28 June 2018

Alberta Landscape 2018-5

Russell Mang, watercolour, Frances Vettergreen, mixed media, Verna Vogel, oil painting

Three friends painting at Sibbald Creek.  Look at that lovely vista!

I did not like the lovely vista.  I painted something more simple.

Russell Mang, Frances Vettergreen, Verna Vogel, at Sibbald Creek Lookout Point

But I think my painting is not boring.

Russell Mang, Frances Vettergreen, Verna Vogel, at Sibbald Creek Lookout Point
1. sketch
Russell Mang, Frances Vettergreen, Verna Vogel, at Sibbald Creek Lookout Point
2. midway




Russell Mang, Frances Vettergreen, Verna Vogel, at Sibbald Creek Lookout Point
3. Completed

Russell Mang, Frances Vettergreen, Verna Vogel, at Sibbald Creek Lookout Point
...



All our paintings together:
Russell Mang, Frances Vettergreen, Verna Vogel, at Sibbald Creek Lookout Point
left: Frances Vettergreen, mixed media on paper
centre: my painting, oil on panel
right: 
Russel Mang, watercolour on paper

When we had done painting, we had a picnic supper of bread and olives and two kinds of hummus and cheese and meats and cut veggies and grapes and probably some other things as well which I have forgotten. 

Before we painted, we went walking in the woods and around a little lake.  There were many wildflowers.
It was a really terrific day with good friends.


14 June 2018

portraits of RM

portrait painting oil on paper in my 9x12 sketchbook

Portraits of RM, made in the summer of 2015.  About five weeks ago we received news of his death.

Making portraits is very interesting to me.  Often in the finished work I find I have caught something of my sitter's personality that has not been apparent to my conscious mind.

One thing I like to do when looking at portraits (drawings, paintings or photographs) is to cover first one half and then the other, looking at each side separately.  I find there are usually two personalities contained in every face.  Of course there are many more than two sides to a person, but it seems at least two are evident in almost every portrait.  Maybe two sides of the artist as much as of the sitter.

portrait painting oil on canvas mounted on masonite panel Rob MacKinnon
portrait painting oil on canvas mounted on masonite panel Rob MacKinnon

11 June 2018

print this

printmaking prep, acrylic medium on mdf

Above: Drawing with acrylic molding paste on 3  pieces of leftover MDF.  Maybe I'll try making a print off them all together like this.

Below: Two paintings from 2015, reworked last week.  I think for the better :)

BREATHE acrylic painting 65x34 inches
BREATHE - 65x34 in.

vernavogel reworked paintings PULSE acrylic on stitched canvas 65x35 inches 2018
PULSE - 65x35 in.

The last 4-5 weeks have contained several friend & family's health & life upheavals, an intense spate of teaching work, me getting laryngitis - and my studio was sidelined a bit in the midst of it all.

So it felt really good to get in there and tidy things up, take stock, let my mind wander through some possibilities.  Even small pockets of creative time can bring some soothing calm into life.