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.

Little Tree, Deep February

Collage offers a slightly different sensibility. Yesterday I worked for about 6 hours on a self portrait collage....unusual for me because most things take me less than 2 hours.....but I couldn't get it right so I kept going. It finally arrived at a place that seemed of interest....we'll see what it looks like again tomorrow....I purposely didn't bring it back home, only partly because I wanted the AP Drawing students to see how it progressed.

Art Talk in Warkworth, Ontario

I will be giving a talk on my work on Saturday, March 5th, in Warkworth, Ontario.

Mid Winter Thaw

Half the snow cover was gone in one day. Later on in spring, the snow melt always creates unexpected design in the landscape....a very pleasant time to paint for a number of reasons.

Lost Dog Hill, From the North

Approaching Lost Dog Hill from the North.....cold, mid February.

Midday Roadside

....it was the start of a long weekend....driving home early.....the early afternoon light on some roadside evergreens

Upper Trout Pond, February

A very bright warm morning....it was pleasant walking to the upper trout pond.....no human tracks here for quite a while......just raccoon.

February Thaw, Trout Pond

In a day or so much of the snow cover disappeared in a February melt......these never last. It's much colder today. But at least there was a hint of spring.

White Hill

...at the start of a February melt that is most pronounced today. I stopped on one of the backroads on the way home and diagramed this motif.....4 things together...the grey sky, dark trees, orange bushes and white foreground.

I was pleased that the sky ended up looking wet...as it was. In this case, the result, not entirely predicted, of dragging the brush in a certain way.

Blue Hint

....into the latter part of February....winter starts to issue hints of spring. I wish I could climb this hill and explore, but it's private property.

Snow Day

Acrylic on gessoed paper laminated to masonite panel, 6" x 8". The best kind on winter day,....cold, clear, and still. Looking northward.

Garden Hill, February

Today was very windy and cold...but there was a hint of spring in the air.

Small 6" x 8" panel. I laminated heavy artist's paper onto gessoed masonite panel as a way to stop a pink bleed that was happening through the gesso. I love painting on this surface.....it's much more intimate than straight panel and more sturdy than paper....best of both worlds. I'll see if the infatuation holds, but at the moment it's my favourite surface to paint on. This is the 3rd or 4th on this type of surface.

Rail Bridge 1912, Morning Sunshine

I made a little diagram on a short drive during my lunch hour....painted at about 8:00 pm that evening. I like this hidden road with the old rail bridge at a turn....the morning sun was beautiful and encouraging.

Sunday Sun, Lost Dog Hill

A very cold and bright Sunday afternoon. A snowmobile trail cuts right through at right of this. For a portion of my walk I need to be prepared to step into the underbrush at a moment's notice.

January Days

I try to steal some time and put myself in the landscape around lunch.....the little diagrams made on paper always in my breast pocket are produced at times like this. The two little paintings are on gessoed panels....I was lucky to get them done on the same day....about 1.5 hrs painting time in total for both. More and more I sense how important it is to record the days as they pass.

Coyote Hill, Deep Winter

Painted today....we're now into the coldest part of the year. Winter really does deserve a very close study. The range of effects in the short days can be at times dramatic, at other times, subtle.

Stuart Shils, Making a Monotype, Part 2

Stuart Shils, Making a Monotype, Part 1

Donald Baechler, Monday Artist at Noon Lecture, Part 2

There is always great surprise and similtaneously, great design principles and process at play in Baechler's work. He's a fascinating artist on many levels.

Donald Baechler, Monday Artist at Noon Lecture, Part 1

Donald Baechler, Monday Artist at Noon Lecture, Part 3

A Wonderful Home!

A big thank you to Kate Lottridge for sending along a photo showing how she framed and presented two of my paintings in her absolutely gorgeous home! It warms my heart to see how the paintings travel....and these two pieces have landed in paradise.

Halfway Home

Midday....on the backroads.....10 minutes from home...the clean, cold smell of sunshine and snow cover in January.

Lost Dog Hill, Overcast

Lost Dog Hill as it looked a few days ago.....the way the land is arranged, this location and motif are always there as I leave here and return......noticed many times during the day, in all weather, all seasons. Not even 6:00 p.m. yet but it's dark now. Time for a snow walk and I'll go in that direction.....you can actually see a great deal in the dark.

Brushes.....and.....

I had a few questions about brushes and procedures. Perhaps the picture will help. I wear brushes down to nothing....especially the bigger ones for filling areas. I tend to favour a distressed brush perhaps because it can do rough things....I get worried when things start to look too predictable. The stiff bristle round brush that you see...all worn down, was used for the top layer of many of my skies...I liked it for applying thick impasto. Haven't used it lately though...perhaps its time is done.

I AM careful about the smallest rounds that I use to draw fine lines with. I try to hold the brush very easily and make the lines almost accidentally. The paint is often thinned a fair bit for those lines. Small rounds are replaced quite often. I use a few flat synthetic brushes, but favor the rounds.

Almost everything gets underpainted very simply. A blue sky will have a thin wash of perhaps pink, applied in 10 seconds....little bits peek through.

I'm primarily a tonal painter. The Value...the degree of dark/light of the colour is most important. I'm also very conscious of how colours are greyed. I use a simple method of 'approximate complements' to grey. As I instinctively sense that a colour needs to be brought down in intensity, I go to an approximate opposite to grey it in stages. Finding great greys is so important.

I'm more intuitive rather than scientific in the way I find my colours. Red is the complement of green, and small bits of red will grey or reduce the intensity of green, but so will a whole variety of browns, reds that move towards orange, etc....that's why I think of this method as greying with approximate complements....they will all grey your colour, but in different ways.

A little exercise for anyone who feels they haven't exploited greys enough yet:

Grid a 20" x 26" sheet of bristol or any stiff card into one inch squares. Set out a full palette of colour plus white. Fill every square with a greyed colour....no full intensity colours allowed. I have no black in my palette but am a great fan of Paynes Grey. I wouldn't use the Paynes for this exercise though. You'll be surprised by how much exciting variety you'll find just by consciously reducing the brightness of colours.

Windbreak

Made one day prior to winter solstice...later in the day, a bit of snow falling.

First Storm

Snow fell this morning and now it is raining which should last all night. If we can avoid freezing rain I'll be happy. This painting from earlier this afternoon....diagramed quickly...painted in studio.

December 4th

Painted yesterday...the shortest days of the year. This is morning light, but I painted this later in the afternoon when the light was fading. Almost impossible to do these without enough light, but I surrounded myself with standing lamps and it was ok.