Housekeeping

Greetings to those of you who find this blog.  I realize that a lot of the paintings posted here have prices posted for them as they were once available for sale.  I will over time go back and clean this up.  The paintings that I now have available for sale are listed on my website and you can read about them on my new blog.  This blog is painfully out of date.  Ouch!

So, please note that paintings listed here as if for sale may actually no longer be available.  Please accept my apologies for the confusion.  I will make an effort to clean this blog up.

Many thanks for your understanding in the meantime.

Moving to a new blog

Greetings all of you.

 I have mentioned my new blog before but now I realize that I cannot keep posting regularly on two blogs.

I do not want to lose my blogger readers so I encourage you all to move on over to my new blog which can be found at www.poppybalser.com/blog   I will be posting the same sort of content but it will be much simpler for me as it will be linked in with my website (http://www.poppybalser.com/) 

I will occaisionally still post here as well but am finding it too much to maintain both of them well. 

For now I shall leave you with a teaser... 

This painting is a copy of a portrait by J.S. Sargent whose work I admire greatly.  I set out to copy his painting to learn more about how he depicts his subjects...

To read more about how I made the copy and to see a photo of the Sargent original, please visit my new blog here.

Thanks for following along here, I am glad that you found me and hope that you continue to enjoy what I have to say in my new virtual digs.

(You can always keep up to date on what I am up to by subscribing to my Paintings by Poppy newsletter, too)

Warm Surf, 7 x 10", watercolour, Oct 2010

I have been working on making pictures of waves.  I want to show the movement of the water in its changing shapes.  To do this, I have focussed on just the wave itself, ignoring any other elements that might add to making an interesting image.  This gives me some challenges, in that I have to manufacture or find darks to set off the lights of the foam.  This wave was actually quite sunlit, from the viewers right-hand side.  I need to set off the white crest without making the background so dark that I lose the feeling of sunlight shining all around. 

Frozen Wave, 7 x 10", watercolour, Oct 2010

This is another one where I have made the background significantly darker.  This gives it, to me at least, the look of a stormy dark even angry ocean.   Not the look I was going for in the first one!

There are much fewer warmer colours in the first painting than in the second painting.  The reds and oranges change the sense of temperature of the water.  At the beach where I captured the photos for these paintings there is a stream which empties onto the beach, carrying amber coloured peat-laden water.  This mixes into the ocean water and changes it from the pure clear ocean colours to warmer, tea like water.  Makes for a great picture though.  

Feeling Foolish

Happy Halloween!  We have survived the excitement for another year.  Now just to enjoy the mountain of candy.  One thing about living in the country is that our neighbours are so pleased to have trick or treaters that they make up a bagful for each kid who lives here!  Yikes!  Good thing our dentist does not read this!  But really, I am not complaining.  Our neighbours are so generous to us in so many ways, and it is fun to do the rounds with the kids.  Before I know it, the idea of going around with Mom on Halloween will be scarier for my kids than any ghost story!  So until that time, we have a blast!

Back to painting...

I recently upgraded to a newer computer, with a different operating system and lo and behold, discovered that somehow I could no longer upload pictures onto Blogger.  Or so I thought....  Here I am now figuring it out!  Hooray!  How silly of me!

So what have I been up to in the intervening time?

I have added a new collection of paintings to my poppybalser.com website, with the self explanatory title of Small Works under $100.  Check it out, there are some new works there.

Foggy Morning at the Marina, 5 x 7", watercolour

I also have started a new blog within that website, click here to access the blog.  You can read about the wave paintings that I have been working on and a little bit about New Brunswick herring weirs.

Leave a comment on either spot, let me know what you think.  Is there one format that you prefer over the other?  Will you be likely to visit two blogs to read what I am up to?  Or does it seem like too much bother?  I am curious to what your response will be.

Please support me
by voting
for my art!

October 2010

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Painting Contest by


BoldBrush


Sponsor:

FASO

Artist Websites

Here it is, contest entry time again.  If you would like to see this painting at the top of the list of popular entries, please click the "like" button.  And, in the category of breaking news, my entry from last month has qualfied as a Favourite 15% Finalist in the September Bold Brush Competition.

FAV 15%

Finalist

BoldBrush Painting Contest

September 2010

Sponsor:

FineArtViews

Art Marketing Newsletter

Guess Who Painting

Deer Island Weir, 5 x 7", Sold

This painting is a watercolour on paper, mounted on a canvas and varnished for protection with UV protective varnish.

It is my donation to the (now past) Guess Who event at Sunbury Shores arts and Nature Center in support of children's art education in St Andrews NB.  Click here to read more about the event (which was a lot of fun, by the way!) 

More red rowboats in the Bay of Fundy

Red Rowboat sketch 6

Red Rowboat sketch 7

These are the two small (5 x 7") sketches that I prepared for my client.  She chose the lower one for me to go on with.  I scaled up my drawing, manipulating the horizon a bit, and painted the final version:

Red Rowboat in Racquette Cove, 14 x 21", Sold

It has been approved and delivered.  The recipient expressed pleasure, and the artist is happy!



Red rowboat sketches II

Red Rowboat I, 10 x 7", watercolour

After having made some thumbnail sketches, I started working in colour.  I did three 7 x 10" paintings, each showing a different view of the painting. The above painting I did three times before I got it right.  You will not see the first three here as they were not satisfactory.   

Sunlight on a Rowboat, 7 x 10", watercolour

This one is not what my client had ordered but I had been fascinated by the reflections of the boat in the water and the play of light on it's side.  You can click the title of this painting and the one below to view them on my online studio website, http://www.poppybalser.com/ .

Rising Tide, 7 x 10", watercolour

I was pleased with how the trees reflect in the water around the boat in this one. 

I showed the three above to my client and she chose the last of the three, but asked if I could not include some sky in the picture as well.  So back to the drawing board and some more sketches for her to review.  You will see them soon.

In the meantime I did this larger painting to satisfy my own esthetic.  Obviously, it is based on the third of the smaller sketches.  I wanted to expand on that theme, seeing how it looked in a larger view.  This was valuable preparation for when I created the final peice.

Rowboat in the Raquette, 14 x 21", watercolour

This painting represents a step forward in my ability to paint rocks.  I have struggled with painting rocky beaches for years, never being quite satisfied with what I managed to portray.  Finally, though, I feel that the beach in this one turned out well. 

Red Rowboat sketches

I was asked to paint a picture of a rowboat that is moored each summer in one of the small bays in the town of Digby.  I have wanted to paint this for a while as it is a pretty little rowboat.  It is bright red and often sits in the waters reflecting the green of the trees and reeds around it.  (Red and green are complementary colours and the red of the boat stands out quite dramatically against the greens which predominate in our summer)

I started with the requests of my client who wanted a picture of the boat when the tide was coming in with the water halfway up under the boat. She hoped that I could include a line of white at the edge of the water, which she she has observed is a means of determining if the tide is coming or going.  Armed with this I spent a couple of weeks chasing the tide and the weather.  I had to get good photos to work from as this was a surprise for her spouse, who would be able to see me painting if he passed by the beach where I would be working.  It was astonishingly hard to get the right combination of good weather and the right tide at the right time of day.  The best time of day would be early morning or later in the evening as the light would be coming in sideways and highlighting the side of the boat.

I made several trips and got photos of the boat on the sand, the boat in the water and the boat in the middle of the day.  But none that matched what I was looking for.  In the end, in desperation, I dragged the kids along with me when conditions were good and got a few photos that I thought that I could work with.  I almost missed the tide as it was as I had to disentangle a child from the pile of rocks that he was climbing...  However, now I had something I could work with.  (Distraction with bagels from Tim Hortons helped this trip immensly, it was only when they were done with the bagels that the mountaineering began!)

Then I started doing thumbnail sketches, and here they are:

Because I had a few that looked promising, I then started doing some colour sketches.  I will post them in the next day or so.

Fall Colours Dahlia Completed

Fall Colours Dahlia, 10 x 14", watercolour

Private Collection

Here it is complete.  It has been delivered and the recipient is very pleased.  Hooray!  I have completed three commissions in the last month.  I will begin a post about another of them tomorrow, showing you the steps from sketchbook to completed painting.

Dahlia painting continues

So here it is, almost finished.  I need to add some definition to a few more of the petals, but overall it is coming along nicely.  I have been busy with things other than painting lately, mostly working on building a playground (click here to read about the new playground at Digby Elementary School.  This was a MAJOR undertaking for our community.  I am pleased to have been a part of it from the beginning and now also pleased that the playground is built and now I can start to focus on other things again!  Like painting more.)

A Dahlia in Fall Colours

It has been a while since I have posted a work in progress.  This painting is a request by a friend of mine.  I hope that she will enjoy seeing it in it's various stages.  I began with a fairly detailed pencil drawing (no photo of that) and then started with the shadows on the small white petals in the center, working my way out as I went along.

I did not want to get into too much detail before I had the background in, so that went on soon.

I realized that some of the earliest shadows were a bit light, so I started making them darker as you can see in the lower left corner. 

As always, I welcome comments.

btw, this painting measures 10 x 14". 

Open Farm Day

Today was Open Farm Day.  And I missed it!  I had scheduled one of my children's birthday party for today and by the time it was over we were all done for.  So we went home and played with new toys (them) and cleaned up (me).  At least I am learning something and we had the party at the bowling alley.  Money well spent to outsource the location.  Much less cleanup, need I say more?

So I missed my chance to visit with local farmers.  At least four farms in the near-by area opened their grounds to the public today, giving us all a chance to meet them and learn more about what it is that they do.  I am lucky, I have met all these people before and know they grow good stuff.  But they always put on a good show for us on Open Farm day with activities for kids, yummy snacks and animals to see and touch.  And the weather was perfect for those who did go.  I will try harder to get there next year...

On an agricultural note, my painting of my family haying has won some recognition,  which is very exciting!

Finalist- Outstanding Watercolor, Bold Brush Painting Competition (August 2010)

While the Sun Shines, 14 x 21", watercolour, 2010

Guess Who?

Guess Who

A Mystery Art Auction

 sponsored in support of the CLASS program

by Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Center

***

I was once described as a child of Sunbury Shores.  True enough, my family has been intimately involved with the Center since I was a wee one.  I took my first real class there as a young teenager but attended a preschool and a kindergarten there years before that. 

I have certainly benefitted from early exposure to all sorts of artistic pursuits, from the usual crayons and pencils familiar to most children to the less usual pottery, print making and weaving.  I am pleased to support this fundraiser to give other children similar experiences. 

And it looks to be a fun evening.  Click the link above for all the details, but here they are in brief.

Tickets $10

W. O'Neill Arena, St Andrews-by-the Sea

 Oct 2, 2010.

Be there to view the artwork around 5 pm or so. 

(Yes, the website says 7pm but I was told today that they want people there earlier)

Your $10 gets you in the door and a ticket in the draw.

If your ticket is drawn you get the opportunity to choose a painting which you may purchase for $90.

This brings me to

THE ARTWORK

6 x 8" canvasses

creatively adorned by

Celebrity and local artists.

This includes the like of Robert Bateman, Freeman Patterson and of course, me, too!

 

Here is the kicker:

The artwork is signed ON THE BACK!

You have to guess who painted what. 

You'd best hope that your knowledge of Canadian art is up to the task, because

you could end up with a $5000 painting and only have paid $100!

Good Luck!

Hope to see you there.  It should be an entertaining evening! 

Marine Commuter Traffic

Marine Commuter, 14 x 21", watercolour, September 2010

Available throught the Flight of Fancy

Bear River, NS

You can read about the sketch that led to this painting and the gentleman who inspired it in an earlier post on my blog, here.  Rowing in this fashion used to be a major means of getting around in the days before good roads and motor cars.  There are stories of men rowing across the Bay of Fundy (35 nautical miles!!) to see their sweethearts on the other side.  Now that is a sign of committment, if you ask me.  It took this fellow a while to row the 1 km from the wharf back to his boat, but it did not seem like it would have taken much longer than walking.  (Of course I was painting while he was rowing and my husband can tell you all about my perception of time while I am painting....) 

So when your look at this painting contemplate how you get around during your day.  When you are hopping in the car to drive somewhere really near by, stop and consider if you could actually walk that distance instead.  So often I find myself rushing to get places and hopping in and out of the car.  I do not leave myself the time to walk the short trip from the bank to the post office or from the store where I work to the place where my meeting is.  But I should.  It would be better for me and for the planet.  More restful, too.

The hurricane missed us

No paintings to show tonight.  Just a quick post to mention that Hurricane Earle took an unexpected detour and went up Nova Scotia's other coast, affecting Halifax and the South Shore more than he did us.  We lost power briefly and had a good amount of rain, but not much wind.  I did manage to go out and got some new photos of waves for future paintings.  (I was careful, the wind was not too strong and I stayed way above the high water mark.  My photos suffered a bit because of that, but sometimes it pays to be cautious.)

Here is one of the photos of Point Prim.

Waiting for Earle

Reflections on a Sailboat, 7 x 10", watercolour, August 22, 2010, SOLD

Another Paint the Town painting.  These boats are all one sailboat that I sketched as it swung back and forth on its mooring.  There was only the one sailboat there that day but I wanted to do something more interesting that just a portrait of that boat.  This is the result. 

This one is from Paint the Town and there is yet one photo to come.  (I know that I said last night that there was only one photo left but I forgot about this one)  I also painted another one of sailboats sailing down the Annapolis Basin toward Digby but neglected to photograph it.  If you are the owner of that one (you would have bought it on Sunday at Paint the Town) I would love to hear from you.  Especially if you have not framed it yet and are willing to email me a digital picture.

Meanwhile,  we have battened down the hatches here in Digby County.  The eye of Hurricane Earle is expected to pass very close to us tomorrow morning.  The weather office says that it will likely all be over by noon tomorrow so we shall see how right they are.  Last year's Hurricane excitement was provided by Hurricane Bill which passed over here quickly as well.  I was driving to Cape Breton that day and ended racing the hurricane up the length of the province.  I am glad that I do not have to do that again!  I remember the colour of the sky.  When the rain was just beginning as I got on the road outside of Annapolis Royal the deeply overcast sky was an odd green shade. 

If you want to know what is happening here tomorrow you can always tune into CBC radio from anywhere in the world.  They livestream their broadcasts on the CBC website and this includes the Halifax station.  It sounds like there will be local radio all morning.  During Hurricane Bill they did a good job of keeping us informed of what was going on (when I could hear the radio over the din of the water on the roof of the car!) 

Glare over Granville, 7 x 10", watercolour, August 22, 2010

And this is the last Paint the Town painting.  With the dark clouds in the background I thought it a suitable picture to end with tonight. 

Paint the Town Volunteers Rock!

Here is the second to last painting from Paint the Town.  I am saving the last one for tomorrow's post, when I can talk about the impending hurricane Earle or lack thereof...  (we should be so lucky!)

                                    Go Fly a Kite, watercolour, 7 x 10", watercolour

This one actually acquired a bid as it was being picked up by a friendly Paint the Town volunteer.  These wonderful people walk or ride their bikes around town, transporting fresh paintings in pizza boxes.  They converge on the Legion where they deliver the brand new works of art into the hands of yet more volunteers who hang the paintings and prepare them for bidding. 

This event could not happen without these volunteers.  They put a fabulous effort into making this event a success.  I find it humbling that a town of 500 people can pull together over 100 volunteers to make this event so remarkable.  Hats off to the people of Annapolis Royal!!

(Oh, about the painting...  this shows the waterfront boardwalk of Annapolis Royal.  There were lots of people walking along the board walk that day, including one child with a kite.  I thought that such a nice day needed more kites, so I added some!)

More from Paint the Town

Cafe Compose, 10 x 14", watercolour

This shows the rear of a lovely restaurant in Annapolis.  It was the last of the paintings that I did on that Saturday.  After I finished the painting and delivered it to the Legion for auction, Robert and I had a lovely meal there.  It was a real treat to rest out of the sun and relax after a long day spent painting.

Morning Marsh, 5 x 7", watercolour, SOLD

This one was the first from Sunday.  I struggled a bit with it. The light was changing quickly and I was painting tighter than I wanted to.  I eventually got it so it said what I wanted it to say and then moved on to the wharf where I spent the rest of the day.  I finished this one at 9:30 in the morning and wrapped up at 5 pm with another one of a similar subject, but handled more loosely. 

Church Reflections, 10 x 7", watercolour, SOLD

When I arrived at the wharf the reflections were picture perfect and mirror like.  The tide was just reaching full so a breeze sprang up quickly and spread bright stripes of blue ripple across the water.  There were artists everywhere painting the river, the boats and the people around them.  From where I was working I could see Wayne Boucher and David Lacey and was lucky enough to meet many lovely new painting aquaintances as well. 

Please forgive the clips visible in the last two photos.  That is what comes of operating a camera while the right brain is fully engaged!

Market Figures

Here is the next installment of paintings from Paint the Town last weekend.  I started out in the Farmer's Market and the biggest difference between the market and the places where I most often paint is the people.  There are people everywhere, especially this past week as it was a beautiful saturday in the middle of August.  People were at the market to socialize, buy blueberries, peaches and fresh tomatoes to eat with basil and fresh french bread.  Oh, the bread at that market is fabulous! 

Enough about food...

On to people.  There being lots of them that is what I tried to paint.  But they kept moving.  This one below is from a hurried pencil sketch of a father who kept carrying his little girl around the market.  She could not have been any more than 3.  As they kept moving back and forth around the market I was able to almost capture them.

Dad and Tot, 7 x 5", watercolour, plein air

So after trying to paint moving targets for a while, I moved to a "captive" model.  Mark, the saxophosist, plays every Saturday for the market crowd. 

Sax on Saturday, 10 x 7", SOLD

The musician viewed this over my shoulder as I was finishing it up and told me that he approved.  He especially liked that I captured the silver colour of the bell of the sax.  It seems that his is a silver saxophone, which he said most people do not notice.  After I painted this sketch of him I decided that a musician needs an audience so I did a larger painting using the same drawing as my reference (as he had packed up for lunch) and painted the following:

Market Music, 10 x 14", watercolour

The only problem with recycling a sketch is that sometimes I realize after the fact that there is something wrong with the initial sketch.  In this case, I had messed up the dimensions of his figure a bit in that he is not quite so lean and lanky in truth as he looks in the painting.  Though I painted him with the build of an NBA player, that was my own unintentional fabrication. 

Part of why I wanted to focus on people that morning was so that I can get better at painting them.  As long as I learn from the mistakes that I make and do not repeat them, I will be happy to carry on making new ones!  (As long as I learn from them, too!)