Figs in Canada

Well folks I'm still in Canada and painting. This is the second completed paintings since I've been here. It's just called 'Fig' Very original I know! Oil on paper. This paintings staying in Canada.

Culture Crawl Vancouver Style

The East Side Culture Crawl in Vancouver, Canada makes Peterborough Artists Open Studios look in an embryonic stage. These Artists have taken over derelict industrial and warehouse buildings and turned them into multiple occupancy studio spaces.
Sunday is the last day of the 'Crawl' and Nancylee and I spent a long afternoon from 12.30 to 6pm just walking around four of these buildings. This absolutely exhausted us both and we were suffering from an acute dose of culture overload by the time we were driving back to Richmond.
The first building we visited was 901, Main Street a 7 story building housing 19 artists. These studios were large, light and airy, but, with no lift! It was in one of these spaces I saw the painting that made the most impression on me out of all we saw. It was red acrylic, very textured and layered and had a small area of gold leaf the just made the painting jump out at you. These studios were under threat from 'the developers' and the artists were trying to save the building to be retained as studio space.
From Main Street we headed for the William Clark Studios on Williams Street . Here there was 18 artists exhibiting. The spaces were not as good as some of the other buildings as many had no natural light.
On again to the Mergatroid Building where there were 34 artists displaying their art. These studios were safe from developers as the owners specifically wanted the space to be used by artists. On the Parker street side of the Mergoidtroid building was the glass blowing workshop and the display gallery of Jeff Burnette. We stopped for a while here watching Jeff and his helpers work the moulton glass into a colourful plate. The process is long hot and quite involved also not always successful as we witnesses.

After a brief tea stop at the Uprising Bakery to revive our flagging energy we headed for the last stint of the afternoon at the A.R.C. on Powell Street. This building was different, being really good well planned individual studio and living space for artists on 7 floors with a large coffee shop on the ground floor of the building. There were about 17 artists displaying in these Studio/apartments. On the ground floor in a large apartment a steel artist called Roy Mackey was displaying his 'Flaming Steel' steel art sculptures. I bought a small rectangle metal pot from him as a memento of the Crawl.

Below are some of the displayed work. All art disciplines were represented in the Crawl and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thoroughly exhausted and very cultured we hobbled back to the car and drove home,

Autumn in Canada

It's quite a while since I posted any paintings. There are several unfinished ongoing ones of course and there are four in progress in the two months I have been in Canada. I've seen lots of art though in the Vancouver Culture Crawl and of course the wonderful Georgia O'Keeffe exhibition in the Vancouver Art Gallery

I've called this painting 'October' Its oil on canvas. Inspired by the wonderful Autumn colours here in Canada and the layers and colours of the Maple leaves on the ground.

Glass bottles in the Kitchen

This second watercolour in contrast to the last one was painted quickly over a period of 3 hours one grey morning in Prue's conservatory.

Back to Watercolour : - The Feeding Station

This watercolour of the bird feeders in Prue's garden was done over several weeks in March and April 2007. It had been a while since the water colour paints had been used and I had to become familiar with the techniques again. Of course doing this over several weeks also meant the greenery altered each week and became lusher and so the painting changed each week.

Still Life 2007

This oil on canvas is my latest still life finished last week and using some of my friend Prue's unusual shaped bowls and vases

Still Life

Done in 2003 this acrylic on canvas paper was a cropped view of a wooden bowl with slithers of wood and was an unusual departure from the usual still life paintings I normally do. It's now owned by Nancy in Canada

Digital Art - Transmutation

This photograph of a brilliant orange hemerocallis amongst cerise geraniums was transformed into the digital image below. The photograph was taken in a stunning garden nestling in the foot of the Cascade mountains in Canada.

Something different

I like creating digital art. It takes a long time to get right and many digital creations are discarded along the way. I called this piece 'Flower Fireworks'. The original digital photograph was taken in the beautiful Minter Gardens at Chilliwack, in British Columbia, Canada and was of orange dahlias

The original photograph

Infinity 1 and 2

These pair of canvases were painted in 2004 and 2005 to complement each other. They are acrylic on canvas and now hang in my Grandsons flat. The colour palate was limited to white, ochre and Indian red

Glass Vases

These two art and craft style glass vases and the pottery jug were started several weeks ago at a session in my friends conservatory. I completed the painting at the end of 2006 in my conservatory studio. I found getting the luminous quality of the glass quite a challenge

Exploring the abstract

This abstract was about shape and colour it was done in 2004 and is acrylic on canvas textured paper. It went through several metamorphoses before completion.

Another acrylic painting on canvas textured paper exploring the use of colour. Original painted in 2004 it too has no resemblance to the original painting

A Red Abstract

Painted in in 2005 this red abstract entitled 'Hot Organics' It was painted in acrylic paint on canvas textured paper The original subject was a flower but this was soon completly lost

Studies in Red

These two studies painted in oils on canvas were exploring the tonal qualities of red and were completed in November and December 2006 in Barbara Sewell's studio. The subject is the same arrangements but painted from different angles

Summer in the Garden

I had been admiring this pot for some time and eventually decided to paint it during one hot summer morning session in Marc and Barbara's garden. It's acrylic on canvas paper.

Clay jugs

2003 painting in the Guildenburgh Gallery this small acrylic painting of a group of clay jugs was cropped from a much larger painting and was the inspiration for a abstract painting below entitled 'Interspace'. The jugs have virtually disappeared from the final piece

Tulips, Begonias and Poppies

Painted in acrylic on canvas paper these pictures of flowers were done in 2002 in the Sewells studio. The poppies are owned by my friend Nancy in Canada

Torso 2003

This oil on canvas paper was completed in the Sewells studio. The torso was displayed on the studio wall and was a piece of sculpture created by Marc Sewell. The painting is now owned by Addy

Candle, Bowl and Chinese Lanterns 2002

This small still life group was painted in oil on canvas paper during a couple of sessions in my friend Prue's studio. The bowl was hand turned from an unusual piece of wood

Autumn Fenscape

The original painting from which this oil study was taken was a landscape painted on location in watercolour.