Angel tracks

Angel Tracks, 10 x 7", watercolour, $250

Here is another painting from a fun day in the snow last year. I will be adding this image to my collection of Christmas cards, which will be available soon at Bluefin Fine Handicraft and Gifts in Digby.

Angel in the Snow

Angel in the Snow, 7 x 10", watercolour, Nov 2009, $250

We have not had any snow here yet, but this is about the only part of the province that has not had snow. It has been cold and is feeling a lot like winter so I guess my thoughts are tending toward pictures to use for Christmas cards. This is a possible candidate for a series of cards. I will announce it on here once they are ready.

Kids at the beach

Kids at the Beach, 7 x 10", watercolour, Oct 2009, $198

This picture comes from a trip that I took with the kids to one of my favourite beaches. Mavillette Beach on the south west shore of Nova Scotia is a great place to spend a hot August afternoon. Some days there is too much fog but on this day the fog was hovering off the coast and sunshine bathed the beach. There were sandcastles dotting the kilometer long stretch of sand and kids everywhere having fun.

Snow paintings

December Sunrise, 7 x 10", watercolour, Oct 2009, $195

These are paintings done for display and sale at the Digby General Hospital as part of their Winter Light show, starting November 18th. I have painted the above winter scene before. It is of the view from the home where I grew up. I have liked the previous paintings so much that I kept it for myself and gave the next one to my parents. The one above is a new interpretation, and is the first time I have offered this scene for sale.

Shadows Stretching, 5 x 7", watercolour, Oct 2009, $98

Light through Trees, 5 x 7", watercolour, Oct 2009, $98

One cold and bright February morning I went for a walk. The snow was newly fallen and the sun was still low in the sky. The light coming through the trees was fantastic. I took many photos and as I go back to them at this time of year, I always find something new to portray.

Fall colours

Allain's River, Annapolis Royal, 7 x 10", watercolour, Oct 1, 2009  $250

The leaves are were just starting to turn last week when I stopped in Lequille to take some pictures.    I am sure that if I went back this week the colours would be more dramatic.   I also drove through Bear River where the leaves were fantastic.  I would love to get back there to paint sometime soon.

I am not sure of the name of this river as a nearby plaque referred to the Lequille River.  The Department of Highway's sign called it Allain's River, so that is what I went with.  Please let me know if I have misnamed it.

Lessons from Cape Breton

Englishtown Channel, 7 x 10, watercolour, plein air Aug 28 09

So I went to Cape Breton for a week of painting classes with top notch instructors.  All of them are painters famous in their own right as well as being very good at sharing their knowledge.  I really learned a lot.  Then I came home with my head bursting full of new painting techniques and ideas,  and life got in the way of painting for a while.  But now I am back at it and here is some of what came of my trip.  The last day of classes was spent painting out of doors (that's what plein air means, for you non-painting people)  at the Englishtown wharf.  It is a lovely spot.   

I painted the above sketch very quickly, just to get an idea of how to tackle the far shore of the channel and the water.   Owing to the brisk wind and clouds over head the water was a fair bit darker than I am used to painting successfully.  I have always had trouble, making dark water look murky, and this water was crystal clear.  I wanted to do it justice. I was reasonably pleased with this sketch.   I did feel that the composition was a little boring.  The ferry terminal and the power poles leading out to it are a bit hard to understand if one does not know the area, so I wanted to find something more interesting and simpler to make into a painting.  So then I painted the sketch below.  

Englishtown Channel #2, 7 x 10, watercolour, plein air Aug 28 09

In this one (above) I am happy with how the hills in the background fade away, also with the shape of the cloud shadows on the far hills.  The remainder of it could be better.   The instructor, Chris Gorey, suggested to me that I include some purple in the shadows on the hills.  So when I got home to my studio and finally got time to paint, I started experimenting.  I tried using purple shadows a few times and eventually came up with something suitable to share.  (see #5 below)  I think I also fixed some of the compositional problems that were present in #2, above.  I do feel that the contrast between the hills and the sky is a bit too strong.  The hills could be a bit lighter and the undersides of the clouds could be darker.  

Englishtown Channel #5, 10 x 14", studio, Sept 22 2009

As it was the hills and the sky and the marriage of the two that was bothering me,  I decided to focus on the far hillside as I had done in my first sketch.

Englishtown Channel #6, 7 x 10", studio, Sept 25 2009

I really learned something painting the clouds in this one.  I painted the dark underbellies of the clouds first instead of after around the white parts.  I found that this worked really well.  (though the photo I notice is a bit washed out, I will try to come back and fix it with a new photo soon)  In the end, the undersides were still too light, but now I felt like I was making progress!  I incorporated some purple in the hill shadows and it worked okay.  In fact I am more happy with this version of the hills than in the version which follows below.

Englishtown Channel #7, 7 x 10", studio, Sept 27, 2009

It might seem that I am going too far with this subject but every now and then my scientific side speaks up and says "what if I did the same painting but changed this one thing?"   So I tried to repeat #6 but make the clouds darker.  Again, I painted the shadows first, and this time I painted a bit of blue around the white shapes of the clouds.  I am most pleased with this sky of any of the ones in this series.

For now I am going to move on to something new, hopefully applying more lessons from Cape Breton.  Stay tuned for the results!  As always, I welcome comments.

The story of the motorbike

For those of you who are wondering why I painted a picture of a motorbike, here is the story.  The town of Digby is the home of the Wharf Rat Rally, the fastest growing motorcycle rally in North America.  I belong to the Home and School Association for the elementary school in Digby.  Our plan is to build a new playground for the elementary students, and that, like eveything else, takes money.   I painted the motorbike and donated the painting to the Home and School, who in turn, raffled it off during the weekend of the Wharf Rat Rally.  We were able to raise over $800 to go toward the Home and School.  I am grateful to all the volunteers who helped sell tickets.  

We hope to do this again next year.  I wandered around the Rally during the weekend and took lots of pictures of bikes.  Lots of chrome and sun gleaming off shiny enamel paint.  In a few months I hope to get started on another bike picture.  Stay tuned...

In the meantime, I have been doing some plein air painting.  Just a little bit each week since I came back from Cape Breton.  I hope to have something ready to post soon.