What I drew today

Sketches: Friday, June 17, 2011

So, this is what I did today. I had every intention of painting "en plein aire" today, and even packed up my easel, paint, a canvas, snacks and water...I was ready to go. My intended destination was Clayton Falls, a gorgeous waterfall just past Bella Coola. I headed to town, leaving in the bright, warm sunshine, and the closer I got to the falls, the worse the weather was. I was dressed for hot sunny day, and by the time I got there it was cold and windy. Too cold to paint in what I was wearing. So, headed back up the valley towards home, and lo and behold, by the time I got back up here it was warm and sunny. (We have a few different eco-systems here in this valley) So I stopped by my friends, Holly and Fraser's hotel, The Bella Coola Mountain Lodge...formerly known as the Coast Mountain Lodge and also the Brockton Inn, and enjoyed sipping green tea, playing with their adorable cats, and sketching from their back deck in the glorious sunshine.

I Heart Rocks

Click on image for larger view.

I remember being five years old, sitting on the ground beside the school swings, and being in awe of the amazing variety of rocks to choose from...way more rocks here than at my house...WoW! Lol!

And things haven't changed much! I still collect rocks, and I've passed on the "rock nut gene" to both of my kids, too. Our window ledges are veritable streambeds! 

We went on a bit of a nature walk yesterday, to check out the "new river". It's completely blown out and changed it's course since the flood. It's quite a mess down there, but still beautiful, I guess. The kids and dogs had a blast. I kept my eyes scanning the ground for cool rocks, while my hubby clicked away with the camera. Above are a few of my finds for the day...I love the heart shaped ones...:) It's watercolor pencil with ballpoint pen, on my Robert Bateman bristol sketchbook. It's not really meant for watercolor and buckled a bit. I couldn't figure out how to photoshop the weird scan marks out without making it look over-photoshopped...Anyways...that's it for now. 

Ciao!

Custom Cakes by Me

So, I know...you're thinking. ?? This isn't a painting...but I've discovered something else I really like to do as a side thingy. Don't worry, I won't stop painting, I just wanted to show this off. It's so much fun. I started out making fun cakes for my kids' birthdays. They'd want Dora, or a car cake, and we don't have access to pre-made trays, or cakes here, so I would just do it myself. It caught on with some of the moms and they'd ask me to do cakes for their kids...so this is the result of the last few.
If anyone in the Bella Coola/Hagensborg area wants a fancy cake, give me a call.:)

Bubble Time

Bubble Time  2.5" x 3.5 " oil on canvas paper ACEO

Active on ebay right now... up on Sunday, June 12, about 6PM, PST

A new aceo for ebay...it's my son, Jacob.  I just can't help painting my kids! This one was too hard to resist. I actually want to paint it bigger, but I was impatient so I did it card size first. It does double duty as a color study, lol!

I'm probably going do be doing a lot less for ebay from now on. I really want to spend more time getting bigger paintings done, and maybe do aceos just to provide a break in between. It's been fun, though.

One for the Sketchbook

My Boy Reading the Star Wars Encyclopedia

Hi everyone,

I don't have a heck of a lot to share with you this week. I decided to take a week off of painting and do some much needed yard work and gardening, and the weather was nice, too, so I took advantage of that to get my quota of Vitamin D. But, I did do this little sketch of Jacob last night that I thought I'd share. It's been a while since I posted any sketches since I've been painting pretty much full time. 

It's been really nice to take a break, actually. I feel creatively re-charged, and I feel like painting now instead of sitting in front of the easel every morning with that feeling of dread, wondering when the creative juices that make painting fun, if not easy, are going to start flowing. It's been a while since it hasn't just felt like work. Anyways, back to the easel on Monday. I have a commission of a particularly complicated but beautiful tree I need to finish. I'll post pictures when it's done.

Cheers!

Serenity -- Mute Swan on pond

Serenity -- 6" x 8" oil on canvas  

for sale on ebay tomorrow (Sun, May 29, 6:00pm PST)

Here's a new daily painting I finished yesterday. I have to graciously thank "scalespeeder" on flickr for his generous permission to use his photo. I was very attracted to the drama of the backlight glistening through the wings of the swan, and the perfect reflection.  I saw many mute swans in my travels in Ireland, but none of my photos were this "painting worthy."  

It was a fun little painting to do. I have limited edition, archival giclee prints on museum quality paper for sale as well. Drop me a line if you're interested.

Grizzly Bear Portrait

Grizzly Portrait -- 18" x 18" oil on canvas  $1400.00 SOLD

Click on the image to see it bigger.

                                           Proof that I painted it!! LOL!!

I'm really so happy with this one...that happens so rarely. I haven't even posted the last three large paintings I've finished, because I'm disgusted with them.  I got sick of painting wildlife a few years ago, and I also switched from acrylics to oils, loving the "juiciness" of oil paint. I've since attempted a few grizzly paintings in oil, and they were never quite successful. Grizzly pictures are in high demand here, in Bella Coola, since, other than Alaska, we are their playground, literally. It's not uncommon to see them crossing the road, eating the apples from my tree, or fishing on the river bank, making it easy to get good reference photos. They're fairly used to people and aren't generally much of a threat.

At any rate, I sell every grizzly I paint, so I decided to attempt another, and this time, in acrylic. Now I know why most wildlife painters use it. It's so much easier to get the detail, in a much shorter time. I just don't have the patience to wait for oils to dry to do glazing.

Anyways, I'll have archival, limited edition prints available in a 12" x 12" size, so if you're interested, drop me a line.

Cheers!