Friday, July 25, 2014

Cambridge Favourite



Cambridge Favourite
12" x 12" oil on panel

Available from Etsy  $250 -  shipping included in North America

Living in a short season climate, growing fruit and vegetables can be a challenge.  But strawberries always come up trumps and there are usually some appearing in the garden each summer.  Their flavour is so intense when freshly picked and sun warmed.

This variety, Cambridge Favourite, is a classic and good for northern climates, always cropping reliably.  This was gathered early one morning, beating the birds to the harvest, then sliced to reveal the inner workings before painting.  The aroma of fresh strawberries made it difficult to paint instead of eat, but I confess, I had a few on the side to eat for inspiration.



Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Boating

Trinity Punt
 
I'm making some inroads into my series of 15 wooden boat paintings that I'm producing with an art grant that I was lucky enough to receive this year.  The challenge is finding wooden boats as they're becoming scarcer as people switch to fibreglass which doesn't require the same level of maintenance and weighs much less than wood.

However, with diligent searching, many miles of travelling into coves and bays and tickles and a LOT of photosgraphs and sketches, I'm getting material together and have the first painting completed and the second on the easel which is two thirds complete.  I am working towards a solo exhibit in the spring of 2015 at Peter Lewis Gallery and want to hold my cards fairly close to my chest before the exhibition. I'll show sections of paintings that I'm working on but  not the completed pieces.  They will be revealed at the exhibit.


Of course, its always difficult to be reserved in terms of art sharing, as so much is shared online in so many ways.  So I ask for patience and I will share what I can, when I can.  These large pieces will likely fill my easel non stop over the next six months or more but there will be other paintings as relief from the large work.  But you  may see glimpses of pieces in progress like this peek through the studio classroom window at dusk of the first painting in the series.


I'll be working on a book of sketches that will accompany the boat paintings and will share some of those as they are produced.  I don't know which will make the final cut but as I do studies and sketches of most paintings as well as in the field, there will be enough to share freely.