Beaver Pond, Early Morning

Since the previous paintings for my art course with Sharon Williams were pretty much full intensity and full value range I decided to try one that would be different. I chose to view the Beaver Pond early in the morning. At this time the colours are subdued and contrasts are also lessoned. Also there was no breeze yet so the water was still.

This painting is 7.5"x 5.5" and is available for $100 (matted). Email me for further info.

Warm Cool Dominance Pt 2

The next part of this exercise was to paint the same scene using one pair of complementary colours. I used Thalo Blue and Cadmium Scarlet. One version was cool and the other warm. Again I really enjoyed doing this and this time I feel there is a unity and an atmosphere to the images. I really like them.

Each of these images is 7.5" x 5.5" and is available for $100 with a double matt. Email me for further information

Warm Cool Dominance

I'm taking an excellent art class with Sharon Williams. It's definitely addressing the areas that I need to work on. Sharon presents a very clear and logical approach to painting that is exactly what I need at this point. In this exercise we had to develop a composition and then paint it with a warm and cool dominance. I really enjoyed doing this but looking at the pictures now I see that they are a little bit "all over the place". The scene is from a plein air painting I did this summer.

A.Y. Jackson

Just finished the excellent book: A.Y. Jackson by Wayne Larsen. Though I really liked the Group Of Seven and knew some of their story there was much I didn't know and this book gave me new insights into Jackson and the Group. I was so impressed by his passion for Canada and for art. From his early years until well into his 80's he painted constantly in virtually every part of Canada. He thought nothing of comfort and walked, canoed, snowshoed, drove or flew into the remotest corners of Canada working outdoors in any weather except fog. His hectic lifestyle meant he had to sacrifice having a family but he could do nothing else. However, he had the ability to make lasting friendships everywhere he went and was surrounded by a wide circle of extremely loyal friends. He lived until 91, painted almost to the very end and his only regret was that he didn't have another 100 years to paint everything he wanted.

I was inspired by his story and his life. Certainly, art in Canada would never have been the same without him.

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