Orange Featured Art of the Day

This 24x24 acrylic abstract was awarded Feature of the Day on Milliande's Art Community - I am honoured

It is bright and beautiful - it reminds me of the sunsets here - hopefully it starts off your long weekend with some sunshine

I am working on a collage right now (3D effects) and some impressionist series
Hope everyone has a good weekend

Something Different

Decided to try something different - this one was painted entirely with my fingers

I am calling it my Spirit Tree ... acrylic on canvas 18 x 24  - it was healing and therapeutic, totally creative from my imagination 

This next one is Mystic Circles - can you see the theme here? It is brightly coloured acrylic on canvas 14x18 using a gel medium so it has lots of texture and gloss 

I am experimenting and creating and you can expect the unexpected ... it feels good to be able to do this 

Please email me if you have any requests - some of you have been wanting my artwork which is great - am so happy you like it

Peonies on 30x40 canvas

This painting was difficult for me physically but creatively I had a great time with it ... this is totally from my imagination - I wanted a fun floral featuring Peonies in soft tones
It is the largest canvas I have worked on and my neck, back and arms are suffering for it so am resting now
I have to pace myself a bit better - smaller paintings are difficult because I cannot bend my neck or back over to sit and work on them, and this size was good because I could stand and use my entire arm rather than wrist and hand motions but it took hours or work and I am mentally and physically exhausted so I think I was a little too enthusiastic about it - this painting is for a very special lady who loves Peonies and has a birthday coming up soon

I hope you like this ... I miss my peonies so this painting is really fun to look at each morning 

Floral progress

The floral acrylic canvas is coming along - building up with sponges and light washes and background

Above is a close up of the flowers being put in and the background leaves starting to come along
There are quite a few layers of work here and I have been experimenting with different items to get more comfortable = amazing what you can do with a canvas and some paint - this painting is not from a photo reference - it is being painted with music and my imagination which is the way I love the most
Thus no predicting how it will turn out and I do not feel locked in to any particular way of painting -- there is more freedom of expression and creativity this way
Here is the painting in full 30 x 40 inch canvas

Remember this is an Art Journal, so I post progress pics and am keeping this as a journal of my work as it comes along - Today is classical music I think - for a nice change
Thanks for all of your support and hope you are enjoying this - also wondering if the lighter background is better for you - A happy day to all of you

Laying down the Base for the Floral Peonies

Hi everyone - I have read that people prefer LIGHT backgrounds on blogs with dark text... rather than the black background that I had -Will be playing around a bit with it but would love some input
Also have some recent progress pics

In the previous post I showed you the setup - did a wash of acrylics in a really "watercolour" fluid without mixing so it had pinks lilac darker purple all flowing into each other

then a sponge with some more purples and pinks and mixed in a bit of soft yellow

Now I am doing the saran wrap again....

just along the bottom so the green leaves (see how some of it is pale yellow and different shades of green - I mixed and drizzled and sponged and then put on the saran all wrinkled) and it dries like that so I can't do much now... I guess I have to go make dinner and knit - but fun to see it tomorrow and how it turns out 

Also used some masking fluid tracing along the previous stems formed with the saran wrap - and glazed over with another shade of pink  - I want it to be soft pastel but the music today - Supertramp - is dictating otherwise and we are getting lots of fun colours - the brush and the music paint the canvas, and today the music was adding some great colours - DREAMER played quite a few times... I wonder if that might be relevant and the music is talking to me - I know my teachers used to say I was a dreamer ... hmmm... I don't actually have a problem with that 

Let me know what you think of the brighter blog - maybe it is easier for you to read - apparently a lot of folks prefer it 

Thanks to all of you for your comments

New one 30 x 40 inch

oh my goodness.
starting off with a wash of light purples and pinks so it mixes in with mauve and lilac - pinks showing through
then while wet, I applied saran wrap all over in crinkled bits - so it will dry with patterns I can work with - I am thinking a "floral with PEONIES" for someone very special ... my grandmother will be 105 and her favourite flower has always been the Peony - this will be a tribute to her and how wonderful she has been to all of us...this lady... I could tell you some wonderful stories

You can't tell the size of it from this photo but it is the largest canvas (30 x 40 inch)I have ever worked on - more freedom to experiment - so this is the canvas covered in saran wrap all crinkled up in bits
here is a close up of what it does to the colours ...

See how it pushes the colours around and then leaves stems and shapes as it dries - I just peeked and there are little bumps and circles of purple and it is all working perfectly - no rules - I LOVE NO RULES

Also today I joined a women's art community and met some wonderful artistic creative ladies from all over the world - some of us are freezing cold, some of us are boiling hot, some of us were going to bed and some of us were just waking up - technology is great - we can now connect with people and share ideas and resources and inspiration - I am excited to have a whole new world of friends out there - thank you all for being part of this art journey with me
I am working on setting up a website so I can sell my art online - right now am working on commissions and you can just email me if you would like anything and we will discuss canvas size, prices, colours etc - THANK YOU to all of you

Exploring Creativity PART 2

Finished...
This is 20 x 24 mixed media on canvas - acrylics using sponges and random materials out of my imagination
Part 1 showed you how it was coming together - this is the final piece
If you enlarge it, you will see words floating in the painting and a butterfly and a man (wearing a scarf for those of you who knit out there, that is important) with a horse - I love how the glow of light is coming from the door and the lattice work and fence were made with masking tape and an old credit card
The music made this one happen for me and it was great fun!!

Exploring Creativity

Exploring creativity and art expression through exciting new techniques means taking a leap of faith

This piece (20x24 inch canvas) is being created as a collage with acrylic (Golden OPEN) and gel transfer

I have masking tape, paper towels, saran wrap, magazine pieces and found items

using pen and acrylic and sponges to paint this

Lots of great music playing as usual... today the music is from the GLEE cast - all the songs just keep comin' and the inspiration from them

The music makes the painting for me


Yesterday I spent hours cleaning up the studio and cleaning brushes and organizing

 What do you think?? I have two easels - the Mac is fabulous for the music and reference photos - the lace table hides my printer and cleaning products - it is finally organized and I am free to explore - I would rather be painting and creating so off I go... This studio is my favourite place in the world

Beach Dreams

Good day to all of you... a change of scenery today - a beach scene "just because" it is getting warmer and summer is on the way. This was a requested painting for a very special lady and hopefully it will help her drift away and dream of the beach and relaxing
This painting was really different for me - it was done ENTIRELY with a PALETTE KNIFE
I had a good time with this and enjoying using the palette knife and all of the effects one can achieve without a brush

This is oil on canvas board 12 x 16 - perfect size for her wall 

Many of you have enjoyed reading about the process of painting and seeing the stages of the work - my work usually takes a lot of time and many layers - 

The palm trees were interesting to try to paint with a palette knife but I think they were fun to do and would have been difficult to get the 3D effect with a brush - these palm trees are really thickly painted and stand out in the painting

I am trying to experiment with styles that are more loose and expressionistic or impressionist - with more of a focus on colour and light so using the palette knife was an exciting experiment and I am pleased 

I have been reading a lot of wonderful blogs by different artists and enjoying learning how to make an art blog - thank you all for your support and your comments 

I am off to create more ...

Second Verse, Same as the First

Ok so we are doing a REVISED edition of the painting which has SOLD now... if it doesn't feel "done" then it doesn't feel "right" = there is a possibility of overworking it, but also there is this unsettling feeling

I will paint a number of these and some of you out there might like a painting as a reminder of the cottage...

I took a photo of some of the pieces of the ROCKS here... you can see the colours and how beautiful they are. So imagine huge rocks that you can walk across with the blue of the water and the big ol' pine trees leaning and the wind blowing - it is so lovely - so here are the rocks... if you enlarge it you can see all the beautiful colours

Now here is some of the scenery...

and this was not a sunny day, it was brutally windy and cold - I actually wore my winter hat and mittens with the windbreaker pants today to walk out here
You have to wear long pants because of the snakes (I don't paint them)

Georgian Bay Through My Eyes

Sorry people - I said I would post yesterday but this painting was a struggle... from previous posts you can see how it started and how much it changed - that is the beauty of working with oils and of spontaneity ... with most of my paintings I walk and think about what I will be painting - then look at reference photos and then just paint - I paint from the heart and out of my head without looking at the photos again ... put on some music and CREATE - so sometimes what comes up is totally different from my original idea
Most mornings I wake up thinking about the colours - to me, the colours and the light and the actual "ACT" of painting and creating is more important than what I am painting, and oil gives me the freedom to do that and change it up - the music for this painting was Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen and some Robbie Williams songs - on my previous paintings I was working with Johann Strauss and a lot of classical music
Also the theme music from "Dances With Wolves" was a big part of the creation of this painting - I seemed to play the "John Dunbar Theme" over and over

I still love the sky on this one - tried to carry the soft purple through into the water and the rocks were tricky ... Alice and I walk these rocks every day and there is A LOT of pink granite but so many colour variations

I am going to paint many more of these because obviously it is what I see every day and I want to share with you and show you my little corner of the world...

The previous post had the "beginning" of the painting - here is one of the progression pics so you can see the trouble I had with it... See how they look like almost totally different paintings? Except for the sky of course - I have so many of these pics in my head and paintings that NEED to be painted - I did not want to give up on this one and was not happy with it.

Happy now and moving on to another - hope you like it too - it is so beautiful here - I think some Annie Lennox and Stevie Wonder might help for this new painting ... a beach scene (I think - haha - you never know with me...) Here is the start - will let you know what happens

I found a quote from a book called Art & Fear - to me the process of creating the art is more important than the painting itself... this quote makes sense to me
”To all viewers but yourself, what matters is the product: the finished artwork. To you, and you along, what matters is the process.” Art and Fear, page 5.

From meadow to rocks and water almost done

Have been working on the painting with the beautiful sky from the previous post - I love that sky so I am NOT giving up on this painting - but it has changed from a meadow to water and the beautiful pink granite rocks... now I wonder why? haha (for those of you who do not know, I am surrounded by them here where I live)
I probably will be painting a lot of rocks from now on... am working on the trees and almost done
A bit overenthusiastic with the painting which caused some real suffering and I will have to pace myself - I should have known better... so I am painting in little bits each day, walking to take photos for reference and get out there and enjoy all of this scenery, and then painting with yarn (some call it knitting) at night and I think rather than painting all day and all night with walks in between, I was just too exhausted and in too much pain
Also I have learned that keeping a blog and talking to people and trying to go on other sites and make comments on their work as well as answering emails and facebook is so time consuming and I need to try to juggle and learn how to balance this new lifestyle a bit - I am very excited about the painting and happy to share with all of you - I am happy to do more commissions, and happy to answer any email questions about work you might like to have done.
Tomorrow I am starting a new painting and will have this present finished one up for you - and it will hopefully be a nice surprise - interesting that I had trouble painting one day and then with the music playing, it is much easier and the creativity just flows so nicely - but it is frustrating not to paint for hours at a time and stay "in the zone" - for now, I need to just slow it down a bit - I will definitely not disappear and will continue to paint every day (I wake up and immediately need to paint - I dream about it... so don't worry about that happening) but I may just blog once or twice a week rather than a daily blog - and tomorrow there will be a painting to show!! And another one started so I'm excited..,goodnight all

A Good Day

Sunshine and long walk with my dog all through the rocks and woods today... and painted a wonderful happy sky full of colour and clouds with laying down of groundwork for some kind of landscape - I actually paint without a program, using numerous photos and my imagination and everything I have absorbed from the walks so I guess you could say I paint intuitively and spontaneously - squeeze out the paint and put on the music and just do it... so today was GREAT - painted to Rod Stewart (every day different music - from waltzes to country to classic rock) and today Rod helped me paint a beautiful happy sky

This sky is dramatic and was fun to paint - I have seen so many of these skies here

This is oil on canvas about 16x18

Now I can focus on the land - it looks like it might be another meadow

I usually end up with a path somewhere (probably because I make paths every day on my walks with the dog - so it is symbolic but actual) and each day we walk a new path
This next photo shows the progression of my work and how I develop the painting

But tomorrow's photo might look totally different - with oils you can paint over everything and I have done that many times - completely changed it

but I think I will keep this sky for sure - does anyone else like it?

Paintings Enhanced and More Realistic Portrayal

Have been working on the photography aspect ... taking pics of the paintings is difficult as the photos do not show the true colours, so have enhanced them to try and portray them more accurately for you

Also some "older" works here in this post just so you can follow along - enjoy - am starting a new one!! I am excited ... I must have taken 200 photos today on our walk - this area is so gorgeous I could paint every day and never paint enough - lots of material to work from today- off to upload the pics and figure out what to paint!!

Still not right but you can see the colours - the sky is a deep blue and the barn has some beautiful rusts and reds and burgundy in it - the florals almost look there are little pools of water

This is an older one - a watercolour with daisies - Welcome Spring and lets get some sunshine and warmer weather...

This is an older one too... an Indian Chief done in pastels on vellum paper - I really like this one  - the colours are fun and to me, he is very handsome and looks like a Chief should look

Have tried to enhance the colours in this "Maiden of the Meadow" painting for a more true depiction as it is really a very deeply coloured moving painting - it feels good and free and peaceful - the colours are soothing but very moody and the camera just could not capture it the way I wanted...

This one is for a very special person... and I worked from a photo reference but I tried to make it into a place of contemplation and solace... a relaxing, surreal place where you could sit on the rocks and watch the hawks and maybe a fox might just magically appear - the only sound is the wind and your dog rustling around in the meadow grasses and wild flowers nearby - I hope that is the sense you get from this painting - a tranquil spot and a very special place

Some great books I have enjoyed... while you wait for my next painting

This is a great book - just thought I'd pass on a recommendation

  It is dog-eared with love...


Off to paint - I PAINT EVERY SINGLE DAY but will update this blog at least once a week, and sometimes more ... with tips, hints, or daily musings and of course my art
Have a great day!

Secret Paradise

My latest work with lots of texture -  oil on 14x18 canvas board

I called "Secret Paradise" because it looks like a wonderful gardener's tool shed but is an old barn with beautiful florals overgrown in a tranquil spot that has been abandoned ...  some lucky person has made a little path and is working on the garden... I love this technique and all the colours in this one.

Wanna see the real thing in winter? This is my little path with my dog... walking through and around the abandoned shed/barn

Georgian Bay Artwork

This week's painting is my interpretation of the rocks and water here on Georgian Bay - many more of these to come - Oil on Canvas 12 x 16

A winter view of the scenery here out at the water and walking about on the rocks in he summer ;)

Hope you have a good walk wherever you are today ... no matter what season ;)

Spring 2010

Some of these works were done to welcome Spring of 2010

This one is entitled "A Dog's View" with a playful dog romping through the meadow after his ball, encountering ghosts from the past but accepting them as though they are real and part of his world - they accept the dog, which leads me to think they may have had a dog romping nearby also - perhaps the dog will continue on and find a playmate

This is an Oil on Canvas 14 x 18" entitled "A Special Place" with four symbolic rocks and a meandering path through the beautiful meadow - the meadow is supposed to be surreal and magical with the serene view of the farmland and rolling hills and cows ...

a place to contemplate and rest where a deer or fox might just come and sit with you - it is a place of peace and happy thoughts

Bright happy Sunflowers with purple floral lilac bush by an old fence post - think Spring and cheerful colours ... this is Oil on Canvas 16 x 20"

Another Spring floral - purple fantasy flowers with little wild strawberries in a field of meadow grass - I painted this in my art studio during a snowstorm and wanted some bright happy colours ... it worked - every morning I would look outside and see grey and white but would pass by the studio and see these colours and feel SO much better - this is Acrylic on Canvas Board 22 x 30"

This is a smaller watercolour using negative painting technique, again during winter when there was just white and snow and grey and no colour and I really just wanted to paint something fun - a smaller scale - it is an 8 x 10 with the mat, and 6 x 8 unframed

Previous Artwork

This is a new art blog so I will post some of my previous work here and then do updates with my paintings

Added a few highlights and a bit more of the Alizarin Crimson to the smooth rocks but this is an unbalanced painting showing the beautiful granite rocks and the deep blue purple of the water here - the sunsets are just gorgeous
Oil on Canvas - 12 x 16 Sold

The "Maiden in the Meadow" is Oil on Canvas 14 x 18 with deep purples in the sky and the rolling hills, evoking a sense of wandering the moors or climbing uphill on an endless journey - but the lady is headed towards the light and has made her way through the treacherous rocks so there is hope and the solitude is almost peaceful for her

Hope you find solitude and peace on your journeys too ;)