Problems with light

Sometimes taking a photograph of a painting can be a challenge.  The paint could be glossy and reflect too much even if a flash isn't used.  And sometimes the art just absorbs all the light and doesn't show well.  The painting I'm showing here is of the former.  It is a very dark painting, needs a lot of natural light to properly see all it has to offer.  In the photo it actually shows up brighter than the actual painting.  No matter what conditions I try to photograph it in it is never 100% accurate.

Two more new pieces....

Here is another new piece, "Carrion", that was recently completed.  For inspiration I began with a photograph of some trees, one almost completely bare and probably dying, which started me off for the tree in this painting.  I then began to add a couple more trees lower down on the canvas only to realize that they didn't fit and had to remove them.  I still felt that there was something lacking so I added two crows circling the tree.  The title, while a bit morbid, fits with the presence of the crows, the dead tree, and makes further suggestion as to what could be lying at the base of the tree if only we could see it.

This piece, "Path Around the Rock", was actually begun ages ago and got pushed aside for some reason.  I decided that now was the time to finish it and am very happy with the end product.  I am always a bit taken with the patterns that I can find in the sand made by water and bits of debris, this painting is representative of those patterns and the small disruption of them made by the rock.

New Work: "Periwinkles Creeping"

I recently finished up a few new pieces for the Burnaby Artists Guild Spring Show.  This is one of the new ones.  Another little one, 8" x 8" like "Coastal Strawberries".  I find that size a nice one to work with when I want to do a study of a subject.

New work - "Coastal Strawberries"

Back in November I wrote about a technique that I was trying out for keeping me focused while painting.  It is called the "Pomodoro technique" and I read about it on Robert Genn's website.  The painting that I had first tried out with this technique has been complete for a little while now, but I have only just gotten around to taking a photo and getting it up here....

It's a small little painting (only 8" x 8"), I've titled it "Coastal Strawberries" and will be exhibiting it April 12th - 14th at the Burnaby Artists Guild Spring Show.  Hope to see some of you there.

Pomodoro

If you are on the mailing list for Robert Genn's Twice Weekly Letters you may have read the one for October 25th, "Pomodoro Technique".  I found the tips in this letter particularly useful and have begun to apply the technique as a means of keeping myself focused.  The Pomodoro Technique is explained a bit here:

"The Pomodoro Technique is a time-management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.  The timer is set for 25 minutes and then you focus and go to work on your predetermined job.  At the end of the time period, the alarm goes off and you take a five minute break.  Then you start on your next Pomodoro.  If your Pomodora gets interrupted by a phone call or a request to go down and drain the lake, you'll have to stop and restart your Pomodoro later."  Robert Genn

A little kitchen timer is the type suggested, but I find the ticking too distracting, so I use the timer on my phone.

I picked out this photo, taken on a trip to Tofino, to use as inspiration on my first pomodoro painting

I haven't been very diligent in keeping track of how many pomodoros I'm doing, and my breaks are definitely longer than 5 minutes, but so far I think I am at about 7 sessions and have the following to show for it:

Here's hoping the next 7 pomodoros go as well.

Meet Simon

This is Simon.  He is a squirrel, and yes he's holding a spoon.  I have not yet decided if Simon is going to remain a drawing for my own personal amusement or if he will become more.

Every once in a while it is good for me to get out of the painting mode and just draw for practice sake.  This is how Simon came about.  I was so amused by my sketch of a squirrel holding a spoon, and looking like he really wanted to say something, that I started another drawing with Simon and his spoon in what I think his house would be like.  Pictures of that drawing will come later.

I've shown this sketch to a few people, and inevitably they start to laugh.  I'm fine with this as it is what I do when I see Simon, but it made me wonder who the audience would be for a drawing like this, adults or children?  Perhaps both, kids, depending on their age would accept a spoon holding squirrel as  completely plausible, adults would find it amusing simply because of the absurdity.  Either way, a scene with Simon in it does not have to make any logical sense.

Finished project

Here are the finished pieces to the blossom panels that I have been working on.