Ready to frame print of original painting measuring 8″ x 8″ including the mat.

I shop at a huge and fantastic art supply store where I could spend hours just gazing at the shelves and shelves of products. Their website is very comprehensive but visiting the shop is pure artist heaven! With a list of required supplies in my hand, I resist the temptation between “need for creating art” and “wow, look at this great stuff!” They stock my favourite high-quality paints, “Tri-Art” made in Canada, and available at a very reasonable price. There are many varieties of paper: some brands I use all the time and others I buy to try for the first time. Want to know the name of this great art supply store? Please leave your comments or use the contact me for name and location.

Land Beneath

I was offered a commission by a lady I met while visiting a friend the other day. The painting I am to create will be an anniversary gift for the lady’s daughter and husband. Once the size and colours are selected I can begin my work. Shown above is a painting I sold the other day. It measures 7 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ and is acrylic on watercolour paper. I did a series of these little paintings and they have been well received by clients as other artists.

I have four large paintings to complete as a commission. What a challenge this will be and also fun as I have been given a free hand to create for my clients. Of course, they have selected colours they would like to see and I am happy to oblige. Each will be 48″x72″. Once I get some paint on the canvas, I will post my progress.

In summer I tend to paint less often than in the winter. The good weather calls me to come outside, relax, enjoy the sun, visit the neighbours over the fence or invite a pal for lunch outdoors. However, there is work to be done in the studio and my list grows each day with one or two more items added. One of these tasks has moved to the top position!

My friend, (R) has requested that I paint two small works as a gift for a friend of hers (P). The friend (P) has seen some of my work and has frequently commented on how much she would like to own two paintings in particular. My generous friend is planning to give a birthday gift of art and these are the ones I am to paint for (P). If only I could remember which ones they are! I have been given quite a good description and from that I will re-create them. I need to have them painted and framed within the next week. I will begin now—or should I go and sit in the shade first?

What would you do in this case? Live for the moment or work first? Do you work best when you have deadlines? Please let us know your thoughts.

It is contest time again!

This time I am offering two small paintings which means there will be two winners!

The simple rules are (Yes, as always, there are rules!!!):
Leave a comment on my blog each time you visit my website.
You can enter as often as you wish.
Please tell your friends to check out this blog as well.
Free mailing.
From the numbered comments received, I will use a random number generator to select the winner.
Once I receive notice from the lucky winner, I will post their name on my blog.
Contest ends May 10, 2010. Best of luck!!

I confess that I am in love with the medium of watercolour! My latest experiment has been using a medium named “absorbent ground” and is available at most large art supply stores. The look of watercolour can be achieved on canvas!

My first step is to gesso the canvas. Once the gesso is dry, three layers of absorbent ground (as recommended by the manufacturer) are applied. The absorbent ground supplies the “tooth” of watercolour paper on canvas. Thinned acrylic paint is applied in the same painting method as watercolour. However, acrylic paint has a very large advantage over watercolour because I can over-paint the acrylic if I need to make a correction. Watercolour, in most instances, does not permit this technique. As we know from experience!

Are you a watercolour artist? Do you use watercolours on canvas? What were your results? Post a comment to let us know your thoughts, ideas and experiences. To receive my blogs as they are posted, subscribe by pressing the RSS button.

Next week, I will document my experience using a linen canvas and the “stain painting method”.

We recently toured the Toronto the alley ways to view the graffiti. It was something we had planned to investigate since we first viewed these works as shown on Tuesday evenings at 8:00 pm on “The Rick Mercer Show”. We loved the background the works provided for Rick Mercer’s “rant” portion of his program. There are some wonderful graffiti works and the visit was well worth the time we spent searching them out. While we were looking at the graffiti, I asked the other many visitors a few questions. The questions were:
“Are you an artist?” – Answers – No, I am a photographer, I love the graffiti, saw it on television, saw it in the newspaper.
“What do you think about this piece of graffiti?” – Answers – Love it, Admire the talent, It should be promoted more than it is.
“Why do you like graffiti?” – Answer – it is different, it is beautiful, it is young and hip, it is sad, it is happy.
“What do you think about the removal program the current mayor is undertaking?” – Answers – it should be kept as it is, the mayor should not spend money to remove art, he should be paying the artists who create graffiti, removal will damage the walls, the walls will look ugly without graffiti. There were many more comments but the general consensus is, We love the graffiti!

The tags only are not considered art but the creations I am referring to are beautiful, creative and unique.

One person, an owner of a property, told me that he purposely contacted one of the graffiti artists and paid the artist to paint on his garage. He loves the art and said that he will not remove the art from his garage. He feels that it is his property and no one can tell him how to have the garage painted. This property owner was not a young person and to me, that speaks volumes.

What do you think about graffiti? This is one of the many works of which I took photos. The artist has become famous world-wide and sells his art through art galleries.

Earlier today I placed texture on a canvas measuring 30″ high and 60″ wide. I then covered it with two layers of gesso. I want to use a very high degree of texture and bright colours. To begin, I have drawn a “map” of the colour set-up on sheet of paper using pastels. This method gives me an idea for my starting point when I begin painting on the canvas.

Once the gesso is dry, I will begin the acrylic application of coloured shapes and roughly follow the ideas I drew on paper. The acrylic colour saturation will be more dense than the pastels. How do you begin your paintings? Do you have a plan or do you let the painting develop as you go?

Colour Map

Crackle Paste

In my paintings, I have previously not used the gels and mediums available in the art supply shops I frequent. The reason being, I considered them to be a bit of a gimmick. Also, and probably the main reason, is I was not really sure how to go about using them effectively.

However, as I was looking at the variety of mediums earlier this week, I decided to try out a few of them to see if I would or would not like working with them.

The first one I am trying is a “crackle paste”. First of all, I applied a dark colour to this painting. Over the top of the dark colour I applied a yellow shade mixed from Ochre, Hansa Yellow, Burnt Umber and White. Into the yellow mix I scooped a generous amount of the crackle paste. I then applied it over the dark base.

As it takes some time to dry, so say the directions, I will have to wait and see if my painting survives and if I like the effect of this medium. Now I am wondering how a whole painting would look using the crackle effect. Something to try? What are your experiences using the available gels and mediums?

Foothills of Alberta

Only eight more days for this month’s contest to win a free miniature painting! Comment on my blog or on Facebook to have a chance to win this little painting. It’s free! Increase your chances by commenting often…good luck!