What beautiful weather we are having right now in Calgary! It’s perfect for plein air painting. This is the view from Bowness Park looking across the Bow River towards Baker Park. The light was amazing – it illuminated the tips of the yellow trees and cast beautiful shadows across the ground. It’s kind of weird that I stood right beside the Bow River yet and it doesn’t show up in the painting but this is the scene that captured my imagination. Enjoy!
I painted this from a photo of Kai [my 2 year old grandson] from this summer… swinging. He loves swinging. At Moose Lake family camp this summer he was either swinging or begging, “wing me, wing me, wing me” until mommy was way past done with it, haha. It was fairly entertaining for Grandma but less so for Candice at 7 months pregnant. Ah, the life of a Grandma – SO much fun!
It’s a beautiful day here in Calgary, but I didn’t feel up to the preparation and carting that painting on location requires. I opted to paint indoors and went just a little bit larger canvas than I use outside. It was fun to have the space to use slightly larger brushes.
I used a photo reference in black and white taken at the Sunshine Meadows paint-out 3 years ago. It was miserable up on the meadow that June day – we had all kinds of active weather including sleet, tiny hail bits, rain, and lots of wind. When I’d had enough of that and my fingers were too stiff to paint, I gathered my gear and retreated to the cafeteria to visit with my painting buddies. This little waterfall is immediately behind the cafeteria/lift building and we took lots of photos of it once we were warmed up. I changed the lighting to make it more dramatic and painted it on a red ground which gives this cold subject a warmer feel. Cheers!
Today was a fun art day. I was up early [lousy bed, another story] putting the final touches on the framing for my paintings. I had a circuit of errands to run before dropping my painting off for the hanging committee at 2:30.
We had to be back to the special evening wine and cheese for artists & sponsors by 6pm. After mixing and visiting while we went through the show, we got to the exciting part. Scholarships were presented to students from the U of A and U of C. Ron and I spoke with the young lady that won from the U of A and her parents… they were VERY excited and it’s nice to think that our group can provide these special $1,000 scholarships to these young people for their education.
Most FCA shows have prizes for the bride [1st] and bridesmaids [2nd & 3rd] and “flower girls” [honorable mentions] and are selected by the jury at our Canadian office in Vancouver. Generally they are hung with the paintings and artists find out they’ve won a prize when they see the ribbon or somebody congratulates them. Since this was the 30th Anniversary of the Calgary Chapter, prizes were presented during the program. I was fortunate to receive an honorable mention [yay for flower girls!] for my painting “Rudiger Ranch” and gift certificates from both Art Supplies Direct and Atlantis Fine Framing Studio [thank you!]. Prizes are NOT why I paint but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that this type of recognition is pretty exciting for me! It’s nice to know that jurors see something of value in my work. It’s all part of the package… and it’s fun. Okay, enough tooting my own horn. Have a great weekend!
Monday felt like a good day to paint but my fatigued brain was void of fresh new ideas… I retreated to my comfort zone, pulled out one of my fav watercolors, and painted it in oil. Wow, what a challenge. It sometimes feels foreign to do the darks first and lights last rather than save my whites/lights until last, as in watercolor. It was also a big challenge to get splatters in oil – there must be a trick to that. I may end up going back into this and adding a few more highlights before I call it finished [even tho I signed it :( ]. I suspect some opaque lights in the purple flowers might be cool but I’m thinking it over. Anyway, here are a couple of shots of the painting in process and my source painting “Royalty”. Cheers!
I painted for the first part of this with a palette knife… but I find the paint goes on so thickly and unevenly. I think it could be a fun way to paint but I should get a lesson in how to do it right first :) After a while I grabbed my brushes and finished up in my comfort zone.
Shout out to my art blogging friends – would love to have some tips on how to photograph thickly painted surfaces like this. It’s nigh on to impossible to get the color without the glare from the peaks! Please message me if you have ideas… thanks!
This is the view from a pathway beside Allen Bill Pond looking towards Kananaskis Country. I love clouds, and painting clouds… these are cirrus or mare’s tails. Their feathery appearance makes them looks like they’re dancing across the sky. Our weather continues to be gorgeous here, although the wind is up today. It’s been perfect weather for harvesting this September – much needed due to a late, wet spring. Cheers!
I rebelled against my indoor, moving in activities Thursday and went painting with some friends. We intended to paint Elbow Falls but the rangers had closed the park up while they assess bear activity. According to some other hikers, the closure due to the bears has been going on since last Saturday. So, we stopped just a bit earlier at Allen Bill Pond and took up places along the Elbow River. I decided to paint a beautiful spot just a bit up the path where I could seen the elbow of the Elbow.
It was great to get outside again! Plein air painting is so much fun and it’s multiplied when shared with friends. It was nice to see Sharon Williams, Ingrid Christensen, Jan Chalupnicek, and Linda Wilder again. Check out their blogs/websites for some really great art.
Cheers!
