Water Colour Sketches from a live model

Live Model Watercolours

These poses range from 5 minutes to 45 minutes.  I think a shorter pose is better for me because then I don't have time to ruin my painting.  Knowing when to stop is one of the hardest things!

Watercolours and the model

These poses ranged from 3 minutes (the first one) to about half an hour.  Feeling a bit rusty with watercolour, especially with the model!  Still, what a pleasant way to spend a winter afternoon!

An Interior

Living Room Corner 12"x10" original oil on stretched canvas

Since seeing a book by Connie Hayes called Borrowed Views (which I have kicked myself for not purchasing at the time, because now it is out of print), I have admired paintings of interiors.  Today, I decided to try my hand at one. 

Remembering Summer

Woods and Water 8"x10", oil on stretched canvas

The warmer weather today put me in mind of summer days...soon to be ours!  Well, not quite.  This little stream is probably quite frozen today.  But, our days are getting significantly longer and for that I am very grateful.  For now I can make due with these longer days, memories of time spent by a babbling brook and the happiness that comes with being in a warm place and painting!

Drawing Day

These sketches were done at the live model atelier on Tuesday.  I was mostly drawing with a micro pen in black ink on white paper or with pencil.  The poses varied from 10 to 20 minutes for the most part. 

Back to Barns

Winter Barn 8"x10" original oil on canvas

Here is a small painting of a barn to add to the several much larger barn paintings I did this Fall.  My Dad used to always say "Paint barns, Janet", so I have come to think of this little series as "Barns for My Father". 

Live model atelier

#1 Woman  9"x12" water soluble graphite on paper
#2 Seated Woman with Mask 18"x 24" pencil on paper

I decided today to attend a live model drawing atelier which is something I haven't done for ages.  It was packed with people...all looking to shake off the rust of the holidays and maybe to beat the blahs of a January day.  Drawing is a key factor in painting, or at least, when there is a problem with a painting it is often due to problems with the drawing, so I guess it's a good idea to draw as much as possible...maybe I will attend the live model session more often!

Winter Scene

Running at the Sugar Shack 8"x10" original oil on canvas

This little oil sketch is based on an old photo (1997) of children running at a Sugar Shack.  It was my eldest daughter's 12th birthday and off we went with some friends and neighbours and their children for some fun in the snow and a real sweet meal.  What attracted me in the photo was the movement of the figures through the trees and snow.    

Vast sky on a small canvas

Cloud and Bay Landscape 9"x12" original oil on canvas board

I was reading that it wasn't until the late 1800's that the different kinds of clouds were named. In this scene there is a combination of cloud types. Whatever their names, clouds are a beautiful challenge for the painter.  I wonder what this one would look like on a huge canvas...

Neither Here Nor There

Where the Field Leaves Off and the Trees Begin  8"x10" original oil painting on canvas board

The space between things, a gap, a shift, an in between....

Rocky Landscape

Rocks and Trees 8"x10" original oil on canvas

There is something powerful about these rocks piled on top of each other, jumbled together by some ancient upheaval.  All the shifting planes are intriguing and the scrubby pines are almost like a crown on this craggy rock face.

Into the Woods

Tree Study 8"x10" oil on canvas

The effects of our very long autumn linger on.  Painting trees is always a challenge for me...how to give them individual character and to convey that they are really rooted in the ground.  I enjoy the play of shadows and light on the ground and on the trees. 

Philodendron Inspiration

Plant in Studio 2

8" x 10" oil on canvas

I was inspired by a photo of Roberto Burle Marx's 1943 painting Still Life with Philodendron I. (See below) I didn't realize that there are over 900 species of philodendrons!  The plant has inspired many an artist and designer and is receiving a full-scale retrospective at Miami Beach's Wolfsonian-Florida International University museum.  "Philodendron: From Pan-Latin Exotic to American Modern" (till February 28th, 2016 - http://www.1stdibs.com/introspective-magazine/philodendron-at-the-wolfsonian/  I love the funky interpretation of this plant by Mr. Marx. 

Still Life with Philodendron, Roberto Burle Max, 1943

January 2016 Explorations

 January 1, 2016

Studio Plant, 8" x 10" oil on canvas