Rain Day

A very nice grey day.....August has had plenty of rain while July was totally dry. Looking into Coyote Hill near midday.

The bottom field caused problems in this painting...I changed it a number of times. The value remains fairly close to the dark of the back forest....not ideal in spacial terms.

Rice Lake, July

Small acrylic collage painting on pine, 6.5 x 7.25 inches.

August Blue

.........driving home on a hot August afternoon from a day trip north.....looking down into the cool blue of Rice Lake....almost home.

There is a certain blue of summer....involving lakes and distant boats and trees and rocks....giving us the sense that we're exactly in the right place.

Presentation of Small Paintings

Many thanks to Jill Harris for sending along these pictures showing how she framed and presented a grouping of my landscape paintings in her lovely home. She shows an interesting way of using a larger space to present smaller works as one unit. Thank you Jill! I really enjoy seeing how people present and place the work.

Saturday Drive Home

Even as small as my pictures are, scale remains very important. This painting for example, is 6 x 6.25 inches. I felt that making it even marginally bigger would not have been right. Even at this scale, there is a certain size that encouraged greater abandon.

August Cloud

I was far back in a harvested field of barley. Returned home and started painting...the light was fading and a thunderstorm quickly passed by. As strange as the lighting was while I was painting this, I rather like the odd effect. I try not to paint with artificial light if I can help it, but the light was fine at the start and then it got really dark during the storm.

Walking Home

Walking home as the light starts to fade. I liked how that pink white cloud was peaking out at its gentle, odd angle. Every so often I return to the advice "paint only what is in the initial idea as simply and forcefully as possible....no embellishment". You can see just what was in the 30 second diagram. I considered making the painting even smaller so there would be room for absolutely nothing but the original idea or motif.

On another point, greens can be notoriously difficult when we are talking about a tonal observational type of painting, which in part, this is. Intense greens can refuse to lie down and can seem to upset the chemistry of the colour relationships. Even with complementary mixing, some greens can be too energetic. For years I avoided mixing with black, in favour of a complementary mixing system. In this case I did mix with a warm black and was pleased with the results. I'll experiment with mixing greens in this way a bit more.

Coyote Hill, Deep August

I was ambling down a high hill in late afternoon....morning had a violent thunder storm with plenty more rain, all of it welcome. Late afternoon was pleasant and breezy, with the evening cooling off considerably. The nights are starting to suggest that summer is ending.

Wet Sunday

I pulled over high on a hill on a wet Sunday morning and watched the sky slowly move.

Evening, Early August

.......I wandered far back on the tractor trail of one of my favourite fields...getting near dark on a warm, humid evening......

Hidden Place

.......I like this country place I often pass by....very hidden and nicely treed. Into evening, with more than half the summer gone.

Tired Man

Small pen and India Ink drawing, with wash, on thin paper laminated to single ply matteboard, 3.75 x 5.5 inches.

After the Rain

This started out as a painting and turned into a collage halfway through....I don't usually start that way. Usually, if it's a collage I start by cutting and gluing and then brushwork happens at the end.

Hiding

Sometimes there is a desire to make with less information....to not know what or how. I have a huge box of these acrylic painted papers. I start cutting and tearing. They are about design, but they are associated with specific experience/memory as well.

July End

A bittersweet time.....the crops ripen....one wants summer to go on forever.