Winter Light
It's January. I find words don't come as easily. Everything slows down to a dark candlelit burn. I sit with inspirations differently. My creative energy shrinks along with the daylight hours. But if I really listen, the ideas are there. The urge to express them still calls. Even though we will experience real winter yet this season, so far this is one of the warmest on record in our part of the world. In spite of our collective confinement or maybe because of it, neighborhood walks take on a greater importance in so many ways. I do have a thing for winter light. I have a thing for that low afternoon sun, that backlights spruce and aspen trees, and casts those long lovely shadows. In my first small quick painting of 2021, I turned to warmer colors. Hope you can feel the winter sun on your face.
Larose Park Afternoon
Reviving the Artist Brain
September already. After an extremely busy summer working on many Edmonton area gardens with my gardening crew, I really started to miss regular painting time. Now that I am not so exhausted every single day, I am scheduling in a few hours here and there for studio time. How to get back to painting? For me, it was 1/8 sheet watercolor cloud studies. My inspiration was a YouTube video I stumbled upon, about painting postcard size images of backlit clouds, courtesy of Lynne Baur of Dragonfly Spirit Studios in Oregon. Lynn's calm guidance was just the thing to me ease back into thinking like an artist, and giving my gardening brain a break. I went at least double the postcard size (about 10.5 x 7) with a subject that I really love: skies!
Cloud Study #1. Clouds over the Sturgeon.
So the first step was to just relax and paint grey shapes and blue shapes, not worrying too much about making an exact replica of any certain reference photo. Two different papers are used here, and two different ways of moistening the paper beforehand. Fun! Then I just left them alone to dry. So important!
Cloud Study #1. Ok, I confess, that for this vertical piece, I made some tall grey cloud shapes on purpose because I was thinking of a recent bike ride over the Sturgeon River Children's Bridge here in St. Albert. From there of course, you can see the CN train trestle bridge to the west. That afternoon, there was the most magnificent backlit cumulus cloud formation. It would be wonderful to play with this on a much larger piece of paper.
Cloud Study #1. Ok, I confess, that for this vertical piece, I made some tall grey cloud shapes on purpose because I was thinking of a recent bike ride over the Sturgeon River Children's Bridge here in St. Albert. From there of course, you can see the CN train trestle bridge to the west. That afternoon, there was the most magnificent backlit cumulus cloud formation. It would be wonderful to play with this on a much larger piece of paper.
Calm Before the Storm on the Sturgeon River
Cloud Study #2. The way these wet-in-wet marks dried, it reminded me of the summer calm before the rain. Last year when the Sturgeon was even higher in September, we went kayaking. It was again a most brilliant sunny day. But, what would it feel like if rain clouds suddenly stilled the water, and everything became suddenly still?
Canola at Devil's Lake
Cloud Study #3 Canola field at Devil's Lake. One of my ambitions is to paint a wonderful canola field under a stormy steely blue prairie sky. This little first attempt is going in the right direction. To me this scene just screams "July" in this part of the world. And then all the yellow fades to green and you have to get a whole year older before you will see this again.
Practice Makes... Better
Did I mention "virus" back in January? That's when I was taken out by some sort of related virus: very sore throat and fatigue, but no fever. Not COVID-19. But here we are. Little did I know that my March website updates would involve posting my art progress during a pandemic. Our new normal. First step, re-create my studio at home. That brings me to March, and the Five-Day Painting Challenge, with the ArtWorkLiving Facebook group.
DAY 1: The Ranch. My advice for this challenge was to paint what you love. A landscape I am always really in love with, is my husband's parents' ranch, south of Pincher Creek, Alberta. The sweeping view slopes down from the house and up into the foothills and the Lewis Overthrust formation of the Rocky Mountains (the ranges of Glacier National Park, Montana, and Waterton National Park, Alberta) North of that other peaks continue, including Victoria Peak and Corner Mountain, pictured here. I have stood atop Corner Mountain a few times to enjoy the breathtaking reverse view.
THE 20-MINUTE TIMER. This challenge reminds us how much can be accomplished in a short time! For us watercolorists, this is particularly tricky, as some of our craft can depend on getting the paper soaking wet and waiting until the right stage of dampness for further strokes. In this challenge there is no time to wait. Anyway, the point of this challenge is to do it. The paintings will not always be good, but they will be done.
DAY 1: The Ranch. My advice for this challenge was to paint what you love. A landscape I am always really in love with, is my husband's parents' ranch, south of Pincher Creek, Alberta. The sweeping view slopes down from the house and up into the foothills and the Lewis Overthrust formation of the Rocky Mountains (the ranges of Glacier National Park, Montana, and Waterton National Park, Alberta) North of that other peaks continue, including Victoria Peak and Corner Mountain, pictured here. I have stood atop Corner Mountain a few times to enjoy the breathtaking reverse view.
THE 20-MINUTE TIMER. This challenge reminds us how much can be accomplished in a short time! For us watercolorists, this is particularly tricky, as some of our craft can depend on getting the paper soaking wet and waiting until the right stage of dampness for further strokes. In this challenge there is no time to wait. Anyway, the point of this challenge is to do it. The paintings will not always be good, but they will be done.
The Ranch In Winter
20-minute watercolor sketch on Fabriano 140 lb. soft press. 7 x 10. Palette: cobalt blue, burnt sienna, permanent rose, quinacridone gold.
Mood and Making Art
The year 2020 started out in the dark and the cold, much as every January does. Throw in a virus or two and pretty soon art production is brought close to a halt. I did have time to think however. Yes, I'm still driven to express the beauty I find in landscape. Here's a painting begun at the end of 2019 and so is my first completed work of 2020.
Foggy Douglas Fir, 11 x 14
Outside is the word for 2019
As I look back on a year of painting, gardening and greenhouse work, I feel blessed to have hiked, paddled and explored some beautiful landscapes with amazing groups of artists and with family. Most recently, I met with a new group of watercolor artists of the International Watercolor Society, Canada branch. A few of us Edmonton region members were able to gather for the first time for a fair weather October paint-out at Elk Island National Park.
Jasper Watercolor Retreat
I am so falling in love with Jasper National Park. And it helps that a great group of watercolor artists with the Jasper Watercolour Retreat Society keep getting together for plein air painting every fall (and they meet in spring). I love hanging out on the beautiful Athabasca, Snaring and Whirlpool Rivers. And I'm getting to know Jasper's hidden gem creeks and mountain peaks. This year it was pretty cold, but we still had some wonderful sessions. It helps that we have a cosy indoor painting space at Tekarra Lodge too.
Beauty in Winter
This landscape is inspired by the natural prairie settings where I live. Riverlot 56 Ski Trail celebrates the beautiful low winter light and the crisp fresh shadows that unfold under an Alberta sky. So happy this painting found a very good home as soon as it was framed.
