interpretations

Here again are the paintings I made on Wednesday, with reference photos:


Canmore trailers with misty mountains




Birch trees and mountain





Atmospheric evergreens





Wolf willow, spruce, pine, birch trees

plein air

Tuesday evening I wrote the final test for my accounting class. Wasn't as easy as the mid-term because I hadn't studied as dilligently! But I think it went ok.

A friend and I had made plans to go painting in Canmore on Wednesday...



Undeterred by the weather, our intrepid heroes make a shelter out of tarps and found materials, and begin painting.



Mel is interested in the quirkiness of the trailer park juxtaposed against the mountains, and boldly begins a large work.



This woman has staying power: after 6 hours it is nearly finished.



Verna cannot stay in one place for too long, and after making an initial painting under the rigged tarps she moves along, inventing temporary shelters as her shifting locations demand.



Occasionally the rain lets up, the sun almost shines, and there is no need for umbrellas.



Almost 8 hours from the time they arrived, our tenaciously good-humoured artists are still smiling.





My four small canvases, from left to right in the order they were made:





And the box I devised for transporting wet paintings in the car:

more urban spaces

A nice shift, doing photo-based work again!
These are not finished yet, but getting close - I hope to have them done this week.

30w x 31h


30w x 33h



my pots and jars

you see I want a lot

You see, I want a lot - perhaps I want everything
The darkness that comes with every infinite fall
and the shivering blaze of every step up.

So many live on and want nothing
and are raised to the rank of prince
by the slippery ease of their light judgements.

But what you love to see are faces that do work and feel thirst.
You love most of all those who need you
as they need a crowbar or a hoe.

You have not grown old, and it is not too late to dive into
your increasing depths, where life calmly gives out its own secret.


Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Robert Bly

back to the drawing board

The drawing board being, in this case, photo-referenced paintings.

before:


after:

Not yet finished but starting to look all right at this point.



When I visited the Front Gallery in Edmonton in early May, I met one of the gallery artists - Tom Gale - and he gave me a box of canvas scraps.

This piece was in that box. Isn't it lovely? Looks like coffee cup rings among the paint splatters! A residue of Tom's working history. Of course I must photograph it for the record? :)


Here it is stitched into a new canvas. The pity is that I'll be gessoing over those stains... but the history will still be there, imbedded, an invisible part of the finished work.


And here's the photo it's based on.

Another day indeed. The book is not quite as poetic as I had thought it would be, but well-written so far, and I think the scope will widen as the narrative progresses.

The Excavators

oil on stitched canvas
41w x 43h

Sometimes my imagination is bigger than my body, and I forget to remember to just be myself.

Just took out a library book: "Lost" by Cathy Ostlere.
Simply put, it's about a woman's brother who goes missing while at sea. He is eventually presumed dead, and the book is her reaction to her brother's life. Or so I gather, having only just begun reading.

The inside of the jacket says
"Lost is a (...) meditation on the idea that to be lost can be a fact or a state of mind. And sometimes the difference isn't clear."

Lately I have been feeling a bit lost. I put this book on hold a couple of months ago and it has just become available... good timing, perhaps.

And tomorrow is another day.

"the third game is meaningless"

...said my husband at the pub last night. And I thought: that's kind of an interesting sentence when taken out of context.



in a flash of sun between rains



And so begins another photo-based painting. This one's 31w x 33h.



Storm
yep, I began painting it, got some half-formed ideas for this one.

let it be

Initially I had planned to have all new acrylic works for my November show at the Front Gallery in Edmonton, but I'm realizing that I have a lot on my plate right now, and could make things easier on myself by finishing some of the 20+ oil paintings that I put away in January.

So today I pulled out some of those unresolved oil paintings and worked on them.
Ahhh, oil paint. So nice.

A quickly collaged image of the work which I feel is ready for the show - can you tell which are acrylic and which are oil?


This is the one that's mostly hidden, lying on the table in the first photo.


This is the one that's really hacked up in the foreground of the first photo.


And lastly a couple of shots of yours truly:

a day in the life

7:15am
Arrive at studio, light breakfast while doing accounting exercises and homework to prepare for tomorrow's class.

10:20am
A call from my local gallery, they sold a painting, I will have a cheque next month! Sweet feeling, first cheque since early February, finances have been a bit low.

10:30am
Second breakfast. Begin painting, work on 3 canvases.

1:00pm
Sylvain drops in to say he'd like to accept my offer of a stitched canvases to paint a landscape on, joining the collaboration I set in motion in at the beginning of this year.
Also he gives some interesting feedback on my new works.

1:30pm
Go to public library, pick up "exit through the gift shop" Banksy movie which it is finally my turn to take out!
Swing by grocery store for ingredients for this week's lunches.

2:30pm
Lunch & sudoku sitting in sunshine, open studio window

3pm
Stitch, stretch & photograph a new canvas, 22w x 25h.

7:15pm
Tidy up & leave studio.

This was actually an ideal day in the life: no class this evening, no work shift during the day. Time enough for studying and artworking, a productive day. AND another painting finally sold!!
Ahhh.

a few new beginnings

stitching and initial colouring
51w x 33h




stitching and initial colouring
31w x 45h



stitched
71w x 37h
thinking I may not paint this one, maybe draw with graphite & conte...

in pieces

The commission I've taken on will consist of 21 canvases measuring 9x9" each, making one large image all together. It will be hung on a curved wall in a client's home.


Here is the idea sketch for the stitching:




All 21 canvases stitched:

(I used yellow thread which doesn't show up well in the photo)


The finished work will look something like this:


Soon the pre-made stretcher frames will arrive, and then I can stretch them all and begin painting - I'm impatiently waiting!

Meanwhile, I continue working towards my November show...

so far

Here is my last 4 weeks' worth of city(ish) work.

1st, drawing with pencils and a bit of acrylic colour wash on the stitched canvas:



2nd, stitching pre-painted canvas together with raw canvas, drawing with pencil and a light acrylic colour wash in the top bit:



And then it all seems to come together in this one, using all kinds of drawing media and collaging some architectural drawing bits, too:





Today I stitched a couple more canvases which I'll paint overall, in the now-old way, haha. Need a little break from these and also need to produce some work for a show in November.

let's go!

My latest new work:

mixed media on canvas
45w x 51h

Having fun with drawing on the canvas, excited by the possibilities of graphite, charcoal, conte, china marker, acrylic ink...

The camera has been acting up a bit, taking photos has become a hit-or-miss endeavor. I will need to get the camera repaired or buy a new one, methinks.

Wrote the mid-term exam for the accounting course tonight, and I think I did quite well. Next week tuesday I'll see if my feeling of doing well matches the reality of my mark, haha.

re-enter and re-enter

Today I stitched and stretched this canvas. Some of the canvas was already painted, a work I wasn't feeling very excited about, so I tore it up and used the bits. This is where it led me.
Now this is getting interesting, huh?

This thing measures 51w x 45h. I have decided to experiment in large format, haha! And I likes it.

doing and becoming

“Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
- Mark Twain

Nice to come across this quote.
My dreams were not encouraged when I was younger and I feel fortunate to be where I am now. And where am I now? I'm here:

I recently quit my job at the art supply store and, after job searching awhile, will be starting a new one next week.
Have a solo show to prepare for in November, with a new gallery in Edmonton which I just joined.
Took on a complex but exciting commission through my Vancouver gallery.

What a wealth of choices I can make, options I have in life!

And I am in the midst of taking an evening class - Accounting. Of all things, accounting! Why on earth?
Because:

1. I went through a time of hating all things art a few months ago, and wanted to do something, anything, with the other side of my brain.

2. Knowing a bit about the financial side of things could be useful in my self-employed life.

3. It could also be useful if I ever need to get a "real" job with decent pay.

And taking the course is all right, it satisfies that part of my mind which longs for order amid the chaos. However finding myself immersed in meticulous rule-following activities is a bit disconcerting.

I struggle not to stare out the window at a wonderful view of highrise buildings in the early evening sun, their silvery edges and reflective glass, the blue shadows of receding spaces. You know how the light is at this time of year, sigh, so beautiful. I could probably draw that view now, from memory, fairly accurately.

Remembering the meanings of terms like "Capital" vs "Equity", in which order does one make a Balance Sheet, Income Statement, &c... shall we say it requires some mental effort. Which is what I signed up for, I'm not complaining.

In the class with me are people who work in offices, or have other similar knowledge of this world of business, and I feel a bit slow in comparison.

What, me? hard on myself? impatient? no, never! Haha.

So here I am, reminding myself that I am a great artist, that I can make great work for the November show and also complete the commission I've taken on, that I will enjoy the new p/t job, I'm intelligent and likeable enough and have the courage to return to school after 15 years to learn something totally outside my comfort zone, and that these things make me what I am.

Yep.
:)

‎"There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle" -Robert Alden