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.