Planning Ahead - Sold

Planning Ahead, 6x6 oil

The season of abundance has begun.  Every year I fill my garden with beans, tomatoes and lettuce.  This year I added broccoli and jalapeno peppers.  I love being able to go out to the garden and pick what I need.  My main competition is the rabbits.  We built a raised garden to keep them away...it worked for a while.  The larger rabbits figured it out and one day I saw one sitting there in the middle of my garden.  Luckily our dogs love being outside, so my garden is protected by them a lot of the time.  We did have a cherry tree, but we were never able to get to the cherries before the birds did.  Luckily, we can buy freshly picked fruits and vegetables as well as baked and canned goods from local farmer's markets.

Tipsy Cherries - Sold

Tipsy Cherries, 6x6 oil

My plan for this month was to not paint food, but I set up this still life and started painting it before I realised that I was painting food.  I was attracted to the deep rich red of the fruit and the long stems.  I think I have a few cherry paintings ahead of me.

Ed #2

Ed #2, 8x8 oil

 Last Thursday evening we were setting up for the show that was on Friday night. We also had Ed the model posing for us again. By the time I had finished hanging all my paintings, I had an hour to paint. Talk about speed painting! Luckily it was Ed, he is such a good model! He even managed to hold a smile, which is extremely hard to do!

The show on Friday evening was a lot of fun! We had a constant stream of people coming in (despite the rain), and my husband Andy enjoyed playing his songs for us!

Thriving - Sold

Thriving 18x18 oil

Yes, I painted a picture of the dandelion. This is one of many that I spent removing from my garden one Saturday afternoon not too long ago. As I was carefully trying to remove the whole plant, including the root, I was wondering what is it about these plants we dislike so much. Dandelions just grow without any effort on our part. Why don't we just fill our lawns with them and forget about trying to grow the ever elusive grass, that needs so much maintenance and care year after year.

Upper Gamma Portrait Painters Show, Hamilton Art Crawl

This week I have been preparing for Friday May 10 Art Crawl in Hamilton.  This is the first show this group is putting on, so it's pretty exciting!  I've been digging up some of my older paintings from about four years ago. I'm surprised how many I have!  Of course they're not all worthy of being in the show, in fact some belong in a bonfire.
We decided to call ourselves the 'Upper Gamma Painters' because we're on the third floor (Upper) and the sign on the building is 'Vasco da Gamma...'.  My husband will be playing some music on and off during the evening as well.  You can see him pictured above with the guitar. 
The address of the show is:
175 James St N, Hamilton, Ontario, 3rd floor, (near Acclamation Bistro).
The show runs all evening, 7 - 11 pm.

The Only Path

The Only Path, 12x9, oil

It was a perfect day today to be outside painting.  By the time I arrived at my painting location, it was mid-afternoon and the sun was shining brightly.  On days like this everything looks beautiful, and it's so hard to decide what to paint.  I love this view of the winding pathway with the shadows of the trees crisscrossing along the way.

February Blues

February Blues, 36x48 oil

This is a painting from a couple of years ago, that has never left my studio.  One of my first larger sized pieces.  I love this painting.  It was originally painted 'en plein air', (8x10 inches), on Valentines day.  I called it February Blues because of the beautiful blue colours of the shadows, sky and the frozen lake in the background.  I also love this painting because it brings back memories of when I was painting the small sketch outdoors; my husband was texting me about our plans for the evening, being Valentines Day.  I smile every time I look at this painting :)

Ed

Ed, 8x8 oil

The model last night for my portrait painting group was Ed.  He's a professional model that I've painted many times over the years.  He is such an excellent model!  It's quite funny, I've recognized him in paintings in various art shows that I've been to as well.  Unfortunately I only had a couple of hours to paint this otherwise I would have liked to do a larger full figure painting.

April Paintings 2013

April Paintings 2013

Happy May Day!  Magnolias are in bloom! 

Well here are my paintings for April.  I haven't been as productive as the first few months of the year, although I have a lot ideas in the works, with each week being a theme.   I'm not sure if I can work that way but I'm going to give it a try for a bit and see how it goes.