Whistle Out-of-Bounds Artists Winter Exhibition

Last night our winter show opened at Essentia, 2144 West 4th Avenue in Vancouver. Fun evening,  lots of guests, and the show will be up until the end of January.  I also have art decorating the walls of Galileo Coffee Shop in Britannia (until Jan) , and Mix Bakery in Vancouver (until end of January).

WHISTLER OUT-OF-BOUNDS ARTISTS

from left:  Lianne Gulka, Andrea Moore,
  me, Susie Cipolla

an inspiring and supportive group of artist friends!

Coachella Valley Preserve and Indian Canyons

 Elaine Mathews, a Palm Springs artist, invited me to join her plein air painting in the desert. We started at 8am and it was already HOT. I found a bit of shade and had a great morning painting.. below are 2 unfinished views from my spot.
The photo below is from Indian Canyons, a gorgeous place to paint, hike, or photograph. I'll be making a painting of this scene for sure!

 Here are the completed paintings. Nicer without the sky, nest-ce pas? I'm pleased with the top one.

     

WOBA and TITAN BUFF in Cochrane, Alberta!

 So this is the awesome Whistler Out-of-Bounds Artists gang in our workshop garage at River Rock Studio in Cochrane, Alberta.   Andrea Moore, Lianne Gulka, Susie Cipolla, and me.

We did the 10 hour drive in 2 cars as they were stuffed full of large canvasses, paints and mediums .. our large easels strapped to the roof! It was a 5 day workshop with Brian Atyeo, a superb acrylic artist from Ontario who does an annual workshop at his friend Ursula Reynolds studio. Brian started each day with a demo, and because of his frequent stressing of the importance of neutrals to showcase colour we nicknamed him Titan Buff. .. sometimes also known as Major Mass.  (i.e.. Don't break up the values, keep the masses intact!)

We met and bonded with Linda Wilder, an Alberta artist who sells through Mountain galleries such as at the Chateau Whistler.  Linda quickly  adopted our WOBA method of giving advice to each other .. offer suggestions, and follow up with  "But what do I know?"
                                                                It was tons of fun.  Ursula and Rick were amazing hosts who              with Brian hosted us for a sumptuous dinner one night. The location in the foothills was gorgeous, and we were free to paint all night if we chose to. We only made it til midnight tho:(
Sadly I don't have a good photo of Titan Buff. Perhaps next year.
                                                             

Plein Air Painting at Whistler with Brent Lynch

3 days of painting with oils and my new Alla Prima Pochade box .. Day 1 at Green Lake on the spit, Day 2 up Whistler, and Day 3 in the middle of the village (!) surrounded by passersby who were attending the yoga Wanderlust event. Lianne and Susie and I squeezed in between the Celebration Plaza theatre and a vendor selling electric cars!

I have to do more plein air as it's very tough but really fun and memorable. I'm finally very well equipped so have no excuse for not doing it daily.

One of Brent's 'starts' .. so loose, yet already showing the feeling of geological movement.

 David and Jeff, members of the class.

my take on this scene..

David Goatley Portrait Workshop

Day 1 - head only in black and white.  You have to squint hard to reduce your subject to tonal values.

Day 2 - B and W and two colours.

 Full portrait. The expression 'paying an arm and a leg' comes from portraiture when it was more costly to include the body.  David is in the background doing the lovely painting below, a double portrait that includes another student!

First Catch

Latest painting in the Great Bear Rain Forest series, 16"x20" acrylic on canvas. This is from a photo reference generously provided by my friend Miray Campbell of Mothership Adventures. We'll be visiting this area in September on their ship Columbia III and hope to see lots of wildlife while learning more about the pipeline issue.
Corry Hunter gave me this title which I think nicely highlights the small size of the cub relative to the salmon!

iPad drawing, inspired by David Hockney

CONTEMPLATION  7"x5" iPad drawing.


This was drawn using the Brushes ap. It is a very cool, user-friendly program that allows you to choose colour, opacity, width, mark type, and other features I haven't used yet. You can draw in layers, and then erase previous layers. For instance, if you sketch very roughly to start and then do a more refined drawing on the next layer, you can erase the initial sketch. It is very fun!

This drawing was juried into the International Drawing Show at the Federation Gallery and will be exhibited there until July 1.

My 'show' at Essentia

This is the beautiful bed store on 4th Avenue where Sarah arranged, last Feb,  for me to have an art show in June. Jim and I hung 27 pieces on Wednesday this week, and we'll take it down July 4. It's a great setting for art, and they have a fancy wire/track system so no holes are made in the walls.

So you can go and lie on a lovely organic memory foam mattress (guarantee not to heat up like most mattresses) and look at art!

'Secret Cove' was bought today! I find it quite exciting having so much work in one spot and I am very inspired to work harder at it.

Essentia is at 2144 West 4th Avenue, across from Lululemon and a few doors west.

Joachin Sorolla rocks!

 We're in New York this week visiting family and I had the chance to get up to Spanish Harlem to the Hispanic SOciety of America Museum, on a recommendation from Liz Wiltzen. It was such a great find and easy to subway to.

Sorolla was a Spanish artist from about 1985-1920
and he excelled at showing the light in his work. His colours are luscious, and no two brush strokes are quite the same colour or shape. He is tremendously inspiring to me. These are just photos I took in the museum so not great, but they give an idea of his talent. There are tons of colours in the tuna. Te compositions are compelling. And look at the light and pink skin showing through the girl's bathing costume below.. And on a close look she has blue and green on her feet.  This is a messy post, I'll try to straighten it out tomorrow!

More sheep to count..

Miss Coquette  seemed an apt title for this seemingly coy ewe.   Part of the 12x12 series of sheep to count while awaiting the sandman.

Coming!  More little lambs frolicking in the fields.

Whistler workshop with Brian Buckrell

Just finished an amazing week of 12 hour days painting with Brian Buckrell, instructor extraordinaire. My friend Susie's garage was transformed into a studio for 8 artists and we had tons of fun but we sure worked hard!   Our 8th student Jeff is absent from the photo .. took a break at the wrong time. Lots of great work was produced here but most need finishing.

Counting Sheep!!

Home from an amazing trip in the UK. Among other things, we walked through many lambing areas in the Cotswolds and near Salisbury. And since I'm doing a show next month at Essentia, a lovely bed store on 4th Avenue, I thought I should paint some of these cute creatures.



WHO, US??   12x12 acrylic on canvas

ON THE LAM  12x12 acrylic on canvas

This pair snuck under a fence and then were frantic about not being able to rejoin their flock. We were part of a group of passersby who corralled them and someone who didn't know better  (they're rather dirty up close!) lifted them over a fence.

BAAAD BOY.  12X12 acrylic on canvas.

 We're in London seeing the most inspiring art! Lucien Freud and David Hockney are my favourites so far, ana amazing duo that paint so differently. both in subject matter, colour palette,  thickness of paint and the time it takes to complete. Who would you guess was the faster painter? If you guessed Hockney, you're right. Lucien would work on a portrait (all done from life, with sitting/lying models) for months. He usually had two in progress, one by daylight, and the other in the evening with strong artificial light. I hadn't expected to love his work as much as I did.
Hockney is the 75 yr old artist who has 'painted' whole shows on his phone and then on the iPad, and they too are wonderful!
The middle painting he did with oils, the bottom one on the iPad. It is actually much lovelier in the flesh.

Andrea's echinacea.  This painting was juried into the Federation Blossoms show in April.

Fishing for Lunch. Can you see the big paw swiping the water?

Still incomplete but better proportioned, non? This bear was successful grabbing a salmon from the river.

A late Valentine!

This is from a Lantern plant in our garden that dried over the winter. Last spring we were dazzled by the filagree, delicate colours and jewelled look.
This is a small painting on board, 10x8 acrylic. I'm hoping it will be juried into the next Federation Show as the theme is flowers and blossoms.

Something completely different!

Abstract, I think. This is titled Water Music and is 30x24 on deep exhibition canvas (ie. no frame needed).  Acrylic. Bet you can see lots of animals in the water droplets!
This painting was exhibited in the Federation Gallery (Granville Island) February 7-25 Abstract Show and is priced at $1200.

Rainy at Whistler = lots of painting.

Another take on Smuggler Cove .. different tide and light. I love this spot and will probably do more paintings here. This is 24x36 acrylic.

More bears from the Great Bear Rain Forest (thanks again to Miray for sharing her photos with me.. this fall we'll get our own I hope!) This is a small study, 8x10", acrylic on board.

Last summer at Whistler

My friend Susie Cipolla took the photo that was the inspiration for this painting.  It's 24"x24", acrylic on canvas. The mountains look very different now!