Christimas Day Post: Vanishing Arctic Beauty - Hand Embossed Pewter

Vanishing Arctic Beauty - 12" x 12" x 1" - Pewter and Acrylic

 

 

 

Painting: Acrylic and Metal on Wood.

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Polar bears are currently threatened by the melting ice of he Arctic sea, the bears' habitat and hunting ground. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Nunavut in the Canadian Arctic and fell in love with Inuit culture and art.

I have been developing a series of artwork to celebrate the North using pewter that I emboss free hand and acrylic gels and emulsions to translate the ice and snow.

This painting of a noble polar bear is on a specially prepared cradled panel; the pewter is top quality and contains no lead.
A beautiful statement piece! It is wired and ready to hang. The edges are painted white to continue the idea of ice and snow landscape on the sides of the painting.The artwork has been varnished to protect the pewter and the acrylic for years and years.

I can produce similar pieces with kayaks, inukshuks, polar bears etc...in much larger sizes such as 24" x 24". Please contact me if interested.

Best Wishes to all for the Holiday Season!

Partnership with Carleton University in Ottawa

I was very pleased to be approached by Carleton University International Student Services Office who wanted to offer their new students some very Canadian art:. three of my Polar Series with hand embossed pewter.

I have several more paintings in this series currently on display at the Kevin Dodds Gallery & Studio at 1101 Bank St. in Ottawa.

 These paintings are on cradles birch panels and the designs on the acrylic background are in pewter that I cut from metal sheets and hand emboss. The sizes range from 4" x 4" to 24" x 24". I sometimes  ( time permitting) accept special commissions for designs in this series or in my Spirit of Africa series.

Have a great first week of September!

My Polar Series in Canada Day Window

My polar series in hand embossed pewter

Above is part of the Canada Day window display of the Kevin Dodds Gallery in Ottawa, Canada. Kevin chose my hand embossed pewter works to add a very Canadian touch to his holiday window.
All these pieces are on a wood panel with the pewter work on an acrylic background. The polar theme includes polar bears, Inukshuks, wolves, kayaks, whales...and a maple leaf to complete the Canadian theme.
I am very fortunate to work with a gallery owner who is so supportive of my work.

Winter show this weekend

I will be at the Nepean Fine Arts League Winter Show this weekend, Nov. 30 to Dec.2. This show is usually great fun and the quality of the artwork is very high.

I have just finished in time for the show a few paintings in my Polar series. They are small ( from 6" x 6" for the small panels to 12" x 12" for the largest). This series has been very popular and I hope some of my new pieces will go to a good home this weekend:-)
The pieces are on cradled gallery panels; the background is layers and layers of acrylic and the designs are made with metal sheets or metal foil and all kinds of various gel mediums. They are so much fun to make. However, because of the metal, they really do not photograph well.

If you are in the Ottawa area, I would be so happy if you could drop in.
Have a fabulous weekend, everyone!

Playing and Experimenting

During the last few days, I have played and have experimented.

Midnight Stroll On Broadway -SOLD

My first new piece is an abstract called " Midnight Stroll on Broadway" where I tried to suggest the lights, the colors and the movement of the ever-present Manhattan crowd . It  is in watercolor, but with the paper wrapped around the edges of a canvas. I still have to varnish it, but so far, I liked working on this surface. I used lots and lots of water to test the surface, and there is only one small spot (the dark blue figure) that seems to have warped ever slightly - I may be able to flatten it out with weights, but it is really not noticeable. I will see how my framer can frame this. The next time, I will use a gallery-depth canvas and will thus have the option of leaving it unframed. It is only 8" X 10". I am looking forward to trying this on a larger canvas.

Because of  the heat wave that has been hitting Ottawa, I have been dreaming of snow:-)Consequently,  I created another "Polar Bear" mixed media painting on a wood panel. Unfortunately, it was very hard to photograph because of the metallic reflections. I used all kinds of acrylic gels and medium: pumice stone texture, gold mica flakes, molding pastes. I also used layers of metallic foil for the bear and embossed it; the sun has metallic paints, the little stream has cheese cloth for additional texture.
"Land of the Midnight Sun" is 10" X 10" X 1"

Land of the Midnight Sun-SO:LD

                                                                                        

Do let me know what you think of these experimental pieces.

I hope that you are also  finding some time to "play"