Thick or thin

Here's a couple of portraits similar in feeling but technically quite divergent. Clair, the fellow with a ball cap on was approached with a brush fully loaded while Tim, in the lower painting was painted quite thinly. I enjoy the freedom to attack a particular piece using whatever method seems appropriate.


I prepped Tim's canvas with a blue ground for a change. It gave me the opportunity to scrape paint off in the reflected light in the shadows for a pretty convincing look. There is always colourful lights hiding in the shadows. Your camera won't record them but spend some time looking and you will be impressed by the opportunities to create exciting passages in your shadows.


I will share a large landscape I have just completed in my next post. Until then..

A season for work

There can be some anguish these days amongst us painters as we try to balance our creative work with the need to pay life's relentless invoices. For myself the lack of sales activity pushes me to examine what is important in life and then to jettison the superfluous and focus on the essentials.

I like old Solomon's observation after much soul searching; "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God."

Better to dive deep into the work rather than be blown about in a world obsessed with the clever and the trendy. Funny that for all my worry about making ends meet I haven't missed a meal since I was about nine years old.

My time is divided between portraits and landscapes so here are a few current examples.




You may remember this scene. I painted from the same spot about three weeks before this one. The first snow had fallen between sessions and a good view is a good view.



This lovely young girl/woman is Sarah, another of my portrait project sitters. I asked her to pull up her hoodie which effectively transformed the composition . She has a kind of Madonna (saint not pop star) thing going on now. I used pinks and greens to model her face rather than obvious value shifts. In deference to her parents I refrained from including a halo. I like the result and it was fun to do.


This original sod roofed house is on a local orchard; co-incidentally our family lived on this farm for a few years when the children were small and the earth was cooling. This image is a bit too yellow because of my photography but gives you a sense of it.

The building is surely over 100 years old . Simpler times. Do you suppose the inhabitants had the luxury of worrying about how to sell their art? More likely they were kept busy providing themselves with food and drink. I appreciate how blessed I am to be able to pursue my painting.

Back to it. Until next time.

Merry Christmas!

My best wishes to you this Christmas. I hope you will enjoy the new life that is at the heart of the season.

I thought I'd resurrect a few pictures from my archives that represent this time of year. In doing so I was impressed by the connection I have with these little landscapes. The empathy I have for these exemplifies an importance of painting from life.

Most painters that I know work from photos in the comfort and control of their studios. I do the same for some of my work, virtually all of the larger projects. So why do plein-air painters rant on about the value of working from life?

I'll use water-skiing for a comparison. You can watch others skiing on TV or play with a skiing simulator on your Playstation until you max out the levels.

It's not until you get on the water behind your crazy brother-in-law's boat, crash a few times and experience some real surface-tension at speed and then finally drink in the exhilaration of speed, spray and two-cycle fumes that you have skied.

When you get off the water to play on the simulator you surely will be even better than before but more importantly you will have experienced the sight, sound, smells and feeling of skiing.

When I look at each of these paintings I return to the exact spot where I stood before nature and grappled with the subject, trying to engage and express something true and real. I can even remember the smells and the warmth of sun and the chill of winter breezes as I leaned into a drifted hillside or sheltered beneath snow laden trees. I'm enriched by the encounters I had with deer, coyotes, fox and moose in this outdoor work.







Below is a larger studio piece that was based on a photo and executed indoors. You can see that I had time to explore with technique and being larger in scale I could also develop my ideas further than in my plein air work. I utilized some of my lessons learned from my outdoor observation. I am very happy with the result. The difference for me is that I could never find this little tree. I know exactly where all these others live. It's about spending time with them, engaged in observation.

So if you've never tried painting from life, go for it and you will see where the addiction begins.

Enough of that. Take a few minutes to watch this heart warming video. It demonstrates what this thing called "art" is about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq1xGXzr3jw&feature=email

Until next year!

George and Friends

Here's a small taste of some of the paintings showing at the Leir House for a few more weeks. "George and Friends" is an annual exhibition organized by George Traicheff with work from 24 artists. It's well worth a look, plenty of variety and some quality work.






Me, I am continuing on with my portraits and starting to get into some snow painting. I will show some of that work as it develops over the winter. I hope you are all keeping warm and dry; and following your own dream.

Painting at the Lakeside

This weekend I painted on location for an event at a local hotel/casino. I thought I may as well photograph the process, as people are sometimes able to get something out of these little demos.

I begin with a white-killing wash of thinner and earth red oil.


Bethany was a great subject; with her dark hair and eyes, I felt her profile had kind of an Egyptian feel to it. She wore a red flower in her hair which I've roughed in here, but I think I'll have to play it down or remove it entirely so it doesn't become a distraction.


My value plan is predominantly dark with Bethany's lighted face being the highest value and, of course, the center of interest. I am using only transparent earth red and a little blue at this stage.



We had plenty of interested viewers. This lady was visiting from the Yukon.


Not being in the habit of working while seated, I am not very pleased at this point. I really need to step back to see relationships. When I'm too close, it is easy for a painting to get away. I will get this up onto my studio easel and see if it can be saved.

Now I can get a better idea of how my painting is working by stepping back. This frees me up to pull out my #10 flat and lay down passages with more confidence, straighten my arm out and get my back into it. That's really hard to do while seated three feet from my canvas. See the finished painting below.


If you are in the Penticton area, come on down to the Leir House reception to "George and Friends" this Friday at 7-9 pm. There is a couple of dozen of George Traicheffs' artist pals showing a few paintings each. I'd love to show you one new one I'm particularly proud of, barely dry but a success, for me at least.

Whats in a name?

A lady was visiting my studio this week and we had a short discussion about the naming of this painting, "The Promise".


When I produce a lot of work I can be so involved with the process of painting that the naming of a multitude of thematic pictures can seem redundant. At one time I was painting so many beach scenes (and really enjoying myself) in a series that I just started numbering them. One doesn't always have the time to consider a piece and let it speak to you . Often I am thinking about the next one before the present one is finished.

If you are the owner of Beach 3 or Beach 11 don't think I didn't care enough to come up with a specific name; I put all my energy into each one. It's just a different process than working on a singular subject.

Large paintings like "The Promise" require more time and energy during their development so the painter gets to know them intimately. They usually name themselves.
This one speaks to me about the promise of new growth in the spring vines and the promise of rain in the gathering clouds. Also not shown but implied is the promise in the coming rainbow of God's covenant , no global flood ever again.

"The Promise" can be viewed/purchased at Sleeping Giant Winery; be sure to try their great fruit wines.

Here's the finish of the painting posted last week. I will name this one "Garnet Valley"

Winter Workshop

It seems that anyone over six feet tall is destined to twist their back every once in a while and stretch something beyond its default setting. That's me this week. I can still crawl anyway.

I found a great old farm building in a small valley to paint yesterday. This still needs some work but is getting close to what I'm after. I'll post the finish later.


I am starting to re-arrange my landscapes to serve my intentions rather than just replicating what is presented to me. The trap of "painting what you see" is that nature does not often offer us great compositions. It has taken me a few years of plein air painting to learn this. So many times I found myself painting some weird looking rock or branch not because it helped my painting but because it was there. Some kind of twisted integrity thing? All good for honing my observational skills but it's time to grow up a bit.

In this case there is a fence blocking the foreground that would restrict your eyes from entering this scene. I would need a much wider aspect ratio to accurately describe this pasture but just needed to move some contours about to get what I'm after.
Notice that I've tied all my dark values together. Squint down to see that. If I broke them up as they are in nature this composition wouldn't be as pleasing.

Some people have recently asked if I would be doing a workshop anytime soon. I think I should put some energy into that if there is some interest. I have been studying and experimenting with the working processes of some great long gone painters and learning some valuable lessons. A workshop may be an efficient way to pass these ideas on.

I can put forward a detailed curriculum outline later but I'd be interested in two days of exploration; how we create our paintings, regardless of medium, with an emphasis on composition and subject selection. We can look at a bit of historical and contemporary art to understand some principles of artmaking that will inform our personal work. This would be a hands-on "WORK"shop for those interested in making a breakthrough in their own artistic journey.

If I get any response I will dedicate some time into developing something worthwhile.

I will be painting on location at the Penticton Lakeside in the lobby I think on November the 13th, 10 to 2. If you are in the area drop in for a chat. It would be good to see you.