Going to Abstraction

A favourite theme, the former Blue Hotel in bygone days and later a brine shrimp processing plant.  Remember those Sea Monkey ads in comic books many years ago?  They came from good old Manitou Beach back in the day.  This is a pastel and charcoal piece over a heavy undercoat of marble dust and other stuff.

A semi abstract oil painting on masonite, undercoated with orange shellac.  A playful rendition of random thoughts bouncing around my skull.  It works for me. 
We are only 2 weeks away from our annual Spirit of Manitou Studio Trails tour.  Please drop by if you  are in the area, it promises to be a great event!

Somehow this painting explains where my head is at when I am in the "zone". It is a self portrait of me, don't ask me why or how, it just is. Does anyone see the family resemblance?

Untitled

This is an encaustic painting, 12 inches square, painted on a cradled wood panel.  Loosely based on a freight train speeding past my field of vision on an amazing prairie summer afternoon somewhere near Melfort Saskatchewan in the year 2010.

The Painter

I rather enjoy exploring the scarier side of my psych on occasion, and usually what happens are paintings such as the one above.  The title is "The Painter" because that is the first thought that came to me when I considered giving it a title.  I am considering refraining from titling my paintings in the future, especially if I continue in this vein.

Hyacinths

The Deer missed these flowers, some Hyacinths I planted last fall.  I so enjoy watching nature unfold, the simplest things seem to sublimely beautiful and profound.

Deer Food

These are what is left of all the tulip bulbs I planted last fall, pretty much all the rest of them were chomped off at ground level by opportunistic deer that wander around the neighborhood looking for free handouts! I will persevere with planting flowers and vegetables, just because. I am learning a bit about the workings of nature living where I am, it just takes a keen eye and a handful of patience.  As my wife often reminds me, deer have to eat as well.

The Layh Homestead

A few weeks back Crystal and I attended the Langenburg Adjudicated Art Show, their 18th, and had the pleasure again of staying at their lovely home near the edge of the Assinaboine valley.  Jan and Don have an amazing yard, I don't know how they find the time to keep it so perfect with their busy lives.  I found a bit of time to paint while I was there so I set myself up in one of the gardens and painted this view towards their house.

Windy day

What a windy day we are experiencing.  I loved the way the trees were bending over and wished to try my hand at expressing that movement.  Also, the colour of the water and the scudding clouds mesmerized me. Hope you like it! A glorious day.