Lighthouse Park, Part 11

I have added a lot of colour to this layer of the painting... and I do believe it really has helped to tie the painting together as a whole. I have a little more work here and there on the lighthouse itself and I probably will add more colour to the bushes in the foreground yet. The only other major area of work left is the ocean and possibly the sky. I want to tone down the colour (chroma) of the blue which should help more with the feeling of depth in the painting.



"Lighthouse Park, WIP"
8" x 10" oil on stretched linen
© 2007

Lighthouse Park, Part 10

I hope you are not getting tired of seeing this Work in Progress yet. I've done more work on the lighthouse... strengthening the shadows with purple and the highlights with yellow. These two colours are really helping in creating the depth I was hoping to get in the lighthouse.



"Lighthouse Park, WIP"
8" x 10" oil on stretched linen
© 2007


The next stage will be getting more colour into the rocks at the base of the lighthouse and perhaps more colour in the lighthouse. Once all that is done and I'm happy I'll be adding the details in the railings and around the top of the lighthouse.

Bright Eye

When I saw this picture in Barbara's flickr collection I knew that I had to paint it. I modified it from the reference slightly.... taking out the bird feeder and replacing it with a branch. I think this de-clutters the painting and helps to emphasize the chickadee.




"Bright Eye"
2.5" x 3.5" oil on gessoed matboard
© 2007


Now that I got the chickadee out of my head (again...), its back to the many other paintings that I have to finish.

Swallow, WIP

I've begun a new painting tonight... one that I have been meaning to do for a little while ago. This is a new bird for me and I do believe it will be a challenge... I haven't yet attempted an iridescent look using oil paints yet. With acrylics I usually apply an iridescent paint in the final layers, but with the oil paints I don't have such a paint with me. So... a combination of blues, yellows, and whites should be able to allow me to make a nice shiny feathery look.



"Swallow"
2.5" x 3.5" oil on canvas paper
© 2007

Magnolia, Update

I painted this one sometime ago... but there was always something about it I didn't quite like. Looking at it the other day I knew what that something was.... the background. The background for the painting was very light and the magnolia blossoms seem to fade into it. So, with my trusty linseed oil and brushes, I glazed in a darker colour mixed with yellow and alizarin crimson. I feel the flowers pop more now and I am really happy with the result.



"Magnolias"
5" x 7" oil on canvas paper
© 2007

Opening Reception

Opening night at Place des Arts was an absolute blast! It was really neat to see my art hanging in wall and watching people going from wall to wall looking at all the wonderful pictures. I am really motivated now to continue working on some larger works so I could (perhaps next year?) have a solo show.



Opening Night
© 2007


Its amazing sometimes to realize how small the world really is. While at opening night last night I bumped into another artist that I have been conversing with on Wetcanvas. Amie is also showing several of her reduction cut prints at the same show. It was really neat to meet someone in person that I met online.



Amie and Me
© 2007


I wasn't fully prepared for the opening night (blame it on my lack of experience... this being my first show). Next time, I need to make sure that I bring business cards and I need to work on marketing myself much more during the show (thanks for the tips Amie!).

Cedarwax Wing

This guys was lots of fun to paint and I'm really happy with how the colours turned out. I used a combination of transparent red earth, cadmium orange, hansa yellow light, and cadmium yellow medium for the body of the bird. There was also a touch of sap green here and there for some of the shadows and titanium-zinc white for the highlights.



Cedarwax Wing
2.5" x 3.5" oil on gessoed matboard
© 2007

Land of Living Skies

Photobucket, where I host my pictures, has been acting up lately and taking forever to load (that is if it loads at all) so I apologize if this page takes a bit longer to load.



Land of Living Skies
3.5" x 2.5" oil on gessoed matboard
© 2007


I was going through some photographs that I took last summer on a trip home to Saskatchewan and was reminded of the incredible sunsets that grace the prairies. This painting will join the set of sunset paintings that I have been creating over the past little while.

I'm getting my colours figured out for sunsets and soon I'll be moving to larger scale supports (I have a stack of 8" x 10" stretched canvas' waiting to be used).

Lighthouse Park, Part 9

I've done some updates to this painting... though I do not know how obvious the updates are. I've added more colour to the sky and water (strengthening the horizon on the water), added many more layers to the fall trees, and adjusting the rocks somewhat.



"Lighthouse Park, WIP"
8" x 10" oil on stretched linen
© 2007


It feels nice painting on a larger scale than I have recently. When I finish the apple and this lighthouse... I have my eyes on a 36"x24" canvas sitting by my desk. Now, only if I could decide what I want to paint on it.