recent paintings and news

recent paintings and news

Thursday, July 21, 2011

my art & Daniel Lanois??!!!!!!!


 *not exactly in the same billing but it reads well...

2011 Greenbelt Harvest Picnic
Saturday, August 27 (28 rain date)


I am ECSTATIC to be sharing this news:

I have just been selected as one of the artists who will be exhibiting work in conjunction with an exciting music event that features Daniel Lanois and Friends including Emmylou Harris, Gord Downie, Sarah Harmer and more!!!!
 

The 2011 Greenbelt Harvest Picnic is designed to raise awareness about the importance of the region’s local conservation lands, the arts, local agriculture and home gardening. Along with art and live music, visitors will also be able to enjoy a local farmers market, horticultural workshops, food and beverage areas, fishing, swimming and good old fashioned picnicking.
http://www.harvestpicnic.ca/


 August, Greenbelt Disaster
oil on canvas, 9x12in, 2011
sold


I submitted work from ongoing visits and interviews with farmers on Greenbelt protected land and work created on that land. The series has been a driving force in my artistic practice.

 August, Greenbelt Disaster
oil on canvas, 9x12in, 2011
sold


 Last year I also connected with 3 other concerned artists (Michelle Teitsma, Gordon Leverton & Jefferson Campbell Cooper ) re greenbelt protected land and together we formed the ‘Greenbelt Collective’ with an upcoming exhibition (2012) at the Grimsby Public Art Gallery. We are hoping to travel with this show to raise awareness of how this legislation affects the agricultural and urban sectors in Ontario.

February 
oil on canvas
36x48in, 2009
sold 



Right now though I am still reeling -I have seen Daniel Lanois perform a few times but to be exhibiting at the same venue  has kinda knocked my socks off- and Emmylou Harris?? am well chuffed!

For ticket information click here


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

the more things change & the drive from Hildreths'



Detail-the more things change



A few new works related to an agricultural themed exhibition I will be participating in -more about that later.




The more things change...
encaustic mixed media on  barn board
7x20in, 2011







 the drive from Hildreths'
encaustic mixed media on barn board
6x15in, 2011

my friends will tell you that the short season of sweet peas have me on a mission to hunt down and devour every last one-we have shared many conversations while consuming these delectable little green pearls of flavour.

Hildreth's is a local market and they have the BEST

*

Sunday, July 17, 2011

A few new strays (sold)


Below are a few encaustic paintings where I incorporated and transferred representational (somewhat) images to integrate with the work.

 


 Fire Fly        Moon Dance
original painting embellished with encaustic, 8x11in, 2011, sold

 I am quite happy with this image. The original sketch was done on black gessoed card that I masked off. It was rendered with acrylic and charcoal-I wanted that gauzy grainy and velvety blackness that only charcoal can do. 


I then drew on the right side of the panel with charcoal and oil bar and my homemade pigment crayons. After transferring the original painting onto the support I built the whole surface with encaustic glazes and did a lot of manipulation with the iron. What you can’t see in the image are very fine grains of silver leaf that really emulate the sparks of light on the right in a nice subtle flow.








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July, a time to rend
image transfer embellished with encaustic, alfalfa &  mixed media on panel 8x11in 2011, sold

For this work I transferred a small copy of my 24x36in painting onto the panel, than embellished it with alfalfa plucked from the field where I painted the original. A few layers of encaustic clear glazes are applied, then with pigment, followed by a final application of gold and copper leaf. 

During the process I intermittently drew with oil bar and wax/pigment sticks that I made. This was in order to reveal subtle colour nuances exposed from underneath when scraped and carved.




July, Remains of the Day

original painting embellished with encaustic & mixed media on panel 
6x8in 2011, sold

This is a small oil sketch painted last week with my students. I transferred it onto a panel, than embellished it with encaustic in the same manner as described in the previous work. (I just brought it into the gallery today and it has sold!)


*If you'd like to learn some of these encaustic collage techniques, new classes start this week-just contact me : jan@janyates.com 

*

Thursday, July 14, 2011

art-making under a full moon




It is one of life's bitterest truths that bedtime so often arrives just when things are really getting interesting.  ~Lemony Snicket




Fire fly  Moon dance
encaustic on panel
6x8in, 2011, available




I have willingly surrendered myself to moonlit summer nights of art-making




And the Moon Swept Down
encaustic on panel
6x8in, 2011, available


I often think that the night is more alive and more richly coloured than the day.  ~Vincent Van Gogh






Fire fly   Moon dance
encaustic , mixed media on panel
12x15in, 2011, available



There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.

 George Carlin




‘I heard it in the wind last night
It sounded like applause
Chilly now
End of summer
No more shiny hot nights
It was just the arbutus rustling
And the bumping of the logs
And the moon swept down black water
Like an empty spotlight’
Joni Mitchell

*

Sunday, July 10, 2011

6 new encaustic works (sold)



looks like a new series evolving

'Quiet Conversations' ~ -incorporating drawing and glass-will see where it takes 
 me





 
Quiet Conversations  
encaustic/mixed media on panels 
9x12in, 2011, available




 
Quiet Conversations  
encaustic/mixed media on panels 
4x12in, 2011, available


Quiet Conversations   
 encaustic/mixed media on panel 
5x20in, 2011
sold





Quiet Conversations  
encaustic/mixed media on panels 
9x12in, 2011, available

 The next 2 images incorporate paintings rendered quite a few years ago. 
I have 'framed ' them by drawing with beeswax crayons that I made, as well as oil bar, then I fused them with heat and polished to harden. I attached a small frame on the back so they look like they are suspended from the wall and have a tapestry-like quality that I am liking.   
 
 
 
                                                                              
 
Quiet Conversations 

encaustic/mixed media on panels 
9x12in, 2011, available 








 
Quiet Conversations 
encaustic/mixed media on panels   
9x12in, 2011, available 



                                  *

Sunday, July 3, 2011

balance & letting go


On Sundays I work at our gallery - located in a tourist driven region of Niagara. In the summer we are fortunate in that we have visitors from around the world, and I am happy –and very thankful- to say that through this venue my paintings have moved to new homes in other countries.

I am especially happy, however, when they make their way to dwellings close to home. When local residents connect with the vineyards, orchards, fields and sky indicative of this region it touches a deeper chord.  Such was today. I actually had the opportunity to meet the couple that purchased ‘May’. Often I don’t so the chance to discuss the painting and hear why they responded to it was deeply gratifying-and so exciting to see it through their eyes! In discussing the work it inevitably brought back the inspiration and process so when it was time to part it was also bittersweet.

I guess the reason I am writing this is affirmation, for lack of a better word, that, as an artist, what I do can sometimes make a difference in not only my, but another person's, well being- being well. This always surprises me-like a revelation. Then my constant insecurities are momentarily quashed with the wonder of it all. Through many years and many paintings I have questioned why I continue to do what I do. (as if I have a choice??) I've given up a LOT-(would kill for a weekly pay check). Family, friends, loved ones are often put on the back burner. But making art is like breathing -I can’t NOT do it-so these intimate encounters with kindred spirits that 'get' my work enough to want it in their daily lives is something to behold-for me at least.

I’d love to hear from other artists on this-what have YOU sacrificed for your art?



 "May" with Doug & Pat




Friday, July 1, 2011

encaustic & quiet conversations (sold)


See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...we need silence to be able to touch souls.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta


A few new encaustics - new series. I have been making wee sketches in the early evenings and will be incorporating them into encaustic as well.

Clearing out my summer studio (garage) has taken priority and now that there is room to roam I will be hosting new encaustic workshops. I love working out there with the door wide open-especially when it rains and storms –I feel like I am right in it but remain dry:)

In the meantime I have been working on a very large painting and it is taking me forever..which is okay but I am starting to get in that obsessive stage i.e. all my waking hours and now even in my dreams. That’s another reason I like to transition after working all day on large paintings- I love the silence in creating at night and seem to get away with it more in the summer months.




Quiet Conversations
encaustic on box
6x8in, 2011
sold





Quiet Conversations
encaustic on box
6x8in, 2011
available

Saying nothing...sometimes says the most.
Emily Dickinson


The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak           
Baruch Spinoza
*my favourite