Parliament Building Carving I - completed

I have just completed the  Parliament Building Carving I. It's only 7.5" x 7.5' approx. on Fabriano Artistico SP. I went for  a sun-drenched look contrasting with shadows in the recessed areas where I created  a lot of textures.
I will have to live with it for a few days before I can decide if i like it enough to continue with my intended series of such carvings.

New WIP - Small Parliament Hill Carving

I have started over the small painting of the Parliament Building carving. It's only 8"x8" and the face is probably smaller than 4" high. I am using Fabriano 140 lb SP  - not stretched, not adhered to canvas or wood panel - just plain approach this time:-)

So far, I like it better than my previous effort. I still have to remove some masking and paint around the nose before I start the more colorful background. The face will remain mostly unpainted as it is now with just the deep shadows.

I hope that you like this start.
Happy Sunday and a great week to all of you.

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"

Tech Activity Update

I have had great house guests for about ten days; consequently, I have done little painting. I managed to find some time though to play on the computer:-) Here is an update of my "technology" activity of the past two weeks.

FineArtAmerica:
Although I had joined this site over a year ago, I had never uploaded anything. I discovered all the great possibilities of this site this week and have started to upload a few images. I have received such a warm welcome: I have already received two features ( for my Coconuts and for my Queen of the Pond).

Red Bubble:

I am still having fun on Red Bubble and they continue to be very kind to me. My cherries and lace were featured in the Canadian Artists group.

My Inukshuk was featured in Painters Universe group while my Coconuts were featured in the Art Universe group.

On my own blog, I have added a few new earring images to my "Jewelry Page".

As of Monday, it's back to painting. I want to experiment with other ways to mount my watercolor paper in view of eventually varnishing the painting and displaying it without glass. Stay tuned.

Wishing you all a great weekend.

Coconut Palms now completed

In this heat wave, I am tired of working on the Coconut Palms. They keep reminding me of the heat:-) So, I will call them done for the moment. What do you think?

SOLD

I may enter it at the next Foyer Gallery show called "Mid-Summer Visions". It starts on July 8th.
I am wishing all Canadians a great Canada Day Weekend!

Coconut Palms WIP Part 2 and Good News

I have been splashing more color on my coconut palms:-) Since I am not very familiar with palm trees, I am not sure that any of my color combinations are logical, but I am just having fun!
If I don't crop this watercolor painting, it will be framed at 20" X 24". It is on Fabriano Artistico 140 lb SP, my new favorite watercolor paper.

I found out this week that one of my mascaroni, The Gate Keeper. had been chosen to be be part of the juried show Selections 2012 to be held in late September at the Shenkman Arts Centre, a super venue in the East end of Ottawa. There were 233 submissions and 60 were chosen.

This is my first time submitting one of my works for this great show; I feel very honored that "The Gate Keeper" will be part of it in the Fall.

I wish all of you a great weekend.

New WIP: Coconut Palms

Already Sunday evening! The weeks go by so quickly.
This week I started a new watercolor painting in the spirit of the summer and the heat wave that we are having in Ottawa, Canada: coconut palms from the Bahamas.
I am having fun with the colors of this painting - I certainly don't want everything to be yellow or green, so I am dropping a riot of colors here and there. This is not a commission, so I feel very carefree about it:-)
The large coconut at the front is still in its initial stages.  I am showing only part of the painting at this point - I may decide to crop it from my original sketch of 15"X 19".  I thank Li Newton for the beautiful reference picture.

I could not resist from making more earrings this week. I love working on them. Here is the fruit of this week's labor:

The first pair below is called " Carribean" and is probably inspired by my working on the coconut palm painting:-)

Next, another large pair, with more subdued colors, but with nice textures, called "Desert Glow":

The next earrings are small and delicate and are called " Summer Sky":

The last pair for this week ( yes, I worked on these earrings for hours and hours) called "South Seas" has a very unique texture! I added layers of medium between layers of paint, found a way to make some of the paint bubble a bit. I wish I could do the same on a large canvas...Food for thought:-) \The first image is closer to the aqua color of the earrings

 But this second picture of "South Seas" may provide a better idea of the texture under the glossy surface.

 I will be showing my jewelry also on Fine Art America...Do check the jewelry there...there is something for every taste and every purse:-)

As always, I really look forward to hearing from you and I wish you all a great week!

It's been too long....

It's been too long since I have posted! Time really goes by so quickly: I could not believe that my last post was about 4 weeks ago. So, what have I been doing.....?

I have had two shows since the last
post. I finished my Pierre, the Green Man, and my client is very, very happy with it. After this commission, I wanted to play a bit before tackling something serious again. I showed you my  mixed media Inukshuk in the previous post. I have now added a new whale and a new polar bear ( previous 2 sold quickly). Here is the bear, King of the Ice, even if it's difficult to photograph because of the metallics. It is 6"x6"x1.5" on a wooden panel with the sides painted black.

However, the most fun I've had is creating watercolor/acrylic earrings!!! They are made of layers of watercolor paper, hand shaped, sanded, painted, decorated with acrylic gels and metallics, then sealed with layers of gloss. Most have sterling silver ear wires or 14k gold plated wires. A few have silver or platinum plated wires - clients so far don't seem to make any difference between the types of wire.

 I have made just over a dozen pairs in the past two weeks and have sold more than half to the few people who have seen them. Some people  first thought that they were in copper enameling and were very surprised to see how light they were. The gloss sealer/varnish makes these earring very shiny and resistant. I am sure that this surface protects them from water, but I would certainly not take a shower with them...just in case.

Here are a few pictures: these are all the small sizes ( approx. 1.5" long) except the black "Samurai" which are approx. 2"( without the wire of course). I am anxious to see what you think even though the pictures are not very good.

SAMURAI -

Monet's Garden -

Sunset -

Ice and Metal -

I would love your comments. I will be offering them online for a while. I have just started a page for them (see tab at top of this page). These earrings make wonderful gifts. Check out other gift jewelry on FineArtAmerica. There is always something for every taste and every wallet:-)

Next time I need to play, I may try making pendants:-)

Happy painting!

Upcoming Show and Red Bubble Fun

I will have four paintings in a new show at the Foyer Gallery, "Art at the Plex". The exhibition starts tomorrow, May 9th and runs until May 27. You can see my small cherry and lace painting on the poster below. I will also be showing the mixed media Inukshuk I finished last week.

I have a two-day sale and show on June 3rd for which I want some new work: I have to get cracking! In the last few weeks, I have not painted any watercolor paintings apart from my "Pierre, the Green Man" which is currently at the framers.

Since I have no new painting to show you today, I will post some of the Red Bubble fun of the last week:
My "Pierre, the Green Man" has received 2 features in the past three days. while my "Independent Trio" placed in the top ten ( 5th place) in a Still Life challenge.

 Eight days ago, my clematis painting, "Kaleidoscope" ( now sold) also received a nice feature:

 These features are fun; they force me to look at my older paintings, not just the last ones... and they give me a smile...I really need this  - after finishing a large piece, I always feel drained and somewhat down...until I get involved in another work. Do you feel like this sometime?

"Pierre, the Green Man" - Finish line in sight at last!

I have almost completed my watercolor "Pierre, the Green Man", the second in a series of three Ottawa stone carvings. The first one was "Angus, the Green Man" and the third will be " Scottie, the Green Man".
It is on Fabriano SP watercolor paper and it will be framed to 25" X 25" . The photo was taken inside and the colors are off: in real life, they are softer and lighter than on this photo. I will try to get a truer picture once it is all completed.

This painting has taken me several weeks of working off and on...It was often difficult from my photos to see all the details. The colors are all my own, since the carving is in grey stone. I really wanted to have a play of warm and cool, light and shadows. I almost ruined it last night when I put dark blue shadows all across the eye on the left side of the painting...I should never paint at night!!! But thank to the painting gods for non-staining watercolor paints: I removed most of the blue and I think that  the eye will be ok.

I am very pleased that this painting is almost finished and I am looking forward to painting something quick and easy for the next little while.

Tell me what you think.
 

Great Surprise from Laura Leeder

Today, in the mail, I received a beautiful gift from fellow blogger, Laura Leeder. I was one of the winners in her note card give-away. Here is the beauty that I received: I put the card through my scanner and it came out blurry:-( (Sorry, Laura.) To see good pictures of Laura's beautiful "Tea Cup" cards, you will all have to go to Laura's website  The note cards were featured in the "Tea Time" magazine this month!I am not surprised: the card I received is beautifully printed front and back and Laura's delicate paintings of lace and teacups are absolutely gorgeous.

Congratulations and thank you so much Laura!

Nice surprise at the OAA Juried Show

I was thrilled last night at the Annual Ottawa Art Association Juried Show to learn that my painting "The Protector" had won the first prize award in the watercolor category.

Pierre, the Green Man -WIP part 2 + fun mixed media

"Pierre the Green Man" is progressing. It is slightly more than 50% done.

Since this is a commission, I really want to get the best resemblance to the original carving. Here is one of the photos that I am working from...

Do you think that I am close enough to the original on the left hand side of the painting?

 Working on commissions make me tense, so to relieve tension I have been doing some fun mixed media: here is one that is almost finished of an Inukshuk.

It's 8" X 10" on a 1.5" cradled board; it has an acrylic background with texture and design of tissue paper, molding paste, metallic foils, metallic paint.  I think it's cute:-)

New WIP -"Pierre, the Greenman"

I have not posted much lately. Where does all the time go? For the past three weeks, I have been working off and on on my second watercolor of a "Green Man"  You may remember "Angus, the Green Man" from one of my February posts; it was one of three stunning Ottawa sculptures commissioned by Bobby Watt of RJW-Gem Campbell Stonemasons Inc. While the first sculpture represented Mr. Watt's move from Scotland to Canada through the symbols of the thistle ( emblem flower of Scotland) and maple leaves ( symbol of Canada), this time, the sculpture is called "Pierre, the Green Man" and it represents Mr. Watt's move to Quebec through the use of not only maple leaves, but the "fleur de lys", symbol of the province of Quebec: see the fleur de lys in the upper left corner.

This watercolor is also on 140 lb Fabriano SP and is about 18" X 18" but I will crop it to the same size as the first in the series, 17" X 17" to be framed to 25" X 25".

I am progressing slowly on this one." I have had my son and my daughter over for the long weekend, I had several appointments etc...And...it's not an easy painting:-) The eye on the right-hand side is extremely important since it really becomes the focus of the painting...I have tried really hard to get it right. The other eye is currently just sketched in.  While "Angus" was very whimsical, this "Pierre" has to look almost like a real person hiding behind the leaves.

I am not sure I like the colors so far: the top is very dark and subdued...This photo was taken with a flash, so the colors  are not very accurate.  If I don't like the final version, I could always redo it - I have taken several photos of "Pierre" from several angles:-)

What do you think?

Upcoming show, Mixed Media and Red Bubble.

I will be participating in a show, Inside Outside, at the Foyer Gallery from this Wednesday until April 15th.

As you can see on the above poster ( 3rd column), my large varnished cherries (The Independent Ones) will be on display. I will be showing also 3 brand new mixed media pieces on a Northern theme: Northern View ( Inukshuk), King of the North (polar bear) and Whale Wave.  I could not get a good picture of these pieces because of all the metallic reflections. I will try to photograph at the gallery without a flash later on this week.

Red Bubble continues to boost my morale with great features.Thursday morning I woke up to a nice email announcing that one of the groups had chosen my "Independent" cherries above as the Editor's pick of the day.

Tomorrow, I will be starting to work on a commission for another "Green Man" sculpture.

Have a great week.

Weekend Show

I took only one picture at the Nepean Fine Arts League Spring Show during the weekend...and I took it Sunday morning after 3 paintings had already been sold:-)
-

In all, I sold 4 paintings and many, many greeting/note cards. What really surprised me is that the first three works to go were the 3 mixed media that I had finished shortly before the show: "Lake Fantasia", "Soaring Spirit" and a smaller one entitled "Dreamland". My giant cherries and my Mascarone ( The Protector) attracted a lot of attention, but did not sell. I am not too sorry about that: I really like them and want to keep them with me a bit longer :-)

The Friday night opening reception was fantastic with great wine, great food and super company. I want to thank all my friends who came during the weekend: I loved seeing you and I greatly appreciate your continued support!

My next show will set up on Sunday at the Foyer Gallery and I am feverishly working on more mixed media pieces for that show. After Sunday, I will start working seriously on my commissions.

Here in Ottawa we are enjoying a July-type heat wave! Nature is rather confused, me thinks:-)
Take care!

Spring Art Show this weekend!

This week-end, I will be participating in the 3-day Spring Art Sale organized by the Nepean Fine Arts.  League  at the Ukrainian Hall, 1000 Byron Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario.

The week-end promises to be an exciting art and social event for all. A vernissage will be held Friday, the 16th from 6pm to 9pm. Delicious finger foods, a tempting sweet table, with wine or non-alcoholic beverages, are included with the $10 admission fee (tickets available in advance or at the door).
The evening will end with a draw for donated door prizes. As well, take a chance on a raffle to win one of three paintings. The sale continues Saturday from 10am to 5pm and Sunday from 10am to 4pm ( free admission on those days). Winners of the paintings will be announced Sunday the 18th at 3pm (winners do not have to be present to claim their paintings).

I will try to take some pictures of the event!
I hope that you will drop in if you don't live too far.

Procrastination, Play and Upcoming Show

I have not worked on my giant cherries for the past two or three days. It has to be completed and varnished by Friday for an upcoming show and sale weekend organized by the Nepean Fine Arts League. I have just felt like playing:-) Here is the result of that play...don't laugh too hard...it is sooooo "not me", but I loved making this mixed media piece that I am calling " Soaring Spirit" and which started as a pure abstract and which evolved into something semi-representational with tons of texture:

It  is acrylic paint on a 12" X 12" X 1" wood panel with metallic foil, cheesecloth, tissue paper, metallic paints. Because of the reflection of the metallic paper surfaces, it did not photograph well at all, but you get the idea:-)

What do you think?

 

WIP - Giant Cherries almost completed

I am still working on my giant cherries: the painting is on watercolor paper adhered to an 18" X 24" wood panel and will be varnished for display without glass.
I still have work to do on the shadows and on the tablecloth and lace...I am getting a bit tired of this one; I have struggled with it since I have realized that this surface is better for small cells than large washes!
Nevertheless, at this size, I like the impact the cherries make.
Next time, on this surface, I am simply going to try acrylics!
In the photo below, the colors are not entirely true: for example, the shadows under the plate are more grey than blue and they are actually much darker. I will try getting a better picture tomorrow in better daylight.

What do you think?

I hope that you are having a great week.

What's on the easel and more Red Bubble fun

My sister spent most of last week with us. I enjoyed her visit tremendously...but did not paint nor post on blogger.

I have started a painting on a 18"X24" wood panel that I had prepared some time ago for a varnished watercolor. However, as soon as I had sketched my painting on it, I remembered my findings the last time I worked on such a surface: this is great for small cells, but horrible for large washes - the surface dries too quickly and unevenly. As you will see below, my painting is of huge cherries on a black plate and there is a hint of lace: the lace was great fun, but the cherries were a nightmare to paint!

The stems are still covered with masking and I have not yet started the plate. The highlights on the cherries were done in three ways: masking, lifting and ( the purists will cringe) with Chinese white watercolor.

The next couple of weeks should be quite busy. I have two shows in March, one at the Foyer Gallery called "Inside Outside" and I thought that, by stretching it a bit,  I could use the cherries for that theme ( inside a container, out of a container:-); the other show is a 3-day sale with a local art association where I will have a booth. I also have two large commissions...and commissions make me nervous and I tend to procrastinate.

On another note, Red Bubble continues to be a fun site that provides me with good feedback. My "Lake Fantasia" has just won 3rd place in a Challenge in the Canadian Artists group and my Garden Ballerinas, a painting I did last year, was featured today in the Decorative and Traditional Art Group.

And winter is back with us in Ottawa: we have had more snow in the last three days than all winter, I think...and more on the way:-(