Paintings 2010
I finished this 30" x 40" oil painting December 2010 - the last painting of my design before I began my commissions due for Christmas. This figurative painting is of the model, daughter, visiting my studio at the Williams Mill. This painting symbolizes many changes. It features my new studio, one of the few times I've painted an interior. My daughter, my model, is usually painted in casual summer get up.
Happy New Year!
One of the joys of being an artist is the opportunity for life long learning, discovery and play (to misquote Hamlet "The play's the thing!"). Artists are probably one of the poorest (financially) of the professional demographics, but the reward of infinite growth is priceless.
For a while now, I have been curious about the encaustic (from the Greek word "to burn in") or hot wax painting process. I had a series in mind that I envisioned with the built up, molten, textured, luminous look that results from painting encaustically. However, upon research, I discovered that the traditional hot wax process, with its fumes (as well as potential toxicity) of melting bees-wax, carnauba wax, damar resin, and pigment, was out of the question in my poorly vented studio which shares air space with 6 other artists. So recently, when Canadian painter Janice Mason Steeves http://www.janicemasonsteeves.com/ promoted her workshop in the "Cold Wax Process" -no heating wax, no excessive fumes- I enrolled.
Things to find out. How would this process differ from hot wax? How could I apply it my portraiture painting? Would it have the luminous and texture potentials of hot wax? (FYI I have noticed in word searches that bring readers to this article that it is wondered if canvas can be used as a surface. No. You want the solid surface of a panel os some sort so the wax doesn't crack when the canvas bends.)
Jan has a beautiful studio in Rockwood, Ontario, that was large enough for 8 of us to each work at a table of our own. Our goals were to play, experiment with colour, texture, and application on our prepared panels. My biggest challenge was "to play" with the medium. I am goal and product oriented, and any attempts to "play" resulted in one question "what if I did...?" branching into multiple more. I knew I was hooked when 10 prepared panels just weren't going to be enough!
Dorland's generously supplied the cold wax medium needed. This is the most remarkable product with a multitude of uses. (Sham - Wax!! :D) Check it out here http://www.paintspot.ca/cgi-bin/advice.pl?s=98 For our purposes we mixed it 50:50 with our oil paint and then squeegeed the resulting colours on in layers. Then the creative exploring started - wiping away, scraping, scratching, writing into, lifting off, blending, brayering in textured pattern from material, lifting off with newspaper, stencilled into - whatever this creative bunch thought to do.
On the second day, Jan instructed us to make ugly work, i.e., no thinking about finished products. Explore, experiment and play were the order of the day. But at the end of the workshop, when we took a look at each other's work, it seemed, we all failed ! Every piece - and we were a productive group - had a fascinating element. Eight very tired (playing can be exhausting) but very happy cold wax converts drove off into the sunset.
Encaustic Painting with Hot wax: Artist Jessie Fritsch has a nice explanation here http://www.jessiefritsch.com/encausticinfo.html
Great explanation here about is cold wax "encaustic". AMIEN stands for Artist Materials Information and Education Network http://www.amien.org/forums/showthread.php?2054-encaustics-with-no-heat
Here's another example of my cold wax work.
If you are up in the Orangeville area - just north of Brampton and north-west of Toronto, be sure to drop into the lovely "Dragonfly Arts on Broadway". My larger than life oil and oil stick painting of a cat , seen from the viewpoint of "something" much smaller, is featured in the window there until Halloween. I have heard great things about the Dragonfly Gallery over the past couple of years, but had never been there myself until last week.
Broadway is the "main" street accessed directly off Hwy 10, so the gallery is easy to reach. This main street is attractively maintained, has a variety of shops and eating establishments and the parking is free!
"Who's for Dinner?" - a huge attraction in my studio - is the latest in my big cat series. I don't paint with decorating in mind, but with its dramatic scale, use of black and silver, I have not been alone in imagining it over a leather couch or over a server in a contemporary dining room. See it at the delightful Dragonfly Arts on Broadway Gallery http://www.dragonflyarts.ca/ until the end of October.
A new painting - a 20" x 20" oil painting study of a child created for "Second Saturday Collectors Special" at the Williams Mill where I have my studio. Admired but still available!
Here is the latest large (60" x 30") oil painting. New looser, contemporary style, but it conveys everything I wanted it to. Can you feel the uplift? My son, crossing a tidal pool in the red sand shore of Prince Edward Island, is doing his best to walk on water and not step on the myriad of life found in its depth. Past this tidal pool, home and night awaits. The reflection symbolizes this beautifully.
Today was the second of the "Second Saturday Collectors' Special" series offered in my studio and that of fellow Williams Mill artist Carmen Hickson.
Carmen and I each create a new painting that is not unveiled until the second Saturday of each month. For that day only, each of our new paintings are offered at only a fraction of their worth.
For example, this month's 18" x 24" oil painting one canvas " Study for Summer Fun" - completed just this morning - was only $100 plus HST. It's wholesale value is $300 plus tax.
Why was this work offered as a lost leader?
Visitors to our studio are always enthusiastic about our work, but through conversation, it would seem that many of these visitors have never bought original art.
So, we have set about to ease the struggle the potential collector may feel in taking that first step in buying original art. We sincerely want to help people experience the joy that comes from owning original art ...and it is a joy!
We also have the fun of challenging ourselves in what special work we will create for this special day.
And to add to the excitement - other Williams Mill artists have decided to take part in August's Second Saturday Collector's Special. Now we can hardly wait for August. What wonderful works and special deals will August bring?
Finally! I finished the third in the series of "Big Cat" oil paintings. Although visitors to my studio especially love the Big Cat 1 painting and it inspires many a conversation, I have great fondness for the humour behind this work. Wouldn't want to be the mouse. I envision this painting in someone's dining room over the sideboard. It's really title should be " Who's for Dinner?"
Imagine this big Main Coon cat greeting you in the hallway when you get home or on the big wall at the stair landing! Well loved by all that visit my studio - even by those who aren't cat fans (as one woman stated "Imagine if it was a horse!") this cat would be a unique art work for the home. Painting #2 in the Giant Cat Series. 60" high by 40" wide. Black and white oil painting with gold and silver oil paint and oil stick. Next up - "Who's for Dinner" - the 3rd in the series is almost finished too.
These ten little 5" x 7" cat oil paintings may, I am thinking, be the first of a series of 100. In this first set most are of cats and wallpaper. One is an "Es-cat -ment" (a play on the Niagara Escarpment) , and one is a "harlecat". Most have silver or gold oil paint.
[slideshow] Above are a few photos of my studio - all cleaned up for this past weekend's "Spring into Art" Open House - an annual event on the first weekend of May at the Williams Mill Visual Artist Centre. Lots of black oil paint going on it those giant paintings of cats! I changed the "wet paint" sign to the more effective "Warning - Big Wet Cat".
Artist Carmen Hickson supplied the tulips, and not seen, I had lilacs and crabapple blossoms. As an aside, lilacs are out in Mississauga, are simply buds in Halton Hills, and a visitor told me are not yet in bud in Ottawa. The coffee was ready to brew on the Keurig, and the chocolates were out. Thank you to everyone who took the time to stop by. I always appreciate your investing in my art.
Couldn't make it this time? My studio, as well as the over 30 others at the Williams Mill Visual Arts Centre are open Fridays and Saturday 12 - 5 pm. The Williams Mill Gallery is open Wednesday to Sundays 12 - 5 pm.
The Williams Mill is in the western GTA (Greater Toronto Area). It is only 5 minutes south of Terra Cotta, and is 15 minutes north of Winston Churchill Blvd. and the 401 in Mississauga.
A new giant cat is emerging from the dark in my latest oil and oil stick painting - seen here in my studio at the Williams Mill.
The Colour Shaper tool is again proving useful to both add and remove paint creating great fur texture. Read all about the Forsaline & Starr Colour Shaper & how to use it here.
I didn't want to leave the studio today until I finished this painting - I was so anxious to see it completed. Although I adore painting in oils, drawing was my first love, and so, it was exciting for me to both draw (oil sticks) & paint (oils) in this art work. This piece also combines my love of portraits, my love of animals and my love of black (I am only painting in black until they invent something darker). Equally as fulfilling was my use, for the first time, of silver oil paint as my "white" - although its reflective values proved a little trickier to photograph. My iphone camera, couldn't quite do the trick.
Do you know that many artists give a lot of thought to the placement & appearance of their signature on their paintings? Well, I am one of those artists. This new work called for a different look to my signature. Traditionally, on my carefully rendered, realistic paintings, I carefully print my full name in block lettering. I don't like my signature to distract from the work, and even will use more than one colour to print it so that the signature flows with the work. This painting called for something more expressive. Artist Carmen Hickson of www.theredpigstudio.com lent me a nifty colour pushing brush* ( a rubber chisel tip instead of bristles). It was perfect for carving out a cursive signature with values that suited the painting.
By the way, "Big Cat Painting" is not the official title of the painting...
* I don't know the official name of these rubber tipped brushes, and tried unsuccessfully to google them for this post. My son, who used to work at Curry's Art Supplies, informed me they weren't big sellers, but I sure found it terrific to use. Do you know what this type of brush is called? I did however find this new neat little cleaning gadget while trying to find the rubber brush name https://www.currys.com/catalogpc.htm?Category=A021B006823&Source=Search. I could have used this when washing piles of black oil paint out of about 8 brushes this evening :D
Yesterday I mentioned I used Tri-Art's sludge as the preliminary step (the canvas was already gessoed in white) to starting this 60" x 48" cat painting. I was quite enamoured of the taupe, neutral colour of the sludge, and began the day by ensuring areas had the sludge show through. This was not my original vision for the painting. Sometimes it pays to go with one's instincts, but in this case it was keeping me from connecting with the portrait. If I don't fall in love with the face, I know something is wrong.
So back to the plan - Black and silver oil paint for this silver tabby. What appears white in this painting, or light gray is actually silver. The painting is not done yet. But the concept that one side of the cat disappears into the darkness, and the other side is awash in silver light - is becoming clearer.
This oil painting incorporates the use of oil sticks as well as oil paints.
I just finished a series of 8" x 8" paintings - Scotsdale Farm: Snow & Shadows. I needed to stretch my wings after painting so small.
A larger than life portrait painting of a Maine Coon cat in silver, black, and white oil stick and oils seemed the natural next step.
What I have done so far -
Here is #6 in my series of 8" x 8" oil paintings about the shadows, snow & structures at Scotsdale Farm, a heritage site on the Bruce Trail, in Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada. The iron effigy of the horse head, stands silently, in shadow, by the empty barn. In the sunny background, a car drives by. More symbolism for such a small regional landscape painting? The horse faces left - representing reflection & looking back. The car faces right symbolizing looking ahead. That it has moved out of the picture frame symbolizes movement forward and leaving the horse behind in its dust..err..exhaust.
Painting No. 5 (please note: now sold) in my oil series - One Cold Winter's Day - Scotsdale Farm. Scotsdale Farm, a heritage property now owned by the province of Ontario, is a beautiful Bruce Trail farm property with American Colonial architecture just north of my Williams Mill studio in Halton Hills . Standing down by the barn, I turned and looked back across, what in summer I imagine is a lovely green lawn, but is now covered in snow boldly banded in shadow. One strongly edged tree stood directly in my line of vision . It stood out in the circle of trees. I have given this 8" x 8" painting the title "Centre of Attention" but perhaps "Poser"is more appropriate?
By 6:15 a.m. this morning, I was out of the drive through at Tim's and on my way to the studio. I finished this little 8" x 8" oil painting of the bird feeder at Scotsdale Farm by 11. Don't be fooled I did not get this painting done in just a couple of hours. Although, I paint with confidence and rarely go back on what I do - these 8 x 8's still always take 8 - 10 hours of solid uninterrupted painting to complete. This is the fourth in my series of 8 x 8 inch paintings based on my January 2nd , 2010 visit to Scotsdale Farm with the Ontario Plein Air Society (OPAS). It was - 25 degrees C. that day and we experienced everything from bright sunshine to grey snow swirls.
Scotsdale Farm is a heritage property on the Bruce Trail, just north of Georgetown and my Williams MIll Studio in Glen Williams, Halton Hills, Ontario.
Finished this 8" x 8" oil painting of Scotsdale Farm, on the Bruce Trail in Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada. two Muskoka Chairs wait for summer time. Another of the interesting little white buildings to be found on the farm. The white clap board contrasts wonderfully with the dark trees, cast shadows and smooth snow. I don't know the significance of the bell? Decorative? An old school bell? Used to call farmhands to dinner? Can you suggest a better title for this work?
Read MoreUp and out early to my studio in the Stone Building of the heritage Williams Mill this morning, I was painting by 7:30 am. This little painting 8" x 8" oil painting of the stone silo at the province owned heritage site, the Scottsdale Farm. This beautiful old stone silo is on the Bruce Trail (a popular walking trail - part of the Niagara Escapement in Ontario, Canada).
I love the architecture of the American Colonial Buildings at this farm which I visited for the first time January 2 of this year with my plein air painting group OPAS. With three works of art inspired by this visit completed already, and other ideas lined up ready and waiting - I guess a Scotsdale Farm series is in the works! The photo below is very glossy as so fresh off the easel & it was still too dark out to take outside in more even light. Not a bad start to my day! And here is a better picture of "The Fourth Tree" - also a Scotsdale Farm painting.
