Salt Marsh 1

I had never seen a salt marsh until I visited Nova Scotia a couple of months ago. I had a day off between business meetings and decided to take a rental car and go around the Cap Breton Island. Around Ingonish, there is a dip in the road and it opens to a beautiful salt marsh that begs to be painted. I took a lot of pictures and will be doing a few paintings from them. This is a small one (3"x5") to start things off.

Salt Marsh, Acrylic on Artist Quality Canvas Panel, 3"x5"
US$35.00

Summer

Summer, Acrylic on Gessoed Masonite, 8"X10"
US$100

Salmon Arms II

Two summers ago, on a business trip to the BC interior, I had the pleasure of spending a night in Salmon Arms. At the time, I did a lousy watercolour of the view of the lake from the wharf near the Prestige Inn. Although the day was hazy, I made the mistake of placing my board in full sun and the colours came out horrible. In the glaring light of the sun, the colours sparkled with blues and subtle browns, but once indoors, the painting looked horrid. Everything was muddy and drab.

For the past 16 months the painting sat in the growing pile of failures. My growing Tower of London, - or to use a contemporary image - the Guantanamo of my short falls. This week, feeling tired, but wanting to work out a few business frustrations in my mind, I pulled it out and decided to work it over with Oil Pastels. A few hours, and a quick critique from my most trusted and hardest critic later, this emerged.

As much as I love working in watercolours, I am beginning to favour opaque media such as pastels and Acrylics. I haven't touched my Oil paints yet for fear of an asthma reaction, but I would like to get them out eventually. Maybe when the weather gets better in a few months and I can take them outside. For now, I think I will be digging through the pile of failures and trying to save a few.

Salmon Arms, Oil Pastel over Watercolour on Fabriano 140lb Rough paper, 9"x12"
US$100

Plein air Jordan Creek

I went out again this weekend. This time I had a new friend, Denis with me. Denis is an older Gentleman and does some nice work of his own! We met off the QEW highway and he lead me to this nice creek just off the road. We settled down and after a few sketches got to work.

I did most of this one outdoors (the day was not as cold as I had expected). I then took it home and worked on it some more to bring it to where I am satisfied with it.

Jordan Creek, 9" x 12" Watercolour on Paper.
US$100

Plein air again!

It has been some time since I last went out to do Plein air painting. Part of the reason is because I have been enjoying my new studio, but the other part is that I have been working hard and have enjoyed sleeping in. Maybe it was the fact that snow will soon be blanketing our province, or the fact that the colour in the trees are about to fade and are so somber now that I just had to paint them. I don't know. But yesterday, despite the all-day-rain and the cold, I packed my gear and braved the elements. I had scouted this hidden park in Mississauga. Mississauga is not really a destination for nature lovers. Essentially a bee-hive of suburban homes interspersed by strip malls, it does not, on the surface, beckon easels from across the world. There is a Lebanese saying: "The close church does not heal" meaning that one would have to travel further to find value. I have, however, found numerous spots along the Credit river in Mississauga that would rival many a faraway vista. I will be frequenting them in the future and documenting this unlikely subject city.

Saturday God left the tap on. The rain just would not stop. I had taken my umbrella with me and thought that I would brave the drizzle and paint in the park, but I just couldn't do it. The rain was steady and I would have been soaked. Not wanting to go back home empty handed, I parked the SUV strategically, opened the hatch and settled in the back. Safe from the rain, I didn't have much choice of a view, but I made do with the start of the pathway from the parking lot.
Pathway, 8"x11", Watercolour on Paper

Sunday, I woke up to a sunny but bitter cold day. After checking with my very supportive wife about the repercussions of back-to-back plein air sessions, I again sped to my hidden park and this time walked about a mile in taking pictures and making mental notes. I finally found this beautiful bend in the river, and against my better judgement, I unfolded my easel at the edge of a bridge and began working. I say against my better judgement because I know that bridges are exposed to wind. Yes I froze. It was -2C with the windchill, but I bet you it was closer to -4C where I stood in the steady wind.
The Credit in The Fall, 8"x11", Watercolour on Paper

Both of these were done mostly outdoors, but some refining work was done on them in the comfort of my studio as well. I hope you enjoy them.

Harper and the dumbing down of the Canadian Society

After campaigning on a platform that tore down the image of Canadian art and artists and set us up as Champagne-drinking, red-carpet-treading snobs, comes the news that Harper has just nixed plans to build a permanent home for the Portrait Gallery of Canada. Nice move Mr. Harper.

The right wing in North America has somehow transformed itself into the party of the dumbed down proletariat. A kind of Maoist anti-culture anti-art, tinged with market driven lesser fare that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.


A society's wealth is not measured by how many BMWs roam the streets of the big cities, but how many buses full of school children stop at the national treasures of art that a society showcases. Mr. Harper, would have us moth-ball the national treasures of Canada and benefit the U-Store-It businesses where we can archive our culture. Nice move Mr. Harper.

The Blue Meanies have taken over Pepperland. And we need the Sargent Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band to re-colour Canada. We need a new election folks. We need to find a partner for Obama other than the buffoon we have now in Ottawa.

Gathering - update

I went back and lightened the distant land a bit to give it some aerial perspective. I felt that dark distant colour was too strong.

Gathering

Willow Bend is still undergoing metamorphosis. I am not sure it is going to make it, but I will post it here when it is finally rolled out of the operation room. I am not promising it will be viewable, but as is the custom on this blog, I post the good, the bad and the ugly here.

Enough about that. Today I made this little 5"x7" Acrylic. I love the sea having lived my youth walking distance from the shores of the Mediterranean. On stormy days you could smell the surf from my house. So whenever I am inspired to paint but don't have a compelling image in mind, I fall back on the sea. At the end of it all, I guess I will have many of these shore-lines with my signature on them!

Gathering, 5"x7" Acrylic on Board.

Willow Bend

I'm not sure what to make of this Oil Pastel. I am certain I am not done with it yet, but I know I won't have time to play with it until next weekend and so I wanted to put it out there for all to see and comment about.

The far trees and the river still need some work, as well as the near brush. Still I like it so far I think. You?

Willow Bend, Oil Pastel on WorldWin Autumn Red Archival Paper 12" x 12"