These is an exploration of a photo that I thought would make an interesting painting. I worked through the stages in my sketchbook with thumbnail sketches (small sketches for shape placement and value) and then continued on in my sketchbook with a very rough oil painting. The end result was it was a nice photograph, but just wouldn't work up to a painting I would be excited to paint. Always great to have this work in a sketchbook as I may change my mind or come up with a different plan at another time. The top left is the photograph and a couple are black and white photos that I took to check my values. 

Wishing you a wonderful shared holiday with pets, friends and family. To my artist friends, I wish you a new year ahead of creative exploring!

Continuing on enjoying this year long course of a weekly demo, week 18 was an Expressive Portrait on a coloured ground or background. Flo Lee @florenceleeandco was the instructor. As soon as I saw her work, I loved the minimalist portrait work. Her explanation was calming, relaxing and very clear. This year long weekly course can be watched and gone back which is what I did with this one. I have signed up for "Let's Face It 2023" and look forward to more learning and exploration from various instructors.

The reference for this painting was taken by Shauna Flath. We talked about a commission but just couldn't get our schedules to line up so she sent my a few photos with permission to use them. This painting is a small portion of one of her photos. I could not paint the size she was looking for as I did not have the canvas and couldn't order one at that time. This is a very textural painting with the under layer having words cut out of magazines and other sources that had a lot of meaning for me. I then painted over top basically ignoring the textures. It's unfortunate that photos flatten everything out. Right now I am enjoying this painting on my wall but due to space issues have reluctantly put it under the Landscape tab on this website for sale.

I happily worked away at this acrylic painting with it finished in my mind. I got so far and then was stuck. What I was trying to do was not working out to my satisfaction. We went away for almost a month travelling and visiting family before I could get back at it. My initial tries did not work to what I had in mind, so I thought about it a little longer and voila, it worked and now I love it. Below the final painting are the stages it went through.

"Nature's Bounty"
14" x 22" Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas with scene flowing onto sides.
$460          #20112222

The top left is the canvas I started on. I keep a canvas on my wall that I try acrylic colours on, wipe my brush, use up paint at the end of my day. It is usually very vibrant and textural. I sketched over top in chalk to place everything. Painting in my shapes, I used chalk again to re-establish the fence and took a photo in black and white to check the values. I tried changing the shape of the trees, fence and haybales and just wasn't satisfied. After changing the values on the trees and the colour in the sky, I was finally happy. I am so happy with this painting, if I had room, this one would definitely be on my walls instead of my website!!