Wow, the months have flown by but I am back blogging! The painting seems to get in the way of blogging! I went off on a fruit portrait fling and enjoyed it immensely, kiwis, oranges, strawberries, figs still clinging to the branches in winter. I learned a lot about shadow and light, mixing colours and composition. Today I am working on my first figurative piece and will post it later along with my fruits. I am being called back to my painting at the moment! 

Fruit of the Louvre

As I didn't have much time for painting during the holiday season I really had to get a move on to complete three paintings for the Malaspina Arts Society group show . The painting entitled, Pears Reclining initially was to be a study in dark and light but in the end the light moved in and won out. I was beginning to think that I could not paint a painting without Vancouver Island in the background so I went on to paint, Fruit of the Louvre and proved myself wrong! It was challenging to paint the miniature Bracques and a Picasso in the background though I admit painting Pears Reclining again but in miniature was not. The green pears themselves took much longer to paint than the background and put me in mind of a Cezanne quote," Fruits... like having their portraits painted.They seem to sit there and ask your forgiveness for fading.Their thought is given off with their perfumes. They come with all their scents.They speak of the fields they have left, the rain that nourishes them, the days they have seen." We will be hanging our paintings tomorrow for a 2 month show, such good fun! Next post I will talk about my anti HST painting," A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves"

Here is a another painting from a long ago memory. I have never forgotten the elderly lady who I once knew as Auntie Polly, she lived up the street from from us in a tiny,tidy little house. I was eight years old when she was put into some sort of care home in 1964 and I had been visiting her regularly since I was 5, in those days we roamed the neighbourhood freely! I could not pass by her house without her calling out to give me a candy or cookie or an invitation for tea. She was a tiny,wee woman, not much bigger than me or so it seemed. I have painted her waving to me, with her hand in her apron pocket ready to pull out a goody. My dog, Skipper, a beagle, is with me, sadly Skipper was run over by another neighbour only yards away from this scene when I was 5 years old and later buried under our pear tree.

Mr. Wilson and his Boston Terriers sold today!

Another Cadmium Red Letter day, Mr. Wilson and his dogs sold today and I can't help but feel encouraged!There is not much feedback here from the general populace however friends  are good to bounce ideas off.  It is interesting to discover the tastes and preferences of a cross spectrum of people. Some like an impressionistic work, others a seascape, historical, figurative, or realism, etc. The genres are many and there are many people , in any event I am painting what I want to paint and there shall be no slabs of beef  a la Damien Hirst, no Basquuiet sqiggly dollops ( well maybe ) certainly no Duccio! In short I will paint what I damn well please and break as many rules as I can, heh heh, like I did today. I LOWERED a price on a painting for the person who wanted to buy it (by only 15 $) apparently one is NOT to do this, meh, I do this for people on fixed incomes, or low income. I think everyone should have a piece of art even if it takes  them some time to to pay for it on the installment plan. I am just so happy the piece spoke to someone enough for them to want it!

Mr. Wilson and his Boston Terriers

This painting, Mr. Wilson and his Boston Terriers, is taken from a childhood memory. As a child I was fascinated by Mr. Wilson whom I did not know, he lived up the street from us and had the two terriers which I loved to see. He also had a massive goiter which was also an endless and morbid fascination for me. I have painted him walking past our house on a windy day in early Spring. I am enjoying dipping into the past to try and remember scenes that embedded themselves in my mind. Somehow I just didn't feel good about painting the goiter so I left it out. I like to think Mr. Wilson would have approved.

Artwalk

We had more visitors to our gallery on the Artwalk than I would have expected! Janet sold a painting and quite a few cards so we were happy with the interest.  It was good to have a  chance to talk about painting and the paintings with people who were interested enough to come out on a Friday night in River City for an Art experience! I had some nice feedback, seems some prefer my naive paintings, sort of dreamscapes like the Red Road, I have to admit I did enjoy painting them very much! I started another painting yesterday from an old memory that goes back to my childhood, Mr.Wilson walking past our house with his Boston Terriers, I don't know why I felt the need to paint this but I am, Hubby thinks the painting looks very funny, he thought the man was walking two, black ducks! Last week I worked on my clear cut painting and reworked an earlier version of the mission church at Sliammon, I was very pleased with the result as it pops out now and the contrast with the uninhabitated Harwood Island which I painted in many layers of blue and green ending up as teal worked well as a backdrop. I have never seen this church (the Sacred Heart) painted from the back side like this, artists seem to prefer the front view as it is appealingly picturesque. I like the idea of spirituality through the back door, it seems the indigenous people still use Harwood Island as a spiritual retreat.

Another busy day getting ready for the ArtWalk tomorrow, our gallery toilet blew a foo and Janet came back after lunch to find water all over the floor etc.! Good thing it was today instead of tomorrow! Duco came to our rescue and sucked up the water with bissell and replace the toilet innards, thanks sweetie!

  Most of my friends know that I like to cook, I just don't like processed  foods that factories prepare, they don't smell right or look right to me. In anticipation of tomorrow nights gala event I have baked shortbread and blackberry tarts, I took some pictures of them and to me they look sort of pop artish, more food for painting!