SOME RECENT WORK ...

Yours truly, pondering the imponderable
30 x 20 cm.

Nightshade
28 x 31.5 cm.
$265.00 Cdn.
This shrub/weed was growing beside the riding ring, so I saw it every day. Bruno wasn't eating it thankfully, so I watched it change from summer to fall, and took some photos as the berries started to ripen in the fall. This is not "deadly nightshade" which I believe is semi-tropical, but I put on gloves and gave it a serious haircut to discourage more speed and growth  after I took the photos.

Summer's End
38.5 x 33 cm.
$395.00
This painting started off in late summer as a class project. I finished most of the flower and stem, and couldn't decide what else to do, so it sat for a few months. A couple of weeks ago, I felt it needed a look to suggest the dark and cold of winter, so I did this rough, dark background, and of course had to intensify some of the subject matter to balance with the darks. Summer's End is the result.
I haven't done a step-by-step post. If you would like more information, or want to know more about purchasing work, please feel free to contact me! And thank you so much for dropping by!!!

I WISH YOU A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR, AND WELCOME TO LANGLEY, B.C.

Rolling hills, beautiful and lush farmland, forest and fields.  A few weeks ago, Maggie and I went out walking here. I'd like to do more of this, now that I am not encumbered by an unhappy hip.

Maggie doing some exploring.

First washes, using more muted greens made of quin. gold and cobalt blue.

Brighten up field on left with phthalo.  green, deepening colour on right, and adding line of trees with indanthrone and quin. burnt orange.

Final painting - framable size is 20 x 25 cm.
Landscapes are not my forte, but I want to start doing more of them. It's all just a matter of "seeing" and interpreting. This was a record for me, painted in a day. it's not great, but I am happy with it, and happy with the fact that I am actually starting to feel like painting again after several years of BLAH. I picked up a book at the library recently by Gordon MacKenzie called "The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook". I had taken it, hoping to find ideas for my watercolour classes this year, and found it also inspired me to start trying different things with my painting. I really needed the kick in the ass!
Beyond this, I am finally able to spend more time outside, playing with Bruno and the dogs. It feels GREAT!!!

Once again, thank you so much for dropping by!

BRUNO THE SECOND

Start off with some wet-in-wet washes on his neck and ear, and some dry brush on his nose. I use the same pigments throughout in varying combinations - quin.  burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone.

... just deepening existing washes, and adding more detail as I go along ...

The background is painted with the same colours, stroking down some paint then softening ...

... doing this a few times to achieve depth in the background

Here they are - Bruno I [framed] and Bruno II.

Reference photo - summer coat

Photo taken just this last October when Bruno was part of a modelling shoot. I LOVE this photo, and the editing David did to get that dark atmosphere. Bruno really looks like the proverbial "horse of  different colour" here. Actually, his summer coat is quite a bit lighter and redder, while his winter coat is almost black.    He starts to shed out in August, starting to replace the lighter, finer hair with darker hair, and then the coat thickens and lengthens.

Why did I paint Bruno again when I already have a beautiful work of him hanging on my wall? Well ... earlier this year, I was commissioned to paint a huge rooster for a woman to give to her husband [his Chinese astrological sign is the rooster]. She felt her English was inadequate, so she brought a friend to help translate. Her friend fell in love with my painting of Bruno, and asked to buy it. I said it was not for sale, but could paint another for her. The two women also came down to the barn to meet His Highness, and I have a feeling Dora [the friend who commissioned Bruno's portrait] fell in love with Bruno. So we may be giving horsemanship lessons this Spring!

Thank you so much for visiting!

OK ... I'M BACK - A ROOSTER'S PROGRESS ...

Maggie, sorely in need of entertainment and exercise, has resorted to  caving in the hay shed.

She finds a slot between the bales, and dives down, looking for rodents.

Sometimes she completely disappears, and I wonder if I am going to have to excavate her from the hay!

Second start on the BIG rooster. The finished size was about 25 x 30 inches.

Looking quite handsome and rooster-ish.

Now the background ...

Finished ... finally! Picked up, and ready to fly off to Hong Kong to his new home.

I disappeared off the radar, as I was having a lot of trouble with pain, arthritis, muscle spasm - I was not a happy puppy. I barely felt like doing anything, just forced myself to take care of the animals as best I could, and teach my weekly watercolour class.  I was even on synthetic opioids for six weeks. That is a nasty drug. I have weaned myself off, and am now being much more proactive  in taking care of myself. I still visit with my yoga therapist weekly - she is a god-send! And I regularly see a physiotherapist to help with eliminating muscle spasm, and getting some proper strengthening exercises done at his clinic. So I am feeling much better physically and emotionally. I am sketching and painting again, and riding Bruno every other day, and getting out with the dogs again, too. Lordy, I missed being outside in Nature!!!

The rooster was commissioned by a woman, in August,  for her husband's birthday [and I am sure I missed the date]. But she picked her painting up on Friday, and was so happy with him - I was thrilled. So Señor Rooster is off to Hong Kong in December to settle in his new home.

A MODELING SESSION ... OR ... BRUNO GOES STEAMPUNK

Getting to know each other ... the apple helped

Bruno was an absolute gentleman when it came to being photographed with Olena [the model] holding the reins.

Here's David, totally absorbed in getting the perfect photos.

Check out the wild head-dress!
My yoga therapist's husband is a professional photographer. Janine came out here for a visit in the summer, and thought David should meet Bruno. Bruno is easy-going, fairly calm about all that life throws at him [except ducks, but that's another story]. So David was here a few weeks ago, and thought Brunz would be good in a photo shoot. We arranged to meet yesterday. David poked around to find some interesting spots with good light, and Olena [the model - a sweetheart] looked for places to change her outfits. All went very well with Olena posing, holding Bruno's reins. Then we tried to get Olena on his back without a saddle. That was not a hit with Bruno, and Olena ended on the ground. So we tried with the saddle - that was better, till Bruno decided he wanted to go off exploring, and lost Olena again. I must say, I admire her - she is game and tough, and still loved Bruno when we finished the shoot. I think David got some great photos of the the steampunk jewelry - the purpose of the exercise. As for Bruno's carrier as a model ... we shall see :)
I was very impressed with the professionally of David and Olena. If you'd like to see some of David's work, his website is www.hypnoticphoto.ca 
Thank you for dropping by!

SO VERY PROUD OF MY STUDENTS!

Grace's landscape. She really has a good feel for this subject matter. Me, I have to drag myself, kicking and screaming to do a landscape.

Grace's sunflower

Jessie's sunflower. Jess' strength is to carefully develop the depth of the work. She loves doing florals and animals. 

My sunflower, slowly taking shape.

Commission I am working on. The is the 2nd rendition. I am at the stage where I need to get some background on there, so I can see how much more I must develop the star of the painting.

Another commission. A woman came to visit a few weeks ago, and wanted to know how much I wanted for the portrait of Bruno I have in my living area. I told her it was not for sale, but would paint another ...

Next class project is rooster!!!!This and the one above are two I did several years ago.

I haven't been doing a lot of painting lately. The arthritis pain has been keeping me quiet, and if I do feel better, I try to get out to do some barn work or have a short ride on Bruno. But the pain is abating, so hopefully I can get back to doing more. Apparently the stem cells take at least three to six months to have effect, and what I am feeling are arthritis symptoms which seem to come and go in waves. C'est la vie ...

Thank you so much for dropping by!

LANGLEY TOWNSHIP CIVIC ELECTION - OCTOBER 20, 2018

The province of British Columbia is holding its municipal elections later this month. This means, here in Langley,  all resident voters are able to vote for their township's mayor, eight members of council, and five school trustees. There has been a lot of "development" over the past number of years, and it has reached the stage where farmland is being sold and "developed" as housing tracts. I honestly don't know what the people who decide to move in this direction are thinking. Really .. if all the farmland is gone, what will we all eat? ... concrete and plywood??? You know how much I love the natural world, and I cannot stand by and let it disappear. So I encourage you to vote in this upcoming election. I have taken the liberty of compiling a list of candidates who seem the least likely to be in favour of rampant over-development. 

Mayor - Anna Remenik

Councillors - Petrina Arnason

                                Gail Chaddok-Costello

                        Michelle Connerty

              David Davis

               Kim Richter

                       Michelle Sparrow

                    Harold Whittell

                            Jonathan Houwelling

School trustees - Megan Dykeman

                           Suzanne Perrault

                                    Cheryl Snowdon-Eddy

                David Tod

                      Marnie Wilson

Thank you for your visit today!