"Harmony"

It is always nice when a painting moves on to a good home. It completes the creative circle to have it out where it can be seen and enjoyed. Somehow, it is special when the painting goes to someone you know. The recently completed "Harmony" is such a painting. The street musicians were just outside the Castle in Prague. I liked the pattern of their black and white clothing and their stances while playing their instruments. They were selling CDs but I omitted that box and just painted the hat. "Harmony" is now happily in a new home.

Landscape Show

The latest show at the Federation Gallery on Granville Island is the Landscape Show. This is a really excellent show with interesting subjects, different media and many styles. Some are impressionistic, some almost abstract, an interesting mixed media, imaginative piece - and some terrific realism. I was very happy to be juried into this show with my acrylic on canvas painting of the Nicola Valley- and very pleased that three of drawing group are in the show too - including Tanya who won an award of excellence. We are all striving to get better and better- and, hopefully, succeeding!

Cleaning and Re-Shaping Brushes

In the art supply store, I was going to buy a jar of brush re-shaper when Tanya restrained me and said she had learned that milk or yogurt works very well. Well, the money could maybe be better spent on another tube of paint, so I decided to try it. After all, there is always *some* yogurt left when the container is officially empty. So, I had a great brush sort-out and cleaning and went to work with yogurt. I left them all flat to dry. Some brushes were discarded as being beyond useful - even for scumbling but the rest all got the yogurt treatment. Amazing! It works! It was even a bit of fun and my brushes look great and work great.

"Circles and Squares"

Finally, the painting that I posted about under "torture" has been finished. I have decided to call it "Circles and Squares" because of the circles of the bicycle wheels and the squares of the cobblestones and windows. It was a lot of work but ended up being a pleasure because it pushed me in a slightly different direction again. So far, people who have seen it, like it - and that is kind of what it is all about - bringing some viewing pleasure to people.

Home for a Garden

In 2000, the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site had a juried show "Workforces" with the focus to be on cannery workers,fishermen and their contributions. I wanted to come at the theme from a different angle and thought about present-day contributions of the descendants of the workers. Then I thought of Mrs. Sakata's garden - a Steveston treasure. Everyone passing by gets so much pleasure from viewing this garden. Kay Sakata is both daughter and wife of fishermen and has an extended family that has made many contributions to Richmond. Her daughter is a local school principal. Then I decided to do the painting as a triptych so that the size would make it a little like walking into the garden. I worked from my own photographs, edited out the stores across the street and proceeded to rough in the painting. I don't have an easel set-up that would work for a six-foot width of paintings so I worked on each section alternately, taking time to line them up against a wall to make sure the lines and colours matched. At the show opening, Kay Sakata was pleased to see her garden on display.The triptych was then shown for the summer at Gulf of Georgia. It was then selected to be in the Minoru window of Richmond Art Gallery for a show that fall.
Then it came back home. Shortly after, an opportunity arose to display it in the Richmond offices of financial advisor David J. Wright. Here, it was enjoyed for about four years but then David moved to Vancouver offices. I felt that as it was something the public enjoyed, it should be shown in a place where the general community could enjoy it. Richmond Hospital Foundation was pleased to accept the triptych for permanent display in Richmond Hospital. It has now been installed in the waiting area for Diagnostic Imaging . Last Thursday, I was able to go over to the hospital to see the painting on the wall and Kay Sakata was happy to see her garden up for everyone to enjoy. Pictures were taken for the hospital newsletter so people who haven't seen the garden yet, can hear about it."Mrs. Sakata's Garden" is in Gallery Two. Photo shows its present location and Kay Sakata and me.

Rooftops-

More rain this weekend and all the more reason to think of sunnier times. One painting that I finished of Cesky Krumlov is up at Omega Gallery (27th and Dunbar) and will be part of a group show, opening December 7th. Cesky Krumlov is more medieval and Prague is more baroque but Cesky Krumlov is still like a smaller version of Prague - the river loops around it, the castle is on the hill, the old town is centered on a town square... and the rooftops are mostly red tile . This was fun to paint -including the chimneys with their own little roofs. One of the things I like about acrylics is their layering ability - so getting the sun and shadow on the roof tops was an exercise in glazing as well as building up texture. A lot of the buildings had false fronts added - reminded me of the Old West towns with more important looking facades tacked onto an old building. Because I was looking at the rooftops from the other side, some of the decorative fronts can be seen poking up at the fronts of the buildings. I don't think I'm finished with rooftops yet!

Plein Air Painting

It's pouring wet today, which makes last weekend so good by contrast. Tanya had organized a plein-air instruction group with Brent Lynch so there our group was in the great outdoors. Plein air is the French term for painting outdoors and painting what you see. Brent says he just calls it "field studies". He also reminded us that we were painters first and not "reality recorders". He said "I realize there is no substitute for the real thing. There are direct experiences in the field that you cannot have in the comfort of the studio."
It was cool out but most of us were enjoying pocket-warmers - and it wasn't raining! No great masterpieces yet, but I have a couple of little field studies that I think can be worked up into something a bit bigger in the warmth of the studio during winter.
Some of us have been doing some plein-air and intend to keep at it - although, preferably leaving it until Spring now! For others, it was a new experience but fun. ---- and it was last weekend in the dry and not this weekend!