…this painting reminds me so much of my friend’s mother’s garden
I’m getting ready for a new show in January and I’m experimenting with a new technique of intuitive painting. You would never know that this painting was going to end up as a floral when I started. I think a lot of my paintings will go in that direction but because it’s abstract and intuitive it could take a completely different turn. Spoiler alert: the second painting is also a floral abstract but quite different from this one.
….now that the weather is colder and painting outside is no longer an option my husband has decided to work on smaller pieces
One of the things that Kevin is particularily good at is drawing or illustrating fun creatures. He initially started making drawings for our first granddaughter over a year ago and then suddenly stopped. This week he decided it was time to bring back Monster Mondays and Tuesday Birds. Here are his first two drawings.
Ink, marker and watercolour
…I think this is what I’ll call this small painting I made last week
Mixed Media – 8 x 10 unframed
…now on at the Women’s Art Association of Canada on Prince Arthur St. in Toronto
This is one of my favourite art shows at WAAC. All the pieces are small and nothing is more than $400.00. This year I submitted three of my abstract flower/poppy paintings and one has already sold.
Yesterday I did some gallery sitting to greet visitors. I was there in the morning so it was very quiet. No more than 10 people are allowed in the gallery at once and of course everyone must wear a mask.
It’s not a huge show. There are about 100 entries. I walked around several times and really took in the individual pieces.
This last grouping was one of my favourites and I purchased the two paintings on the left.
The show runs till Jan. 2, 2021.
….a time to reflect on my Father’s life
Dad always said that November was the hardest month of the year for him. It always made him feel sad, especially in the last few years of his life. He was a very young man, only 17, when he joined the army and he saw many of his friends die before his eyes. He often wondered why he was spared.
The other thing that I think he found difficult was the fact that he fought for the ‘other side’ and he knew that no one, here, would be thanking him for his service. He never talked about it but I know that it weighed heavily on him. I do know that he was always very grateful for the friendships he forged after the war, first with the Americans who helped him after he escaped the Russian prison camp and then with the English who gave him his first job.
Years later he emigrated from Germany to Canada with his new and growing family. He quickly got a good job at the Royal York Hotel in his chosen line of work. He was able to buy a car almost right away and four years after arriving in Toronto he bought his first home in Oakville. Dad always made friends easily with other German immigrants and Canadians alike. No one seemed to look down on him because he fought in the German army.
Over the years Dad pursued a variety of jobs but his happiest days were as an entrepreneur. When I was 16, Mom and Dad started their own fabric and sewing machine business and never looked back. Again Dad was at the top of his game when he was surrounded by people and both he and Mom had close ties with the business and local community.
As the years passed, Dad lost my mother while vacationing in Mexico in 1993 and then his second wife in 2017. When he turned 90 in 2016 we had a big party for him. Despite having lost numerous friends already he always made new friends where ever he went and yet come November he would always reflect on those who had died before him and he would fall into a deep depression.
Dad passed away almost four weeks ago. This Remembrance Day I will reflect on all the good times I had with him in my lifetime. It will be bittersweet. This painting is dedicated to you Dad.
…thanks to Jez for hosting A Fan of …. https://jezbraithwaite.blog/2020/11/09/flowering-cacti-fan-of-84/
This week I’m a fan of my husband’s abstract paintings. Back in August he finally started painting again after a 45 year hiatus. He was primarily painting with acrylics but yesterday he started to experiment with watercolour. Here are his first attempts in this new medium.
This last photo is the first painting in a frame under glass. This one has already been slated as a gift to one of the nurses at MacMaster Hospital in Hamilton.
….another painting using this simple technique with watercolour pencils and black ink
…painting is good for the soul
I find painting small helps me get rid of any inhibitions I might have about the process. The process for abstract painting is varied, depending on the artist or teacher that you speak to. I find the best way to get started is to just lay down some random marks and go from there.
Here are the two studies that I worked on this morning.
….happy with the first one and not so much with the second
Painting for me is a process. I’m more of an intuitive painter. I put down a mark on the paper and go from there. Sometimes it works out well and other times it doesn’t.
Yesterday I put a heavy black stroke of black ink on my paper and I knew as soon as I did that it would overpower my subject but I continued painting anyway. After finishing the piece I showed it to my husband and he honestly told me that the black was too much. I agreed and I tried to calm it down with white paint and other marks but it didn’t help.
I’ve decided to wait a bit before doing anything with it but I will probably cut it up and use the parts that I like and collage them into another painting.
….thanks to Cee for hosting the Fun Foto Challenge https://ceenphotography.com/2020/11/03/cees-fun-foto-challenge-purples-and-violets/
