I'm Still Here

It's been way too long between blog posts! Very busy - but that's not a good excuse!

2011 has been a very good 'Art' year for me with 15 paintings sold since the middle of the summer.

My biggest painting to date at 30" x 36" - "A Field of Sunflowers" and one of my new style collage & painting abstracts at 24" x 24" - "Promises" have gone to new homes.

Some new directions have been experimented with in collage and painting combined and I will continue in that method.

Abstracts will be my focus for the next while both in painting and printmaking. I'm sure that when my orchids start blooming I will need to do an orchid series though. That's my conundrum - should I concentrate on one style or the other? What the heck - I like both!

Happy New Year!

On the Wall

Installation complete! Now all that is required is another pot light in the ceiling over the painting. Client is happy, Artist is happy too! Payment in hugs and kisses received!!

Stages of Carey's Painting

I am finally finished this painting which is 36" x 24" on gallery canvas. It came to me completely spontaneously and was quite a challenge to complete. I painted it for my son Carey's new house and it will be in the kitchen on a rusty red wall surrounded by cherry wood cupboards and gleaming oak floors. It will add a lot of colour and interest and hopefully be a good conversation piece.

I have included photos of my process, starting with applying gesso to an old painting. Each step was a surprise as I didn't have any idea where it was going. I just took my time and let the painting speak to me and evolve.

Summer Works

Finally, some new paintings! It's been an extremely hot and humid summer! Just trying to stay calm and cool has been a big effort each day. Because of the weather, everything is growing and all my gardens are beautiful.

I am in the process of cutting mats and framing these paintings for inclusion in a summer show of paintings and printmaking that starts this Friday. There will be a sunflower series of 7 works, some landscapes and some abstracts.

Now to continue with a collage series which is starting to morph into collage with painting and printmaking combined for a fall show which starts November 1.

But top of the list is to enjoy each beautiful day and the amazing sunsets we are getting!

Series Continued

This is the third collage painting in my Windows series. Next will be a rectangular shape at 20" x 24" and I won't know the colour scheme until I begin. So far, so good.

Working on a Series

This is the second in my Windows series. I was trying for a calm, blues and yellows piece. My psoriasis has been acting up this past week with constant irritation and pain and I'm guessing that's why the red snuck in there unintentionally. It will be interesting to see how the third one turns out as I was aiming for a pair in similar colours. That's the fun of letting the painting have a life of it's own.

Renewal

It's a beautiful warm day, birds are singing, grass is turning green. I love spring! It's the renewal thing.

This painting is the first in a new series of collages that I am naming Windows of Opportunity.
Partly for the obvious window-like image and also for the renewal theme.

Patience

The Orchid Story:

I bought this Cattleya orchid, which consisted of one leaf with a few roots and a bag of growing medium, for $25 about 10 years ago. After nurturing it along for 4 years it bloomed - three beautiful, palm-sized extremely fragrant flowers. Then we moved. The plant lost all leaves but I kept watering and eventually new leaves appeared, one by one and now, 6 years later - three more healthy, beautiful flowers!

If you want to learn to be patient - grow orchids!!!

I can feel an orchid series coming on!

Happy Faces

It's been way too long between posts, but that's the kind of year it was. A year with joy and happiness with the birth of our first grandson in April. A time of stress and sadness seeing our second son's marriage end. Throw more stress in there with a broken ankle and psoriasis on my hands and feet which, after a year of agony, is finally getting better. Not the best environment for creativity!

There was a lot of success as far as sales go, which is always a boost to one's ego. The sunflower paintings started with one little plant in my garden and ended up with a total of 5 paintings, this one at 30" x 36" being the largest. It was fun to paint on canvas, which is relatively new to me, and to do a realistic subject. There will be a few more to come but I need to take a break and do something different. In retrospect, flowers always make me happy - my subconscious knew what I needed all along!

This summer I will be offering a workshop in collage - teaching being another new venture for me. Now to find my collage materials and get busy!!!!