Art Gallery of Mississauga

List of Call to Artists: Art Show Submissions Western Greater Toronto Area 2014

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Are you a visual artist in the Greater Toronto Area? Here are some 2014 western Greater Toronto Area juried art shows to keep an eye out for in the next few months. It's a little to early for some exact deadlines, but I hope the list below helps you plan for 2014.  Good luck, everyone!

  • Check starting early November  2013. Visual Arts Mississauga (VAM) 36th Annual Juried Show of Fine Art at the AGM (Art Gallery of Mississauga). Entry date & details through VAM is not posted yet. https://www.visualartsmississauga.com Note: Opening reception is listed on AGM site for Thursday, January 16, 2014, 6 pm
  • Check from December 2013 on until early 2014 for entry deadline. Ontario Society of Artists " 141st OSA - Annual Juried Exhibition"  http://ontariosocietyofartists.org The show dates are Tuesday, April 1  – Friday - April 25, 2014
  • Check by March 2014. “Through the Eyes of the Artist” Lakeshore Arts Annual Juried Exhibition. http://www.lakeshorearts.ca
  • Start checking in January 2014.  Artcetera 2014. Elora Centre for the Arts.http://www.eloracentreforthearts.ca
  • Deadline early March 2014.  7th Beaux-Arts Brampton Annual Open Juried Show 2013 www.Beaux-ArtsBrampton.com
  • Deadline end of March 2014  5th Annual Open Juried Photography Show 2013 Beaux Arts Brampton Gallery www.Beaux-ArtsBrampton.com
  • Deadline early 2015. The Kingston Prize occurs every  two years. The 2013 show is on now. Nationwide Juried Portraiture painting show.  http://www.kingstonprize.ca
  • Check by April 2014. 18th Annual Juried HAFestival Art Show & Sale (Headwaters Arts Festival). Show is in September during Headwaters Arts Festival. http://headwatersarts.com
  • Check by April 2014 . “Insights” Wellington County Museum and Archives. (between Elora & Fergus) www.artscouncil.elora.on.ca
  • Check by early summer 2014  6th Annual Open Juried Wildlife, Nature, & Native Juried Show 2013 Beaux Arts Brampton www.Beaux-ArtsBrampton.com
  • Start checking in the summer of 2014 for the October Canadian Society of Painters In Watercolour show. www.cspwc.com
  • Check by  September 2014. Colour and Form Society Annual Open Juried Art Show. www.colourandformsociety.org

Some Other Calls for Entries of Interest

  • entry starts in December 2013 until early March 2014. Toronto Outdoor Art Show. Nathan Philips Square. www.Torontooutdoorart.org
  • Sign up in October 2013 to receive sketchbook. Note: Be sure to include your sketchbook in the tour to your area. Finished sketchbook due early January 2014. The Sketchbook Project.www.sketchbookproject.com

 

New 905 Museums and Galleries

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In an earlier post (here), I talked about the three E's of art: engage, entertain and educate. Below are some 905 ( Toronto Area) municipal art venues - museums and galleries - that do just that. In case you are unfamiliar with Toronto, (province of Ontario) it is Canada's  largest city. Head your car west along the edge of Lake Ontario and seamlessly you pass into 905 country (the area code), and Canada's 6th largest city, Mississauga. Continue on your trek  west, and you pass with little notice of division into Oakville, and then Burlington. North of Mississauga is Brampton, Canada 9th largest city, and west of it, is Georgetown (Halton Hills). Milton is sandwiched between Oakville and Halton Hills.

Two of the country's major cultural venues , the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) are in the Toronto downtown core. One would think this would be an advantage to all these cities joined at the hip to TO. In fact, many of us face the dilemma that these venues  are actually "near and yet so far". Yes, Toronto, on the google map is "near".  However,  inadequate intercity public transportation, traffic gridlock,  the high costs of  TO parking, venue admission, and time traveled, make these venues "so far".  And, lets face it, if you live in a city as large as Mississauga or Brampton, wouldn’t you expect to have exciting & educational cultural venues right in your own hometowns? Places where you could drop by for an impromptu visit with the family without saving for a month, and clearing the calendar?

Well, guess what! 2012 brought forth a whole slew of  art venues that are renew in energy or size, or just... new! And, there is much more to just looking at paintings on a wall to these places, not that I don't love doing just that. These are family friendly, inspirational,  educational, entertaining, engaging, thought-provoking places with a diverse choice of exhibitions, programming, events, and community collaboration. .

Now remember, in the big scheme of things, all these cities are very, very young, and so grand institutions as one might find in New York, have not had time to evolve. However, there is the new understanding that a cultural city is a healthy city, and that citizens, even if they don't attend cultural venues, like to know they are there, and miss them if they are gone. And, more importantly, each of these cities has their own cultural identities, and affordable accessible art venues are a great place to express, learn,  and celebrate this.

Ta da! Here they are -

Mississauga

The Art Gallery of Mississauga (The AGM). www.artgalleryofmississauga.com/

Outgoing AGM Curator Stuart Keeler and his accomplished AGM team have definitely upped the ante of this relatively small (by city size) municipal gallery. They are energetically committed to connect, engage and inspire the region’s citizens, as well as its’ visual artists.  Here's why it's well worth your while to check out the AGM -

  • Twitter chats. One is coming up Feb. 7th on juried art shows
  • The recent Lord Report recommends the gallery be a building of its own. (Was there a doubt?) Volunteer, be a docent, etc. Be at the grass-roots of exciting things to come!
  • Fee to enter – by donation. But join the gallery to receive a bundle of perks
  • Other notes? Just a door away from Celebration Square. Bring your skates.
  • Parking: Mississauga, all grown up, charges for parking everywhere (at last check $1/hour). However, there is underground parking at city hall, and metered parking on the street. Note: Unfortunately, you are taking your chances to get a ticket if you park in the neighboring Square One Mall.

Brampton

PAMA (Peel Heritage Art Gallery, Museum and Archives) www.pama.peelregion.ca

The former Peel Heritage Museum has always been an attractive, inviting venue.  My whole family has enjoyed visits to what was formerly Brampton’s city jail.  Recently, it reopened after two years of extensive (and stunning!) renovation and expansion. The photos in the link below will give a better idea of this remarkable new arts venue dedicated to art, history and education   http://www.pama.peelregion.ca/en/aboutpama/PhotoGallery_BuildingsAndGrounds.asp

Admission: Free for preschoolers, $1 for students. $1.50 for seniors and $2.50 for the rest

PAMA is located on the east side of Main St., ie. Highway 10 (Hurontario in Mississauga) and overlooks beautiful historic Gage Park with its unique skating paths (bring your skates here, too!). Metered street parking or in the Brampton Civic Centre, kitty corner to PAMA. A short walk north of PAMA brings you to the lovely Rose Theatre and Beaux-Arts Brampton Artist Co-operative and Gallery.

Kitchener

“M” TheMuseum www.themuseum.ca

TheMuseum opened to much fanfare in the fall.  AVATAR: The Exhibition  marked its Canadian première at M and it was the first stop on its North American tour. I haven’t been there yet, but since so many of the western GTA (Greater Toronto Area or 905) students go away universities and colleges in that area, I hope they are checking it out.

Oakville

Queen Elizabeth Community Centre and Cultural Centre Click Here

Oakville has reinvented this former high school as a community centre as well as a venue for many of  Oakville’s not-for-profit arts and culture groups. There are studios, and a gallery and corridor exhibition space. Bring your swim suit as it seems there's a pool, too. The Oakville Arts Council office is also located here. If you are a Halton artist ,you may want to join this supportive group.

Burlington

The Burlington Arts Centre www.thebac.ca

This dynamic arts centre is home to galleries, an impressive fine arts shop and art rental program, area guilds, mentorship programmes, and studios for working and learning. On Sunday afternoons there are often excellent free workshops and discussions for visual artists. This is a great place to visit, be engaged with, and shop for art.

Georgetown (Halton Hills) Here

Newly reopened after two years of expansion is the Halton Hills Cultural Centre, a theatre, gallery and library rolled into one. The gallery was once a church and the beautiful stained glass windows are still there. Formally, the gallery dedicated itself to supporting shows  by local artists, but a large art donation to the centre may have changed its mandate. See here http://www.theifp.ca/news/art-collection-worth-800k-donated-to-town/

Milton http://www.miltoncentreforthearts.ca/en/AboutYourCentre.asp

Opened in 2011, this state of the art facility is home to gallery and performance space and more. Here is the FAQ sheet for this centre of creativity. http://www.miltoncentreforthearts.ca/en/aboutyourcentre/resources/centre_for_the_arts_faqs_aug-10.pdf

My Salmon Runs to the AGM

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Today I delivered my finished salmon "The Invasive Species" to the Art Gallery of Mississauga (AGM). Although,  it was officially unveiled 3 days ago on "daytime"  a Roger's television show, these are the first photographs I've publish of the finished sculpture. The rain finally let up enough for me to photograph the work outdoors. Here is the summary of my proposal:

Through my Salmon Run Project, I wish to provoke thought on how urban development has been "built on the backs" of the Credit River salmon.  The increase of impermeable surfaces such as roofs, patios, and roads means rain carries debris, oil, gas (from roadways) and silt through the hundreds of Mississauga storm sewers directly into the river.  This black and brown water stresses the salmon, kills the insects they feed on and buries their spawning grounds.  I will attach miniature houses  with acrylic gels (representing tar & oil) in clusters similar to those of an invasive species such as the zebra mussel.  These clusters will represent development that has the potential to impede, choke, and threaten the salmon with death, if not controlled. 

Salmon Run project: Invasive Species by Christine Montague

Salmon Run Project: Invasive Species. "Zebra Mussel" House. Detail by Christine Montague

Eye-to-Eye With a Salmon

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Since I am an artist who usually works 2D, I found myself hesitating for a second when I picked up the brush to paint the salmon cast. But I quickly realized I should use the same approach to this sculptural fish as I use with any portrait painting on canvas. Start with the eyes! The ol' the "eyes are the mirror of the soul thing".  As soon as I did this, I found my "connection" to this pre-made form. I only had salmon photos off the internet to use as reference. Thus I realize, for any salmon aficionados out there,  the salmon is probably not exactly like the Coho. Apparently,  the cast itself is not quite correct, the fins are too small, etc. But that's not really the point. To create what I proposed, all I need to start with is a shape that is easily recognizable as a healthy salmon, no matter the breed or  how exact its representation is.

My poor salmon. He only stayed "healthy" for one day. Stay tuned.

Even in Art, Development a Problem

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Painted Monopoly houses will represent suburban development in my Salmon Run Project . In the picture to the left are some of the almost 200 houses lined up to be spray painted.

How to spray paint plastic? As an oil painter, working with acrylic paints and plastic materials is more or less new to me, too. First, the plastic must be cleaned with mineral spirits. A base coat spray paint for plastic is available, but I figured I didn't need it. A wide variety of colour topcoat spray paint for plastic is available, but I only needed black. I will also use Rust-oleum's Stone accents for the illusion of a roof shingle's surface.

One should wear wear a protective mask, gloves, and goggles when using spray paint. And the work area,  well ventilated.  My "well-ventilated"  area is my unheated garage with its doors open. And, as spray paint works best when the temperature is above freezing, the uncooperative GTA cold weather, delayed my project's progress. But, hey, delayed progress? As the past owner of two new homes that were not ready on time,  it's all in keeping to the spirit of building development.

I  love using spray paint, and if I was a lot younger, my art path might have followed a different path. But after putting a fair bit of work into the research for my proposal, and discovering how building development affected the salmon in the Credit River, with hindsight,  a project that uses fiberglass, spray paint, plastic, mineral spirits, electrical power, sandpaper and rags, is a contradiction to its intent.

The 3 e's of Art Apply to The Salmon Run Project & Credit River

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If you live in Mississauga you may have heard of the Salmon Run Project, a call to artists to decorate casts of the Coho salmon to be displayed in the Civic Centre Grand Hall early in May.  Mississauga is stepping up its support of the visual arts and this is the first project between the City's Cultural Office and the Art Gallery of Mississauga. But why salmon?

Three types of salmon inhabit the Credit River, the southern Ontario river that starts above the Niagara Escarpment and winds south  through multiple Mississauga communities before it empties into Lake Ontario at Port Credit.

The Port Credit Salmon and Trout Association volunteers recently put 5000 young Chinook into a holding pen to acclimatize them to Lake Ontario. These 6 month old baby salmon are part of an ongoing project to increase the salmon population. About 85,000 salmon will enter the Credit River each year. Meet Sally, the salmon that tried to get away from that process here.

The Credit River Anglers Association, another great volunteer organization, has done fabulous work in protecting both the salmon and the Credit. Every year they collect the migrating salmon at a point in the river that impedes their journey, and drive them safely up to Norval where they are returned to the water so continue on their way. How impressive is that?!

At one time the Credit River was so thick with salmon, it was said one could walk across the river on their backs. However, by the end of the 1800's, their numbers in Ontario rivers had been dramatically depleted.

Despite efforts to reintroduce the Atlantic salmon, they are still very rare. Reintroduction of the Pacific Salmon, such as the Chinook, has  met with much more success. The original call to artists stated we would be decorating casts of the Atlantic salmon, but what we all received was the Coho or Silver salmon.

Whatever "salmon" we work with, the lessons are the same, salmon are remarkable creatures, if we mess with nature it take a lot of time, effort, and good people to correct,  and art, like nature,  has the amazing ability to engage, educate and entertain.

The Salmon Run Project, Sanded at Last.

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Salmon Run Project
Salmon Run project. Shaping the fin.

I don't know what tools a taxidermist uses on fish casts such as this, but I found a drywall saw effective  for the edges of the fins and for cutting out the mouth. I also used a small hand saw, a metal file, a box cutter and sand paper. Below you can see the scooped out mouth and a sample of the cut out material. The whitish edge is plaster and fibreglass. The fish is not hollow, but filled with the yellowish substance that is some type of foam.

So finally, the fish is sanded. Next step?  To attach the fins, and drill the holes for the stand. Then hurrah, the project actually begins!

Salmon Surprise: Don't Eat (Or Inhale) this Fish

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Ta da! A salmon surprise, indeed! Revealed to you at last! This is the salmon form the artists chosen for the Art Gallery of Mississauga's & Office of the Arts "Salmon Run Project" have been given. #158415 is mine, all mine! But there are more surprises in store!

Surprise #1. I was expecting an artist designed cast , not the taxidermist model this is. Still happy this project is up and "run"ning. A community sculpture project first for Mississauga!

Surprise #2. Fellow participants Sonja Hidas and Carmen Hickson were curious as to what I was going to do with the extra fins. Fins? What fins? Well, ah ha! Under that cardboard at the tail, guess what I found -

Surprise # 3. This should be called BIG surprise #3., GIANT surprise #3. There are seam lines from the casting process all over the fish! And the fins! This is a lot of prep work, people! This cast appears to be of fibreglass (protect your lungs!) , possibly some  plaster and filled  with foam. Sanding will have to be done in a well ventilated area, i.e. outside and with proper tools and protection. So, I readied my Mastercraft reciprocating sander, my mask, and my goggles. And it's still winter here, folks, so I wore somebody else's coat .Wasn't going to get my own "resiny"  LOL.  So here's a sight that would definitely scare the neighbourhood children, not to mention the fish.

Here's the tools in action.

Here's me in the cold in action.

Salmon Run project More sanding Copyright Christine Montague

Surprise #4. Quite possibly to you, but not to all the professional visual artists out there. Creating art for a living requires discipline, a broad selection of know how, tenaciousness, the ability to laugh at life (in Canada, we sure can't laugh because of the  money)and remain ever optimistic (the tenacious part). I will laugh out loud as I spend a second day in tenacious hope that this flipping fish will be "fin" ished (Dam it, Jim, I am a painter, not a sander) so that I can actual begin my proposal, submit it and get back to the studio.

No surprise there.

Salmon Run Art Project Begins

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Salmon Run Project Art Gallery of Mississauga. Salmon Run Project leaves city hall. Copyright Christine Montague

Today I went to the Art Gallery of Mississauga to pick up my salmon for the Salmon Run Project.

AGM's Jaclyn & Gail, behind the "fish counter", so-to-speak, handed over my wrapped salmon, while found object artist Carmen Hickson, another salmon recipient looked on.

For some added scale: here I am outside Mississauga's Civic Centre,  the home of the Art Gallery of Mississauga.

Stay tuna'd.

Call to Artists: New Mississauga, Halton Hills & Hills of Headwaters Art Shows

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Suddenly, there are a lot of new visual art shows on the radar in the western Greater Toronto Area, specifically Mississauga, Burlington, Alton (Hills of Headwaters). Calling all visual artists - In Mississauga

  1. NEW DEADLINE! March 4, 2011. The Salmon Run Project. Proposal due tomorrow! You can do it, what's Red Bull for anyways?!..... Create a concept for a pre-made fibreglass salmon. Info due by 5 pm., Friday, Feb. 18th at the Art Gallery of Mississauga. See info  here. http://www5.mississauga.ca/agm/agm_root/upcomingex.html#salmon
  2. Hotbox Riverwood Mentorship Project. A professional development program to challenge artists to create temporary natural, site specific outdoor sculpture on the grounds of Riverwood Park, an amazing urban wilderness just 3 miles west of Square one on Burnamthorpe Rd.  4100 Riverwood Park Lane,  Mississauga, ON. International artist Reinhard Reitzenstein will mentor artists selected to take part in this exciting transformative learning experience. Monthly meetings begin March 2011. The project will conclude with an exhibition in the Fall of 2011.Application Deadline: February 28th  apply please send; 10 jpeg images of your work (size 72dpi) or website, a C.V. and a letter of interest to; HOTBOX24@LIVE.CA

Hills of Headwaters

  1. Time Frame. Heritage Caledon presents an open juried showat the Alton Mill Gallery. Celebrates Ontario's cultural and natural heritage through art. Open to all artists. 3 pieces may be submitted. April 1st deadline. Show May 28th - July 10th. Entry fee $25. All pieces must be available for sale. Entry forms downloaded  from www.caledon.ca

I have heard there is another theme related juried show out there having to do with the escarpment - will post more as soon as I find it.

Brampton: Beaux- Arts Brampton Annual  Open Juried Show. Entry Form and payment due Mar. 15, 2011. Delivery of works for jurying. Sunday, April 3rd. 8:30 - 10:30 am. Pick up of declined work Sun. April 3, 2011.  4 - 5 p.m. Show runs  April 5 - 30th. Download form here.

Williams Mill Gallery, Williams Mill Visual Arts Centre. The first ever theme based  juried art show is about to be announced! Stay tuned!

Art connections - Me, the Mill & the AGM

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The Model Visits the Studio, the oil  painting I recently completed of my Williams Mill studio, has  been accepted into the Visual Arts Mississauga 33rd Annual Juried Art Show at the Art Gallery of Mississauga. That's not the only Williams Mill connection. My daughter, the figure featured in the painting, and the subject of many of the paintings within the painting, worked in the  Williams Mill Gallery throughout the summer. The show opens Thursday, January 13th at 6 p.m. and continues until Feb. 16th. Jurors for this competition were visual artist Corinne Duchesne and Oakville Galleries Curator of Contemporary Art, Marnie Fleming.  

 

 

09/09/09 Lucky Numbers for Mississauga Artists (well, most of them)

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Today, on the ninth hour of the ninth day of the ninth month of the ninth year, The Lakeview Legacy Project , a non profit organization, was to stand before Mayor Hazel McCallion & the Mississauga City Council to ensure that the proposed Small Arms Building creativity centre would receive the infrastructure repair funding it so richly deserves. I wondered, (as both a visual artist and with AIM, Artists in Mississauga) would the 09/09/09 date bring good news or not for the arts &  artists in Mississauga? Now, I knew that  the team that makes up the Legacy Project has such experience, dedication and vision, that I really needn't worry. But a little chink in my faith resulted when, as just before I headed out the door to the council meeting, my teenage daughter asked for a whopping $300 for school, and that the number on the cheque I made out  was  333! (add them up- they equal 9)

My anxiety grew, when stuck in traffic snarled by back- to - school buses, and construction everywhere, it took me 3x as long to reach city hall. Then, thinking I was lucky to grab a free  parking spot behind the Living Arts Centre - it wasn't till I was far from my car  - I saw there were now new automated ticket booths. With no  change on hand, I couldn't get mine to work with my charge card. I had the joy of adding some feelings of inadequacy to those feelings of frustration at being late... until  I passed a  gentleman equally perplexed at getting his card to work.

I moved my car to the Square One Parking lot instead.

Racing over to city hall, I held the door open for an out of breath young man who, all dressed up, looked quite perturbed as he ran up the stairs towards me. Aha! a fellow witness also late to this historic event!

But then, across the great hall, little flower girls dressed up in white and pressed against the glass - caught my eye . A wedding, and he made it.

Jim Tovey, Chair of the Lakeview Legacy Project, and the Lakeview Ratepayers Association was presenting his case as I entered the Council Chambers. With no further a due Council unanimously agreed the cause was worthy and deserving. Huzzah!

And then, but with a little more difficulty, the Art Gallery of Mississauga, also got approval for funds toward their much needed and deserved expansion ideas. Huzzah again!

Happily, I returned to my car only to find a ticket on my windshield. Somewhere in time, what had been part of a large mall parking lot, still looked like the mall's parking lot, and has no obvious signs otherwise, at least not to a frustrated motorist,  was now just for private use by who knows who?!?

I could pull a "23" story line and point out that the ticket # ended in 9 (which it did) and so did the officer's number. But that's not the real point. The real point is that Mississauga is getting all grown up. It is getting mature enough enough to recognize that the arts matter, and sometimes, the value of money spent is not just about numbers. And that the nuisance of traffic, and parking that has to be paid for (sigh) are simply growing pains of coming of age.

On the "Go" - Two new paintings, Mississauga landscape, Kincardine Lighthouse interior.

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The Lighthouse Stairs Copyright Christine Montague 2009 Last week was busy!  I finished this  20" x 20" oil painting of  a youth going down the lighthouse stairs at Kincardine, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada. The challenge to myself was to paint whites in shadow (expand my gray palette). I wrote a blog on this painting & mini  color mixing lesson. Click  here.

Stop, Go. Copyright Christine Montague 2009

Above is a 9" x 12" oil painting of  a Go train emerging from the trees over the Credit River in Port Credit, Mississauga, Ontario. Young boaters from the nearby Mississauga Canoe Club stop to watch it go by - thus the title Stop and Go on the Credit River (Please note: This painting is now sold).

The Credit River in Port Credit is fabulous spot to spend an urban summer evening. Boaters, birds, coffee and ice cream - Lots of places to stroll, shop, sit & people watch.

The original painting isn't as dark as this photograph. Unfortunately it sold so quickly I never did take that quality RAW photograph. Artists out there ! Heed this lesson. A painting is NOT finished until you have taken that quality image for your records.

I often have the problem - when the painting is glossy and glazed - of getting a true representation of the painting. Either the gloss of the paint from my use of liquin (which speeds drying time) reacts like a varnish layer and reflects the light, even on an overcast day. OR even worse, the camera is too efficient and somehow photographs through the top glaze layers and The image photographs as if in an unfinished state!

My husband has decided this is his favourite of all my paintings. Hmmm. I am flattered, but considering I have done some fairly ambitious pieces over the past six years, I am bit "stopped" by such enthusiasm, but I will admit it was fun to have a "go" at a train.

(Last week I also did my first plein air painting . Here is that painting & blog - Click here) This painting will be auctioned off at the 2010 Art Gallery of Mississauga Annual Art Auction.

Cast Fishing, Cast Shadows. Plein Air Painting by the Credit River in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

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Plein air oil painting Copyright Christine Montague 2009 2010 Update: This original plein air oil painting, painted on location by the Credit River, -under the bridge at Burnamthorpe Bridge between Riverwood Park and Erindale park -  has been given as a charitable donation to the Art Gallery of Mississauga (AGM) for its 2010 7th Annual Art Auction Fundraiser, April 29th, 2010.

Above is a 6" x 12" oil painting of a man fishing by the Credit River. We are both under the enormous Burnamthorpe Road bridge -  between Erindale Park and Riverwood Park. The day was sunny but the shadow and the wind was cold! After 3 hours my convulsive shaking told me the painting was now finished.

Today I had the fun of plein air painting  with the newly formed group,  Ontario Plein Air Society (OPAS). I had not painted on location in years and never before with oils  ( the exception  Tapatoo Tree (sold) in water soluble oils ) .  Painting on location is quite exilarating - at least that is what I felt after I was done, and could seek relief from the cold and wind in a more sunny spot.

Just before I headed out to meet up with OPAS at Riverwood Park, I quickly thumbed through some International Artist & other art magazines for some helpful hints. Painting on location requires effort put into the logistics.

Following the example of British artist James Hart Dyke (American Artist magazine November 2003) I used the limited palette French Ultramarine, cadmium yellow, cadmium red light, raw umber and titanium white.  What freedom!

Once on location, I struggled a bit with what to paint. I sat across from an enormous old tree, partiatially in decay - but what I wanted to say about this tree could not be said on my 6" x 12" canvas. Suddenly I found my self doing a quick - almost Japanese brush like gesture of the fisherman before me ( I could have drawn him all afternoon) and that was that - I had my subject. I guess I just cannot escape the call to put a figure in my landscapes.