cycle

'For me November brings a new cycle of inspiration and tends to be one of my most prolific months.  As I write there are already a couple of ‘Novembers’ waiting on the easel in various states of ‘undress’.'

It's funny that these words, written last November, apply to this one. I am still madly working on some larger studio works (not the same ones). But since the weather is behaving this week, I have managed to sneak out for plein air breaks. They still need some fine tuning so in the meantime, an earlier 'November'-and yes, they are the same trees out of my studio window that you have seen in previous posts.

November, Letting go

oil on canvas

24x36in

Sold

A Pretty Good Day So Far

I think one of the main reasons I paint outside is to let the natural world transport me from the responsibilities and worries that life tends to throw our way. And it doesn’t have to be painting- hiking the same path daily with my dogs will continually show me something new-whether it be the milkweed-open right now with fluffy cotton seedlings waiting for the wind, or red sumac standing against cobalt sky-or the sight of deer out of the corner of my eye, standing very still hoping that I won’t see. Nature is pretty f#ing amazing, and lately I have been thinking about how much I have ‘gotten through’ because of it.

This is an older painting, but one of my favourites:

A Pretty Good Day So Far

oil on canvas
8x10in, 2001

last Illusions & Aluminum

November always seemed to me the Norway of the year.
- Emily Dickinson

The leaves were falling on all sides like the last illusions of youth under the tears of irremediable grief. A brood of chattering birds were chasing each other through the shrubberies, and playing games among the branches, like a knot of hiding schoolboys. Every landscape is, as it were, a state of the soul, and whoever penetrates into both is astonished to find how much likeness there is in each detail.
- Henri Frederic Amiel

Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.
William Cullen Bryant

November

oil on aluminum primed canvas

11x14in, 2011

available 

I have been using pure aluminum powder with my encaustic works and today I thought that I would try it as a ground for my oil paintings. I have, in the past, painted straight onto steel but was curious to see how a stretched canvas ground, primed with aluminum pigment, would take the brush and paint. I quite like it so far as application. This was painted fairly thin and I am wondering if, once it settles a bit, any of the reflective qualities of the aluminum will shine through...(in a good way I hope)

Encaustic workshop FUN

DETAIL: A Way

Yesterday I held an encaustic workshop and  actually remembered to take some pictures. I am usually so busy that I never get time to take pics and regret it afterwards. 

This was a really nice session with just two willing participants, so they had lots of hands-on time.

Encaustic workshop -openings- Oct 26

If you live nearby and want to have some fun, there is an opening at next week's encaustic painting workshop.

 

I will share techniques including photo transfer, collage, colour, glazing, layering, drawing, printmaking, mono type and, new: cold wax/oil techniques. 

 

Classes are enjoyable for those with no previous art-making experience as well as returning artists who want to further explore this alluring and tactile medium.

Below are a few examples of the versatility of encaustic painting.

 *These encaustic tapestries are from a 1998 series that I embarked on after  becoming interested in ancient cultural icons-please excuse the glarey photos.

Today was a very changeable day. The wind was throwing leaves from the trees and the sky was trying to catch them.

I've been working all week on a large painting in the studio and trying my darned-est to ignore the fast-changing colours of the land outside.

I did need a break though-what I find about working on large paintings are the continuous choices and decision making throughout the process-from start to finish. I require complete concentration so I can fully engage with the work so schedule at least 7 hours per session for large scale paintings. This exhausts me after a few days and I find I have to switch gears.

Time away from the work is just as important as the work itself, allowing for consideration re where I will go with the work and why, as well as reflect on and distill what I have learned from the process.

so in the meantime....

Today the strong winds were dancing with boughs and branches before throwing last leaves to the ground - I just had to catch the whirling remains before they, too, surrendered to the season.

October

oil on canvas

11x14in, 2011

available

*for those who follow my work this will look familiar. It is the view from my studio window and I have painted -and will paint-it many times. These same trees are featured on top of this blog, but on a foggy November day.

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Harvest

Day is the hero's shield,
Achilles' field,

The light days are the angels.
We the seed.

Against eternal light and gorgon's face
Day is the shield
And we the grass
Native to fields of iron, and skies of brass.

Kathleen Raine

October, Remains of the Day

oil on canvas

30x30in, 2011, available

I’ve had my eye on this field since Spring. It is behind my property and through the years, different crops have been planted. When my neighbour told me that it was soy this season, my heart jumped. I love the russet colours and mottled texture that it becomes in the fall. (I prefer to think that it isn’t GMA)

As lagged as I am from my trip, I just had to get out and paint. To to be greeted with perfect fall weather-warm, sunny, low breeze and no bugs-irresistible- there won't be many left..


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Amsterdam with Van Gogh & Rembrandt

mmmm

When I planned my recent journey to Germany, I also, with a lot of help, mapped out a detour before heading home and made a train ride pilgrimage to Amsterdam to visit the Van Gogh Museum.

I have experienced Van Goghs’ work 'live' in California as well as here in Canada but needless to say I was so very moved by the body of work presented in this museum. So much so that I held back tears more than once.   

Like many artists who depict the natural world, I feel a symbiotic connection with Van Gogh.  Throughout the years I have developed a deep regard for his unwavering faith in his work and his courage to continue on in his own path-despite the onslaught of  obstacles that he endured. And when he could endure no more, he took his life rather than take a different road. I admire a lot of artists who go out in the land and paint;  but only a  few I feel deeply in regards to how they become one with the land with such raw, honest emotion.

It was fascinating to view Van Goghs’ influences (so much more than I realized re Japanese), the artists who influenced him, and artists that were influenced by him. It was also riveting to follow his earlier dark works as they brightened in their chroma and varied in malleable application. I was also quite pleased to see works that I have never seen in print (and through the years I thought that I had seen them all!).

  In all the works depicted, I found his self portraits to be unnerving-I can’t put into words the expression in his eyes –but I think if I did not know anything about him, I could see everything in them.

A while back I posted a note about a new website that depicts all of Van Gogh’s letters-here is an excerpt from the museum’s site. 

The letters of Vincent van Gogh

October 2009 saw the culmination of the extensive and prestigious Van Gogh Letters Project. Fifteen years of research into the correspondence of Vincent van Gogh by the Van Gogh Museum and the Huygens Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences will be crowned by this special exhibition, the launch of a freely accessible website encompassing the complete research results and the publication of a six volume book in three languages. Various aspects of Van Gogh's letters are also highlighted in the iPhone application and the Van Gogh blog.

http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/

I also visited the Rijksmuseum,  which houses many of Rembrandts' works, as well as Vermeer and many Dutch masters. Rembrandt lived and painted in Amsterdam so it was really a thrill to be here and  experience this exhibition. 

It also holds artists whose work was inspired by Rembrandt and I was interested to see  the influence he had on Degas and his development as an artist. Depicted were small portraits and etchings of Rembrandt rendered by Degas, presented with works rendered by Rembrandt.

*thanks to Liah, Mat & Mogi for the  journey

both sides now

I am still in Flensburg, taking a wee breath to catch up on the other side of my life. I was hesitant to bring along my computer but so very happy I did. I can still listen to CBC radio in English and also do research-as well as visit the artists’ blogs I so enjoy.

Although I did get some painting done here I will refrain from posting just yet. So far this journey has me filled with such overwhelming emotion and exceeded any type of expectation I might have had. No time now to sort the words and get them down.

The leaves are turning here and remind me that summer has officially gone, so I thought I'd share this painting, rendered a few years ago. 

October, oil on canvas, 24x40in, 2009

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fall into temptation

In the last post I mentioned that I did not have much time to paint before my trip. Well, I've just contradicted myself. Today was so beautiful I could not resist temptation and got outside for some plein air. 

September, (feels like October) oil on canvas, 18x24in, 2011, available


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Sky & journey: Baltic Sea

I’ll be travelling to Germany  next week to visit my Daughter. She is living in a small village on the Baltic Sea very close to the Danish border. Although I am extremely excited to be spending time with her I am feeling apprehensive because of the language barrier. She says not to worry - even in that remote village, most people at least understand English—but I can’t help feeling anxious… I am sure once I get there I will feel differently. In staying almost two weeks I hope to drink in as much art and architecture as possible. But what I am very intrigued with is the Baltic Sea. I  have been doing some research and will pursue this by bringing along some materials for art-making.

Needless to say with all the preparation for the trip I don’t dare attempt to make the time required in resuming  studio  works in progress—so I have been stealing time in my field -preparing my palette and backpack ahead of time-to save time-for catching patches of sky at the remains of the day…

September, Remains of the Day, (1) oil on canvas, 11x14in, 2011

September, Remains of the Day, (2) oil on canvas, 11x14in, 2011

curious thrill seekers

mmmmmmm

September (detail center)

Last September my painting comrade and I set off outdoors with very large canvases (at least for plein air). The hike itself was quite an undertaking, making our way through tall grasses and the kind of weeds that tangle around ankles in order to trip and maim. Trudging through the dense unruly field and uneven ground resulted a few tip-over’s for our gear-laden wagon, but we soldiered on. The destination?-a heavenly perch on a field of purple alfalfa, garnished with loaves of earthy hay that had been sitting since June.

September (detail left)

The view from the hill looks down at least  half a mile to a vineyard and beyond to an open field speckled with a few distant farmhouses (omitted from my painting).

September (detail right)

We painted from afternoon until early evening and were completely immersed in our work. At one point I shifted my eyes to check the light and there before me stood the silhouette of a little woman. At first I  thought she was an aberration, but then Dora saw her too. It turns out this wee Irish lady caught sight of us from her farmhouse below. Overcome by curiosity she climbed through the tangly weeds and made her way through muddy vineyard rows (in her proper shiny shoes and tidy cloths) just to see what we were ‘up to’. I love that-artists aren’t the only curious thrill seekers. But the encounter did put the kibosh on painting any further, which was fine as I managed to get down the composition and build up some of the masses enough to use as a guide when I resumed the work. But it is another that I put aside in hopes to get back to it in this new September. And I did, however this time working in the studio by intuition and recall.  I thought I would post it as some passages are perhaps not yet resolved. Right now I am too close and need to look again with an objective eye. 

 September, oil on canvas, 24x48in, 2011

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foolhardy pear

 

Today was a total washout-literally-my friend & I got absolutely drenched while painting in the vineyard-wind /rained washed the paintings right off of our 30in canvases-foolhardy pair we were-

so a wee pear of a different sort,  created in a DRY studio....

 

 

detail: Harvest 4, encaustic on barn board

 Harvest 4

encaustic on barn board, 6x14in, 2011, available

leave

September is bittersweet for me...birds are leaving..leaves are turning...I am searching for what was but look on to what will come

Sumac

encaustic on panel

7x10in, 2011

available

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Ms. Aubergine

My studio is  beginning to look like a produce market with Bartlett pears from the fallow orchard, tomatoes from our garden and my favourite, Ms. Aubergine! I find it absolutely impossible to resist the allure of her shape, colour, texture and gesture.....

 ' Feelin Groovy'

encaustic on panel

8x11in, 2011

available

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Who are we?

Not that I remember, but that I am

Memory, am all that has befallen

Unbroken being and knowing

Whose flow has brought me here, laden with the forgotten

Time and places, once here and now

Of those where were, from day to day

From life to life as I,

Presences of that omnipresence without end or beginning

Omniscient through our being,

That brings and takes away the unremembered living

Moments of joy and wisdom, the once-familiar

Rooms and temples and fountains, the long ago gardens

Of a thousand summers, music once heard,

Travelling through me and on, like a wave

Of sound, a gleam

Irrecapturable. And who we are

Who gather each one leaf, one life of the myriadfold tree

Of the lost domain, and mourn

The flowing away of all we never were, or knew?

Promises, messages reach us, instruct us,

The untold, untellable, undying

Heart’s desire, resonance

Of elsewhere, once, some day, forever

Kathleen Raine

August, Remains of the Day, oil on canvas, 18x24in, 2011

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Greenbelt Harvest Picnic

Harvest 1, encaustic on panel, 8x11in, 2011

I have finally recuperated from Saturday’s outdoor Greenbelt Harvest Picnic, and, exhausting as it was, it was also F#-ing BRILLIANT!!! My only regret is that I didn’t get any photos of my set up. 

The location couldn’t get any better, as the visual artists were exhibiting right beside the stage!!!!!

Thousands of people attended and the music line-up was fabulous, with performances by Canada’s Sarah Harmer, Gord Downie (Tragically Hip), Daniel Lanois and others.

Sarah Harmer

The highlights were EmmyLou Harris and Ray Lamontagne. I had not heard of him - and by the time he came on we were starting to pack up the tent-but when his band started to play and this absolutely powerful, sensitive raspy voice started to sing, I floated to the edge of the stage and stood there mesmerized for song after song after song....

Yolanda's Garlic, acrylic on canvas, 30x30in, sold

There was a large area with farmers’ booths chock full of fresh, regional produce as well as baked goods-it was so refreshing NOT to see the usual vending trucks with their processed foods.

Harvest 2, encaustic on panel, 8x11in, 2011

                            

Harvest 3, encaustic on panel, 8x11in, 2011

Lanois wants to make this an annual event and I am hoping to be a part of this next year. There was a fabulous response to all of the artists' work that was juried into this show and I am so very pleased to have participated in this inaugural art/

/music/ farming event. (it was a long day though-set up at 8AM and by the time we tore down and left it was after midnight!)

Daniel Lanois & EmmyLou Harris

a time for every purpose (under the sun)

This is another painting that I began last August and it is another that I purposely waited to resume until this August.

It is under-painted with oil and cold wax because in subsequent applications I wanted to manipulate and draw into it. In order to build  dimension with impasto I also enjoyed working into the waxed surface with a large painting knife.

August, Remains of the Day

oil/cold wax on canvas

30x30in, 2011

available

 I’ve made a conscious effort to assess and resume work that I’ve put away for long periods, sometimes because at the time I was ‘hitting a wall’ and feeling lost, or others, like the one above, simply because now the time is right.

in progress

I enjoy it when other artists post their works in progress so thought I'd share mine.

This is the path behind my studio that leads into my beloved painting mecca. Right now it is chock full of August--goldenrod, dried grasses and fruit that are trying their best to emerge from unkempt  trees.

Yesterday was so lovely re light and temperature as the humidity was taking a hiatus.

August, in progress, 24x36in, oil on canvas

I think I more session might tie everything together but I like the composition and movement thus far. I just have to wait for a day with the same weather & light to continue. !

Rendezvous with Queen Ann

I had started this painting last August and did not have time in that same month to complete it. Driven by the seasons I don’t like to resume a painting at a different time i.e. I could never paint summer when snow is flying outside. well. Having said that, sometimes I do-just to warm me up and keep my memory sharp(:0

The days here this August, with the atmosphere overcast and heavy, inspired me to resume ‘August with Queen Ann’. I am always struck by the patterns and shapes that wild flowers make and lucky for me, these vineyards have been left ‘un weeded’

August with Queen Ann

acrylic on canvas

36x48in, 2011

available

The intention was to build the work with an acrylic under painting.  Although I made preliminary sketches I knew there would be compositional challenges. Acrylic, for me, is a little easier to work with until I get the underlying structure and pallet sorted-especially on a large surface.

I kept going with it though as I enjoyed working thin and with glazes. Also since my studio has been boiling hot with all of this humidity (miss my big shady tree) painting with lots of water and a spritzer felt a wee bit cooler. The downside of working with acrylic in hot humidity is that it does not completely cure-especially if you use it with a medium.  Because it is a polymer and really works like glue, in the humidity it can adhere to itself rather than the substrate you’re working on.

I had to use my blowdryer a LOT to thoroughly dry the work between layers. Hence contradicting my ‘keeping cool’ theory…

below is another rendezvous with Queen Ann ...

August,  Morning with Queen Ann 

acrylic on canvas, 12x24in, 2009

sold