Still enjoying these small weekly paintings. The 6" x 6" size is perfect for my sketchbook with room to put Dianna's colours and notes around it. The page is gesso'd first with either white or black so the paint has something to sit on and moves.

#33 Sunflowers and Fence Post (summer time and the internet was to slow to play the video so I painted this one from the final photo), #34, White Kitten, #35 Columbia Gorge Sunset, #36 Peacock Portrait

This small painting was a mental challenge and something different for me. I painted it (in reverse - top layer first, bottom layer last) on the inside of the glass in the frame. I certainly enjoyed the physicality of "smearing" paint on glass! I would like to try a few more like this and may do so later in the fall. This painting is currently in the Courtyard Gallery in Enderby, B.C.

"Sunny"
Painted on the inside of the glass (in reverse) with acrylic paint. 7" x 7" in a black lacquer frame.
​#20130025

Back from holidays, it was time to reorganize, clean up the studio and catch up on posting. This was a fun online summer event. Jed demo's a painting a week for seven weeks and then asked for paintings to be posted. It was amazingly challenging to find the time to do this as well as Dianna Shynne's weekly small painting. Summer is really an outdoor time for me. 
These were painted 7"x7" in my sketchbook with acrylic paints. I did not have the same colours as he did but enjoyed figuring out how to make it work with what I had. I watched the first video and then did my own rendition of the flowers later. I certainly enjoyed the variety as I paint what inspires me and this was perfect. Jed has a lot of Youtube videos you can check out as well as the artist behind Acrylic University.  @jeddorsey  Jeddorseyart.com

We took our bikes back in to Prague via metro on the last stop so we would have time to get on and settle in without a rush of people. We handed our trusty steeds over to George Transphere Bike Rentals, stripped the bikes of phone holders etc. and emptied out our panniers into our suitcases. George, Laurianne, Chris, Gord and I then went for a coffee/beer to debrief about our wonderful adventures. We all then went our separate ways. Gord and I had 2 days in Prague and then headed to the airport to rent a car to see more of Czech Republic and go across the border in Poland for a few nights at a ski hill town, Szklarska. What shocked us as we walked around was that the ski lift was right in the middle of town with very little parking! It was cold and very foggy so we did not take a lift to hike down the trails of the ski hill. I enjoyed small sculptures I found around town, and we drove to a glass blowing facility and had a delicious lunch while we watched wonderful glass objects being created.
We spent 2 nights at the Paris airport hotel (@ Roissy du France) and took the train into Paris for a day (rows 5 & 6 sketches).
The second last two rows is of the plane tickets (Prague to Paris, Paris to Calgary, Canada) that I doodled people waiting for their flights. The bottom picture is of my sketchbook before it has a few people photos added and sewn up. It was getting larger and larger. I think if I had a larger sketchbook for my next trip I wouldn't need so many pages. Once I have finished the sketches I rarely go back to add anything else even though I see a lot I could do...it is about the moments. What a wonderful and memorable varied holiday!!

We continued our biking journey with the skies darkening and definitely cooling off. We opted to sleep in, a leisurely pack up and headed to the train rather than bike in the hard (all day) rain. It sure felt good sitting on the train all comfy and dry. Each day we would check in to our separate accommodations (for each couple), explore on our own and then enjoy happy hour and dinner together out. It was fun comparing adventures! Just in time for a lunch stop we followed the loud cheers and announcements (didn't understand anything) and found ourselves watching sculling racers on a man made reservoir just for these events and training. A coach zipped back and forth on his bike encouraging his team. Sitting on the bleachers, watching some one else being physical was pleasant indeed. We never knew what we were going to find around the next bend!

We had a wonderful holiday with our friends Laurianne and Chris which included biking in Czech Republic. We met in Prague after a couple of days of sight seeing to get rid of the jet lag and time difference, at George's Transphere Bike Rentals. Gord and I rented from George last year and had exceptional service. We were fitted for our bikes, added our phone holders, accessories and switched our clothes from our suitcases into panniers. We biked to the train station and figured out how and where to put our loaded bikes onto the train and headed to Cheb.
This time I decided to bring a sketchbook that was still in individual pages so I could add pages of writing, receipts, maps and anything else that would spark memories.  I already had water colour paper cut down to 4" x 6" so decided to take that. I also cut copier paper the same size for the gluing and writing. It actually worked really well to set aside the finished paintings in a plastic bag in my pannier and keep adding to it.
With travelling and biking, I did not work on the pages during the day but added to it from photos and memorabilia at the end of the day. Sometimes I would have 2 or 3 to paint that I had previously sketched in. I would certainly make a travel sketchbook like this again but make it at least 5" x 7" or 8" x 10" as I found 4" x 6" a little cramped.

Top left: cover of my handmade sketch book. Top right: sketching people at the airport on the back of my flight ticket

The 6" x 6" weekly demos below were done on sketchbook paper with acrylic paint I had, not necessarily what Dianna Shyne used. It is a good lesson in getting the right value not colour. I love the variety of subjects and enjoy the weekly surprise. The chicken was a variety with feathers everywhere, very different for me.

#29 Lobster Man, #30 Two Turtle Day, #31 Yellow Rose, #32 White Chicken

Your invitation and information is below. This annual fund raiser for the artist run Courtyard Gallery is on the private residence called The Lily Pad Ranch, a wonderful venue to take a stroll, enjoy the lovely gardens, and art galore. Enjoy lunch and refreshments (bring your own or enjoy the offerings from the homemade food vendor) and baked goods. I will be enjoying the beautiful surroundings with my paintings, earrings and cards for sale. Come by and say hi!

It is surprisingly hard to try to paint these weekly sessions in the summer. Outdoor calls when the weather in warm, especially in Canada! These small 6" x 6" acrylic paintings are done on paper in my sketchbook. The paper really soaks in the paint even with it being gesso'd first! All but the bottom right King Fisher are on black gesso which is not how I usually work. Dianna Shyne's demo is done with different colours and painted on gesso'd board. I am using the colours that I have and list on each sketchbook page what her choices were and what I used.

#25 Backlit Birches, #26 Cannon Beach Sunrise, #27 Healing Flowers, #28 King Fisher
Dianna Shyne website

This was their second annual invitation to artists of all skill levels. I enjoyed it so much I was sorry I missed the first year, definitely adding it to my calendar for next year. Two friends, Rigmor and Cindy also joined in the fun. This was the first plein air painting experience for Rigmor who did well with the new struggles of quick drying acrylic, light changing and so many people putting in their river floatation's by her. Cindy's spot went from full shade to full sun!

A light lunch of sandwiches, fruit and lemonade while we all gathered to admire everyone's work. We stood up one at a time introducing ourselves and our choice of painting medium. Such beautiful and inspiring work produced by beginners to seasoned artists!. Each artist was also given a free ticket into The Cardiff Miller Art Warehouse to view the large interactive multimedia installations with sounds. robotics and lights (to name a few). We certainly got our $10 entry fee's worth! Thank you for the whole experience!!

It was weird taking a selfie with my painting set up (painting in progress) and love how you can see the artists sprinkled along the river path.
​Facebook: Cardiff Miller Art Warehouse  IG: @cardiffmillerartwarehouse

Slowly catching up on posting! Staying engaged and working in acrylic, I am enjoying these weekly paintings in my sketchbook. It is certainly different painting on rippling paper but using the white or black gesso helps (as she does on panel). Painting subjects that I am not used to or not having a personal photo reference has me looking in a different way. These are small, only 6"x6" and done in roughly half to one hour. You can see more of Dianna's work at ​https://www.diannashyne.com/

Top left to right: #21 Key West House, #22 Cherries On A White Plate, #23 Nightfall, #24 Wading In Shallow Water

Having signed up for this year long weekly acrylic miniature painting challenge has kept me working in my "learning sketchbook". Dianna does a demo with the clock maxing out at 30 minutes.  I write notes and the colours she uses versus the colours I have and anything different like painting on a black gesso board (for her, paper for me). These paintings are 6" x 6". I am trying hard to paint them on the day they are given out weekly just to stay engaged. I enjoyed the white barn cat using different colours in the shadow and light. and such a close up of a bee.

Above top left to right: #17 Barn Cat On Bench, #18 Buzz, #19 A Hike In The Hills, #20 Glowing Clam Shell

I am so pleased that my abstract painting "In Service" won a 3rd place ribbon in the Armstrong Spallumcheen Museum and Art Gallery. This is the 34th year of the annual show and once again there were amazing pieces of art. The judges also left a combination of their scores and feedback if desired. I look forward to entering into the show next year, as there were beautiful entries and well attended.

Continuing on in this weekly series on small 6" x 6" acrylic paintings in my sketchbook. The results are different on paper and with different colours (noted on the page), I am really enjoying the variety of work. From top left: #13 Master Musician, #14 Redwing Blackbird, #15 Women At The Market, #16 Tuscan Town

One of the things I would like to learn this year is calligraphy or different writing & printing styles. I found this lovely lady, Becca Courtice on Youtube as well as signed up for her email posts. She offers a lot of free information and in doable chunks. Faux calligraphy is done on the top of the page and learning how to do banners for envelopes is one of the tutorials. I made the initial marks in ink and the rest in pencil so it would make sense to me later. These are so much fun on envelopes. Check out her website here. On Youtube she goes by the happy ever crafter

If you get a chance to take this free collage course from Catherine Rains called Collage Kickstart. It is a 5 day course and it's free. I was in Mexico when I enjoyed this course and had very few supplies. In fact some of the paper I painted on was till receipts, recycled paper, back of labels and found old computer paper etc.,  really anything I could get my hands on. A good deal of the course was on making or decorating papers (7 different ways) and then how to put them together to make a collage. Catherine suggested what colours (very limited palette) to use. I thoroughly enjoyed this class enough to enroll in her "Collage Joy 2025" online course. I am currently working on that one. Below are some of the collages I did in my 'Learning Sketchbook". 

I have been enjoying this small weekly acrylic painting online class in my Robert  Bateman 110 lb, recycled paper sketchbook. The challenge has been how fast the paint is soaked up and dries on paper as well as having a limited range of colours and not the colours used. Doing these practice and learning paintings in a sketch book takes out the preciousness. You can see how the paper has buckled with the wet paint. At some point, I will put heavy weights on this book to try and smooth out some of the buckling.

Top left: #9 A Walk In The Yarrow, #10 Blueberry Field In Autumn, #11 Cedar Waxwing,  #12 Clifftop Resident

These small 6" x 6" paintings are from a weekly acrylic painting challenge I signed up for with gift money from my Mom (thanks!) and am enjoying the challenge. It is certainly different painting in a sketchbook versus a canvas and using different colours. I painted these while in Mexico so even the rate of drying was different. This year long challenge will keep me painting in acrylic and continue learning.

From top right - #5 "Purple Martin", #6 "Last Rays", #7 "Snowy Sunrise", #8 "Hare E Popper"

We were invited to Norva's beautiful home (Thank you!!) for what is my last Mexico group plein air. It has been a wonderful season with many new art friends coming and leaving. My oil painting supplies are packed and there would not be enough time for an oil painting to dry so I went with my small sketchbook of  Mexico memories to add a couple more.

The view of the lagoon with it's moving water hyacinth was mesmerizing. It almost completed moved to give a clear view of the water with little islands floating by. I had time to do a quick sketch of the new view from where I was sitting. The first photo below was of the lagoon when we arrived, the second was about half way through our time and my sketch and photo are of the view as we were leaving. I was sitting low on the opposite side of the beautiful pool when it was almost cleared, simply amazing! Our groups works in progress is on the bottom right.

Again, interesting and varied views by this smaller group. People have headed home and the weekly art group is getting smaller. We were lucky enough to get rides from Amy and Marg so the oil painters could bring their equipment. I love the photo below of Amy painting the scene before her! It was interesting painting the boat in the distance as the boat and dock interested me. The boat kept floating and moving and turning around as it was not tied onto the dock as I had thought.

Waiting Panga
8" x 10" plein air, oil on canvas pad  #20004425

Nine of us met at 8:30 am to paint in this beautiful little restaurant. It had a lot of interesting things tucked in nooks and crannies and the artists soon found what interested them. Looking at the variety of subjects, you'd think we weren't at the same place. Below is the photo of the paintings in progress taken before people had to leave or decided to order breakfast. It was a wonderful morning and we were all home before lunch with full bellies! I loved this surprise hanging in the outdoor dining area and decided that was my subject.

"Delightful Surprise"
10" x 8" plein air oil  #2040125

I signed up for Dianna Shyne's weekly miniature painting challenges to do in my sketchbook. They are small 6" x 6" acrylic paintings and I thought they would keep me painting in acrylics for the year, a treat to me from money gifted from my mother (thanks Mom!). It is interesting to use different colours and a different substrate as I do not have access to the same supplies while I am in Mexico, another part to challenge me. Notes on the different colours used or changes are also on each page. I love that art in any form makes you into a life long learner, there is always more to see, do and experience.
​Below is week one "Soon To Be Guacamole", week 2 "Red Pepper", week 3 "Starfish", and week 4 "Two Chickens"    Dianna's website www.diannashyne.com @karenoliversfineart  #canadianartist #foreverlearning #karenoliversfineart #sketchbook

This week 11 of us arrived at the building Linda is renting in. We were not only greeted graciously by the other renters but were given the whole yard and terraces to draw and paint as our heart desired, thank you! At the 2 hour mark of our arrival Linda and Art had coffee and homemade (dairy free!) cake to enjoy on one of the shaded terraces. Our heart, eyes and belly's were full, what a wonderful, caring and sharing group!

Above are the "works in progress". I usually call it quits when the time is up but this morning I ran out of time as I was walking around taking photos and deciding on where I was going to paint. There were just to many choices as you can see by the variety of views the artists chose!. My finished painting is below.

"Loncheria Rosita"
​10" x 8" oil on canvas pad, plein air and studio worked, #20032225

Our weekly and loose, ever changing group of plein air artists were welcomed back to Norva's beautiful home and yard. This week Amy brought two yellows for me to try until the ones I ordered come in. I loved them both as they were artist quality (lots of colour). I had brought the painting from last week and decided to work on top of it. I was so much happier now that I could mix greens again as I don't buy or have tube green. This time, not only was the light changing but the greenery on the lagoon was slowly moving and the patterns were completely different. I am so much happier not only with the painting but with the whole experience. Photo, top left: works in progress with oil paintings (taken in shade), right: in progress water colours taken in sunlight, bottom left: the ever moving view, bottom right: a photo of me painting taken by Norva (a surprise in my email!).

"Lagoon Ballet"
​8" x 10" plein air oil on canvas pad    #20017325

The Saturday plein air group were invited to Norva's beautiful home to sketch and paint for our usual 2 hours. I was overwhelmed with the possibilities in her beautiful courtyard garden, pool area, expansive lagoon view and even bats sleeping in a hallway! I also had both our kids, their spouses and our grandson here in Mexico with us and they only had 1 night left so I knew I wouldn't be painting long.
I had bought a tube of yellow paint that had so much white in it that I couldn't use it to mix any greens. Amy was kind enough to lend me some Cadmium Yellow but I used that up right away. My paint must of been student grade. The whole painting just wasn't working for so many reasons (mainly my head wasn't into it and I was trying to hurry)! The painting also fell straight down on my palette so I had to scrape off the blobs of paint.
The good news was in this lovely group, there were a couple of brand new artists. The suggestions and critique of my painting was new to them and it doesn't hurt to see someone else struggling and the suggestions to correct it.

These are the works in progress when I had to leave. My painting is at the top left, a view of coconuts in a palm tree, the lagoon with slits of water in the foliage and the hills and trees in the background. I am going to let it dry before deciding if I am going to work on it more or just toss it. First I have to find yellow oil paint!
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@karenoliversfineart #pleinairpainting #canadianartist #pleinair