I thought I would share something about my painting process with my most recent work. Above is what I consider a glowing gem of a painting, but maybe I’m biased because the subject is my beloved grandson. After I had laid in the composition, the drawing, I took a step back or sideways and did a small painting that would traditionally be considered a study, where the artist works out one or more aspects of the painting they want to make. What was different in my approach this time was that on a little 8 by 10 panel I responded to my reference photo, and my memories of the day, by asking: What excites me about this? Then I would make a brush stroke or two on the panel and say, Great, what else excites me about this? And so on until the work felt done. The result was the painting below. The energy generated in this process sustained me through the exacting work of “getting it right” on the “real” painting, and certainly informed my colour choices.
Imprint
The Federation of Canadian Artists hosts shows on a variety of themes. One I particularly enjoy submitting to is their yearly “concept” exhibit focusing on why artists paint what they do: what is the concept underlying the work? I was very pleased to learn that my painting “Imprint” has been awarded third place in the show that opens today in the Federation’s Granville Island gallery in Vancouver.
This painting started in 2016 when my walking journey through Burgundy took me to the caves of Arcy-sur-Cure which were inhabited by our ancestors for hundreds of thousands of years. There I saw 28,000 year old paintings, among them the tracings of hands outlined with ochre. These hands moved me immensely: it was like seeing the act itself. It was like meeting the painter. What is that impulse? How am I imprinted and how do I in turn imprint? The high point of this painting was brushing earth colours onto my hands and carefully placing my own print on the canvas.
Each Counting Day
each counting day
let me tell it exactly as it was
the july when each counting day
nothing happened:
the accumulating dust of the land remained
a little thicker than the smoke in the air
(someone else’s crisis not ours here
yet)
the covid numbers rose and fell but did not disappear
the denseness above a little less white, or more
each hot afternoon an inhalation of fear
small plants quietly withered
the lower branches of each tree curled under
then the middle ones
words stuck in our throats as
in sequence, the climate changed by standing still
First Place!
How exciting! My painting “Scissors” (which I like so much it’s featured on my home page) was awarded first place in the current Federation of Canadian Artists show with the theme Peace and Trust. Here is what I said about it when I made the submission:
Scissors, while such an everyday object, seem to hold a multitude of meanings relevant to the theme of peace and trust: they are an ultimate symbol of cooperation working beautifully to achieve a task (I recall my toddler grandson puzzling through how to coordinate the operation); yet also, they are too sharp to trust, if not used with care. Especially, you would not want them near the eyes. In this image, are we seeing cooperation or mutual aggression? An expression of trust or a complex détente? Do the two halves make a whole, or make a mess?
Moods of the Mountain
On days when there’s no time for a major painting endeavour I take my mini sketching kit on a brisk walk up the mountainside and sit for a few minutes to record my impressions. Often I use a palette knife rather than brushes, and just four or five paints. This little sketch is just 5 x 7 inches.
Head of the Lake
This painting is one outcome of an early March foray out onto the flats with my grandchildren. A freshly made osier basket containing cattail fluff and other treasures is another.
Nocturne, new years eve oil sketch 7 x 5 inches
Nocturne
Recently I’ve been going out and about with my scaled down sketching kit, which consists of a handful of oil colours, a palette knife, a paper towel or two, and a 7x5 inch piece of Arches oil paper clipped to one corner of a palette, all tucked into a bag slung over my shoulder. (On the way home, I carry the palette with the wet sketch in my hand.)
On the early morning of new years eve I went out to the woodshed for an armload of wood, and saw the remains of the full moon creating its special glow behind the trees. Five minutes later I was back with my kit, but the moon had set. So this nocturne was painted in situ, but from short-term memory. Happy new year, one and all!
Award-winning painting on display in Vancouver
I was very pleased to learn that my painting “Valladolid Revisited” has been awarded second place in the Shape and Form exhibition currently on display in the Vancouver gallery of the Federation of Canadian Artists. You can view the entire show at the Federation gallery website. The physical show runs till November 1, but the archived virtual version will remain accessible online.
Valladolid Revisited, 20 x 16 inches
Out West
I’m about to send this “double” painting off to Vancouver for display in the Federation of Canadian Artists show “Scenes from Western Canada.” What you’re seeing here is two separate cradled birch panels totalling 24” wide. I started in the studio drawing in the figure and applying some initial colour washes to set the stage. Then, I worked on location to paint the scenery and back again in the studio to finish up the figure and tie it all together. It was fun! The only hard part of the whole project was learning how to combine the two separate photos of the finished work into a single digital image… but now I know!
Success!
I am super pleased that my application to the Federation of Canadian Artists for “signature” status was successful. I am now Oiseau AFCA!
The Federation is a wonderful resource for Canadian artists and the art-going public, through its Vancouver gallery and its online presence. For me, its has been the framework for my engagement with development and professionalism as an artist. Today I am musing over what my next goal might be…
Portfolio works of successful applicants are on view at the Federation, both in its Vancouver location 1243 Cartwright Street and online.
Turtle Bend
On a recent outing I ended up painting two versions of this spot, both on 10 x 8 inch panels. I decided I like both of them! But the real point of the outing was the spiritual exercise of seeing whether I could be as patient as the turtles. Would they come back while I was there?
Turtle Bend One
Turtle Bend Two
Among the Cattails
Lately I’ve been experimenting with combining my two genres, portraiture and landscape. Since it’s a bit too early in the season to reasonably expect anyone except a mad painter to stand around outside for hours at a time, I’ve been choosing a photo reference that seems evocative and positioning the person on the canvas before I head outside. I may also add a wash of colour to set the tone, in this case the orange of the hair. After laying in the landscape portion I return to the studio to paint the person and adjust the whole work to fit together. Much fun!
Among the Cattails, oil on canvas 11 x 14 inches
Noemi's painting
Here is a somewhat larger landscape painting that recently re-emerged during a grand sort-out. Since the weather is still too dismal for new outdoor work, I thought I’d post this one here. This one is 18 x 24 inches.
New photos!
Today my friend Louis Bockner visited my studio to document my paintings. As an ace professional photographer he was able to do amazing things with my work, and I’m super pleased to have been able to post better versions of many of my images on this site. When he’s not helping out his friends he’s a writer and photographer, have a look at louisbockner.com
“What Remains” oil on canvas 16 x 20 inches
'Swan' on show in Vancouver
My work ‘Swan’ is currently on display in the Granville Island gallery space of the Federation of Canadian Artists, as part of the Active Members Exhibition which runs until January 19. For those of us who don’t live in Vancouver, the Federation also makes each of its exhibits available online through its website .
The painting ‘Swan’ started with photos I was granted permission to take of two models as part of an impromtu drawing session last summer. This was in conjunction with a Robert Liberace drawing and painting workshop hosted in Bruges, Belgium. I cannot speak highly enough of Liberace, both as an artist and as an instructor, and I feel that I’m only just beginning to tap into the depth of guidance he imparted in those two weeks.
As always, my bank of photographs is a rich source of inspiration for years to come, and I often browse through it either in search of something specific I remember or just open to the tug of inspiration. This young woman’s name is Celia, and I love the way she holds the entire space of the canvas and beyond. In Bruges I also photographed many swans. At one stage I thought I might include that imagery in this work, but as it turns out the swans remain only as a trace in the posture of the young woman herself, and in the title of the painting. ‘Swan’ is painted in oil on gallery-wrapped canvas, 16 x 20 inches, and is available for sale through the Federation.
Soon there will be ice...
This one was painted in the late fall, on one of my last trips down to the flats. I’m thinking that if the promised sunshine blesses us on Boxing Day, I will try my luck again! Don’t think there’s any ice yet, though.
Soon There Will Be Ice, 8 x 10 oil on panel
Largely Sky
When you paint in the same location time and again, you look for what has changed since that last time - in the place or in you. This time it was the big sky that drew my attention.
Oil on panel, 8 x 10.
Largely Sky
Blue Swirl
The temperature was well below freezing but there was no snow, so I ventured out. I bring a hot water bottle to keep the paints at a workable temperature, and then pour out the hot water over my hands to rinse them before hiking back up the hill
Oil on panel, 10 x 8 inches.
First Snow on Willet
Change in the weather, not much of fall left. Painting while I still can…
Oil on panel, 8 x 10.
Looking South, Red Flag Tree
In contrast to my portrait and figure work, my landscapes are becoming increasingly abstract. Here’s an example, where a highly suggestive approach seemed to better indicate my experience.
Like many of my plein air pieces, this is oil paint on a 10 x 8 inch panel.