Tree Farm

I attend an auction regularly on this large piece of land, now an abandoned tree farm. It was a great government initiative at one point....tree seedlings provided so cheaply.....10 cents per seedling. The program was cut and now all the buildings are falling into disrepair. I wander around the big acreage, waiting for my auction items to come up.

Late March

This is the first of these collages with painted papers on masonite panel laminated with gessoed paper......sounds complicated, I know, but I like the surface. My previous collages were done on paper.

Blonde

March Hope

March 24

Spring is not coming easily....still quite cold, but the snow is steadily disappearing. I paint a lot of pictures based on these snow patches every year.

March Snow Pattern

I like looking at how the diminishing snow cover sets up everchanging patterns in the fields. Things will change again tomorrow.....spring is not quite here yet.....more snow is coming over night!

Near Wendy's Hill

Diagramed yesterday, but painted today. It was very warm yesterday, colder today, but much of the snow cover has already disappeared.

The making of the panels perhaps changes the painting style slightly because there is such an investment in preparation, but there is something about the ritual that is pleasing. There is a whole sequence to making the panels....measure and cut the boards, sand the board edges, gesso one side, wait dry, gesso the other side, laminate the painting paper, trim the painting paper and clip the corners to prevent denting, gesso again. I'm sure I could buy something comparable but it's pleasing to make them myself.

Start of Spring

It's still a few days before the official beginning of spring, but today definitely felt different....lots of snow melt, warm, and blue skies in the earlier part of the day.

March Light

Painted today, late afternoon....the light shining on a little hillock across the road. The days are getting noticeably longer.

On 8.25 x 7.25 Inch panels. The panels are gessoed first, then laminated with heavy artist's paper, then gessoed again.

Into Garden Hill, March 15

A lovely place in any season. Home is not far from here.....a very mysterious and welcoming opening at the top of the hill.

Purgatory Hill, March 14

Purgatory Hill under a clear late winter sky. There will come a time when I won't pass this way so often.

Tom Waits, You Can Never Hold Back Spring

Run Off, March 13

I wanted to paint this because the snow will not last long now that the temperatures might be more consistently above zero. A good time to paint.....the snow patches will create interesting patterns.

Rice Lake, March 12

I went to an auction at Bewdley this morning...got impatient for my lot to come up and went down to the lake front and recorded a few views for painting when I got home....returned to the auction in time to purchase the one lot I wanted.

It's still deep winter, but I'll savour these days that lead into spring.

August 2010, Harvest

It was a very small class on the last day before we were ready to dismiss for March break.....the roads were a mess so the buses didn't come in, and some students were already departed on international flights. It was a good opportunity to demonstrate pace and process in painting, to the few students that were there. My Grade 11 students are currently being asked to do two paintings in this small scale. I had a few watch me as this was painted. I finished the piece after class.

For a while now I've been meaning to learn how to make short videos of art processes....me painting would be one of them. Such videos would be very handy for all manner of things that need to be taught in the studio.

Self Portrait With Close Ups

Collage from acrylic painted papers...just a stroke or two of colour on top. Most of my things are done in less than two hours......but I worked on this for 4-6 hours. It went through a lot of changes and has many pieces. I had to rewet the back and clamp it under a tall stack of books to get it to lay reasonably straight.

....started in the AP class to show them that a work can be built, decision by decision. It is better to make more decisions rather than fewer decisions...complicate, and if that becomes too much, then simplify. One learns by making more and more decisions. Adding is a decision...and so is taking away.

North Field

There was a wonderful 'hum' between the sky and the snow on this afternoon....it's not something I got here, but it was the idea for the picture.....there was something very special about the light and the relationship between those two colour areas.

The last thing I did on this painting was make a few small marks with pencil in the wet white paint of the snow...not even sure you can see that very clearly....but it gave me a little thrill to do those last subtle things.