Spring Breakup

Spring Breakup on Manitou Lake  Pastel  12 x 12 in.

I suspect that the salt in Manitou Lake does something to the vibrancy of the colours in the air and water and that is what I have tried to capture in this pastel. It wasn't long after I did this that the ice was gone.  Spring is early here by probably 3 weeks and the winter was very unusual.  These days the air is filled with smoke from the huge forest fire around Fort McMurray, Alberta, which has now entered Saskatchewan.  Global warming and El Nino are wrecking havoc all over the world!

A Pond of Water by the Woods

A pond of Water by the Woods  Pastel on Paper

I worked on a farm house not far from this scene this past spring and summer and was quite taken with the place, it was a bee hive of activity all the time. Many birds and waterfowl, bugs, beavers and muskrats, foxes and coyotes just to name a few.  I loved how it had an ever changing ambiance to it depending on the kind of day it was. I'm lucky and thankful to be able to be witness these miraculous places and times.

Squash

Squash  Pastel on Paper

What you are looking is my entire squash population from this past planting season. Oh well, better than a  kick in the pants! My brother Richard is a squash maniac, he harvests hundreds of them of various species, including an ancient squash. He acquired the seeds from an archaeologist who determined that they were over 800 years old.  I hope to plant them next year.  Enjoy.

A cold January day

I've posted this pastel painting before and I'm thinking that it expresses perfectly the quality of the day I'm experiencing. Close to -30 Celcius with a bit of wind, ice fog in the air and the sunlight like its coming through obscure glass.

The Guitarist

The Guitarist Pastel on Paper  12 x 9 in

I cannot remember the name of this Lady, I know she is Russian and plays the classical guitar superbly. I was struck by her demeanor and how she was so in the moment. A pleasure to listen to, I must do a search and find her again.

A pastel

Radiant Morning Pastel 9 1/2 x 12

I drew this pastel over a year ago and discovered it hidden away in one of my portfolios so I thought I'd share it. Its based on a little grove of trees down the road from my home. I kind of pushed the colour abit, by hey, its my world!

First Hoar Frost

First Hoar Frost

This is a small pastel I did yesterday morning after witnessing our first hoar frost of the season. I had a piece of pink mat board handy which seemed like a good colour to have peeking through in places. What a brilliant morning it was!

A river scene

This pastel was painted the day after the previous posting, almost the same place but much different light going on.  Same fish jumping and ducks quacking.

Dusk en plein air

Dusk on the Assinaboine River

This is a pastel painted just as the sun was going down over the Shellmouth valley.  I was sitting with a friend by the river desperately trying to capture the colours before they were gone, a near impossible task.  Near the end of the session I was just guessing because I couldn't really see the pastels in my box, hence the sketchiness of the piece.  A memorable experience by the river with the waterfowl flying about and the  fish jumping out of the water trying to catch bugs.  

A Pastel

The dogs and I went down to the local park the other day and enjoyed it all to ourselves, if you count out the numerous magpies and other critters present.  Not another human in sight so I sat by the creek and did this 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 in pastel.  The tempurature was a balmy -10 Celcius and the sun shone delightfully.

Hoar Frost

Here is my attempt at portraying hoar frost, which we have a wonderful abundance of currently. Hopefully I can get outside this weekend and try painting from life, if its not to cold!

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.

April Showers

Rain has been the order of the day lately.  Going for walks is a joy, the greening of the landscape is well on its way and the aroma of the poplars in bud can be intoxicating in a very good way.  Kinda hard painting pastels outside in the rain so I painted this from my window in the studio, something I've done quite a bit of.  I witnessed a funny event while painting, a Raven and a Magpie were getting into it over something and the next thing I see is the Raven flying off with a large cinnamon bun in its beak! He handled it quite easily and after stashing it somewhere was back in five minutes to scrounge for another one.  Love those birds and their choice of snacks.

The Tangle in the Middle

Try as I might I cannot seem to escape the complexity of Mother Nature, so I just have to give in to it and embrace and paint the chaos in front of me.  Wolf Kahn is very accomplished at it and devotes a few pages to the topic in his book on Pastels.  I love texture, in nature and on the support I choose to use for the work.  This paper is coated quite heavily with marble dust and manipulated with a painting knife, go figure. Painted the other morning in front of a favourite poplar tree.

Golden Morning

The dogs and I managed to get out this morning before the snow started to melt to much, I want them to get some exercise before it gets to messy out.  I am fond of this little slough I call Wellington Pond but I don't know if it actually has a name.  It drains into Wellington Creek and is starting to melt in this extraordinary weather we are currently getting. While painting this pastel I saw a flock of Canada Geese overhead, what a sight and thrill to the ears!  I know that my senses become acutely aware of my surroundings whilst I am painting and truthfully, that is one of my greatest pleasures of painting out of doors.  It is like having a continuous conversation with my Creator, acknowledging this extraordinary gift called life on the planet earth, if that makes sense to anyone. I figure David Suzuki understands, another gift to mankind.

Ides of March

Ides of March

I think March came in like a lion even though the 1st was a rather nice day.  The other day as it was blowing and snowing outside I painted this pastel from the window of my studio, as I often like to do.

Family Day Weekend

Crystal and I spent a wonderful weekend with close friends at a ranch in Northern Saskatchewan.  The mornings were supernaturally beautiful, as winter mornings can be when there is fog and hoar frost.  This pastel is my attempt to capture one of those rare moments.  I wonder what people thought when they looked up and saw me sitting on the roof of the log ranch house playing around with my pastels?

Baby its cold outside

Lone Pinion

This pastel is my response to the bloody cold weather, I withdraw to my studio and memories and re-create past experiences.  Crystal, Michael and I came across many amazing vistas when we were down in southern Utah and this lone Pinion tree was one of them.  They are extremely hardy trees and seem to grow anywhere, they remind me of our hardy pine trees in the Precambrian shield country growing out of rocks.  Anyways, it was a hot day and just looking at this painting takes me back.

Happy New Year

Here's a wish for a year filled with peaceful, abiding and compassionate living to all my friends and family out there.  All the best!

Sundown near Manitou

Sundown near Manitou
 

The weather continues to be unbelievably warm for this time of the year, its almost the end of December and the temperature has been hovering around 0 degrees Celcius forever.  I manage to get out and do plein air work almost every day and it has been very instructional for me.  Working in the studio seems to be a stale experience after the excitement of working outdoors on "real" subjects.