Back to normal

Or at least, to what passes for normal around here most days, after taking 14 paintings to Ottawa for a fundraising art show/silent auction last weekend.

It was great fun seeing some of the paintings from the last couple of months all hanging together in a public space, and even more talking to so many people who had nice things to say about them. The paintings will continue to hang until the end of this week, and hopefully many will be hanging in new homes after that. When I left on Monday afternoon, several had been spoken for already. It's a bit of an odd feeling looking at some of the paintings that felt so much a part of our lives this last little while, hanging on our walls, and knowing they won't be coming back - of course, empty spots on the walls are rare around here, and can be a great motivator for getting something new started.

It was such a scramble these last few weeks trying to get the last paintings finished and everything framed that I haven't added them all to this blog - so here are the last two that were finished just before the show:

Bantam Rooster

acrylic, 11" by 14"

The companion piece to the little mille fleur hen, a portrait of my favorite of the roosters that live next door. A tough little guy that will take on anything on two legs or four, he's not a bird to turn your back on. He reminds me a lot of a rooster I had years ago who was the scourge of the farm, putting humans, dogs and horses to flight with equal determination. Four pounds of bad temper and utter fearlessness, clothed in the most glorious feathers - that's a bantam rooster.

Reading on the Rocks
acrylic, 11" by 14"

This is the larger version of the small "Summertime reading" study I did a little while ago. It was a lot of fun to do, I really enjoyed working with the shapes and colors of the rocks, and the strong contrasts. And of course with winter pretty much here - we had the first major snowfall of the year today - remembering the last summer, and looking forward to the next, makes the short, dark days seem a little less gloomy.

Fall Colors

October Woods

acrylic, 8" by 10"

Rain Over the Blue Mountains

acrylic, 8" by 10"

The last few days have simply been too glorious to sit in the studio, so I've been taking my paints outside to do some plein air landscapes. While there isn't time to meticulously reproduce every detail of the scene , there is something about the immediacy of plein air painting, and the feeling of being part of the scene, that is a refreshing change from studio work. The fact that the light changes drastically within a few hours means that it's important to focus on the essentials of the painting first, and get the lighting right from the start. Being forced to think about the essentials first, instead of getting bogged down in the details, is always good discipline.

"October Woods" was started in our beech woods and finished in the studio - afterwards, I wished I had just left it as it was when I left the woods instead of fiddling with it. So when I painted "Rain over the Blue Mountains" yesterday - I made myself sign it before packing up and heading home. No more fiddling!

I have the use of the car again today, so I'm off along the side roads to see what I can find. Hopefully there'll be another painting to post tomorrow.

A change of plans

Mille Fleur Bantam Hen

acrylic, 11" by 14"

That's what is definitely called for at this point - having spent the better part of the last two weeks too sick to do anything with some annoying virus, I am now staring the deadline for the upcoming show in Ottawa in the whites of the eyes, so to speak. I'm going to have to discontinue the small daily paintings for the time being and really focus on getting the remaining paintings I need for the Ottawa show done and framed. Hopefully I can get back to the small dailies after November 5; I did enjoy doing them, but they are simply taking too much of my time right now.

Today I finished another chicken painting that is destined for the Ottawa show - at 11" by 14" it is still considered small format art, but is about the maximum size I will take with me, as I am limited on the amount of space to hang things. This is another pic of the neighbour's mille fleur bantam hen - a painting of her mate is on my easel right now. After that I think I'll take a break from chickens and do something else.

Mille Fleur Bantam Hen (detail)

The feathers on this bird were definitely challenging, but I'm pretty pleased with the overall effect, and I think I've got her haughty expression pretty much dead on. She is a bird with a lot of personality!

Yellow Water Lily

Water Lily Reflection

acrylic, 6" by 8"

During our recent trip to Algonquin Park I took a lot of reference pictures of waterlilies. Most were the commonly seen white ones that seem to cover large areas of just about every lake in the park. However, one small lake had a ring of yellow water lilies along the entire shore line.

Usually I'm attracted to flowers because of the color, but this particular flower and its reflection captured my interest because of its sculptural quality. The totally still water made for a crystal clear reflection, so the swooping lines of the petals were equally visible from two different angles.

I've been itching to paint it since we returned, it was a lot of fun, and I may revisit this one in a larger size somewhere in the future.

Summer Coleus

Sunlit Coleus

acrylic, 4" by 5"

Bright coleus and a geranium, struck by the sun, on a shelf hung from a dark garden shed - what an eye catcher, and what fun to paint! Sadly, with summer almost over, it's probably not too long until the plants either have to come inside, or else succumb to the frost. I'm glad I happened upon them before that happens.

Poison Dart Frog

Yellow Dart Frog

acrylic, 4" by 5"

Frogs are always fun to paint - their beautiful eyes, the interesting colors and textures of their skin, and the amazing poses they can get those long legs into, make them enjoyable to watch and to draw. Of them all, the poison dart frogs of South America have some of the most incredible colors and patterns to be found on a vertebrate. This one caught my eye on a recent visit to a zoo.

Much as I like looking at them, I must admit I'm glad they don't live around here. Hard to believe something so small could be so deadly! I'm glad our local frogs, while not so spectacularly colored, are non toxic.

No daily painting today....

"I See You"

acrylics, 9" by 12"

...but finished another for the show I have coming up in November.

Although some of my friends insist on telling me chipmunks are just "rats with stripes", I never get tired of watching their antics. Whether they are climbing the sumac tree outside our kitchen window to gather seeds, or darting in the patio door to grab some of the spilled food around the parrot cage, they are always entertaining. This one posed for a bunch of photos when I was out early one morning while staying at friend's place this summer. It made a point of letting me know it knew exactly where I was, but seemed in no hurry to get further than a couple of arm's lengths away. We shared the pile of mossy rocks quite comfortably for half an hour or so.