Finn Slough Spring

Here's the latest Finn Slough painting- I had a bit of fun pushing the colour on this one and adding the boots. I was going to also paint a skunk cabbage - or to give it a fancier name- Swamp Lantern - but I didn't get to that - so I made the suggestion of a few growing just below the house. Maybe next year I'll have a painting done. They really are a lovely shape.

I've also been working on those flower pots- especially on the shadows so I'll get that posted in a bit. On Sunday, I  did a figure study with Helene in a peasant outfit - although with her curly hair and the cape she had, she may look a bit more like Little Red  Riding Hood than a Millet-type peasant! One result of the colour course I have been doing was that I used a very limited palette and  put a lot of thought into the neutrals. Then, a result of that is that I'm going back to work on the previous workshop figure study to change the background and work more on the flesh-tones. I still, at least, like the tea-pot and the lace tablecloth.

Wanda, Finn Slough and more-

These are three minute ink sketches - colour added with pencil crayon afterwards- of Wanda being a 30's singer- lots of action and personality here. These were from the recent Drawing Marathon. Tonight I was over at the reception for Art About Finn Slough. If you haven't seen it yet, it runs Saturday all day and then Sunday until 3. It is a good show with lots of variety- maybe a little more  sophisticated  than some years. There is a nice tribute to Mary Gazetas there, owls by Shirley Inouye, some excellent models, photography and painting. It was also a relief to see that tracks have been installed on the walls so that paintings can be hung with chains- so we will be able to use them for the June show of Pots 'n Paints.

Painting Progression

Since I was getting lost with the piles of pots, I drew- with paint- the shapes in again. I managed to sort myself out - and then, pretty well had to start eliminating all those outlines while keeping order of which pile was where. The challenge will be to keep a sense of the light and also have a slight variety in the colour of the pots - while keeping them all still obviously clay pots.  They have to be enough the same to have a unity but then have some variety for interest. I'm not sure who such a painting would appeal to - well, I like the idea because there is  a story in all the possibility of what grew, or is still to be grown, in those pots- but what will someone else see in it? Next, the ivy needs more work and I'll have to develop the moss on the pots to convincing texture and colour as well as work on shadow areas. It is definitely more of a puzzle to solve than some paintings.

"Pots 'n Shards"

Here is the beginning of a painting of a pile of garden pots with a brick wall and some ivy behind Then I made a little more definition

 

-and started to think about where the light was hitting- The brick wall is clearer and the plastic bins more established. However, at this point I felt like I was getting a bit lost in the piles of pots  and decided that the next step would be going back in and "drawing" - with paint- the shapes some more. I decided to post the steps of this one as it is such a challenge. This way, I will finish out of sheer stubbornness. It is one of those paintings where you think"what a neat idea" - and, obviously it will fit the theme of "Pots 'n Paints"- but then you start wondering about your sanity for having started it. I'll check the measurements as I forget - had to get a canvas stretched to the size I worked out - I think it is 16 or 17 inches wide and 30 inches tall. My aim is to have it  done for the show in June that we are having with the Richmond Potters. I'm also working on another one - for consolation?- of a model with a coffee cup. More posts will follow...