Afternoon Shadows

Afternoon Shadows Oil 20 x 20 in.

Its been awhile since I last posted, no real good excuse. The shadows are getting longer, a sure sign that the days are getting longer and spring is approaching. I encounter this scene regularly on my walks in the countryside around my home and was quite taken with what I saw here the other day and was inspired to paint it. Hope you enjoy it!

Northern Lake Oil 60 x 34

Fresh off the easel, this is a large Oil on Canvas of a Northern Manitoba scene, close by where I grew up.  Had a great time with this one.

Mary Oliver

Pisew Falls, Northern Manitoba  Oil  24 x 36

I recently came across a quote from Mary Oliver who is my all time favorite poet.  It goes, "I did not think of language as the means to self description.  I thought of it as the door - a thousand opening doors -! past myself.  I thought of it as the means to notice, to contemplate, to praise, and, thus, to come to power."
It occurred to me that I could easily substitute the phrase "I did not think of language for "I did not think of painting" and the paragraph would easily apply to my life as an artist who paints with oil rather than words.  Mary Oliver, whom I usually read every morning before I do anything else, is a gift to a world badly in need of healing.  I am grateful for her existence and her compassion for the natural world and urge you to read her work, it really is so wonderful.

Pine trees on Neso Lake

Pines on Neso Lake  Oil on Canvas 36 x 36

Its been awhile since I've last posted, I've been busy working at my real job as a carpenter to support my passion for painting.  I've just recently returned from my annual Art retreat to Shellmouth, Mb. Had a great time and completed three large painting, the above painting being one.  This scene is one I frequented when I lived in northern Manitoba, a wonderful place of precambrian shield rock, water and trees.  Gotta get back there soon!

Fractured

Fractured (First Day of Spring) Oil on Canvas

Crystal and I are back from my opening reception at the Shurniak Art Gallery in Assinaboia, Sk. We went down on Thursday with 28 of my paintings, arriving around noon.  Bill Shurniak met us and we had a lovely lunch with him and his staff.  Unfortunately he was feeling a bit under the weather, his doctor diagnosing acute bronchitis and probably a touch of this horrible flu that is going around.  Despite that he was the perfect host as usual and made us all quite comfortable and at ease.  After lunch Gail, the general manager of gallery, and Sandra helped Crystal and I get going on hanging the paintings.  Once they saw we getting into the groove of it they left us to our own designs and we managed to hang everything in an appropriate manner.  Hanging a show is an Art in of itself we found out!  Friday afternoon at 3 pm the reception got under way.  My friends Kevin and Michele Ackerman provided wonderful music with compositions for guitar and flute. The music set a wonderful ambience to the whole affair, thanks you two! Good friends Dean and Barb Bauche showed up a tad late but their  presence was greatly appreciated.  We estimate that around 80 people showed up for the lovely reception, which featured a wonderful variety of pastries and refreshments, something that never goes unnoticed by yours truly.  I managed to sample every delicasy at least once.
I am told that my paintings made quite an impression on the public, many people commenting on the colourfulness of the show.  I cannot say enough about the uniqueness of this world class gallery in the middle of the Saskatchewan prairie, Bill Shurniak has accomplished a wonderful thing here and I encourage everyone to make an effort to get down there and visit the gallery.  Thanks Bill for this honour of "hanging out" in your space!

Haiku Morning

We woke up this April morning to a gentle snow fall. The lake was perfectly calm and I was inspired to firstly write a Haiku poem to commemorate the moment and then to paint the scene.  What peace I felt as I painted while being serenaded by the calls of playful ravens frolicking in the sky above me, specks of snow sticking to my painting panel and numerous other birds looking for their breakfast.  I remember a similar sentiment when I was sitting near the house a number of years ago in the early evening while a gentle misty rain fell down. It literally transported me back to the West Coast where we lived for awhile, I caught whiffs of cedar trees in the air. Times like this must be what Mystics experience in states of enlightenment.  Its an extremely hard thought to articulate. Life is music.

A Painting

I've been pushing the paint around on this piece for a few days now. It is a 48 in x 60 in  canvas and let me tell you there is a bit of paint on it! Not that I mind, I have enough paint for a life time and enjoy using it.  This piece will have to sit around for awhile now, maybe it will tell me it needs more work somewhere.  I've got to give it a rest, although I feel it is going where I am happy.

Bull Lilies

I haven't posted for awhile as it seems I've been on the road so much lately traveling to far away places to visit good old friends.  This painting was started at a weekend retreat held here at Manitou Beach awhile back and I finally had some time to get back at it.  Today I found myself nit picking away at it, a sure sign either to call it done or put it away again for awhile! I absolutely love the abstract nature of nature and definitely want to continue to explore that quality in my painting.  I don't think it is physically possible to paint every ripple in moving water, and why bother.  I like making it up based on the experience I have being in the presence of such an event.

Luminous Morning

Luminous Morning 10 x 12 in Oil

This is a small painting depicting a lovely morning last August on Schist Lake, Manitoba. I am going to let it sit for awhile before I call it finished.  Comments welcome.  Some of you may know I have been painting a number of pieces based on a trip I made up there in 2011.  A beautiful place.  I am going up there in two weeks time to visit old friends and will be taking my paint box, snow shoes and camera.  Hope the weather cooperates.  I am anxious to get some sketches and photos of the place in the winter with all the snow.

Black and Yellow make Green

Amisk Lake

I recently read of an artist who regularly re-cycles paintings that didn't work out by simply painting directly over them, no underpainting or toning of the canvas.  Because I happen to have a few of those laying around I decided to try it myself and the painting above is the result.  If you look very close you might still see signs of the previous painting underneath.  I simply did a rough charcoal sketch of the scene and then went directly into it, what a fun experience! Oh, by the way, black and yellow make a nice green.

Clearing Mist and Cherry Blossoms

Ever get a bit tired of winter and the gray days?  I have to admit that even I long for more sun and warmer temperatures.  I found myself thinking of when I lived in Chilliwack, BC; one of the first things I did once I had built our new home there was to plant a cherry tree in the front yard. Well, I have an opportunity to compete for a spot in an upcoming Art Show in Vancouver called Haiku Inspirations, which is running in conjunction with the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival in April.  It is a chance for me to dream away in my studio of spring and fragrant blossoms. The artist is asked to pick a Haiku poem that has been written by authors from all over the world and base the work of art upon it.  This painting  is my first attempt at the following poem written by Tito, from Kyoto, Japan.

in clearing mist

the creaking of a heavy oar...

cherry blossoms

Painting what you know

Rose Hips and Snow

I may have said this before but there is much to learn from painting what you know in a place that is familiar to you.  As many of you know, I love water, trees and snow so I find myself continually re-visiting that motif and I find that there is much to learn from the experience.  I get a kick out of making my eyes vibrate by using texture and odd colour combination's to achieve a certain effect.  This scene is taken from Wellington Creek here at Manitou Beach, SK.

Unconventional Painting Tools

I had a burning desire to get into the studio and paint.  I have been working outside in temperatures ranging from -25 to -4 Celsius for over 3 weeks now on a new home for a client who couldn't wait till spring.  Nevertheless my nose is always running and all extremities are suffering from the extended cold.  It is nice to put some Chopin on the CD player and try some stuff in my relatively warm Studio.  Tonight (because I am a carpenter) I decided to use a finishing nail to assist me in this painting.  It worked quite well.  The scene is a common place little pond that drains into Wellington Creek not far from where I live.

A Plein Air Study

I went for a walk the other day at the local park which has a lovely creek running through it all year round and was so inspired by what I saw that I rushed home for my paint box (the one that I didn't forget at Jan's place in Langenburg) and painted this scene. I love sitting by water and painting as it is a very meditative practice for me, as I am sure it is for a great many other people. I am thinking of my friend James Dean from The Pas, Mb who used to accompany me on painting trips to places such as Mistik Creek and the Grassy River near Snow Lake, Mb. Wellington Creek is no match for those places but it does have that special something.

I had a great time with this painting. Imagine Don Layh's face when he came into his office (which I had appropriated for a studio) and saw his prized bottles of Scotch being used as a support mechanism for the pears you see above! I had arranged the pears in a precarious placement on top of a Scotch box, which in turn was sitting on the other box in a T form. All of this in front of a large window overlooking the valley below on a gray kind of day. He liked the painting and rewarded me with a drink of scotch, much appreciated Don. And congratulations on winning your two cases at the Supreme Court of Canada! By the way, this painting was done on a cigar box provided by Dean Bauche, who bought about 40 of them at a Dollarama for $1.25 each. We painted on them all weekend.

My Website

After much trials and help from my brother Richard my website is up and running again. I had to find a new host for the site as the previous company mysteriously folded up shop and disappeared! I plan on doing some major updating of the site as I haven't done that for some time and I have alot of new works that I would like to showcase. Thanks for everyones patience. This oil painting is my response to a plant I discovered in the back alley and my studies of the Austrian painter Egon Schiele. I am currently giving it a rest before I decide whether to work further on it. When I came across it I was struck by its beauty, even though it was practically dead. There was something regal about it and this is what I am struggling to convey.

A Still Life

This painting is somewhat of a surreal depiction of a still life I set up at a retreat down in Eastend, SK. It is a large painting, 48 x 36 inches, so it kind of jumps out at you! I painted it at our 2010 retreat in Shellmouth and rather enjoy it, particularly the enameled bowl. One of these days I am going to upload my new images to my website, which is currently down for some reason.

In Between

I am just recently back from my annual Art Retreat to Shellmouth, Mb. As usual I had an amazing time. We had quite a crowd this year and many more young people, including my daughter Sacha, which added a nice flavour to the whole event. I am quite excited about the painting to the left, it has a strange appeal to me and I plan on exploring this idea further. I tend to suffer Retreat withdrawal for a number of days after getting home as it is quite an intense affair. Long hours painting and visiting with old friends and not a lot of sleep can catch up to you. Even so I wouldn't give it up for anything!

Random Thoughts on a Rainy Afternoon

I started off the day by reading some Haiku as it just seemed like the kind of morning to do that. The day started off rather dreary looking with overcast skies that threatened rain. As the day made its cycle towards evening the rains came down rather hard and those sunny warm days we have had are becoming a nostalgic memory. Even now the sound of rain on the window sends me back to Honduras, the ocean and hot humid days. Gauguin and those bright spots of paint hearken me. This picture is a reference for a large painting I am currently working on. I at least have these to supplement my memories of the short time I spent down by the equator.

Spring

It is feeling alot like Spring these days. You look up in the skies and see flocks upon flocks of geese flying back and forth, a wonderful sight and sound. One of the most beautiful things in the world is to hear geese flying close overhead; the sound of all the wings flapping and the geese's chatter is amazing. The sea gulls are back as well, I always look forward to the sound of their cries as well. I set up my portable easel overlooking Wellington park the other day and did this oil, the time was late afternoon. As you can see, the snow is practically gone and the lake ice is starting to darken. It was nice to sit there and soak up the sun while doing something I love. What a blessing life is!