Artist's Talk - Revealing the Landscape

 

Next week I will be doing a talk to kick off my new show at Artworld of Sherway and I though I would provide an outline of what I wanted to get into the talk.

Landscape  - a classic Canadian motif.

Great Canadian landscapes – my influences.

How I find the right landscapes – ideas, trips, photos, sketches.

How does it become a painting – composition, sizes, colour, technique.

My hope is that this talk is of interest to you, and let me know if there is anything else you would like to talk about. See you there Sept 20 at 7PM.

Here is a sneak preview to a few new images that will be in the show. All from a recent trip to the North Channel, Manitoulin and Killarney.

Snow, water and light.

This morning my wife and I were drinking coffee looking out back at the new snow and the subject turned to colour. Specifically blue. This morning the snow is mostly blue with a touch of peach where the early sunlight filters through the trees. When we are asked what colour is snow, we invariably say snow is white. But on observation snow is never white. And that is why it is challenging to paint. Snow is every colour – in a way it is like water - always changing always a different look – sometimes blue, or pink, or yellow or green, and sometimes a strange combination of all colours. 

I have been working on 2 series of sketches that works through some of these ideas. One series is about water – light effects on a shoreline at various times of the day and various weather effects. The second series is about snow and the play of light across this “white canvas”. A close look reveals that there is very little true white in any of these sketches. 

But what is realized is that snow and water share many of the same qualities – a shadow of one colour, a reflection of another, and highlight of a third. It is the quality and balance of these three that becomes important to the outcome of the light effect.

Snow, water and the effect of light – it is a simple combination that has held the artist’s interest for centuries.  To capture their quality, you need to look at the subject with new eyes each time - for it is always changing.

 

Always chasing the light.

Winter is here, although we have had little snow to this point. This has not slowed down the enthusiasm for winter images. I have just finished a couple of 30 x 40 canvases where I have tried to depict the feeling of light on snow in 2 different ways.

The first is at evening, just as the light is fading - an image of a woodcutters wagon coming along a road. This image is tip of the hat to some great Quebec painters who capture this motif with amazing results.
The other image is of an old maple at the edge of a field. Here the morning light filters through the trees from behind. This provides a great opportunity to explore the dappled effect of the sunshine on the snow and the suggestion of the shadows of the branches.

Many of you are curious to see a painting in progress so I have included some photos for the prelim sketches as well as the canvases at various stages.

To all, enjoy a great holiday season and thank you again for your support.

Painting in Gaspe

I spent a few days earlier in the summer on a tour through Quebec City and then on to Tadoussac. Tadoussac is the place where the Saguenay River joins the St. Lawrence River. It is a paradise for a painter - every direction is a painting to be done. Deep blue water, rocky cliffs and big, big skies. The town itself has it's charm - specifically the white clapboards and red roofs of the hotels and churches perched up above the cove.

The surrounding bluish green hills, and sparkling water created many opportunities to work on  landscapes full of light and atmosphere. Of particular interest to me on this trip was the rendering of distance - far shoreline, distant mountains, clouds. With these paintings I hoped to work on the effects of light and colour seen across a distance. Using similar motifs but changing the tone I was able to practice these effects. Here are some of the results.

In the Fields

I was talking with a friend last night about painting outside. His view was it was a challenging process that many would not want to tackle. I have painted out of doors for years and I would recommend it to any artist. One of the ways to make it easier is to be as portable as possible - small paint box with paint already squeezed out. I don't take tubes into the field. Small boards or canvas at the ready, a section of 2 or 3 brushes. I bring a couple of dry  cloths to wipe brushes between colour. I don't use any mediums so that minimizes things to carry - I have a really light easel and a small fold up stool. All of this fits into one shoulder bag. I can walk for miles with it.

A few weeks ago I was painting a farm from the side of the road, the owner walked up and asked me if I wanted to come in and paint. He gave me a free run of the property and I have returned to spend some pleasant hours in his fields.

My first paintings out of doors were as unsuccessful as my first paintings indoors - but keep at it, good things will happen if you stick with it.

 

Algonquin Time

Trout Fishing at Kiosk

I had a request to paint a number of sketches of places up in the park earlier this month. I have been up there countless times and have a trip planned for the first week in May. I go up there every year for the opening of trout season to spend a few days fishing and painting. I usually head to the northern edge of the park in early May – there is often still snow on the ground. There are no leaves out yet and the fiddleheads are just poking through the leaf litter.

This year we are going to Kiosk. I have been in there before and there is lots of good fishing to be done. We troll for lake trout in the big lakes using copper lines and William’s wobblers tipped with minnow heads. On the creeks we’re using light tackle and small spinners for brook trout. The painting is pretty good too. There are lots of creeks and little lakes that are close by, providing great views.

High Falls, Barron River

If the weather cooperates, I paint in the morning and early afternoon and then gear up to fish for a few hours till dusk, hopefully catching something for the pan.

Check out my next post in a couple of weeks for the results of the trip.

Painting plein air – spring comes to the mountain.

I was in Ellicotville NY last weekend and spent some time painting in the mountains. Armed with a stack of small panels I headed into the countryside from the inn that we were staying at. Every direction I looked wanted to be a sketch. The snow was leaving the woods revealing orange leaves, red mud and dark green streams of snow melt. The low mountains were purple and blue against a bright sky. The mornings were cold but the afternoons warmed to above freezing and I was able to paint until the light left. I find that a painting done outdoors has a quickness and freshness that is sometimes a challenge to find in the studio. I was working small (6 x 5) - a great size to capture the moment quickly with not a lot of room for detail.

Following our return I had paint left on my pallete so I spent a morning at Heber Downs painting the last of the deep snow in the woods. But as so often it happens, it is snowing again. Perhaps we are not through with the snow.