Paintings by Poppy

Housekeeping

2011-03-22T22:47:00.000-03:00

Greetings to those of you who find this blog. I realize that a lot of the paintings posted here have prices posted for them as they were once available for sale. I will over time go back and clean this up. The paintings that I now have available for sale are listed on my website and you can read about them on my new blog. This blog is painfully out of date. Ouch!

So, please note that paintings listed here as if for sale may actually no longer be available. Please accept my apologies for the confusion. I will make an effort to clean this blog up.

Many thanks for your understanding in the meantime.

Moving to a new blog

2010-12-01T21:57:00.000-04:00

Greetings all of you.

I have mentioned my new blog before but now I realize that I cannot keep posting regularly on two blogs.

I do not want to lose my blogger readers so I encourage you all to move on over to my new blog which can be found at www.poppybalser.com/blog I will be posting the same sort of content but it will be much simpler for me as it will be linked in with my website (http://www.poppybalser.com/)

I will occaisionally still post here as well but am finding it too much to maintain both of them well.

For now I shall leave you with a teaser...

This painting is a copy of a portrait by J.S. Sargent whose work I admire greatly. I set out to copy his painting to learn more about how he depicts his subjects...

To read more about how I made the copy and to see a photo of the Sargent original, please visit my new blog here.

Thanks for following along here, I am glad that you found me and hope that you continue to enjoy what I have to say in my new virtual digs.

(You can always keep up to date on what I am up to by subscribing to my Paintings by Poppy newsletter, too)

2010-11-05T20:58:00.000-03:00

Warm Surf, 7 x 10", watercolour, Oct 2010

I have been working on making pictures of waves. I want to show the movement of the water in its changing shapes. To do this, I have focussed on just the wave itself, ignoring any other elements that might add to making an interesting image. This gives me some challenges, in that I have to manufacture or find darks to set off the lights of the foam. This wave was actually quite sunlit, from the viewers right-hand side. I need to set off the white crest without making the background so dark that I lose the feeling of sunlight shining all around.

Frozen Wave, 7 x 10", watercolour, Oct 2010

This is another one where I have made the background significantly darker. This gives it, to me at least, the look of a stormy dark even angry ocean. Not the look I was going for in the first one!

There are much fewer warmer colours in the first painting than in the second painting. The reds and oranges change the sense of temperature of the water. At the beach where I captured the photos for these paintings there is a stream which empties onto the beach, carrying amber coloured peat-laden water. This mixes into the ocean water and changes it from the pure clear ocean colours to warmer, tea like water. Makes for a great picture though.

Feeling Foolish

2010-10-31T21:50:00.000-03:00

Happy Halloween! We have survived the excitement for another year. Now just to enjoy the mountain of candy. One thing about living in the country is that our neighbours are so pleased to have trick or treaters that they make up a bagful for each kid who lives here! Yikes! Good thing our dentist does not read this! But really, I am not complaining. Our neighbours are so generous to us in so many ways, and it is fun to do the rounds with the kids. Before I know it, the idea of going around with Mom on Halloween will be scarier for my kids than any ghost story! So until that time, we have a blast!

Back to painting...

I recently upgraded to a newer computer, with a different operating system and lo and behold, discovered that somehow I could no longer upload pictures onto Blogger. Or so I thought.... Here I am now figuring it out! Hooray! How silly of me!

So what have I been up to in the intervening time?

I have added a new collection of paintings to my poppybalser.com website, with the self explanatory title of Small Works under $100. Check it out, there are some new works there.

Foggy Morning at the Marina, 5 x 7", watercolour

I also have started a new blog within that website, click here to access the blog. You can read about the wave paintings that I have been working on and a little bit about New Brunswick herring weirs.

Leave a comment on either spot, let me know what you think. Is there one format that you prefer over the other? Will you be likely to visit two blogs to read what I am up to? Or does it seem like too much bother? I am curious to what your response will be.

2010-10-17T21:11:00.001-03:00

Please support me
by voting
for my art!

October 2010

Painting Contest by

BoldBrush

Sponsor:

FASO

Artist Websites

Here it is, contest entry time again. If you would like to see this painting at the top of the list of popular entries, please click the "like" button. And, in the category of breaking news, my entry from last month has qualfied as a Favourite 15% Finalist in the September Bold Brush Competition.

FAV 15%

Finalist

BoldBrush Painting Contest

September 2010

Sponsor:

FineArtViews

Art Marketing Newsletter

Guess Who Painting

2010-10-14T21:30:00.000-03:00

Deer Island Weir, 5 x 7", Sold

This painting is a watercolour on paper, mounted on a canvas and varnished for protection with UV protective varnish.

It is my donation to the (now past) Guess Who event at Sunbury Shores arts and Nature Center in support of children's art education in St Andrews NB. Click here to read more about the event (which was a lot of fun, by the way!)

More red rowboats in the Bay of Fundy

2010-10-13T22:22:00.000-03:00

Red Rowboat sketch 6

Red Rowboat sketch 7

These are the two small (5 x 7") sketches that I prepared for my client. She chose the lower one for me to go on with. I scaled up my drawing, manipulating the horizon a bit, and painted the final version:

Red Rowboat in Racquette Cove, 14 x 21", Sold

It has been approved and delivered. The recipient expressed pleasure, and the artist is happy!

Red rowboat sketches II

2010-10-08T22:27:00.001-03:00

Red Rowboat I, 10 x 7", watercolour

After having made some thumbnail sketches, I started working in colour. I did three 7 x 10" paintings, each showing a different view of the painting. The above painting I did three times before I got it right. You will not see the first three here as they were not satisfactory.

Sunlight on a Rowboat, 7 x 10", watercolour

This one is not what my client had ordered but I had been fascinated by the reflections of the boat in the water and the play of light on it's side. You can click the title of this painting and the one below to view them on my online studio website, http://www.poppybalser.com/ .

Rising Tide, 7 x 10", watercolour

I was pleased with how the trees reflect in the water around the boat in this one.

I showed the three above to my client and she chose the last of the three, but asked if I could not include some sky in the picture as well. So back to the drawing board and some more sketches for her to review. You will see them soon.

In the meantime I did this larger painting to satisfy my own esthetic. Obviously, it is based on the third of the smaller sketches. I wanted to expand on that theme, seeing how it looked in a larger view. This was valuable preparation for when I created the final peice.

Rowboat in the Raquette, 14 x 21", watercolour

This painting represents a step forward in my ability to paint rocks. I have struggled with painting rocky beaches for years, never being quite satisfied with what I managed to portray. Finally, though, I feel that the beach in this one turned out well.

Red Rowboat sketches

2010-10-07T15:54:00.000-03:00

I was asked to paint a picture of a rowboat that is moored each summer in one of the small bays in the town of Digby. I have wanted to paint this for a while as it is a pretty little rowboat. It is bright red and often sits in the waters reflecting the green of the trees and reeds around it. (Red and green are complementary colours and the red of the boat stands out quite dramatically against the greens which predominate in our summer)

I started with the requests of my client who wanted a picture of the boat when the tide was coming in with the water halfway up under the boat. She hoped that I could include a line of white at the edge of the water, which she she has observed is a means of determining if the tide is coming or going. Armed with this I spent a couple of weeks chasing the tide and the weather. I had to get good photos to work from as this was a surprise for her spouse, who would be able to see me painting if he passed by the beach where I would be working. It was astonishingly hard to get the right combination of good weather and the right tide at the right time of day. The best time of day would be early morning or later in the evening as the light would be coming in sideways and highlighting the side of the boat.

I made several trips and got photos of the boat on the sand, the boat in the water and the boat in the middle of the day. But none that matched what I was looking for. In the end, in desperation, I dragged the kids along with me when conditions were good and got a few photos that I thought that I could work with. I almost missed the tide as it was as I had to disentangle a child from the pile of rocks that he was climbing... However, now I had something I could work with. (Distraction with bagels from Tim Hortons helped this trip immensly, it was only when they were done with the bagels that the mountaineering began!)

Then I started doing thumbnail sketches, and here they are:

Because I had a few that looked promising, I then started doing some colour sketches. I will post them in the next day or so.

Fall Colours Dahlia Completed

2010-10-06T22:24:00.001-03:00

Fall Colours Dahlia, 10 x 14", watercolour

Private Collection

Here it is complete. It has been delivered and the recipient is very pleased. Hooray! I have completed three commissions in the last month. I will begin a post about another of them tomorrow, showing you the steps from sketchbook to completed painting.

Dahlia painting continues

2010-09-27T22:47:00.000-03:00

So here it is, almost finished. I need to add some definition to a few more of the petals, but overall it is coming along nicely. I have been busy with things other than painting lately, mostly working on building a playground (click here to read about the new playground at Digby Elementary School. This was a MAJOR undertaking for our community. I am pleased to have been a part of it from the beginning and now also pleased that the playground is built and now I can start to focus on other things again! Like painting more.)

A Dahlia in Fall Colours

2010-09-22T21:24:00.001-03:00

It has been a while since I have posted a work in progress. This painting is a request by a friend of mine. I hope that she will enjoy seeing it in it's various stages. I began with a fairly detailed pencil drawing (no photo of that) and then started with the shadows on the small white petals in the center, working my way out as I went along.

I did not want to get into too much detail before I had the background in, so that went on soon.

I realized that some of the earliest shadows were a bit light, so I started making them darker as you can see in the lower left corner.

As always, I welcome comments.

btw, this painting measures 10 x 14".

Open Farm Day

2010-09-19T21:38:00.001-03:00

Today was Open Farm Day. And I missed it! I had scheduled one of my children's birthday party for today and by the time it was over we were all done for. So we went home and played with new toys (them) and cleaned up (me). At least I am learning something and we had the party at the bowling alley. Money well spent to outsource the location. Much less cleanup, need I say more?

So I missed my chance to visit with local farmers. At least four farms in the near-by area opened their grounds to the public today, giving us all a chance to meet them and learn more about what it is that they do. I am lucky, I have met all these people before and know they grow good stuff. But they always put on a good show for us on Open Farm day with activities for kids, yummy snacks and animals to see and touch. And the weather was perfect for those who did go. I will try harder to get there next year...

On an agricultural note, my painting of my family haying has won some recognition, which is very exciting!

Finalist- Outstanding Watercolor, Bold Brush Painting Competition (August 2010)

While the Sun Shines, 14 x 21", watercolour, 2010

Guess Who?

2010-09-14T22:41:00.002-03:00

Guess Who

A Mystery Art Auction

sponsored in support of the CLASS program

by Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Center

***

I was once described as a child of Sunbury Shores. True enough, my family has been intimately involved with the Center since I was a wee one. I took my first real class there as a young teenager but attended a preschool and a kindergarten there years before that.

I have certainly benefitted from early exposure to all sorts of artistic pursuits, from the usual crayons and pencils familiar to most children to the less usual pottery, print making and weaving. I am pleased to support this fundraiser to give other children similar experiences.

And it looks to be a fun evening. Click the link above for all the details, but here they are in brief.

Tickets $10

W. O'Neill Arena, St Andrews-by-the Sea

Oct 2, 2010.

Be there to view the artwork around 5 pm or so.

(Yes, the website says 7pm but I was told today that they want people there earlier)

Your $10 gets you in the door and a ticket in the draw.

If your ticket is drawn you get the opportunity to choose a painting which you may purchase for $90.

This brings me to

THE ARTWORK

6 x 8" canvasses

creatively adorned by

Celebrity and local artists.

This includes the like of Robert Bateman, Freeman Patterson and of course, me, too!

Here is the kicker:

The artwork is signed ON THE BACK!

You have to guess who painted what.

You'd best hope that your knowledge of Canadian art is up to the task, because

you could end up with a $5000 painting and only have paid $100!

Good Luck!

Hope to see you there. It should be an entertaining evening!

Marine Commuter Traffic

2010-09-09T23:18:00.001-03:00

Marine Commuter, 14 x 21", watercolour, September 2010

Available throught the Flight of Fancy

Bear River, NS

You can read about the sketch that led to this painting and the gentleman who inspired it in an earlier post on my blog, here. Rowing in this fashion used to be a major means of getting around in the days before good roads and motor cars. There are stories of men rowing across the Bay of Fundy (35 nautical miles!!) to see their sweethearts on the other side. Now that is a sign of committment, if you ask me. It took this fellow a while to row the 1 km from the wharf back to his boat, but it did not seem like it would have taken much longer than walking. (Of course I was painting while he was rowing and my husband can tell you all about my perception of time while I am painting....)

So when your look at this painting contemplate how you get around during your day. When you are hopping in the car to drive somewhere really near by, stop and consider if you could actually walk that distance instead. So often I find myself rushing to get places and hopping in and out of the car. I do not leave myself the time to walk the short trip from the bank to the post office or from the store where I work to the place where my meeting is. But I should. It would be better for me and for the planet. More restful, too.

The hurricane missed us

2010-09-06T22:08:00.000-03:00

No paintings to show tonight. Just a quick post to mention that Hurricane Earle took an unexpected detour and went up Nova Scotia's other coast, affecting Halifax and the South Shore more than he did us. We lost power briefly and had a good amount of rain, but not much wind. I did manage to go out and got some new photos of waves for future paintings. (I was careful, the wind was not too strong and I stayed way above the high water mark. My photos suffered a bit because of that, but sometimes it pays to be cautious.)

Here is one of the photos of Point Prim.

Waiting for Earle

2010-09-03T23:23:00.001-03:00

Reflections on a Sailboat, 7 x 10", watercolour, August 22, 2010, SOLD

Another Paint the Town painting. These boats are all one sailboat that I sketched as it swung back and forth on its mooring. There was only the one sailboat there that day but I wanted to do something more interesting that just a portrait of that boat. This is the result.

This one is from Paint the Town and there is yet one photo to come. (I know that I said last night that there was only one photo left but I forgot about this one) I also painted another one of sailboats sailing down the Annapolis Basin toward Digby but neglected to photograph it. If you are the owner of that one (you would have bought it on Sunday at Paint the Town) I would love to hear from you. Especially if you have not framed it yet and are willing to email me a digital picture.

Meanwhile, we have battened down the hatches here in Digby County. The eye of Hurricane Earle is expected to pass very close to us tomorrow morning. The weather office says that it will likely all be over by noon tomorrow so we shall see how right they are. Last year's Hurricane excitement was provided by Hurricane Bill which passed over here quickly as well. I was driving to Cape Breton that day and ended racing the hurricane up the length of the province. I am glad that I do not have to do that again! I remember the colour of the sky. When the rain was just beginning as I got on the road outside of Annapolis Royal the deeply overcast sky was an odd green shade.

If you want to know what is happening here tomorrow you can always tune into CBC radio from anywhere in the world. They livestream their broadcasts on the CBC website and this includes the Halifax station. It sounds like there will be local radio all morning. During Hurricane Bill they did a good job of keeping us informed of what was going on (when I could hear the radio over the din of the water on the roof of the car!)

Glare over Granville, 7 x 10", watercolour, August 22, 2010

And this is the last Paint the Town painting. With the dark clouds in the background I thought it a suitable picture to end with tonight.

Paint the Town Volunteers Rock!

2010-09-02T23:02:00.001-03:00

Here is the second to last painting from Paint the Town. I am saving the last one for tomorrow's post, when I can talk about the impending hurricane Earle or lack thereof... (we should be so lucky!)

Go Fly a Kite, watercolour, 7 x 10", watercolour

This one actually acquired a bid as it was being picked up by a friendly Paint the Town volunteer. These wonderful people walk or ride their bikes around town, transporting fresh paintings in pizza boxes. They converge on the Legion where they deliver the brand new works of art into the hands of yet more volunteers who hang the paintings and prepare them for bidding.

This event could not happen without these volunteers. They put a fabulous effort into making this event a success. I find it humbling that a town of 500 people can pull together over 100 volunteers to make this event so remarkable. Hats off to the people of Annapolis Royal!!

(Oh, about the painting... this shows the waterfront boardwalk of Annapolis Royal. There were lots of people walking along the board walk that day, including one child with a kite. I thought that such a nice day needed more kites, so I added some!)

More from Paint the Town

2010-08-31T22:00:00.001-03:00

Cafe Compose, 10 x 14", watercolour

This shows the rear of a lovely restaurant in Annapolis. It was the last of the paintings that I did on that Saturday. After I finished the painting and delivered it to the Legion for auction, Robert and I had a lovely meal there. It was a real treat to rest out of the sun and relax after a long day spent painting.

Morning Marsh, 5 x 7", watercolour, SOLD

This one was the first from Sunday. I struggled a bit with it. The light was changing quickly and I was painting tighter than I wanted to. I eventually got it so it said what I wanted it to say and then moved on to the wharf where I spent the rest of the day. I finished this one at 9:30 in the morning and wrapped up at 5 pm with another one of a similar subject, but handled more loosely.

Church Reflections, 10 x 7", watercolour, SOLD

When I arrived at the wharf the reflections were picture perfect and mirror like. The tide was just reaching full so a breeze sprang up quickly and spread bright stripes of blue ripple across the water. There were artists everywhere painting the river, the boats and the people around them. From where I was working I could see Wayne Boucher and David Lacey and was lucky enough to meet many lovely new painting aquaintances as well.

Please forgive the clips visible in the last two photos. That is what comes of operating a camera while the right brain is fully engaged!

Market Figures

2010-08-27T22:27:00.001-03:00

Here is the next installment of paintings from Paint the Town last weekend. I started out in the Farmer's Market and the biggest difference between the market and the places where I most often paint is the people. There are people everywhere, especially this past week as it was a beautiful saturday in the middle of August. People were at the market to socialize, buy blueberries, peaches and fresh tomatoes to eat with basil and fresh french bread. Oh, the bread at that market is fabulous!

Enough about food...

On to people. There being lots of them that is what I tried to paint. But they kept moving. This one below is from a hurried pencil sketch of a father who kept carrying his little girl around the market. She could not have been any more than 3. As they kept moving back and forth around the market I was able to almost capture them.

Dad and Tot, 7 x 5", watercolour, plein air

So after trying to paint moving targets for a while, I moved to a "captive" model. Mark, the saxophosist, plays every Saturday for the market crowd.

Sax on Saturday, 10 x 7", SOLD

The musician viewed this over my shoulder as I was finishing it up and told me that he approved. He especially liked that I captured the silver colour of the bell of the sax. It seems that his is a silver saxophone, which he said most people do not notice. After I painted this sketch of him I decided that a musician needs an audience so I did a larger painting using the same drawing as my reference (as he had packed up for lunch) and painted the following:

Market Music, 10 x 14", watercolour

The only problem with recycling a sketch is that sometimes I realize after the fact that there is something wrong with the initial sketch. In this case, I had messed up the dimensions of his figure a bit in that he is not quite so lean and lanky in truth as he looks in the painting. Though I painted him with the build of an NBA player, that was my own unintentional fabrication.

Part of why I wanted to focus on people that morning was so that I can get better at painting them. As long as I learn from the mistakes that I make and do not repeat them, I will be happy to carry on making new ones! (As long as I learn from them, too!)

Paint the Town in Annapolis Royal

2010-08-24T22:43:00.000-03:00

Despite gloomy forecasts the weather this weekend past was splendid and made for happy artists on the weekend as 70 of us converged on Annapolis to paint and otherwise create art for silent auction. To read more about Paint the Town read my last post or visit the ARCAC site. I will post photos of the paintings over the next few days as I am still dealing with a garden that is determined to bury me in produce! Today was garlic and tomatoes, tomorrow corn (yum!) and green beans, (again!).

Early at the Market, 7 x 10", watercolour, SOLD

I started in the Farmers Market just as it was setting up for the day. This is the first painting that I made on the weekend, and the first to sell, too. It shows the side portion of the Annapolis Royal Farmer's and Trader's Market, one of my favourite places to be on a sunny Saturday Morning. Painting whilst there made it even more fun!

Rowing Reflections, 5 x 7", watercolour, SOLD

This little one I painted on Sunday while on the wharf. It might just be my favourite from the weekend. Painters, unlike parents, are allowed to have favourites! As I was painting another boat from my perch on the wharf, this rowboat appeared around a point of land. I dropped what I was doing and started sketching this as quickly as I could before it was out of view. Then I got some photos, too, for future reference. The boat came up to the wharf. The gentleman moored her and climbed up a tall ladder to the wharf top and walked into town to get some supplies. I struck up a conversation with him when he returned. It turned out that he had rowed his from his larger retired fishing boat which was moored out in the channel a long distance away. He is a retired fisherman. We talked about boats, fishing and Digby for a while and then off he went, rowing the kilometer or more back to his boat.

That's all for now folks, but come back soon to see the rest of my paint the town picures.

Blackberries, Green Beans, Tomatoes and WEEDS!

2010-08-19T23:07:00.001-03:00

I am on vacation from my day job this week. Thus I have been busy trying to "get things done" in the garden and spend some time doing fun local things with the kids, like a trip to Mavillette Beach and to the theme park. Today was a garden day, with the pulling of many many weeds. Weeding garden paths seems more pointless than weeding the actual garden beds, but it all looks so much better when there are not 3 foot high weeds growing up through everything. I am still paying the price for 3 weeks away in July. It takes forever to get caught up. However, I was very pleased to pick about 10 pounds of pole beans, and the first big picking of tomatoes and, best of all, blackberries! Yum!

Because of all the outside activity I have not had any time to paint in this last week. Thus the urge to paint is rapidly turning into a burning NEED to paint. I hope to get into the studio tonight after the kids are in bed...

I will have lots of chances to paint this weekend at Paint the Town in Annapolis Royal. Click here to read more about this annual plein air painting event that is the main fundraiser for our local arts council. If you can come to the event you will have the chance to see over 70 artists making spontaneous art in and around the town of Annapolis Royal, which is a lovely place to make art. Paintings are sold Saturday and Sunday by silent auction at the Annapolis Legion. This is a great chance to get fresh works of art and yet spend much less than you would in a gallery.

In the meantime, here is a painting that I did this spring based on a scene I observed in Annapolis at Paint the Town two years ago. This painting was hanging at the Flight of Fancy in Bear River but sold this month.

Coffee Break, 7 x 10", watercolour, May 2010
Private Collection

Bold Brush Painting Competition

2010-08-17T22:13:00.000-03:00

The Bold Brush Painting Competition is sponsored by the fine people over at Fine Art Studio Online. Every month they receive hundreds of online submissions from artists around the world, including me. I have been quite fortunate so far, my work having been included in the Favourite 15% three of the times that I have entered this year. Wish me luck for my current entry. (You may see a larger view by clicking on the images in the boxes.)

Please support me
by voting
for my art!

August 2010

The BoldBrush

Painting Contest

Sponsor:

Artist Websites

by FASO

In June I was very pleased to place in the Favourite 15% with my painting "Red Boats visiting Digby". This painting sold before I could even notify the gallery owner of the distinction.

FAV 15%

Finalist

BoldBrush

Painting Contest

June 2010

Sponsor:

FineArtViews

Art Marketing Newsletter

Birthday Lilies

2010-08-14T08:43:00.000-03:00

Lilies for Leanne, 10 x 14", watercolour, May 2010

I had not posted this one yet, as it was commissioned for a surprise birthday gift. Now that the recipient has recieved the painting I can share it with the rest of you. (She says she likes it very much, btw!)

(Making Hay) While the Sun Shines

2010-08-10T22:27:00.000-03:00

While the Sun Shines, 14 x 21", watercolour, August 2010

Here is the culmination of my sketches of the hayfield. I have had a lot of fun painting this one. It shows the same people as the sketch, though they have moved a bit as they continue to carry the bales about. I tried hard to think about design and come up with something that lets the viewers' eyes move about the painting in a pleasing manner. (Though, now that it is done, I see some things that I might do differently in another painting. I would love to do more hay paintings soon, but there are other subjects demanding my attention, too)

I am interested in hearing what you, the viewer, thinks about the design of this one. Do your eyes follow a path into the painting and take this path through the field, finding interesting things as you go? Or did my effort to simplify make it too spare in things to keep your attention. I'd love to hear what you think.

Ripples on the water

2010-08-05T20:12:00.000-03:00

Red Ripples II, 5 x 7", watercolour, July 2010

This is one of a series of small boat paintings that I did recently. This one is now available at BlueFin Pottery and Hand Creations on Water St in Digby. It is one of the many scallop boats which sail out of Digby. I wanted to capture the ripples in the quiet water without fussing about the peir too much. The two green pillars that you see in the painting are actually supports for a new floating dock system which rises and falls with the tide. Thus they are very tall to allow for our 20 foot plus tides.

Yet another hayfield, this one with people

2010-08-04T22:34:00.000-03:00

Hayfield sketch V, 5 x 7", watercolour, July 2010

This one shows the hay being gathered on a warm summer afternoon, reaching almost into the evening hours. The way we do it is with a trailer pulled behind the tractor. Simon drove the tractor, Owen was on the trailer, loading and stacking the bales as they are carried to the trailer from where they lay in the field. Dad, Robert and Ursina walked up, down and across the field alongside the trailer, bringing the bales in to be loaded. It is hot, dusty and SCRATCHY work, but usually well rewarded between loads by slices of watermelon.

Those of you who were there that day know who's who in the picture, but for those who weren't, these people are family and dear friends.

I am waiting for time in the studio and good photographing weather so that I can bring you a picture of the larger one that I am working on. Covering co-workers summer vacations at my day job means temporarily less time for painting. That is the price we pay for our own vacation, so I cannot complain too much!

Another field sketch

2010-08-03T21:40:00.001-03:00

Hayfield sketch IV, 5 x 7 ", watercolour, July 2010

Here is another sketch of the field. I am experimenting with where to place the trees and the resulting placement of them changes the look of the painting quite a bit. If you compare this one to the one I posted yesterday you will see how the absence of the trees on the left gives a different feeling to the sketch. In the one above my eyes go to the trees in the center and tend to stop, not moving around much. In the other one (below, I reposted it to save you scrolling up and down so much) I feel like my eyes enter the painting at the lower right, travel up the shadow line to the mass of trees on the left and then along the treeline to the buildings and back down the hay bales to the center of the painting.

I have been following Stapleton Kearns blog recently and am learning a lot about painting design. I highly recommend reading his blog to anyone who has any interest in art and landscape painting in particular. He is a New England painter whose passion for art rings clearly through his writings. He is very generous with his insight into what makes paintings "tick". His blog is well worth studying. And he has a wicked sense of humour. If I am laughing at the computer I am usually reading his blog. He did a series of posts on Winslow Homer's watercolours last month that I have already reread a few times. A great blog. Enough said.

At the demo that I did recently I mentioned another site that I have found very interesting and extremely helpful, this one specifically for watercolour painters. If you have ever had a question about the physical properties of watercolour paints, you will be able to find the answer at handprint.com

field sketches

2010-08-02T22:23:00.000-03:00

Hayfield sketch III, 5 x 7 inches, watercolour, July 2010

I was in NB for haying this year, the first year in a long time that I have managed to get there in time for it. We managed to bring in the years required hay in one day. It is nice when family and friends can get the work done together. I have painted this field many times but almost always looking away from the buildings. This might be the first view which includes the house and barn where I grew up. I have been working on some little hayfield sketches in preparation for a bigger painting, so stay tuned. The larger one is shaping up well in my studio so I may post it relatively soon.

Here is a painting that I am entering in the CSPWC Atlantic Members show in Inverness, Cape Breton, NS in September. It too shows the hay field, but just days before it was cut. My apologies if I have posted this one already.

Hayfield, 7 x 10", watercolour, July 2010, (painted plein air)

Plein Air in St Andrews, NB

2010-07-23T07:27:00.000-03:00

I wanted to share the remainder of the plein air paintings from Artists by the Sea for Hospice.

Here then are some more.

Clearing Over St Andrews Wharf, 7 x 10", watercolour, July 10, 2010

Sold

After a wet and foggy start to the day it finally cleared in the afternoon. The whale watching excursions that had been cancelled in the morning were able to sail. This painting shows some of the many people who walk out along the wharf, to board a whale watching boat or maybe just to take in the sights.

On the Fly, 10 x 7", watercolour, July 10,2010

As I was working on the painting of the wharf, above, I kept an eye on the passage of water approaching the wharf. There was not as much boat traffic as I had hoped, but then this sailboat come in from beyond Navy Island. I grabbed a new peice of paper and sketched the boat and its crew directly while they drew nearer. I managed to get the shadows painted on the sail before they sailed past the wharf. When they came out past the wharf, the sail was down and they were preparing to moor. I painted in the water and the background from what was around me and from memory. I am very fond of this one, as it seems to me that this is what plein air is all about. And the title seems especially apt as well.

Whale Watching, 7 x 10", watercolour, July 10, 2010

This is the last of the paintings that I made on Saturday. The clearing clouds were making wonderful patterns in the sky, so I chose to paint the low cabins that house the whale watching operations that operate from the St Andrews waterfront. This allowed me to try to capture the sky.

Sunday was a new day.

Sunday morning I started late as we had family visiting from far away and I did not want to run away to paint for a second day. So I started at lunch time. I went to the beautiful Kingsbrae Gardens and set up there just in time for it to begin truly raining! So what I attempted to paint there is now on the back of a peice of scrap paper. I moved down to the front street to try to paint in the rain. The street was to busy to get a good view from the front of my car like I did the day before. I set up under the awning of a local business and went to work. (The business is Treasures and Trash, and the proprietress, Lola Boyles, was very kind and welcoming)

Water St in the Rain, 10 x 7", watercolour, July 11, 2010

You can see a big ugly clip in this one as it was in the way as I photographed it and I did not notice it. When I set up it was just sprinkling but it soon turned into a down pour! At first there were lots of tourists in summer clothes, shorts, tank tops, flip flops, but these soon disappeared to be replaced by folks in jackets and under umbrellas. It is no fun having it rain on one's vacation!

The air was so wet that my paper was very reluctant to dry. I started this next one and needed the paper to dry before I could proceed, so I actually took it inside Treasures and trash and tucked it under an antique bed to dry until I could keep going.

Man, It's Really Raining, 10 x 7", watercolour, July 11, 2010

I should have called it "Man, I am glad we packed these raincoats!" but I did not think of it until later.

And here is the last one, I was getting pretty worn out by then, and cold, but am still fond of it.

Wet, 7 x 5", watercolor, July 11, 2010

Even though the weather was terrible for painting, I had a good weekend. I hope that the Hospice was successful in their fundraiser, despite the weather. If you can make it to the event next year, I would encourage you to go.

All the paintings in this post have been sold.

Artists by the Sea

2010-07-17T21:05:00.000-03:00

Here are some of the works that I painted last week at Artists by the Sea, a fundraiser for Hospice of Charlotte. I did not think it would take a week to get these up here... All I can do is thank people for their patience. I shall post the works in chronological order. It will take a few days for me to get them all posted, I believe.

Water St, 7:30 am, 7 x 5", watercolour

All paintings in this post have sold.

When I started out last Saturday morning, it was raining. So I parked the car on the main street in St Andrews, aptly enough, named Water St, and started painting. I rested the board on which I mount my paper on the steering wheel, (Carefully, as no one appreciated horns honking at 7:15 am) and spread out paint, brushes, etc on the passenger seat. It worked reasonable well.

Car in the Fog, watercolour, 5 x 7"

Niger Reef, 5 x 7", watercolour

After painting the two street scenes, I moved out to the waterfront where I set up on a boardwalk running behind the sheds from whence operate the whale watching operations. It was still quite foggy and as I sketched, I watch the fog advance and recede, advance and recede. What was quite neat was seeing how the fog revealed that what looked like solid clumps of trees were actually trees separated by fields. I could quite clearly see the different layers of distance with the fog creating a screen or curtain which moved with the wind.

Golf Course view, 7 x 10", watercolour

Boats in the Fog, 7 x 10", watercolour

This is the same view as the previous one but the fog is closer to the viewer in this one, and I added the boats which I had left out of the above version.

St. Andrews Wharf in the fog, 7 x 10", watercolour

So that is all of them for today, but more to come soon. Stay tuned.

A Chance to Win This Painting

2010-07-14T13:30:00.002-03:00

Sailboat sketch, 7 x 5", watercolour, 2010

I am offering this painting to one lucky individual among those who sign up for my newsletter by September 30, 2010. For those of you who have already signed up, I will include your names in the draw as well. Think of it as a thank-you for choosing to subscribe. So if you like my art or are interested in watercolours, sign up now for my newsletter and your name will be enterered in the draw!

This weekend there will be a "Come and See" event in Digby at the Digby Curling Center on Shreve St (Saturday 1 to 5 pm) This show and tell is hosted by the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, of whom I am the newest member in Atlantic Canada. Anyone may attend. There will be demonstrations of watercolour techniques, (one by yours truly), the opportunity for critique of the audience's works (you may bring one or two pieces if you choose), a slide show of works by Atlantic CSPWC members and more. Leave me a comment or email me through the contact me link on the right hand side of the blog menu if you would like more information.

Artists by the Sea for Hospice

2010-07-06T21:00:00.002-03:00

Hayfield, 7 x 10", watercolour, July 2010

This is a recent plein air peice, that shows the field across the road from where I grew up. It is a recurring subject for me. I am enjoying having the chance to paint it several times while I am here. Already it looks different, as the hay has now been cut, baled and safely stored in the barn for the winter. It was the first time that I was home to help with the haying in years, and it was a lot of fun. It was work, but good work. I did take a break from some of the last load to take lots of photos which I hope to turn into paintings sometime in the future.

This weekend will see artists from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia gather together in St Andrews, NB, to paint and make other artworks in support of the Hospice of Charlotte. The art works will be auctioned off through silent auction at the St Andrews Legion Hall (corner of Queen and Princess Royal in St Andrews).

Auction Details:

Saturday July 10, the Legion is open at 11 am, there are two auctions, closing at 2 pm and at 5 pm.

Sunday July 11, the Legion opens at 2 pm and the auction closes at 4 pm.

There will also be a gallery show of framed works by the artists involved in this event at Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Center running over the same weekend. Contact the gallery for more details.

Hospice of Charlotte provides practical, emotional and psycho-social support to terminally ill people and their families to improve their quality of living and dying. Services include care-giver respite, transportation, information and resources, bereavement and grief support, volunteer training, complementary therapies and community education. These services are provided to residents of Charlotte County, Grand Manan, Campobello Island and Deer Island.

To stay up to date on this and other painting events that I take part in, subscribe to my email newsletter.

A new boat painting

2010-06-30T09:24:00.002-03:00

Here is a blog post about a new boat painting that I completed just prior to the plein air event in Saint John. Click here to see it and read about the painting.

Paintings ready for exhibit

2010-06-20T21:47:00.004-03:00

Reversing Falls Bridge, Tide going Out, 10 x 14", watercolour,

yesterday and today

Here is the one that I almost finished yesterday, but stopped early to meet up on time with the other painters. I went back to the Reversing Falls Bridge Look off and finished up. Then I decided to do another painting. The weather was foggy and the mood was quite different from yesterday. Today I arrived before the tide got down to the level of the falls so it was very quiet and the water was calm. Yesterday had been sunny and the water was rushing out of the river quite noisily as I arrived. I was an hour earlier arriving today and the tide is always an hour later each day so there was a significant difference in the water level. . As I arrived at the bridge a cluster of cormorants came flying out through the space underneath it. They would have been marvelous to capture in a painting to give a sense of the space, but I shall save that for another painting. There were many cormorants fishing all the time that I was there and I even saw one eating a fish it had just caught! . That is part of the joy and the challenge of painting out of doors. There are so many things to paint! Happily, I always carry my camera so I can capture for later most of what caught my eye. But I missed the cormorant with the fish in it's beak. . Here is today's bridge painting:

Bridges in Fog, 10 x 14", watercolour, today

Again, Ihave to apologize for the poor presentation of my photos. I shall have to clean them up when I get a chance on the right computer.

After the cool dampness of the riverside, I felt like coffee to warm me up so I went to downtown Saint John only to discover that the Old City Market was closed. No coffee without walking further! Rats! So I walked and found the Magnolia Café, which looked interesting; it was also closed. But it was in a beautiful location so I did a painting instead. This is a view along Prince William Street, looking toward King St and Market Square.

The Old and the New, 10 x 7", watercolour, today

The title of this one refers to the brick buildings in the foreground with the modern office tower in behind them. Saint John has some beautiful old architecture (if you like old brick buildings, which I do) The ones that I find really neat are the ones where you can see different layers of bricks and stone work and can see where changes have been made and new structures built on older ones. Each of these buildings in the painting have their own unique patterns and brickwork and I did not do them justice. Next time.

So, now I have enough paintings for the exhibit, which is a good thing as they are to be turned in 9 am sharp tomorrow morning. If you wish to see them, they will be on display from June 23 to September 4 at the Saint John Arts Center. The opening of the exhibit is this coming Friday, June 25 at 5:30 pm. If you are in the area, come meet myself and the other artists.

And now for something new, a picture of me, painting. Here I am on the trail looking out to the Reversing Falls Bridge.

Plein Air Painters of the Bay of Fundy

2010-06-19T21:41:00.004-03:00

View from Manawagonish road, 7 x 10", watercolour, today

So here I am in lovely Saint John, NB, painting my fool head off. The Plein Air Painters of the Bay of Fundy is a group of artists who gather to paint scenes outside, in the Fundy region. Today and tomorrow is the annual paint out where we converge to paint and create an exhibit. Tomorrow I will give you the details of where and when they will be displayed. After a full day of painting I just want to get these images posted and then rest for tomorrow's day of more painting.

Above is a view I have long admired. The island in the picture is part of the Irving Nature Park, where I hope to go paint tomorrow.

After painting there, I went on the the Reversing Falls Bridge, which is a Saint John icon. There is a touristy café with a lookoff looking up at the bridge. I painted there and made a painting which needs just a bit more done to it before I frame it (or post it, you will be able to see it another day).

Then I met up with some of the other painters of the group and we set up at and around the Saint John Power Boat Club, where there was lots of stuff to paint. The interaction of the different shapes of the boats and the relatively calm water made for too wide a variety of subjects. I focused on one boat and painted it in 3 different compositions.

Fractured Reflections, 7 x 10", watercolour, today Portrait of a White Boat, 10 x 7", watercolour, today

The One that Got Away, 14 x 10", watercolour, today

The title for this one might sound a bit obscure, but you will understand as I explain. I was just starting to paint in the reflections (my drawing was finished, thank goodness) when I heard the motor start up. A man and a woman had been working on this boat all afternoon at the shore and now it was time to return it to it's mooring. So I finished the painting from memory. I had a few minutes to concentrate really hard before the boat moved away so I think that I did ok with it.

As I am working on a different computer than usual, I have not been able to process my photos as I usually would, so you can see the edges that I usually crop out. In fact, the first painting in this post shows you how I secure my paintings while painting. I use binder clips and a varnished plywood board. The paper usually dries fairly flat and I find this very portable and simple. When the paper dries with a ripple, it is easy enough to flatten it out, as long as I am careful.

Red Boats Visiting Digby

2010-06-17T17:46:00.005-03:00

Red Boats Visiting Digby, 14 x 21", watercolour

June 2010

Now Available at Bluefin in Digby

The title of this painting is in response to the gentleman who was viewing cards made of my first red boats painting. He stated, "those aren't Digby boats" Perhaps he thought that I was taking some artistic lisence. However, the thing about boats, is that they float, and move around. For whatever reason, those boats came up to the Digby wharf in December of 2007. They belong to the fleet of Mr Kenney who operates from the wharves of Westport on Brier Island. Regardless of where they came from, the line of the bright red boats against the dull colours of a December day caught my eye. I have painted these boats before but this painting is composed a little bit differently.

Another viewer had commented on the last painting that it bothered him that he could not see the top of the wharf. So I painted the one above to see how I liked it with sight of the sky above the wharf. Here is the older painting...

Red Boats, watercolour, 9 x 30", 2008

Private Collection

Visually I find the top of the wharf distracting. Maybe it is the fish shack in the extreme upper right that bothers me. I think I should have left it out or moved it closer to the center. I could have added more vehicles to balance it, but I did not want to fuss. I shall just learn what I can from this one and move on.

So what do you think about the two paintings? Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Flower Season

2010-06-17T16:36:00.004-03:00

June is the month of spectacular blossoms here in Nova Scotia. Tulips and daffodils are followed by irises and lilacs. Now the peonies and roses are coming out, dramatically unveiling their curves and shapes in the warm sunshine. I have been happily photographing many of them, saving their images for quieter days when I can devote myself to painting them.

Right now the main focus of my free time is getting my vegetable garden ready to be ignored once the kids are done school. Everything is planted now, I think. My husband will laugh at this as I have been saying this for a week: "I finished planting everything today" When he heard this for the third or fourth time, he began to expect to hear it again the next day, too! I have mulched most of what has come up with old hay, to cut down on weeds and the need to water. I have quite a large vegetable patch as I like to be able to wander into the back yard and then decide what I am going to serve in the way of vegetables for supper. And even better when the kids come to the supper table with fresh vegetables that they have picked for themselves! (Dream on, mom!)

So, despite lovely flowers in my garden I have not done much painting of flowers or anything much else, but here are some blooms to tide you over.

Tree Peony Sketch, 5 x 7", watercolour

June 2010

Private Collection

Tree Peony Sketch II, watercolour, 5 x 7"

June 2010

The blossom pictured in the paintings above is a tree peony blossom. I did not actually grow this one, but I was given it in a bouquet. I hurried to photograph it and paint it before it faded. I want to do a much larger picture, as I have coveted tree peonies for years. Someday I will plant one in my garden, but until then, I shall have fun painting this one.

I shall have painting time in plenty this weekend, as I shall be attending the annual paint out of the Plein Air Painters of the Bay of Fundy in Saint John, NB. For more details about the paint out, click here. I will be painting out and about in Saint John on Saturday and Sunday. The paintings will be hung at the Saint John Art Center with an opening on Friday June 24 at 5:30 pm. I will post some of the paintings (I hope!) on Saturday or Sunday evening. Some of the areas that I would like to paint include the bridges crossing the Saint John River and the Old City Market. If you see me painting, please feel welcome to stop and say "Hi"

News!!

2010-06-06T19:55:00.003-03:00

Waiting it Out, 10 x 14", watercolour

Diploma Collection of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour

I am very excited to announce that I have been elected a member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour (CSPWC for short). After attending their most excellent symposium in Cape Breton last August I felt encouraged enough to submit an application to be a member. My application was successful and I am one of a few to be selected this year to join the ranks of over 265 very accomplished Canadian artists. The goal of the Society is to recognize, encourage and nurture excellence of work in watercolour. You can read more about the Society by clicking here: http://www.cspwc.com/ I am thrilled to join the ranks of the Society, which includes members such as Jean Pederson, Bill Rogers, Chris Gorey and many many more fantastic painters. All whom I have met within the Society have been very generous in sharing their knowledge, and I look forward to learning more from them in future. Stay tuned for more Society news, as there will be an information session about the Society, complete with a demo by yours truly, scheduled for Digby July 17, 2010. Contact me for more info if you are interested.

2010-05-25T22:09:00.004-03:00

Calm Start, 7 x 5", watercolour, May 2010

Sold

Here is another sailboat painting. More from the same beautiful morning last summer. I am experimenting with how the placement of the main subject changes the feeling of the painting. This one differs from the previous one in that I have suggested the waterline with a few light strokes

(lifted out the paint with a clean wet brush) I feel that it settles the boat more in space, as opposed to feeling like the boat is floating without an idea of where the horizon is.

And now for something completely different. I have never painted a picture of a horse before, and thought that as I have access to such wonderful subject matter, I should give it a go.

Jura II, 7 x 5", watercolour, May 25, 2010

Sold

Jura I, 5 x 7", watercolour, May 25, 2010

Jura is a fjord pony, and is my mother's horse. She is a beautiful animal, especially in the early morning sunshine, when she just glows. I am really pleased with how these two sketches turned out and so am going to give the first one to my mother. Surprise Mom!

Sailboat Painting on Ebay.ca ending tomorrow!

2010-05-16T20:19:00.003-03:00

Calm Sailboat, 7 x 5", watercolour

Sold

Somehow I missed posting this one here before now. The auction for this will end tomorrow evening at about 9 pm Atlantic time.

It is a picture of one of the sailboats taking part in a race in Annapolis Royal on the Annapolis River. There was just enough wind to fill the sails, and the background was cool and misty. Maybe not a great day for sailing fast, but a good day for painting.

Plein Air at last!

2010-05-15T11:08:00.002-03:00

Sand Hills Beach, 10 x 14", watercolour, May 12, 2010

Sand Hills Beach Provincial Park is 5 minutes or so outside of the community of Barrington, on the southern tip of Nova Scotia. The park is not yet open for the season, so I walked in from the highway to find the beach. It took about 10 minutes and was a pleasant walk. Overall, I had less than an hour to paint, but the conditions were wonderful. The sunlight was bright, there was a breeze, but not enough to blow my supplies away, and the view was magnificent.

I hope to get back there in the summer with the kids as the beach is long and very flat. Playing in the incoming tide would be a lot of fun. The sand is a very bright white colour, which is different from the grey or red found closer to home. It reminds me of New River Beach in New Brunswick. Trips to New River were always a highlight of my summer, growing up. That is probably why I still search out beaches and enjoy painting them. It lets me feel again like a kid on a beach in the summer, having a great time.

Variations on a Lighthouse

2010-05-12T09:07:00.003-03:00

NS Lighthouse sketch, 5 x 7" watercolour, May 2010

Halifax Lighthouse I sketch, 5 x 7, watercolour, May 2010

Halifax Lighthouse II sketch, 5 x 7", watercolour, May 2010

On a recent trip to Halifax I walked along the boardwalk that runs from the new Farmer's Market (under construction) to the Ferry Terminal. This is a great walk for exploring the city, as you can see the city on one side and the busy harbour other. Halifax is and always has been a seaport city. Looking out from the boardwalk toward the Atlantic Ocean you see George's Island, with the lighthouse I have protrayed above. George's Island was a naval base protecting the harbour from the city's earliest days up until after the Second World War. It is now maintained by Parks Canada, though not open to the public.

(Please forgive the lack of formatting of the pictures above)

Lily Paintings

2010-05-04T21:37:00.002-03:00

White Lily II, watercolour, 5 x 7", April 2010

White Tiger, 5 x 7", watercolour, April 2010

Now on ebay.ca, click here to view and bid

The Power of Place, an regional exhibit brought to you by VANS

2010-05-03T21:28:00.003-03:00

March Wharf I, 10 x 14 ", watercolour, 2009. $425

Low Tide, High Pilings, 14 x 21", watercolour, 2009. $625

VANS is Visual Arts Nova Scotia and offers exhibits of works by its members, selected by region. This exhibit is from the Southwest regional members, myself included. These are the paintings I am displaying, as they show what identifies Digby to me.

March Wharf shows (what else but!) the wharf, home of the world's largest scallop fleet, with some of that fleet moored in its shelter on a calm March evening. Also the O'Neill's building is the fish plant in town that processes much of the catch. This view is iconic of Digby, as it is what one sees when one drives down the main street.

Low Tide, High Pilings shows the tides for which the Bay of Fundy is famous. I am always amazed when I travel and see the downright puny tides elsewhere. I grew up on the Bay of Fundy and when someone says "tide" I instinctively expect a signifigant drop in the waterlevel. So when I think of home, I think of an ocean that goes up and down, way way down! This painting shows the water at about half tide, but what interested me to paint it was the way that the dark shaded water in the reflections of the piers let me look below the surface of the water. The rest of the water reflects the sky. I found the contrast fascinating. I hope that you do, too!

Silly me, I have written so much about the paintings themselves I almost forgot to tell you where to go see them! The exhibit will be at the Digby Branch of the Western Counties Regional Library on Warwick St in Digby, from May 5 (informal opening at 2 pm) to May 29. After that it will be in Yarmouth for the month of June. (Yarmouth County Museum and Archives, June 2-26, Wine and cheese opening Saturday, June 5 at 2 pm)

A Lighthouse painting and coastal scenes

2010-04-30T21:57:00.004-03:00

Halifax Harbour Lighthouse, 7 x 5", watercolour, April 2010

Now on ebay.ca, click here to view and bid

Atlantic Coast of NS I, 5 x 7", watercolour, April 2010 Atlantic Coast of NS II, watercolour, 5 x 7", April 2010 Now on ebay.ca, click here to view and bid.

These are all little paintings that came of my recent trip to Halifax. I spent some time making sketches on the coast between Purcell's Cove and Herring Cove. There is a walking path which goes right up over the crest of the headland in the pictures above. These paintings do not give one any idea of the scale of these rocks. If I were to try to paint figures to scale on the headland they would be invisible. Perhaps someday I shall do one which shows how massive the granite bones of the coast really are.

Magnolia Show on now in Annapolis Royal

2010-04-25T22:17:00.002-03:00

Magnolias 2010, 10 x 14", watercolour, March 2010 $350

Magnolias in the Evening, watercolour, 14 x 21", March 2010, $580

These and art by 18 other artists are on display at Art's Place in Annapolis Royal, NS. The show ends May 9, 2010. If you can get there, go to see all the interesting interpretations on the theme of the magnolia.

now on ebay, Fishing Boat watercolor

2010-04-16T14:31:00.006-03:00

I have returned to ebay after a short hiatus. Here is one of the paintings I have for auction:

Digby Scallop Boat, 5 x 7 inches

SOLD

Waves, Waves and more Waves

2010-04-14T22:46:00.005-03:00

Waves Crashing, 7 x 10", watercolour, April 2010

Surf in Fog, watercolour, 7 x 10", March 2010

Wave study, watercolor, 7 x 10", March 2010

We had some ferocious winds in March. A popular spot around here for surf watching is at the end of Lighthouse Road. I drove out there in the storm to see what I could see. The wind was fantastic and as I have never been out there in such weather, I had never seen such waves! I took lots of photos but it sure was not painting weather! My hat blew off and away, and I had to brace myself so that I did not follow it. I did take lots of photos, though, and the pictures gave me the chance to start practicing wave paintings, as you can see above.

Since these, I have spent some time painting waves plein air. I was on the eastern coast of Nova Scotia, just outside of Herring Cove, outside of Halifax. Painting surf from life is a frustrating activity, let me tell you! No wave ever looks like the one that came before it. I think that I shall have to do more studies from photos before I am able to paint a convincing wave from life. Though it was a great exercise to paint what I saw. I got lots of chances to experiment with getting the colour of the water and to really study the surf as it came in over the rocks before me. Hopefully I shall get a chance to show you the results of that trip soon.

Apologies, These links work!

2010-04-08T09:40:00.002-03:00

Oops! This will teach me to double check my links before I publish! For Keiko Tanabe's website, click here. For Keiko Tanabe's blog, click here I have fixed the links in the original post as well.

Keiko Tanabe, an artist I admire

2010-04-07T21:45:00.007-03:00

Tonight I would like to do something a little bit different. I would like to introduce to you an artist whom I greatly admire. Keiko Tanabe is an award winning watercolor artist. She is a daily painter and it is a pleasure to see each new painting that she creates each day. She depicts a variety of scenes, of city life (most of my favourites are from Paris), landscapes and sea-front scenes of her home city of San Diego. I love her brushwork, as she makes such simple looking marks portray so much! I encourage you to visit Keiko Tanabe's website by clicking here and visit Keiko's blog by clicking here. Her paintings are simply fabulous! I could go on about her paintings for a long time but I think that this quote from Informed Collector says it best: "Atmosphere and intrigue come to life in these soulful and expressive masterful watercolors. The depth, the detail, the light, ... simply exquisite!" (The above quote is courtesy of InformedCollector.com by Clint Watson, a free email newsletter about art, marketing, inspiration and fine living for artists, collectors and galleries (and anyone else who loves art). ) For a complimentary subscription please visit http://informedcollector.com/

Cuba paintings available on ebay

2010-04-05T21:04:00.005-03:00

"Sunny Beach II" watercolour, April 2010

SOLD

"Sunny Beach I" watercolour, 5 x 7 inches, April 2010

SOLD

These are quick studies that I have done of the evening clouds and lighting based on my recent trip to Cuba. I plan to do more of these little studies while the trip is fresh in my memory.

I have also posted the painting below on ebay. It was a study done in preparation for a commissioned painting. I have not painted many birds, but this one was fun to do!

Cardinal Study, 7 x 5", watercolour, February 2010

SOLD

prints now available throught etsy.com

2010-03-30T21:49:00.004-03:00

Oriental Poppy, original watercolour, 20 x 29"

Even though this painting is still at the framer's, you can now buy prints, which are now available on etsy.com and soon at Bluefin Fine Handicrafts and Gifts in Digby NS Canada.

Click here to view 5x7 inch print on etsy.com.

More print sizes to follow shortly.

Watercolour painting now on ebay

2010-03-30T20:22:00.003-03:00

Winter Woods, 5 x 7", watercolour, January 2010

SOLD on ebay.ca

and

See here to read the original post for this painting.

Sunrise in Cuba

2010-03-26T08:28:00.006-03:00

Cuban Sunrise I, 7 x 10", watercolour

Cuban Sunrise II, watercolour, 7 x 10 inches

It took me a number of tries to get a satisfactory painting of this view. The first morning that I painted it was beautiful lighting but I went too light with the sand and the trees. So I went back the next morning and tried again with the result being the two paintings above.

It is feeling rather surreal to look at these paintings now, remembering how warm the water and the air was, even in the early morning. Then I look out the window at the snow that is falling here now! It was a real treat to go somewhere so warm. I am glad to have these paintings as a momento, so I can bask in the remembered heat on chilly days like today.

Evening in Cuba

2010-03-24T21:00:00.006-03:00

Evening in Cuba I, 7 x 10", watercolour

Evening in Cuba, II, 10 x 14", watercolour

One of the things with painting out of doors is that things do not stand still. People, waves, clouds, the sun (and thus shadows); everything is always moving. But on this evening I noticed something really neat. There was this dark dramatic band of clouds overhead which made me want to start painting right away, before it disappeared. I liked the way that the line of the cloud mirrored that of the coast, and I knew that I had only moments to catch it before it passed over the sun and blocked the light. I did the best that I could to get it right and then it had moved. But it passed over quickly and when I looked to the east I saw that there was another band of clouds coming in much the same manner. In total at least 3 or 4 of these lines of clouds passed overhead, making great skies for painting. This is another scene that I cannot wait to paint again soon.

Stay tuned...

More Cuban Beach Paintings

2010-03-23T14:36:00.003-03:00

Cloudy Cuban Morning II, 5 x 7 inches, watercolour

This is basically the same scene as the first one that I did. I repeated it to try to better capture that band of wet sand that happens where the waves wash up and then recede. This one still did not quite get the effect I wanted, so I tried again:

Cloudy Cuban Morning III, watercolour, 5 x 7"

(I am so original with my titles, eh?)

This time, I left out the wet sand to focus on some of the figures on the beach. It was a lovely beach for walking on and I could have done a lot more figure work. It is hard to paint a moving target... One of my goals for the coming year is to improve my plein air figures.

Cloudy Cuban Morning IV, 7 x 10", watercolour

I think that I had intended to add figures to this, but in the end decided that I was pleased with it as it was. I really like the lines of the beach in this one. The background trees developed as one of those happy accidents that one gets in watercolour painting. This is when something does not go at all as I had intended, but the end result is better than what I had been aiming for.

Back from Cuba

2010-03-20T21:44:00.003-03:00

Cloudy Cuban Morning I, 5 x 7", watercolour, March 16, 2010

I am just back from a week spent in Guardalavaca, Cuba. I painted or sketched every day while I was there, which was a real treat. I even did two little paintings on a catamaran; painting on a boat, instead of painting of a boat, hee hee! ( I did some paintings of catamarans, too, though)

The painting above was done the one cloudy morning. After several days of heat and brilliant sunshine, it was a pleasure to sit out and not feel like I was a biscuit baking in the oven! I did several little sketches of the beach, this was the first one (above) and I am most pleased with it. I especially like how I managed to paint the trees in the background with just one brushstroke! (though I did go back into it in a couple of places before it dried to darken a couple of areas for depth). I think that this one is a step forward in my goal to be less fussy.

I shall be posting more Cuba paintings over the next week or so. If you want a sneak peak at them sign up for my newsletter by going to www.poppybalser.com as I shall be sending out the best of them in my next newsletter, due out as soon as I can manage.

White Iris Pair, a Completed Painting

2010-03-09T17:59:00.004-04:00

Working right along... here is a close-up view of the center of the lower blossom. I did the large shadowed area in one go, again allowing the colours to mix on the paper. I was really pleased with how it turned out.

White Iris Pair, 20 x 29", watercolour, March 2010

And here is the finished painting. Let me know what you think.

A painting in progress, Iris Floral Painting

2010-03-06T20:23:00.004-04:00

Iris Pair, a painting in progress (30 x 22")

This is a picture taken further along on this painting of a pair of irises. One can see that I started on the top blossom, blocking in the areas of shadow. I tried to let the colours mingle and mix wet in wet on the paper. I much prefer the results that I get doing it this way. When the different pigments are combined on the paper they react to each other and to the texture of the paper. This gives a different result than if I applied each colour separately, or even if I overmixed them on the palette.

To learn more about painting wet in wet I highly recommend the book by Ewa Karpinska entitled "Wet on Wet Watercolour Painting". It is an excellent resource, covering all the aspects of handling watercolour paint in all its concentrations and variations. Well worth reading, for the beauty of the paintings alone.

One can also see here how I mount the paper for painting. After drawing my design on the paper I soak it and then lay it on this big board. The board is a piece of plywood cut to match the size of a full sheet of watercolour paper. I varnished the board prior to first use to protect the wet paper from any acids or other contaminants that might leach through from the wood. I attatch the paper while still wet. I use binder clips - and staples if the paper does not fit the board correctly. This prevents buckling of the paper when I paint on it with a lot of water. If the paper is buckled and warped when I am painting a wet wash it is very difficult to control the movement of the paint, as water will not flow up-hill up the buckles! Also, the painting will lay better in a frame when it is flat.

More to come soon I hope! Stay tuned...

Campobello Lighthouse

2010-03-05T23:16:00.003-04:00

East Quoddy Lighthouse, 5 x 7 inches, watercolour

Here is another marine landscape, a small lighthouse painting that I have done recently. I am working with variations of composition. It is a good learning excercise which will make me a better painter. I have written about this lighthouse before, but it really is beautiful in its setting against the waters of the Bay of Fundy.

This past week has gone by so quickly. I have been working on a new large floral watercolor painting of an iris (two irises really). It is going fairly well, so I shall post it as a work in progress.

I did a full size pencil drawing on white paper and transfered it to my watercolour paper, using a large window as my light box. After I stretched and mounted the paper on a board I put a light wash on the areas that I wanted to have a tough of color. Before the paper dried completely, I painted in the background. I had to make sure that the paper was dry enough that the paint would not move more than I wanted it to, but would move enough to give some softness to certain of the edges.

Here it is at that stage: (I apologize that the photo is poor, you can click on the photo for a larger image, which may allow you to see past the blurriness) The thing about a work in progress is that sometimes by the time I realize that my photo is no good, it is too late and the painting has gone on further.

White Iris Pair, "under construction"

I am pleased with the softness of the rear petal on the lower right. It is fading away into the background, which I feel gives it more of a 3D feel. I realize now that you can also see my sleeve in the lower center margin. OOPS! Stay tuned for more as this flower painting takes shape.

2010-02-28T20:35:00.003-04:00

East Quoddy Light, III, watercolour, 5 x 7", February 2010 Click here to view and bid on ebay.ca

Here is a one of a series of the East Quoddy Lighthouse on the island of Campobello, off the coast of New Brunswick. We went for a great day trip last summer. It truly was a day of island hopping. We took 2 ferries to get there, first from the mainland to Deer Island. Then from Deer Island there is a seasonal private ferry which takes one to Campobello Island. After that there are still 2 more islands to cross to get to the light house, though this is done on foot, and only when the tide is low enough. The lighthouse is situated on it's own tiny island, sticking out into the Bay of Fundy. According to some sources, it is the most photographed lighthouse on the eastern seaboard. It really is a gem, this pristine white tower with a bright red cross on it's landward side, it is nestled in a complex of buildings which continue the theme of red and white. Also listed on ebay for this week: Fishing Boat at Wharf's End III, 5 x 7" (ebay) and click here for blog post and Blueberry Pickers, 5 x 7" (ebay) and click here to read my blog post about this painting

Plein air painting now on ebay

2010-02-26T14:08:00.003-04:00

Fishing Boats, plein air, 7 x 10 inches, August 2009, watercolor

Here is an older work, from last August, that has SOLD on ebay.

Two Sailboats

2010-02-26T13:56:00.002-04:00

"Sailboat Duo" 7 x 5 inches, watercolour, February 2010

Here I continued with the theme of sailboats against a soft foggy background. I left out any bright red this time and the mood of this one is therefore softer and more serene. I would like to do this again larger, so that I could develop the ripples in the foreground in more detail. Stay tuned...

Meanwhile, my work continues on the larger iris painting that I started earlier this week. So far it is going well. I shall post more about it soon.

Sailboats on a misty day

2010-02-24T11:14:00.002-04:00

"Red Sailboat sketch" 5 x 7", watercolour, February 2010

Here is another little painting based on that same day in Annapolis. One can see that the composition of the boats is the same and that the only thing I have really changed is the colours of the boats. One might wonder why I repeat myself like this, but it is expressly to experiment. What happens when I change just the colours of the boats? I think that this painting grabs one's attention more than the previous painting (see it here) from two days ago, whereas the previous one has more of a pleasing softness. The focal point of this painting is most definitely the red boat, while in the sailboat trio I find that my attention moves back and forth between the foreground white boat and the red one farther away.

White Iris, a close inspection

2010-02-23T14:09:00.002-04:00

"White Iris, Imortality" 7 x 10", watercolour

This is one that I am very pleased with. It took me a long time to decide on a layout of the drawing. I wanted something that allowed the fall of the light on the petals to show the shape of the blossom. I stayed very loose in the background because I did not want to detract from the flower itself, but I did want to show the iris leaves. Without leaves, there are no flowers, after all. I think that the soft verticals of the background foliage offers a nice balance to the billowing crinkled translucent petals.

I will not be offering this painting on ebay, but rather in one of the galleries that show my work. If you are interested in this or any of my paintings shown here, please contact me via this link:

Click here to contact artist, Poppy Balser

Stay tuned for the next iris painting, which will be a full sheet, 20 x 30 inches. I have started the drawing today.

Sailboat Trio

2010-02-22T10:49:00.003-04:00

Sailboat Trio, 5 x 7", watercolour, February 2010

SOLD

This is another painting from my experiment in small quick paintings. These boats were taking part in a sailing race in Annapolis Royal on a cool overcast day. The cool misty day created the soft greens in the background. Before the sails were hoisted and the race began all the boats were tied together in the river, it looked like the sailors were comparing notes before the race began. Perhaps I shall paint the cluster of boats soon too.

Winter Woods, Snowy Landscapes

2010-02-18T19:27:00.004-04:00

Winter Woods II, watercolour, 5 x 7", January 2010

SOLD

Winter Woods III, 5 x 7", watercolour, January 2010

These are more in my continuing experiment with small paintings. I am fascinated with the shapes that trees make when surrounded by snow. The shadows stretching out toward the viewer decorate the snow with an endless variation of patterns.

Iris sketch

2010-02-17T20:25:00.003-04:00

Dual Iris, 7 x 5", watercolour, Feb 2010

This is a quick sketch done in preparation for a larger work. I hope to do either a full sheet or a half sheet of this same pair of blossoms. I am not looking forward to drawing all the convoluted wrinkles and folds of the petals so that is the main reason why I have not started yet. Tomorrow promises to be a day mostly for painting (I hope!!) so perhaps I will get a good start on it then.

What I was focusing on in this sketch was loosing some of the edges of the petals. Using the lost and found edges to give a feeling of 3D space, where the lost edges that fade away disappear into the background and the sharp edges push forward towards the viewer. I try to establish this right at the outset. I tint the petals only lightly and when dry I paint in the deep background tones, trying to get them dark enough in one go. While this is still wet, I touch the edges I want to soften with a wet clean brush. I make a stroke with clean water into the petal, which gives the pigment of the background a chance to move into the petal, giving a nice soft edge. It is easy on something small like this. Much harder to keep everything at the right stage of dampness when the area I am working on is so much larger. This is why my flower pictures often have the edges of the flowers often running off the edge of the page. Plus I would just as soon use as much picture "real estate" on the actual flower itself.

Thoughts of spring...

2010-02-16T21:58:00.004-04:00

Bright Star II, watercolour, February 2010, 5 x 7"

SOLD

Time for a break from boats and winter paintings... thought looking closely I realize that the colour scheme is not much changed from the subjects that I have been working on lately. You may recognise that this is a reprise of the lily painting done in December. I wanted to take another try at it as I found it took me too many tries to get the values right in that one. This one came together more quickly.

Winter Landscape

2010-02-12T22:22:00.004-04:00

Winter Sunshine, 5 x 7", watercolor

SOLD

Back to the views of winter again. This little field overlooks a larger one that in turn looks down toward the Joggins, a narrow creek and salt marsh area running out to the Annapolis Basin. But this particular view no longer exists. There is now a neat and tidy red house built right about where my signature is sitting in the painting.

There was also a venerable apple tree smack dab where the center of the painting is, but I left that out as it would have not added anything to this painting. Someday I might paint this view again, keeping in the apple tree in such a way to have it add to the beauty of the view, not detract.

Wharf's End, Digby

2010-02-10T22:22:00.005-04:00

Fishing Boat, Wharf's End, 5 x 7", watercolour, Feb 2010

Fishing Boat, Wharf's End II, 5 x 7", watercolor, Feb 2010 SOLD

Fishing Boat, Wharf's End III, 5 x 7", watercolour, Feb 2010 Click here to view and bid on ebay.ca

In order to learn more about composition, I sometimes do several versions of the same scene. Here are three takes on the same view, a fishing boat moored at the end of the wharf, as seen from the main street in Digby. Each of these little paintings have bits that I think went especially well. If you have a particular favourite of the three, I would love to hear about it.

Sugar Woods

2010-02-09T22:52:00.008-04:00

Sugar Woods, 7 x 10", watercolour, Jan 2010

SOLD

While we are still in the heart of winter, preparations have already begun for this year's production of maple syrup. There are sugar maples in the woods nearby, and they are beautiful trees. These trees do not have buckets hanging from them in this picture, but they might soon!

Summer Pasture

2010-02-06T19:03:00.006-04:00

"Summer Pasture II", 5 x 7 inches, watercolour, January 2010

SOLD

"Summer Pasture" 5 x 7", watercolor, January 2010

SOLD

While I enjoy painting snowy scenes, I came across the reference for this while searching for another photo. I have been meaning to paint it for a while and these little sketches made a nice break from the relentless snow and cold that is outdoors.

As you can see, the shape of the land is almost identical in each one, but I was experimenting with changing how one's eye moves over the picture by changing the lines of the fence and the colours of the field in the foreground.

sailboats again

2010-02-05T22:27:00.007-04:00

I have been away for a couple of days, so today is a good time to share with you some older paintings, both from last year. These will be listed on ebay this Sunday (Feb 7) I will add links at that time.

Sparkle, an Abstract Seascape, 6.5" x 11", watercolour, August 2009

You may recognise this one from Paint the Town this summer. Even though no one bought it then, I still love the loose texture of the paint on the paper. To me it looks like the light sparkling or shimmering off the water on an overcast day, caught just when the sun in breakng through the clouds far out over the water.

"Quiet" 5 x 7", watercolour, December 2009

SOLD on ebay.ca

With this one I recycled a drawing that I had done earlier in the year and did another version of the same image. It is good practice for me to work on perfecting how I apply the paint in smooth washes. That is what gives this painting it's quiet, soothing mood.

Snowing again

2010-02-02T08:17:00.006-04:00

"Tree Shadows, 2010" 5 x 7 inches, watercolour, Jan 2010

SOLD

Seeing as we are having another snowy day, here is another picture of a snowy, sunlit woodland. I have painted this clump of trees before, as I find it beautiful.

Lots of snow

2010-02-01T17:02:00.007-04:00

"Snow Trail" watercolour, 5 x 7", Jan 2010

SOLD by auction on ebay.ca

We have had a LOT of snow lately and so I am, surprise, painting pictures of our snowy landscape. The track in the above painting runs along a brook which runs near our home. The track and the brook give me all sorts of painting opportunities. This one came from a morning after a fluffy snowfall, when the bright sun made for very nice shadows reaching across the fresh powdery snow in front of me. Keep watching for more snow and winter woodland paintings soon. Maple sugar season will start within a month or so and I would really like to make some pictures showing the process. Doing some of these "fast and loose" paintings will help me to get ready.

Here is a another little painting from my "trying not to fuss" series. I am really pleased with the way this one turned out. From now on I will try to post paintings on here before they go live in an auction. This one got away very quickly, though.

Stormy Sailboat, 7 x 5", watercolor, Jan 2010

SOLD on ebay.ca

rowboats, sailboats and more

2010-01-28T11:33:00.007-04:00

Here are some more in my series of small paintings. I am trying to work quickly in an effort to keep my paintings from looking overworked. I have learned that the paintings by master watercolour painters that I love have at least this one thing in common. They are all fresh and allow the spontinaity of the watercolour paint itself to show through. By working on small and quick paintings I hope to get better at doing that myself.

Scattered Sweet Cherries, 5 x 7", watercolour, January 2010

Now for sale by auction on ebay.ca

Click here to view and bid!

Sailboats III, 5 x 7", watercolour, January 2010

Rowboat Resting, 7 x 5", watercolour, January 2010

Now for sale on ebay.ca

Click here to view and bid!

now on ebay

2010-01-24T22:46:00.006-04:00

Digby Scallop Boats, 5 x 7", watercolour, Jan 2010

SOLD on ebay.ca

Sweet Cherries, 5 x 7", watercolour, Jan 2010

SOLD on ebay.ca

Sparkling Sailboat, 7 x 5", SOLD on ebay.ca

Welcome to my blog

2010-01-17T19:57:00.003-04:00

For those of you coming here to read the story of my motorcycle painting, click here to read how it began. Keep moving forward through the posts to see the steps that I took in painting it. This link will show you the finished painting. And if you like, you can read the story of the motorbike as well.

More ebay paintings

2010-01-15T20:22:00.006-04:00

Abstract Landscape I, 7 x 10", watercolour, SOLD on ebay.ca

Sailboat Racing II, 5 x 7", SOLD on ebay.ca

click here to view auction

Sailboats III, 5 x 7", watercolor, soon to be listed

These small paintings are either now or soon to be available on ebay.ca. Check it out and likely you will get yourself a bargain!

Gazing up, a portrait

2010-01-10T11:32:00.003-04:00

Gazing Up, 5 x 7", watercolour, 2010 Not for Sale

Grist Mill

2010-01-10T11:24:00.010-04:00

Pourtincourt's Mill, 10 x 14", watercolour, 2010, $385

This is a colour sketch I have done for a commission that I am now working on. The building is a replica in the place of the first grist mill built in America. It was built in 1607 near the settlement of Port Royal in what is now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.

I have included a photo of the plaque fixed to the side of the building which explains the history of the construction.

Small works (one now on ebay)

2010-01-06T21:17:00.008-04:00

Sailboat Racing, 5 x 7", watercolour, 2009

I am trying something new by launching an ebay auction for this painting (pictured above) The auction is open until Sunday evening, Jan 9th. If you are interested, I suggest you go and check it out here. This is the only one of my little paintings on ebay right now. I hope to add to it as I go along. I encourage you to keep watching. Here is another one of several little paintings I have been making as part of my internet selling experiment:

Blueberry Picking, 5 x 7", watercolour

The ground here looks very pink. If you are not familiar with the habits of the low growing wild blueberry you might not know that the foliage of the bushes really does turn this incredible crimson colour in the fall. Now, I have taken a bit of artistic license in this picture. The foliage usually turns after the berries are picked, but that is one of the joys of being an artist; I get to change things!

Season's Greetings

2009-12-27T20:25:00.003-04:00

Merry Christmas to all and warm wishes for 2010. The Christmas deadline has passed and hopefully things will settle back to normal soon. I have been busy working on some commissions and am pleased to have completed them on time. (ie, done and delivered before Christmas) I hope to post some of them here eventually. In the meantime, here are a couple of other paintings that I have completed lately.

Bright Star, 5 x 7", watercolour, Dec 2009

Deer Island Weir, 7 x 10", watercolour, Dec 2009

Christmas Cards Now Available!

2009-12-09T20:19:00.003-04:00

I am offering the two images below as Christmas Cards. They are printed on 4 x 6" folded cards, blank inside so that you can write your own message. Available singly or in packs of 5 or more.

Angel in the Snow (Card) $3 each or 5 cards for $12.

Angel Tracks Card, $3 each or 5 cards for $12.

If you are interested in my cards or any of the art that I have for sale leave a comment with your email address and I shall contact you to arrange for delivery. I ship across Canada and the US.

Completed Poppy painting

2009-12-08T10:26:00.002-04:00

Oriental Poppy, 20 x 29", watercolour, Dec 2009, $990

I shall be delivering new paintings to Bluefin in Digby today, along with some Christmas cards. I encourage you to drop by and check it out.

Oriental Poppy

2009-12-02T22:06:00.003-04:00

An Oriental Poppy, 20 x 30" watercolour. This work is still in progress.

It seems like I am having limited time to paint this week so I have nothing finished to show you. I thought that I would show you instead something that I am working on now. I want to develop some of the rear right petals just a bit more, but not too much. I want to avoid overworking any of it. I am having a lot of fun with this one. I started it in the summer and put it away as I was not pleased with how it was progressing. It came out 2 or 3 weeks ago and I have been dabbing away at it when I can, and am enjoying it much more this time. I have it propped up in my studio so that I can see it when I walk in and every time it jumps off the wall at me and says "look at me!" I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do. As always, comments are welcome.

Angel tracks

2009-11-27T14:09:00.002-04:00

Angel Tracks, 10 x 7", watercolour, $250

Here is another painting from a fun day in the snow last year. I will be adding this image to my collection of Christmas cards, which will be available soon at Bluefin Fine Handicraft and Gifts in Digby.

Angel in the Snow

2009-11-18T12:31:00.003-04:00

Angel in the Snow, 7 x 10", watercolour, Nov 2009, $250

We have not had any snow here yet, but this is about the only part of the province that has not had snow. It has been cold and is feeling a lot like winter so I guess my thoughts are tending toward pictures to use for Christmas cards. This is a possible candidate for a series of cards. I will announce it on here once they are ready.

Kids at the beach

2009-11-10T10:19:00.003-04:00

Kids at the Beach, 7 x 10", watercolour, Oct 2009, $198

This picture comes from a trip that I took with the kids to one of my favourite beaches. Mavillette Beach on the south west shore of Nova Scotia is a great place to spend a hot August afternoon. Some days there is too much fog but on this day the fog was hovering off the coast and sunshine bathed the beach. There were sandcastles dotting the kilometer long stretch of sand and kids everywhere having fun.

Snow paintings

2009-10-29T21:03:00.003-03:00

December Sunrise, 7 x 10", watercolour, Oct 2009, $195

These are paintings done for display and sale at the Digby General Hospital as part of their Winter Light show, starting November 18th. I have painted the above winter scene before. It is of the view from the home where I grew up. I have liked the previous paintings so much that I kept it for myself and gave the next one to my parents. The one above is a new interpretation, and is the first time I have offered this scene for sale.

Shadows Stretching, 5 x 7", watercolour, Oct 2009, $98

Light through Trees, 5 x 7", watercolour, Oct 2009, $98

One cold and bright February morning I went for a walk. The snow was newly fallen and the sun was still low in the sky. The light coming through the trees was fantastic. I took many photos and as I go back to them at this time of year, I always find something new to portray.

Fall colours

2009-10-07T08:59:00.006-03:00

Allain's River, Annapolis Royal, 7 x 10", watercolour, Oct 1, 2009 $250

The leaves are were just starting to turn last week when I stopped in Lequille to take some pictures. I am sure that if I went back this week the colours would be more dramatic. I also drove through Bear River where the leaves were fantastic. I would love to get back there to paint sometime soon.

I am not sure of the name of this river as a nearby plaque referred to the Lequille River. The Department of Highway's sign called it Allain's River, so that is what I went with. Please let me know if I have misnamed it.

Lessons from Cape Breton

2009-09-27T12:39:00.007-03:00

Englishtown Channel, 7 x 10, watercolour, plein air Aug 28 09

So I went to Cape Breton for a week of painting classes with top notch instructors. All of them are painters famous in their own right as well as being very good at sharing their knowledge. I really learned a lot. Then I came home with my head bursting full of new painting techniques and ideas, and life got in the way of painting for a while. But now I am back at it and here is some of what came of my trip. The last day of classes was spent painting out of doors (that's what plein air means, for you non-painting people) at the Englishtown wharf. It is a lovely spot.

I painted the above sketch very quickly, just to get an idea of how to tackle the far shore of the channel and the water. Owing to the brisk wind and clouds over head the water was a fair bit darker than I am used to painting successfully. I have always had trouble, making dark water look murky, and this water was crystal clear. I wanted to do it justice. I was reasonably pleased with this sketch. I did feel that the composition was a little boring. The ferry terminal and the power poles leading out to it are a bit hard to understand if one does not know the area, so I wanted to find something more interesting and simpler to make into a painting. So then I painted the sketch below.

Englishtown Channel #2, 7 x 10, watercolour, plein air Aug 28 09

In this one (above) I am happy with how the hills in the background fade away, also with the shape of the cloud shadows on the far hills. The remainder of it could be better. The instructor, Chris Gorey, suggested to me that I include some purple in the shadows on the hills. So when I got home to my studio and finally got time to paint, I started experimenting. I tried using purple shadows a few times and eventually came up with something suitable to share. (see #5 below) I think I also fixed some of the compositional problems that were present in #2, above. I do feel that the contrast between the hills and the sky is a bit too strong. The hills could be a bit lighter and the undersides of the clouds could be darker.

Englishtown Channel #5, 10 x 14", studio, Sept 22 2009

As it was the hills and the sky and the marriage of the two that was bothering me, I decided to focus on the far hillside as I had done in my first sketch.

Englishtown Channel #6, 7 x 10", studio, Sept 25 2009

I really learned something painting the clouds in this one. I painted the dark underbellies of the clouds first instead of after around the white parts. I found that this worked really well. (though the photo I notice is a bit washed out, I will try to come back and fix it with a new photo soon) In the end, the undersides were still too light, but now I felt like I was making progress! I incorporated some purple in the hill shadows and it worked okay. In fact I am more happy with this version of the hills than in the version which follows below.

Englishtown Channel #7, 7 x 10", studio, Sept 27, 2009

It might seem that I am going too far with this subject but every now and then my scientific side speaks up and says "what if I did the same painting but changed this one thing?" So I tried to repeat #6 but make the clouds darker. Again, I painted the shadows first, and this time I painted a bit of blue around the white shapes of the clouds. I am most pleased with this sky of any of the ones in this series.

For now I am going to move on to something new, hopefully applying more lessons from Cape Breton. Stay tuned for the results! As always, I welcome comments.

The story of the motorbike

2009-09-17T20:36:00.003-03:00

For those of you who are wondering why I painted a picture of a motorbike, here is the story. The town of Digby is the home of the Wharf Rat Rally, the fastest growing motorcycle rally in North America. I belong to the Home and School Association for the elementary school in Digby. Our plan is to build a new playground for the elementary students, and that, like eveything else, takes money. I painted the motorbike and donated the painting to the Home and School, who in turn, raffled it off during the weekend of the Wharf Rat Rally. We were able to raise over $800 to go toward the Home and School. I am grateful to all the volunteers who helped sell tickets.

We hope to do this again next year. I wandered around the Rally during the weekend and took lots of pictures of bikes. Lots of chrome and sun gleaming off shiny enamel paint. In a few months I hope to get started on another bike picture. Stay tuned...

In the meantime, I have been doing some plein air painting. Just a little bit each week since I came back from Cape Breton. I hope to have something ready to post soon.

Triumph Bonneville T100, finished!

2009-09-02T20:48:00.005-03:00

Triumph Bonneville T100, 20 x 29", watercolour

This painting is not for sale. It is being raffled off at the Wharf Rat Rally in Digby this weekend. The tickets will be sold in downtown Digby this weekend, starting on Friday Sept 4.

Back from Cape Breton

2009-08-31T10:08:00.003-03:00

I spent a marvelous week in Cape Breton attending the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour National Symposium. The instruction offered there was excellent and the scenery offered limitless material to paint. I could have stayed there for weeks! I will be posting some of my work from the week , but since I have returned home the focus has been on getting the motorbike painting finished. A progress report on that will follow soon I hope.

For now I shall leave you with a photo from Cape Breton, where as you can see if you look closely, we spent some time painting in the rain! It was all a lot of fun, though, even with the rain.

Paint the Town 2009

2009-08-22T21:28:00.006-03:00

Work on the motorcycle painting is on hold for the moment while I take part in some out door painting events.

Here are the paintings that I did today (Saturday) at Paint the Town in Annapolis Royal NS.

I had planned to paint tomorrow as well but there is this little disturbance brewing offour south east coast called Hurricane Bill which has forced a change of plans.

These paintings are available for silent auction at the Legion in Annapolis Royal tomorrow, unless they sold today. If you are near the area, go check it out!

Sparkle, 7 x 10", my favourite from today!

(all are watercolour)

There is more than one way to paint a boat!, 10 x 7"

Private Collection

Scallop Boat, 10 x 14"

Private Collection

Juxtaposition, 10 x 14"

Private Collection

Is it Clearing?, 7 x 10"

Private Collection

Gone Fishin', 7 x 10

Private Collection

Fog on the basin, 7 x 10"

Private Collection

Triumph cycle, spinning my wheels

2009-08-18T23:00:00.005-03:00

Work continues on this. While I am actually painting it seems like I am making little progress. Each little area that I work on seems so minute compared to the whole thing. I am encouraged when I step away from it and look back to see how far I have come. I am making progress.

My most faithful critic suggests that the tires could be darker and he is right. But that shall come later, as there is still much I feel needs to be done first.

Triumph Bonneville T100, a work in progress

2009-08-16T10:29:00.002-03:00

Here the painting is now that I have started to add darker colours.

Up until this point I was using only 3 tubes of paint: cobalt blue, hansa yellow medium and quidacrinone coral (red). With these three, however, it is not possible to create rich dark tones. I never use black paint because I find it makes things look muddy too quickly. To make the black above I used ultramarine blue and burnt sienna (a brown). Mixed together these make a nice deep black and thin out to some really neat greys. (Artists get excited about greys, go figure!)

As well as painting in the black reflective bits I am also working on the details of the engine and darkening the reflections on the chrome. Who knew that chrome could be such fun to paint?

One can see that I have put the shadow in behind the bike. Now that I have done so I can work on the background showing through the spokes of the front wheel. I was holding off from doing so until I knew exactly what the ground behind was going to look like. Much easier to match the small areas to the larger area than the other way around.

Come back again soon, as I hope to get more work done on this tonight. Please feel welcome to leave a comment as well.