Painting and More

Life has been busy here. I just finished a 4 day workshop with Robert Burridge and I am tired but excited to get back into my studio and painting. Thanks again to Leading Edge Art Workshops for organizing this workshop.

Just before this workshop started I received news that two of my paintings have been juried into the Leighton Art Centre's 15th Annual Juried Members show. I submitted three paintings and was so excited when I received the news.

I find myself at a good point in my art. I had stopped painting in 2010 and returned to art making in 2013. It was a struggle. I didn't return to printmaking but instead started using acrylics. Steep, steep learning curve and at times my level of frustration and disappointment at my results made me think about quitting. A few things happened between 2013 and now. I read Malcolm Gladwell's book 'Outliers' (you know the chapter - '10,000 hours of practice' - I liked the whole book) and reread 'Art and Fear' - if you haven't read this book do! And also read Steven Pressfield's book 'The War of Art'. Lots of food for thought in those books. In 2016 I took my second workshop with Brian Atyeo  (big breakthrough during that workshop) and signed up for my first 30 Paintings in 30 Days with Leslie Saeta in September 2016. None of this was 'luck' (I did have a couple of people tell me that I was 'lucky'). I have been committing myself to practicing my art and continuing to take workshops and grow in my art. I am starting to develop my own style and having a great time doing it. Yes, there are days where nothing seems to be going right and I am struggling and 'uncomfortable' with what I am painting. But I find if I stick with it and push through it I am making some big breakthroughs and growing as an artist. So after saying all of the above I want to tell you not to give up - continue to explore, take workshops, practice, practice, practice and enjoy this journey. At this stage in my life I can't think of anything I would rather be than an artist. It feels great when filling out forms to put under 'occupation' - ARTIST!




Here are the two paintings that were accepted to the Leighton Art Centre Show. The prairies and foothills are images close to my heart.

'Across the Valley'
14"X18"
Acrylic mixed media on cradled birch panel

'Prairie Fields Spring Thaw'
12"X14"
Acrylic mixed media on cradled birch panel

Preparing for an 'Open Studio' workshop in August

I don't know where the time is going - and I just don't seem to have enough to do all things I want to do (versus 'have' to do)!

The workshop with Brian Atyeo was wonderful. I will do a short writeup as soon as I go through my notes and photos. Brian is coming back to the Calgary area the end of August and I was fortunate to get the last available space. He will be doing a 5 day workshop at the beautiful River Rock Studio near Cochrane, Alberta. It will be an open studio workshop - lots and lots of painting in a small group (12 participants) with daily discussion and critiques. I have started thinking about what I would like to paint and doing some research into my subject. This was suggested by Brian - you don't want to show up without some ideas and pre-planning. The subject I want to explore is 'abstracted/interpretive landscapes'. I am leaning towards the prairies - uncultivated native grasslands and cultivated 'scapes' - although I think the Foothills will probably appear as well. I will be working large - again at Brian's suggestion....30"X30" and larger! Now that is a little scary, but could also be very freeing. I will be starting a journal filled with sketches, small landscape studies, colour swatches and some favourite artist's thoughts on painting and subject matter. I am a bit of a research junkie so this will be right up my alley. I am looking forward to lots of painting between now and the workshop and at least a couple of trips to the prairie grasslands. I will leave you with some inspiration from some of my favourite artists.



**These paintings are done by the artists listed under the images**

*Kurt Jackson*

*Richard Diebenkorn*

*Barbara Rae*

Workshop: Abstracted Still Life with Brian Atyeo

*Brian Atyeo

*All artwork is by Brian Atyeo

I am very excited to be attending Canadian artist Brian Atyeo's workshop in Calgary next week. I have attended two of his workshops and have learned so much! I am using more layers of paint, mixing and using more neutral colours, designing better compositions and becoming more confident in my painting. I am starting to understand the principles & elements of design and slowly but surely applying them to my painting. How can you not like that!

The subject for this workshop is Abstracted Still Life in acrylic and collage. '.....layering of paint and collage paper will be the prime focus of this workshop.' I am looking forward to being inspired by Brian's painting and the other participants and I will be seeing painting friends that I don't get to see as often as I would like.

You can read a complete description of the workshop here.

I will post a short write-up of the workshop after the dust has settled or the paint has dried! Happy painting to you!

Here are a few more of Brian Atyeo's paintings...

*Brian Atyeo

*Brian Atyeo

*Brian Atyeo

Getting Back on Track

Took a break from blogging and keeping up with other artists posts - in fact most computer related activities in general. Still painting but has been good to take a break from technology. I have a couple of workshops coming up in April and have been gearing up for them. For me this means checking that our favourite dog walker is available, meals are prepared in advance and of course the all important supply list has been checked and double checked. At this point in my painting life I don't require much in the line of supplies. Have enough paint to last a lifetime and paper too! I will be doing some prepping of paint surfaces as required by the instructor. As the date gets closer I will share info about the instructor and some of their art work.

The picture I am posting today took more time than I had planned. I worked with neutrals and added colour near the end. I am doing more and more lifting of paint to expose some of the older paint layers. I enjoy taking the paint off, just as much as putting it on. Can never really be sure what will be exposed!

'Vessels #12'
Acrylic mixed media on
Arches 140lb hot press paper

Wherever you are - happy creating!

A Painting Day with Friends

I paint with a small group of friends. We have known each other a long time. Most of us met through our local painting group and that other common thread family. Six of us gathered at my home yesterday. There was food a plenty, multiple conversations going on at once and of course painting. Acrylics, watercolour, coloured pencil and graphite were some of the materials of choice. We started with a quick warm up - this involved displaying an image (in this case calendar photos) and having 40 seconds to draw/paint that image. We did a total of 8 of these quick studies. This is such a good exercise - forces me to edit out most of the details and look at shape, line and value.


One of the original calendar images and a sampling of the some '40 second' sketches.

4"X6"

I did a small painting - not from a quick sketch though. I used acrylic paint (titanium white and a premixed grey), watercolours, Inktense pencils and 8B graphite. I have never mixed these twos mediums so it was an experiment that at times I thought was going horribly wrong or seemed to be working. I put some of the acrylic paint down first and 'drew' into it with a pen and then started adding watercolour and then more acrylic. As soon as the second layer of acrylic met the watercolour (which was dry) the watercolour pigment mixed with the acrylic. My first thought was to quit and just use watercolour, but I decided that maybe I could make something out of the original smudges. So continued painting with both mediums, spritzed with water and rubbed and lifted with paper towel. I do like how the titanium white and watercolour mixed to make some great opaque areas. This is probably nothing new to some of you but this was the first time I had tried mixing the two media together. I am looking forward to more 'experiments' in the 'art lab'.

6"X6"
Mixed media on 140lb
rough watercolour paper

'The Impatient Painter'

I am an 'Impatient' painter today....this isn't the first time, nor will it be the last. I have been picking away at this painting for a couple of days - a little bit here, a little bit there. It is not that big, but it was causing me a lot of grief - of my own making! I am challenging myself by working with value first and adding colour at the end - you know the saying - 'value does all the work and colour gets all the credit'. I did mix the colours with a limited palette and tried to keep them more on the neutral side. Went with a very dark value right away for the vessels and tried working my way up the value scale.

These are a couple of scans of the painting in progress

Putting in some dark values

A ways in to the painting process. A bit too enthusiastic and painted out most of the darks. Experiencing a certain level of frustration so starting playing with the background

....I couldn't wait any longer and had to add some colour (these are not even my go to colours!)....

'Vessels #10'
11"X11"
Acrylic mixed media on
Canson watercolour paper

This painting isn't quite the end result I was looking for, but I think it is a good first start. I am going to continue working with value in a more mindful way, on a daily basis and as time allows. Practice, practice, practice!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Painting - The 'Palette Cleaner'

I know I am not the only one who does not like to waste paint. I don't like to waste anything and some of the 'stuff' I am uncovering in my studio is evidence of this....a conversation for another day. This 'palette cleaner' was done at the end of the day. A small painting, limited colours and painted quickly. No time for picking away! Some make great studies to use for something bigger and some when matted end up being a lovely little gem to display. I think these might make an interesting series to do over the year.

'Palette Cleaner #1'
5"X5"
acrylic mixed media on
Somerset printmaking paper

Thanks again for taking the time to visit and leave a comment - your support is greatly appreciated!