, before Facebook kicked us all in the shins, I had a lot of fun and created a lot of online content (as it turns out). After five years I decided to change things up a bit and moved over here in the summer of 2010. It was then that the slow decline started, and the 'new' blog has really only ever been a bunch of images of my work, both artwork and photography. I'm glad the old blog with actual written content is still there, though, even if it is just collecting dust on the cyber shelf.



I have some photos from the past few months that I'd like to post, but if that doesn't happen before 2013, consider these Christmas ornaments my holiday greeting. I painted them for family presents and they took forever to complete, so it's the first -- and last! -- time I'm doing that.


And this image is of four of my paintings (two medium-sized and two large) that are featured in the Federation of Canadian Artists' new online commercial gallery. Check out some of the other great work available there.

Joyeux Noel everyone ... and all the best in 2013!

columbia valley revisited

I just realized that I forgot to post these, though I finished them a few weeks back. They are available at Effusion Art Gallery.

winter magic

Winter Comes Early

Contemplating Breakfast

I've been working on a painting for a group show called Winter Magic. Each painting in the show will be 16" x 16" x 1.5", unframed, with sides painted black. (The gallery wants to present an interesting, cohesive display.) I have done two so far as I wasn't satisfied with the first and wanted to try something different. One is a winterscape with a snowy owl resting on a post, painted in oil. The other is a stylized and abstracted composition, painted in acrylic in a layered effect, using block printing and lots of patterns, usually my favourite style of working. They are decidedly different from each other! Before posting on Facebook and showing the gallery, I would love to get your input. My questions are: "Which do you like better?" and "Which do you think the general art-buying public (in a mountain resort town) would be more likely to buy? Why?"


I would love to hear what you think! If you can't comment then just send me a quick email.

baubles

I've been super busy in the studio lately so I have lots to post about, but not enough time! More images soon. Meantime, here are the two Christmas ornaments I painted for this year's holiday fundraiser at Effusion Art Gallery. The images are traditional Mexican motifs of cruciforms on one ornament and birds on the other. These are a lot of fun to do but take a lot of time!

columbia valley

I'm starting to get my mojo back ~ which is awesome, since I missed it! Here are the first two drawings of Columbia Valley themes heading up to Invermere soon. I hope to have two more completed by the end of next week so I can re-focus on painting.

Here's a sneak peek at a small corner of a large work-in-progress on my easel.

fallow

Tribute to the Forest
30" x 24" oil on wood panel

This hasn't exactly been my most productive year, but I continue to produce a little at a time. Right now I'm working on pieces for a couple more fundraisers, then I need to dig in and get serious, i.e. explore new ideas and start working in series again. I'm liking how this painting turned out and have ideas for quite different paintings and drawings. Only working steadily will tell me which direction to go in.

illustration friday: identical

I still get the Illustration Friday notifications but haven't participated in probably a year. Today, though, I actually had an unpublished drawing lurking around here that matched the topic. This is an experimental mixed media (coloured pencil, acrylic paint, technical pen) drawing on grey-green Canson Mi-Teintes paper.

painting on the edge

I was thrilled to be accepted into this year's Painting on the Edge, the Federation of Canadian Artists' most prestigious annual exhibition. You are invited to the opening reception, August 16th from 6-8 p.m. I will be there! My tar sands painting from earlier this year was chosen and is worth posting again for the video link at the bottom.

Two weeks later, on August 30th from 7-9 p.m., is the official opening of the Union Gospel Mission Gallery at 601 East Hastings Street, Vancouver. My painting of some Bluegill is hanging in the gallery area. The evening includes three keynote speakers, refreshments and a fundraising art sale. It's art August!

summer days

I'm having a pretty great summer so far. I'm itching to paint again, but during the Olympics I am setting myself up with my drawing board and parking in front of the TV. After I catch up on everything I've neglected that is!

July 20th I loaded my car in an absolute downpour and made the two-hour trip up to Whistler. By the time I arrived there was a break in the rain and I was able to set up my easel at the weekly artisan market, sponsored by White Dog Studio Gallery, at Nita Lake Lodge. I had been planning to paint the mountains but it was so socked in that I ended up tackling the gardens, not my best subject matter. It was a bit of a losing battle with the weather anyway. I ended up under the awning, trying to stay dry and warm and losing the battle.

The next day, with the weather still flipping me the bird, I gestured back and spent the day at the gallery, instructing a student and painting alongside her. She was eager and willing, and painting in the loft was a real treat:

When I left the gallery that evening, there was a break in the clouds and I saw this view of the back of Blackcomb Mountain, so I proceeded to pull over and photograph it. That was what I'd wanted to paint the day before!



I also spent Sunday at the gallery, getting Eve to the point where she could finish the painting on her own, then loading up my car in the pouring rain again to head home. It was a really fun and productive weekend and I just love working in Penny's gallery.

Since getting home I have been on a mission to find myself a mountain bike. It's tricky working within a strict budget and seeing what amazing bikes are out there. In the end I got a Norco Mountaineer, such a pretty blue and with disc brakes, something I thought I wouldn't be able to get in my price range.
 

It's August tomorrow and that means a getaway to the B.C. interior and some fantastic canoeing this month, plus a couple of art events. Stay tuned for invitations. In the meantime, check out what love at first sight looks like to me: