small is all right

oops!
oh well, never really liked that painting anyway....
Let's see what it will become now!


And then I finished a few:

10 x 21"


11 x 19"


15 x 22"

All of those have bits of architectural drawings collaged under the paint. The drawings are mostly covered up, but tiny bits still peek through the colours.

something old

Cleaning up my files tonight and found some "oldies but goodies"

1998 - 16 x 16"

2001 - 33 x 50"

2003 - 35 x 50"

Not sure if my work has gotten better, or just more.... slick?
Hmmmm.
Interesting, looking at these old things now.

big and small

Got to the studio this morning and didn't feel like working on the big stuff. So I pulled out all the little wee paintings and looked at them for the first time in a couple of months.

Lots!
And mostly unfinished - better start tying up some of these loose ends before things get out of hand.

Decided to work on my 8x10's.

Mixed up a nice green for this pair, adding a little walnut oil this time. Haha, so much for pure glazes with no mediums whatsoever! I like the fine lines I can get when the paint is thinned down, what can I say.


Worked 3 different colours on this pair - the red was last.


And some of yesterday's underpaintings:


72 x 43"



45 x 25"



3@ 31 x 31" each

And a big one which I think may be finished:

41 x 71"

frosty morning

hours become days

inspirited

"I think that people who are not artists often feel that artists are inspired. But if you work at your art you don't have time to be inspired. Out of the work comes the work."
-John Cage

tryouts

I made these little ink sketches while in Toronto in December:

Used acrylic gloss medium to adhere them to wood panels:

12x12" each, the paper wraps around the sides a bit:


And a couple of random drawings collaged one atop the other:

I like how the felt pen bleeds when I brush the medium over it, but my collaging skills leave something to be desired - the paper wrinkles and blisters, which becomes more noticeable as the medium dries:

I would like to make a neater job of this. Going to make some more drawings and experiment.

the cycle continues...

26 x 46"



3@ 31 x 31" each

Something In Common

oil on stitched canvas
56 x 62"

happiness train comin' through!

After almost a month of no real studio time I've finally got the creative fires burning full strength again. Feels mighy fine!

remember this stack of wood?

now it looks like this:


yes, I like odd sizes.
So that was yesterday & the day before.

Today I finally got out the colours

and had some fun!



nope, none of those are finished but I'm excited about them so there they are in all their unfinished glory.

This is a crop of a small canvas - trying out some oil stick painting. Can you see the dark red lines I drew with it? The texture is very grainy. Not sure I like it, but will keep experimenting. Maybe brush over &c.

Last thing I did today was to stretch this canvas on one of the stretchers I just built:

Tonorrow I will gesso it, and thus begins another painting.

Wow, that was a very productive day!
:)

Coyote

Went for a walk along the river tonight and met a coyote.

Full moon, deep sparkling snow, coloured lights and smell of woodsmoke.
He's moving along, silhouetted against the sky, and when I stop walking he notices me and stops, too.

Head up and alert; we stare at one another.
He ducks his head and paws at the snow.
Head up again for another look, then a hop-skip-jump and he bounds lightly away.

Coyote: the trickster.

Remember your sense of humour.
Keep your eyes and ears open.
Keep an open mind.
Be prepared for sudden twists in your path.
Thus avert danger and, if you're lucky, notice the extraordinary.

Happy New Year!

brief impressions

Toronto downtown view from Yonge st.


Take in the city for 10 days and then spit it out with ink on rice paper.

wooed wood would

All right!
What you see here is the result of 5 sheets of 3/4" plywood ripped into strips at the lumber store. The lighter coloured ones have the bevel on one edge, the rest are just straight cuts.


A new beginning.


What the backs of these paintings look like.


It has been snowing for several days and the sparrows are fluttering and twittering in the bushes.


Now we are out of town for a couple of weeks, and then moving house straightaway we're back, so no work here for awhile. Merry Xmas everyone!

'round and 'round

Another one gets the stitch:


More wood coming in tomorrow, I plan to build quite a few stretchers again.
Got the hang of making glazes without alkyd mediums & am raring to make more paintings!!
Ok, yeah, got a bunch to finish yet too... but now is the time to start some new ones, to keep the cycle going.

re-enter and re-enter

Another "works in progress" post.
Very productive studio today and I'm feeling good.

city sketch #13



city sketch #17




and these two little guys:


now look like this:


It's funny, I rarely use black paint but today it seems to work. Some of the lines will be buried with colour layers as the work progresses, but right now I'm liking this drawing structure weight of the black. It is a good framework to build on.