Day ? - 'Tis the Season

I have certainly put in more creative days than this, but have managed to lose count now!

On the bright side, I have found a very workable studio set up for painting my still lifes. 

 

This is a work in progress on my latest painting.  I have a light coming from the top right that I can adjust and my paints are off to the right on my desk.  It seems to be working very well! 

And here is the finished piece . . . .

"Oh My Darling"

8" x 6" - Oil on Panel

Do Pigs Fly?

"SUNFLOWER & MAPLE LEAVES"

6" X 6" - Oil on Panel

$ 85

Day 11 -  I swear there must be pigs flying around out there today because I've been in the studio two days in a row! 

I must apologize for the slight bit of glare in the top right corner.  I took about a dozen different photos in various lighting arrangements and this was the best that I could achieve today.

The lovely little piece of crockery was found the local thrift store.  I purchased the sunflower on the way home from the dentist today and the maple leaves were collected on one of my walks.  I find sunflowers very interesting to paint and it always makes me happy to look at them. 

Oh, Gabriola

"SOLITUDE, GABRIOLA ISLAND"

10" x 10" - Oil on Canvas
$275

This is my offering to the Gods of Creativity for days 7 & 8.  (Day 6 was pottery class and I'm not sure those items will ever be shown to anyone!)

 

Gabriola is such a beautiful island.  I have been lucky enough to visit there a few times; twice for painting trips and always with dear friends.  While there we stayed at The Haven which is situated right on the beach.  In the evening after dinner, you can wander out and watched the sunset or stroll down the beach.  There is a lot of limestone on Gabriola and the beach on the left side of the The Haven has quite a collection of Inukshuk's that people have created.  This is my rendering of one of them.

 

A Lesson in Perseverance

 "REDS"

Oil on Canvas - 10" x 10"

$275

Day 4 & 5

Life happened along this week with work and company for the Thanksgiving weekend, so I haven't had much time to paint or sketch.  I did do a little sketch on Thursday, (Day 4) but I won't be posting it.  Today is the first opportunity that I had to get at the easel. 


I had an idea of what I was going to work on today.  While putting things away before company arrived, I came across a painting that I had started many, many months ago.  A little history on the piece. . . . my friend, Marcela and I were in a show at the Community Arts Council Gallery and had volunteered to sit the show and paint while we were there.  I really wasn't in the mood to paint and it was challenging to be in the gallery with different lighting and people coming and going.  So, what came off the easel that day really wasn't floating my boat.

When I found it on the shelf I felt that the overall composition was okay, so today I decided to see what I could do by going back in and loosening things up.  I deepened all of the reds and cleaned up the centres of the poppies, then I tackled the background because that was really where the major problem was. 

It's quite interesting what can happen when you let the muse come out to play!!!

Back in the Saddle

As often happens, I painted like a mad woman for a while and then needed to take some time off to regroup.   I spent time in my garden, puttered around doing "house" things, read books and basically re-charged over the summer months.  It seems to have done the trick.  I'm feeling the creative surge welling back up.

Recently my friend, Marcela embarked on a journey . . . 260 days of making art over the next year and she invited me to join her.  In fact, she invited everyone to join her, but on their own terms.  That works for me because right now, life for me is about finding balance.  So I decided to commit to 182.5 days of making art.  Okay, 183 days.  That's half a year.  That means that over the next year I will spend at least half of the days making some kind of art;  a painting, a sketch, a floor mat, ART!

Day 1:
I started off my journey by finishing off this painted floor mat that I was working on.  It's 3' x 4' and it was fun to do.  I'm thinking I might need to make another for my front door!




I also sewed 4 new cushions for my living room. (The paisley ones, not the orange ones.)  Not painted, but creative none the less.

Day 2:

Yesterday was the second day of the journey and I decided to get out a canvas.  The end result . . .

"Peek-A-Boo" 

 10" x 10"  - Acrylic on Canvas

Available

  

Day 3:

Today was a plein air day!  After dropping the kids at school, I took some time before meeting my painting buddies (Marcela and George) to photograph the glorious colours of the sunrise.  The sky was absolutely amazing and I can't wait to paint some of those images when the inclement weather hits.  But, back to today. . . . we met at the Oak Bay Marina where there are a plethora of scenes waiting to be painted.  I settled on this lovely little wooden boat with the trees of Glen-Lyon Norfolk school behind.  It started out with some decent light but quickly clouded over and cooled off.  But, we persevered and this was what I ended up with. . 

 "Oak Bay Marina, Early Autumn"  

  10" x 8 " - Oil on Panel

  Available

 Tonight it's off to pottery class.  Yikes! Look out people.  I am not the most co-ordinated person in the world.  Lord knows where that clay might end up!

It's Been A Long Time Coming . . . .

"Caressed By the Sea"
30" x 40" - Acrylic on Canvas

$1,950

Today was the day . . . . the day when all who applied would hear the results of their application for signature status with the Federation of Canadian Artists.  It is quite a process to get to the point where one can apply.  First you must be juried to Active Status so that you can enter Federation Shows.  Then the artist must have work accepted into eight different shows with eight different paintings within a period of four years.  All of the shows must be on the list of shows considered "qualifying" shows by the FCA and two of the shows must be at Federation Gallery.   Finally, when the artist has enough shows under their belt they can apply for signature status by submitting ten images, the application and delivering three original paintings to Federation Gallery in Vancouver.  On a specified day (today) the Board of Govenors (which is comprised of Senior Signature Members or SFCAs) meets and the jury process begins.  An artist must have a majority of votes from the Board of Governors to be awarded signature status.

I had enough chapter shows and other shows, but needed some Federation Gallery shows, so I submitted to three shows at the gallery earlier this year and was accepted into all three.  At that point, I had two original paintings but required a third one.  So, I decided to paint the painting above, "Caressed By the Sea".  It is another in my Driftwood series. The other two paintings I submitted were from my Tropical Leaves series.  I delivered my paintings, gave it up to the universe and then the wait began!   

I did pretty good at not obsessing about it. My good friend Alice, who is an SFCA herself, was visiting with her husband Billl and so we filled the days with painting, play and visiting.  They left last Saturday and I kept busy catching up on errands and yard work.  Today I went out and played in the garden and did a little retail therapy while waiting for the phone call.  It came at just after 4 o'clock this afternoon.  Thank you so much to the Board of Govenors who saw fit to award me my signature status!!!   I'm absolutely thrilled to pieces!