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.