Boreal

This painting has been accepted into the FCA show titled AIRS, which stands for Annual International Representational Show. The event will be hung at the Federation Gallery on Granville Island in October. I am honored be showing my work alongside many talented artists from Canada and abroad. The painting is all about my life in Canada's north. I invite anyone who will be in Vancouver around that time to drop in and have a look at the artwork! My apology's to everyone who has tried to visit my website to no avail, the server has been down and we are looking for another host.

Who will stop the rain?

I am thinking that we should start to stockpile cereal grain based products, this has got to be the worst weather farmers have seen in the prairie provinces for decades and it will be a wonder if they manage to get any substantial harvest this fall. What a tragedy to see the bumper crops sitting in ponds of water, I empathize with the Canadian farmer..... The plein air painting above was executed one overcast day at the Shellmouth retreat and it pretty much sums up where my head is at today.

Triadic pallete

I am a great fan of painting out of doors and when I do I employ a limited pallete of ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow pale and alizarin crimson. I also add white and winsor green. With these colours I can usually capture the scene in front of me. Another benefit of using these colours is that you can always come back to the painting at a later date and do fix ups, if so needed. I have learned so much about colour mixing from using these three colours, what an amazing range of possibilities there are. I also wonder why I have numerous boxes full of paint tubes and when I will be able to use them! This painting above was completed in Shellmouth on a painting excursion with some fellow artist friends. I am glad for this blog site as my website host has not fixed his technical problems as of yet, therefore I have not website!

Pausing to Notice

With every passing day it is becoming more apparent to me that one must live their life moment by moment, such is the preciousness of the gift of life. I know so many people that are holding on to life by a mere thread, their courageousness astounds me. I think of my sister in law Angeline Tysseland and her life with Ovarian cancer. My friend Brenda and her life with cancer. My Dad and his life with Dementia. Then there are those who have lost their partners, Carol Harrison from Winnipeg lost her husband Earl just recently. The wonderful photographer Courtney Milne is no longer with us. Do what you have to do to be happy now, just don't hurt anyone in the process. My painting of these lilies came from a small body of water just off of Highway # 85, near Madge Lake, SK.