Poppies reign in my garden!

I've taken dozens of photos like these below, of these wonderful flowers, so delicate, so proliferous, so............so cadmium red! 

I can't wait to put brush to canvas to try them out. 

Since my class at Southampton has been cancelled (not enough registrations)

I will have more time to paint the glorious sights of spring around my house. 

(At least when I take a break from digging and planting and weeding.)



I love the way the stems take such odd shapes. And I love the fuzzy flower pods. 

The honeybees really love them too. See the one below?
He just might make it into a painting.

Patchwork textures

This painting is on display at the Southampton Art Gallery on the Instructors' Wall.  I wanted to show a sample of one idea for using textures in watercolour paintings.  If you are interested in attending this class, June 4 - 8, click on the photo of the gallery on the right side of this page.  See you there! 




"Patchwork Petals"
12 X 15
watercolour

Portrait attempts.........

"Reg"
watercolour, 11 X 14

When a friend at our church lost her father, I spotted a photo of him at the funeral home that I thought would make a wonderful painting.  I hope I did justice to him, since I had never met him.  It was a challenge to do his face, since there wasn't much light and shadow on it.  I abstracted the clothing and the background quite a bit, and tried out several different texture techniques. 

I would have liked to know Reg.

"Summer Sudoku"
watercolour
11 X 14

I took a photo of this fellow at the beach last summer, I think at Southampton.  I was pleased with the way I captured the intensity of his manner.  I was interested in my eye movement in this painting-- my eye looks back and forth between his face and his hand, top to bottom. 


I hope to try more portraits in the future.  It's a satisfying challenge, to capture a likeness.  I only did one portrait commission once, (with the exception of Brandy the dog!), and I agonized over it.  But it was about  5 years ago.  Here it is! 

"Lucas and Olivia"
watercolour

Art and Grandchildren

For Olivia............

I promised Olivia months ago that I would do a painting for her.  She requested flowers, particularly pink and purple.  I started this just before Christmas, but finally finished it for her just before March Break.  She loves any arts and crafts, and did a painting over the Break that was to go on her bedroom wall.  Here it is!

There'e no problem distinguishing the focal point here!  Everything points to the whale, and we are left wondering why it's so sad.  Olivia could tell you.

For Benjamin.......

This was an item I painted for a fundraiser last year.  I knew that if it didn't sell for the literacy program, I had someone on my Christmas list who would like it!  So it went under the Christmas tree for Ben.  And now Ben, just in grade one, has been trying his hand at the arts, with great success too.  Here is his work of art over the Break...........

Did you notice that Ben painted some bushes behind the figure, so it overlaps? 

Watercolour Workshops Coming Soon..............

I have arranged 3 workshops for this spring, at the Hanover Missionary Church,

on Saturday, March 31, April 21, and May 19.

On March 31, the theme will be Coffee Mugs!

Bring a favourite mug or two, and we will use them---- not for drinking, but for putting in a painting. I will bring other items along, perhaps books, a tea pot, fruit and a knife, a cream pitcher, spoons............ which we can put together to make an interesting still life. You might think of other items to add. It will get us back into the painting mode, and give us all a chance to review some skills. 




Check out details, and the themes for the other workshops, on the Classes page. 

Snowy Silhouette and Sunshine

Winter seems to be here again for a short while, so I am motivated to post two new winter watercolours. 

Twilight Trail
watercolour  11 X 15

This is the trail behind our home that the 4-wheeler takes, on its frequent rides back to the bush that give Max some exercise.  I was taken with the silhouettes in the original photo, and used only three colours to paint it.  It was a fun piece to do, joining up all the shapes to make one large, interesting one.

Blue House on the Corner
watercolour  11 X 15

It was such a lovely sunny day, and this little house near our church looked so cheerful.  Snow still blanketted the ground, but was losing its grip as it melted on the roof.  I tried to make the little house look jolly by adding a whimsical touch.

Did we have winter this year?

I did actually enjoy several glorious days this winter that inspired snow paintings!  But eventually I pulled out some older winter photos that motivated the first two.  The first is of the row of mailboxes at our corner, as they looked about 5 years ago.  I had already done a watercolour from a different perspective, and thought this view was enchanting too.  It almost looks like the mailboxes are chatting together, passing along the neighbourhood gossip.  Ours is the one on the far right, which I recently painted dark green over top of the daisies that adorned it previously.  Time had not been kind to them, nor had the snow plows. 

"Neighbourhood News"
acrylic   12 X 24

The second painting was from a photo I took on an early morning walk up the road from our previous home last winter.  The bright, early morning sun made such beautiful shadows, and gave the trees haunting silhouette shapes.  The pine needle branches were white with frost.  God is such a wonderful painter!

"Pleasure Valley Morning"
acrylic    18 X 24