Camera! (No) Action! Animals!

Recently, I have had access to a small private forest.  I set up a motion camera  to get a voyeuristic look at the creatures of the night. My real hope was to get images of a coyote in the brush before foliage appeared. I wanted to use this personally obtained reference for a  painting about solitude and alienation. For the first month the only evidence of any wildlife was the tiny silhouette of a bat far off in the darkness.  At least I knew the camera worked, but I had to reconsider its place. The results?  Something more suitable to a children's story. "Mr. Racoon, Mr. Possum and Ms. Cat live Alone in My Forest".  I have more animal action in my urban backyard.

Recently, when I was able to check out the camera, a new character arrived on the scene.  About 20 minutes after Ms. Cat prowled by, this fellow appears, and changes his course to follow what I believe are the cat's tracks. Hopefully, on my next check of the camera, I will see that this lovely fox was 20 minutes too late.

Dogs, Fog, and Collateral

About four years ago, as I turned onto Mayfield Road in Halton Hills, the rumps  of two large dogs, trotting amicably along, appeared immediately before me in the thick fog. Luckily, for the dogs and me, I was driving slowly having just stopped at a light, and that my car's fog lights were doing their job.

Upon hearing the car,  the dogs, both German Shepard, one black, and the other brown and black, traversed  to the opposite shoulder. They never changed pace, or even looked back.  It was only as I snapped a photo, that the brown and black German Shepard,  in the lead,  gave me a glance.

Have you seen the movie Collateral ?  There is a scene where coyotes cross in front of the taxi that holds Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. It was my favorite scene in that film, and that is how I felt when these two dogs crossed my path in the thick of the fog.

Fast forward to a couple of days ago. It was overcast and had recently rained. Driving along 22nd side road, on my way out of the glen, I glimpsed two dark shapes emerge from the trees on the hillside to the marshy field below. My first hope, however unlikely, was that these were wolves. I excitedly turned the car around, and over to the side of the road.

Lo and behold, there they were, the same two dogs I had enjoyed photographing in the fog years before.  I fumbled to get my camera out of its bag, and still keep both eyes on the dogs.  They were on the go, when suddenly, these two "littlest hobos"  plunked themselves  down in a large, dark,  mucky puddle. These two must have need a cooling off, further proof, of just how eerily warm March is here in Southern Ontario.

Before I could snap a shot, up and away they went, into the woods, and out of sight.

Back in the studio,  I took another look at the old photo of them.   I knew the brown and black German Shepard had a collar, but that pixellated item around the black dog is a broken rope? Could they be feral? Lots of good rabbit eatin' here in the glen.

No matter, whether farm dog or feral, they seemed healthy, happy, and a team.

Dogs are usually not my thing, but I love the image of the black dog, his pale breath clear in the fog, and the contented freedom the pair represent.

I immediately started the drawing of the black Shepard in fog on a large canvas. But the Mill  "open studio" days, Friday and Saturday afternoons, are  in reality "clean hands days".   So contentedly I painted  the tidy  18" x 24" oil painting study above.

And the dogs? If they do have a home, and I hope they do, I am uncertain how content the owner will be with their muddy exploits.

A Bridge to Beauty: Gushue Cove

 

I'm working in a blurb book about a trip to Stephenville, Newfoundland I had in the summer of 2010. This photo of the a bridge at "The Gravels" just beckons one to cross, don't you think? There is a mystery to it, but not a threatening one, certainly not in hospitable Newfoundland.

"The Gravels" is a  breathtaking walking trail about 15 minutes out of Stephenville, at Port au Port. Lots of tuckamore trees, wild roses, forest, stunning coves, huge fossils in the rocks and a well maintained path to boot.

heARTs & Cold Wax Oil Painting

It has been a while since my last adventure with cold wax and oil painting (Read more about it here).

Experiments that I had begun since that time didn't seem to set.  I wondered if I had received the wrong Dorland's wax product, or if I used too much oil paint in my ratio of wax to pigment. But as it turned out,  I had my work too textured, and the under layers could not dry. When I shaved off the thicker parts the drying process began.

So, the other day,  I decided I  would put some left over paint to good use and mix in some wax. There was enough for one little small panel. But, like trying to eat one just one peanut , next thing I  knew - I had pretty well used up my little stockpile of prepared wood panels (i.e.panels were gessoed, sanded, & their sides masked).  A whole series of pink, white & silver of heart & Valentine's Day inspired works lay drying in the studio - hearts emerging from the clouds, floating over the falls ("falling in love" get it?), hearts rising. A couple of bouquets too.

As the cold wax process uses a lot of oil paint - the cost of  artist quality Winsor & Newton oil paints does limit how much I can afford to experiment. With Valentine's Day in mind,  I added Permanent Rose (what better colour for true love), and Silver to the Dorland's cold wax.

First I dolloped the oil and wax mixture on the panels with a palette knife, then used the Wilton Dough Scraper spread and smoothed it over the surface. I also used the scraper to remove and push the wax mixture to create my texture, and values. The light pink is the stain from removed wax. The darker pink is where the wax is thicker and smooth.

A week later, some of the areas still weren't setting fast enough for my liking. Out came the palette knife to remove areas too thick. I accidentally scratched a piece with the  sanding paper I was using to clean up the back of the work. Hmmm. I liked the way that looked, and next thing I knew, I was dramatically changing some of the 3" x 4" blocks by  incorporating sanded away texture. Isn't that what experimenting is all about?

Below you see the Wilton Dough Scraper I bought at the Janice Mason Steeves cold wax workshop.

Yes, Virginia, There Are Art Cards in the Studio

It is always a good day when I open my mail super box & see a key, because a key means that I have a parcel. And who doesn't like a parcel? Inside this parcel, were 90 fine art greeting cards with images of my paintings on them. After having repeated inquiries for greeting cards in my studio, I relented. I ordered a small trial batch before Christmas...and without any effort on my part, they sold out! Seemed only natural to order more.

Now I had nothing against greeting cards. It is just that self producing them, i.e. printing & packaging, is a time-consuming process. If you consider the value of the time better spent in the studio, time spent making one's own cards, well.. it just wasn't for me.

So when I heard of a company that not only prints them, but packages them nicely too....well... I reconsidered, gave them a try, and here I am, checking out 10 different styles of cards.

I have to admit it's pretty fun to open a box filled with cards with my paintings on them. Now, just to someday open that box with the books with my paintings in them............

Anyhow, there are art cards in my studio and I hope you'll like them too.

Demolition by Neglect. Beautiful Stephenville WW2 Buildings in Limbo.

Stephenville, Newfoundland  was home to a United States Air Force Base in World War II.  This was an enormous base, and the last stop before Europe. Although many of the hangers are now gone, there are still many buildings from this period remaining. Barracks and other buildings that housed soldiers are now transformed into lovely apartments and private homes. Creative uses have been found for some of the hangers that exist, but some, like in the photo above, are vacant and in limbo, awaiting the next entrepreneurial endeavor. I imagine there are a few people in town who would like to see these vacant shells torn down. I hope they remain up. I would love to see  a creative use for these  beautiful giants with the dramatic auras.

I spent some time photographing the outside of some of these Stephenville WWII buildings. They compliment the photos I have been privileged to take of the interior of the Small Arms Inspection Building in Mississauga, Ontario. During the second world war, over 40,000 women came from across Canada to work in the Lee Enfield Rifle plant there. The Lake View Legacy Project is committed to revitalizing this building as a creative centre with artist studios, theatres, exhibition space, brown field studies & more. Although it, too, sat in  limbo, creativity , co-operation & collaboration has resulted in a promising & positive future for this WWII space in Mississauga.

Squamish, Olympic Spirit & a Running Squirrel

I was flipping through my iphoto on my MAC & listening to a CBC Radio One show about Squamish, British Columbia. Under the leadership of an inspired Squamish citizen,  a large team of hardworking volunteers showed their Olympic Spirit  - through  determination, teamwork, creativity, too - and successfully established Squamish  as a source of nordic expertise for the Olympics.

And there it was. A photo I had forgotten about. A  squirrel goes for the gold (seeds from a bird feeder) and runs upright through a well-worn track in the snow. Obviously he made many visits there. This focussed fellow isn't a Squamish squirrel but he certainly represents how perseverance clears the path to success!

And now for B.C.... is they could just get some of the snow in the photo....

Curious about  Squamish. Here's the link.

Warming up to Plein Air Painting

Minus 32 degrees celsius with the wind chill did not deter 8 members of the Ontario Plein Air Society (OPAS) from meeting at the heritage Scotsdale Farm, on the Maureen Smith trail area of the Bruce Trail in Ontario.

This was my first visit to the lovely American colonial style farm buildings, and my need to explore and photograph, took precedence over my need to paint. Long tree shadows crossing over white clapboard buildings, a stone silo dusted in snow, and weather vane topped cupolas made for inspiring photo taking.

As there was so much to see, it took me a while to settle down to draw with my Cray pas oil pastels. But by the time I did, the weather changed - everything going grey. Still beautiful, but we all became a little more conscious it was winter. Shadows disappeared, and snow  swirled off the roof tops, as in the little 8" x 8" oil pastel drawing on canvas I did, and am quite fond of, even though it was quickly produced, for the grand jaunte it represents.

By drawing on location, my feet buried in the snow,  in a farm pen that I had to climb over a fence to get to, for the view I wanted, I can still feel the crispness of the air, and replay the image of the snow swirling past the silo I was drawing. The paintings of Scotsdale Farm that will be created  in the comfort of my Williams Mill studio - these paintings, will certainly benefit from the plein air experience.

To see a video by Zan Barrage on this plein air day, with some great tips (e.g. how to use socks..) click here. For the OPAS blog with plein air painting info, click here.

Plein air painting at Riverwood with OPAS

Today I was to paint with the new group Ontario Plein Air Society, but rain got in the way. Instead we held a very constructive meeting in OPAS leader Zan's SUV, and roughed out goals for the next year. OPAS will be holding plein air painting sessions every Sunday until November and yours truly will help organize at least three of them, including the three day paint out to be held in conjunction with the international plein air paint out day! To find out more about and /or to join OPAS  (it's free!) visit   http://ontariopleinairsociety.blogspot.com/ Meanwhile here are a few hits of colour on what was a very gloomy day.

Mini Art lesson 4. Learn Along with me in How to Paint Grays in Oil.

One of the reasons I wanted to create the painting I have in progress at the moment (scroll down) was the challenge to paint many variations of the colour gray. A trivia  email going around states that the human eye sees 500 shades of gray. In trying to confirm this online,  I have found the human eye sees 500, 700, 256, a dozen and less than 16 shades of gray.  Whatever the true answer is, it is a lot more than I normally mix in  my standard palette, and in the creation of this painting  I hope to illustrate as many variations as I can. Normally, I use the following  standard palette -

• cadmium yellow pale
• yellow ochre
• cadmium red
• alizarin crimson
• viridian
• olive green
• chrome green
• cerleum blue
• cobalt blue
• ultramarine
• burnt umber
• titanium white

I create black from mixing equal parts burnt umber and ultramarine and my grays from adding white to that mixture. (see lower right of palette above)

So how to expand on my knowledge of creating grays?

I turned to the terrific book I bought recently Color Mixing For Artists Minimum colors for maximum effect using watercolors, acrylics, and oils by John Lidzey, Jill Mirza, Nick Harris, and Jeremy Galton. Barrons Educational Series Inc. This is one of the most readable, portable, helpful and affordable color books found in our local stores.

This is the starter palette from Color Mixing For Artists

• titanium white
• lemon yellow
• cadmium yellow
• yellow ochre
• cadmium red
• alizarin crimson
• Winsor violet
• French Ultramarine
• raw umber
• Payne's gray

The book has a whole section on mixing gray as well as sections on mixing most other colors

Palette 1. Using Alizarin crimson, viridian, ultramarine, lemon yellow

Left: 7 parts viridian, 1 part alizarin, 2 white

Centre: 3 part viridian, 1 alizarin crimson, 6 white

Right: added some more viridian and white  to left mixture

Ignore blue blob

Palette 2

Left: 2 parts French Ultramarine, 1 alizarin crimson, 2 lemon yellow, trace white

Centre: 4 parts French ultramarine, 1 cadmium red . White.

Right: 20 parts viridian, 1 part crimson, white, and more white

Palette 3

Top left: 4 parts cerelean blue, 2 camium red, 1 lemon yellow, 2 white. And more white.

Bottom left: Mixtures of ultramarine and alizarin and white.

Bottom right: cerelean blue, burnt umber , white

Top right: 3 french ultramrine, 1 alizarin crimson, trace lemon yellow, white

Of course what I am really doing for much of this painting is creating the illusion of white painted surfaces- the railing, painted walls, white flowers on the t-shirt- in shadow and reflection. One of the great joys of painting is learning to intrept just what it exactly what we are seeing. When asked what colour are the walls, we would answer white, but what we paint is another story.

An additional note. A couple of years ago I enjoyed a show entitled "White" at the the Abbozzo gallery in Oakville.  Examples of the interpretation of white from all the gallery's stable of artists wwere on display. This show was a great example to all painters and students on the myriad of ways to paint white (and its grays)  - whether in abstract. realistic or illustrative painting. To see a few examples from this show click here.

Art: See Gull painting. New Acrylics Golden.

I finally finished this 20" x 20" inch canvas of a sea gull by the steps of Gairloch park in Oakville, Ontario.  This is the second painting I have completed using the relatively new Golden Open Acrylics.

Having concentrated on teaching myself oils this past 6 years, I have very little experience with acrylics. I do know that I found the actual process in my traditional acrylic work too different from how I now naturally paint in oils.

What lured me to try the new Golden Open Acrylics, however, was the promise of a longer drying time. As well, the colours stay quite true when they dry to how they looked when applied. I have been told that traditional acrylics dry darker (imagine thinking of acrylics as traditional).

I had some technical difficulty at first with my brushes as they were meant for oils - easily solved with a few more dollars spent.

The slow drying time of the paint really does lend itself to my method of applying paint and as I got into my painting "zone" I easily forgot I was working with a new medium.  The paints are looser than oils (thinner?) and so I missed the feeling of "carving" into the canvas. As well I haven't really figured out how to glaze.

Thanks to twitter buddy, Bernard Victor, I learned that Winsor and Newton , now also have a line of slower drying Artists' Acrylic , not yet available in Canada. Here is a terrific area on the  Winsor & Newton site with videos on featured artists - all who have very different methods of using acrylics, and a contest (you can rate the entries- Bernard has entered this) for acrylic painters- http://acrylics.winsornewton.com/en/.

Speaking of  Winsor & Newton, have you heard of their North American rep, Canadian artist Doug Purdon? The extensive and fascinating knowledge  this artist has  on the history of materials, technique, and more, is an experience not to be missed. If you ever can hear Doug speak, go for it, he is  a treasure trove of educational and entertaining anecdotes.

Have you tried the new Open Acrylics? Let me know what you think or any tips you have to share.

Grey Paint. Phenology. Where's the link?

Today I was going to talk about painting greys, that is until I did a look see at  The Riverwood Conservancy new web site- here. Formally the known Mississauga Garden Council, this non profit organization has chosen a new name more suitable to  their role as steward (and much more)of this amazing urban wilderness - that in their words, to which I fully concur-  is both "beautiful and wild".

There is much to explore in this 150 acre old growth forest that is the most ecologically diverse in the Credit Vally watershed. Do you know that the salmon, yes salmon, are working their way through the 6th largest city in Canada, right about - let me check my watch - now?

But what I really wanted to let you in on is the niftyRiverwood web feature, the Phenology Database . At this link one can search for the time and place of the sightings of specific animals and birds. I think this is a great tool for nature lovers, artists and photographers alike.

As well, one can return the favor and enter the location, time etc. of the wildlife seen. I think this would be a nice participatory thing thing for the kids to do, too.

You don't have to be an artist to enjoy a visit to Riverwood... but I strongly suggest you'll regret not bringing your camera.

So much  talk about Riverwood on such a sunny spring day. The greys can wait. Guess where I'm heading?

Riverwood, Mississauga crocus Copyright Christine Montague 2009

Big heART Ideas for Mississauga Small Arms Building

In the blog earlier today, I wrote about the thoughtful & inclusive process Mississauga has undergone to research the betterment of arts and culture in the city. The creation of venues for culture, heritage and education in Mississauga, has pretty well taken a back seat to 30 years of building houses, and attracting business. Pretty well complete, the city has outgrown its "bedroom community" moniker. More people are coming into Mississauga to work than leave, and guess what? A lot of artists want to work, learn, perform, teach, exhibit, sell, share, mentor, here too. But where?

Well, AIM, (Artists in Mississauga) and the Lakeview Ratepayers Association, may have the solution! Sitting on Lakeshore Blvd East, with Lake Ontario to its back is the 33,000 square foot Small Arms Inspection Office Building. This building has everything one could envision for a world level arts (all arts) centre.

The positives:

· It is ENORMOUS- solving city's desperately needed room for studios (visual art , dance, sound, & more), workshops, installations, cafe, galleries, heritage museum

· fabulous lighting everywhere - huge windows, skylights

· high ceilings (which do play a part in creativity - high ceilings, big ideas)

· Location, location, location. By the lake, Lakeshore Rd & Mississauga Transit, by Longbranch Go, by TTC streetcar, by Marie Curtis Park, by future parks and Lakeview's Heritage Plan

· Plenty of free parking space

· handy to plenty of walk by traffic - especially when those parks go in

· Large welding area- large garage doors - set to go as metal sculpture centre. Who else has one of those?

· Important potential for tourism, arts, culture, and citizen destination

· Important potential for artist to sell, work, interact, teach, exhibit, Stay in their city to create!

· Heritage: This building with its historical connections to World War 2, feminism, 40's architecture, & Mississauga development deserves to be saved, and used well. It embodies one of Mississauga's most exciting historical stories.

The Negatives? We're not in there..yet.

Mini Lesson Continues: Light, Dark, More Birds in Painting & at Riverwood too

Next Step:  I have mentioned in the previous blogs how I did not have the foreground with the figure of  Wishing it was His Turn to Go as dark as I like.  I dropped a glaze of burnt umber over the figure, the door, and deck  posts.  Brilliantly, I forgot I had been painting the screen door earlier and so the paint pulled down through the opening in the door. This accidentally gave a "screened effect" and although the painting is still young I am hoping to  use this to some advantage.  I did not glaze over the hand holding the door. You can see the contrast between the hand and the neck define the right side of the head.

I simplified the sky, "carving" out the ear and jawline on the left side when I did so.

I also added the birds back into the painting.

In contrast to this early fall painting, was this very glorious day just before spring. This afternoon I spent a couple of hours exploring Mississauga's  wonderful urban wilderness, Riverwood Park & returned home 300 photos richer.

I do not have a quality lens, and must remember to get a monopod, to help with those darker wood scenes and bird shots.  Out of focus, I know, but this was such a darn pretty woodpecker, and the happy little thief of a  squirrel was sweet to watch as well. Who can resist animal shots?

Visual Artist Christine Montague Painting & Photography Fine Art Blog

Welcome to Camera and Canvas!  I paint realistic, representational oil paintings on canvas & am an avid nature photographer. 

I entered into the world of art years ago primarily out of the love of drawing. I drew all the time - from life and my imagination - and I was good at it.  But in 2002 after an invitation to help create the artist co-operative Beaux-Arts Brampton, I entered the art world full time with the ambition to be a painter - to finally have a real go at using oils. Until then, with no space of my own at home & conscientious of my children's  health, oil painting had never been an option for me.

After two years in a studio at Beaux-Arts Brampton, I moved into a larger studio in a beautifully rennovated old mill , the Williams Mill Visual Arts Centre in  Halton Hills. Inspired by the wonderful art buzz of the community and my beautiful art space in the countryside, my painting skills progressed to a new level. My very first painting there , The Magnificent Ascent of the Mighty Bear, a 3' x6' oils & oil stick painting took top prize at two juried art shows. And my photographs, initially taken as possible future reference for my paintings, began to take on a following of their own. Exhibited in my studio for interest, they began to sell, and one was used on the 2006 Halton Hills Tourist Guide cover. In 2008 I had two solo photography shows. "The Hidden Garden", a year long study of the Chappell House residential gardens in Riverwood Park was part of CONTACT 2008 Toronto Photography Show and the first photography show at Visual Arts Mississauga.

For almost 5 years I observed how important having ones own studio and what an important support being surrounded by a creative community is to this solitary business of visual art. But I also observed these artist communities work best for those in them. I lived in a completely different city to the communities above . And I wanted what those communities offered to be offered to not only me, but the other artists of my city - Mississauga. And thus AIM  - Artists in Mississauga - and the grassroots movement AIM4Studios were born.

So onto my journey. In 2009 I want to put away the habits I have developed over the past few years- ie. painting realistic paintings straight from photographs. I want to get back to my roots of drawing, incorporate that in my painting. I used to love graphic novels and wonder can I get that back?  can I retrigger my imagination? I also I want to tell more stories with my camera & bring my view of looking at nature more into the public eye.

And finally, I passionately want to make progress for AIM and find us a home to create.  

Wish me luck! And I invite you to comment on what you think of any new art I post and anything else art related.