Grainery and a Chicken
Here are a couple more small paintings – 3” x 3”.
I gave away lots of little paintings for Christmas and I can’t seem to stop doing them. They do make perfect gifts!
Jan 14
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Cat Nap
Cat Nap 3" x 3"
As I painted this little cat, I kept thinking that I need to put more animals into my artwork. When I was younger, I drew only animals – cats and horses were my favourites. Below you’ll see a glimpse into my sketchbook from 1998. That seems like such a long time ago, yet I can still remember working on these drawings. Somehow my passion for filling up sketchbooks with animals has evolved into my obsession with capturing beautiful little scenes around me. If, in 13 years, I look back on the artwork I did today, I wonder what I will think. I wonder where it will take me?
Dec 3
Anonymous and sold
North on Vine Street 8" x 8"
Now that it has sold, I can show you my submission to the Anonymous Show put on by the North Vancouver Arts Council. This is a street scene from my neighbourhood (although the house has now been painted red).
I would love to find out who chose my painting. Here is a look at the entire show:
Anonymous Show - North Vancouver. And there is my painting.
Painting Twins and Multiples
When I work on tiny paintings, I often do 2 or 3 at the same time. I have found that there is a large time investment for one, but to do an additional one or two does not add that much time to the process. For instance, if 1 tiny painting takes 2 hours to complete, I can probably finish a set of 3 in 2.5 to 3 hours. Of course, each painting does not come out the same. They share the same general colours and composition, but I try not to be too picky about making all the details match. Each one is truly an original. Can you spot the differences?
Low Tide - two 3" x 3" acrylic paintings
Two Tiny Paintings
Snowed In - 3" x 3"
Walk in the Park - 3" x 3"
With all this cold rainy weather there’s not much to do but stay in and paint. Fine by me. These two tiny paintings are for sale on my Etsy page.
New Little Paintings and Anonymous Art
I will soon be delivering these tiny paintings to Oh Brothers. They are 3” x 3”. I love working on these little canvases and hope to finish a bunch more before Christmas (might be perfect for that hard-to-buy-for person on your list…).
In other news, I just finished another painting, but I can’t post it here yet. I have submitted it to the Anonymous Show put on by the North Vancouver Arts Council. The show will consist of over 600 unsigned 8” x 8” paintings, all priced at $100. The sale and opening is on Nov. 24, 7-9:30pm. All the info is here.
Oct 6
Icy Alberta Spring
The Icy Spring 11"x14"
I photographed this Alberta landscape a couple of years ago on a cold, sunny spring day. The colour of these red graineries seems to hold the promise of warmer days. I love the way the red siding contrasts with the crisp, dry field and the icy pond.
It seems that I have mainly used the three primary colours here. I could pretend that it was deliberate, but I only realized it as I was finishing up.
Sep 27
Both sides of the Road
East Side of the Road & West Side of the Road, 4" x 6"
These are two paintings of the same road on Westham Island, near Delta, BC. One is a view of east side and the other is the west. They are little (4″ x 6″) and I finished both in one day. My goal was that each one would work on it’s own, or they could be displayed together – as sort of a diptych. I love to paint old buildings, power poles and power lines, so I had a lot of fun with these paintings.
Sep 13
Knowing When to Stop
Retired in Nova Scotia 18" x "24
Sometimes I have trouble knowing when a painting is finished. When the painting is nearing completion, I have this need to tinker – brightening here, darkening there, adding more detail, fine-tuning the colour, and on and on it goes. The trick is knowing when to stop, before the painting becomes overworked. So, I am taking a break from this one. I think it might be done, but I’m not sure. I have to look at it for a while.
By the way, I’ve painted this boat before (several years ago). You can see the first version on my home page or here.
Aug 15
Time to freshen things up
For a while now I have been thinking about redesigning my website. Ideally I’d like my new website to include: a gallery of all work, a blog to present new work and share news, and a store.
Currently, my original paintings are for sale on Etsy and prints are available on Imagekind, but my plan is to be able to sell items directly from my own website. Etsy and Imagekind are great sites, but they don’t give me the kind of control that handling my own sales would. For instance, if someone purchases a print from my Imagekind store, I do not have access to their name or info. I am never able to thank those who have purchased prints of my work. (So if you are one of those people, I thank you now! I was not ungrateful – I just didn’t know it was you!).
Anyway, the process has begun. I am slowly working away at my new site. I’m sure this will be a long process – there hasn’t been lot of free time these days with the kids being out of school. On the rare occasions that I have a block of time to myself, I have to choose between painting and working on the website – and painting is just way more fun.
This is a very, very preliminary look at what I’ve been working on:
