Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year Blessings to All!

Lost in the 60's - oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches SOLD


Thank You ... For the Music! - oil on canvas 14x11 inches GIFTED TO SON ANDREW


Cherry Pink... and Apple Blossum Time - oil on canvas 16x12 inches



Minuet d'Hiver - oil on canvas 36 x 30 inches SOLD




The Magnificence of Algonquin Park Through the Seasons - oil 4 panels (Quadriptych)
6 feet x 12 feet



"A painting can help us to think of something that goes beyond this senseless existence."

-Gerhard Richter (realist painter)


Just a quick post to offer my deepest thanks to each of you who have made this blogging venture so rewarding and fruitful during 2011! I have learned much about the world that each of you lives and creates in! Thank you all for sharing so generously!


The purpose for my blog is to provide an open and non threatening forum where people can exchange their ideas... processes and even elements from their private lives. That seems to really have taken root successfully... judging by the fact that my 198 posts to date since 2009 have generated just over 20,000 page views(Not including my own visits). That fact speaks for itself.


While many folks simple read and move on without needing to comment... the fact remains that they plugged in... if only briefly and were given the opportunity to glean what they might have. Others have taken the time to comment and to add their own compliments... impressions and to offer personal extensions of what is in the post.


I find this interface highly motivating and inspirational to have company on an adventure where I usually find myself alone... either in the field or at my easel. Sometimes that "third eye" observation or bit of encouragement is sufficient to help one overcome discouragement and to pass those times when creation is blocked entirely.


New Year is traditionally a time to look back over the year and to examine and to reflect upon what has been accomplished, as an aid to guiding one into the next year. I went back over this year's output... which I feel has been generous and exciting for me personally. I have selected my favourite 10 paintings completed in 2011 and will offer them to you in two batches of five... the first five tonight. Some are major works if you use size as the measure... but truthfully... I feel that several of the smaller pieces offer as meaningful and powerful an impact as do their larger kin!


I hope that you enjoy seeing some of them again and to see that paintings should be undertaken to express the feelings you have experienced. By sharing these with others... you offer the gift of insight into your own world of thought and experience. They transport others across vast distances which they perhaps might otherwise... never have the opportunity to visit.


As I mentioned in a comment just this past week to one of my regular visitors... Beauty exists everywhere around you and in every part of the world. You simply have to seek it out and if you paint honestly... combining that beauty from without... with a genuine feeling of beauty you feel from within... the result will always be a beautiful canvas to record that relationship!


I recently heard an interview on CBC radio featuring Gloria Steinheim. These words from the interview are worth remembering:

"Everyone needs to tell their story."


If painting is your "Voice"... be proud to speak using it... no matter how good or bad you might feel it is. At least... you can be proud... that "You"... were heard! You might be pleasantly surprised to know that others value it!


Good Painting!.... Everywhere!... and in Every Season... in 2012... to ALL!

Warmest regards,

Bruce

20 comments:

  1. Gosh, Bruce! I'd be darned hard-pressed to pick a favorite from your paintings. I really love them all so very much, including some you've done in your sketchbook. Still, it sure is nice to see these front and center again. Each one is so very moving. And I for one, am a faithful fan of your work and your blog!

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  2. Hi Bruce,

    I know it's impossible to pick a favorite. The floral still life is elegant and all of the landscapes gives the viewer a sense of being there. Happy New Year Bruce and Deb, looking forward to seeing your 2012 post.

    One of your biggest fans,
    Joanie

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  3. Dear Friend Sherry!... Thank "You" for our connection and Friendship... and your consistently positive comments and contributions to this site! I much appreciate all of your gifts... and your presence!

    Art is a voice... and each of us possesses one!Unfortunately... the world is not as kind as it should be to many. Those unkindnesses sometimes in many...tend to stifle Self worth and the courage to use their voice.

    "I" have very much enjoyed the positive Voice that you have been more and more sure of Sherry! Stand proudly and speak.... sing... write... sew... weave... whatever! You have elogence and a kind and generous spirit which I have come to admire greatly!

    Happy New Year... and Much Peace in 2012!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  4. Hi there Friend Joan!... Happy New Year to "You" and your Family!

    Thank "You" for your upbeat and consistent visits and positive comments Joan... I really appreciate our sharings... in both directions!

    There are no personal "favourites" in my paintings really... none that I covet to own. As with my children, students and friends... I value each independent of the relationships with the others. Each is a blessing to "Me" and adds a unique quality that the others might be missing.

    WE shar a mutual admiration for each other's work and commitment to that work Joan! As I said earlier... "I" am so very proud of your growth this year! "You" are well on your way!

    Good Painting!... Sketching and Adventuring in 2012 Joan!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  5. Happy New Year Laddie! the beautiful bouquet is a favourite of mine, your landscapes are your trademark yet the still life with flowers is always so lovely to see. I think you have a talent for colour and thus are able to paint flowers in their fragile and fragrant beauty. Very lovely to behold. Thank you for the time and thought that goes into your wee gems of inspirational posts. All very enriching.

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  6. And Happy New Year back to "You" Lass!

    Glad that you enjoyed the paintings again! The one that you loved will be finding its way onto our livingroom wall in January. It's a "keeper"... says Deb... and so it will be!

    Thank "You", for your visits and encouraging positive comments throughout all of 2011. It is because this encouragement and the willingness of our small circle of kindred spirits that I am willing to continue posting.

    Our sharing of our journey... our discoveries... and the discouragement that we all suffer from at times empowers each of us to continue to paint.

    Your site with all of your glazing ideas reaches out and supports many others. We are family!

    Good Painting and Glazing!
    Wamest regards,
    Bruce

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  7. Hi Bruce, I too am hard pressed too pick a "favorite" painting of yours! I like them all, I really do! And I really appreciate your online friendship. It has meant a lot to me. I haven't been posting much recently, what with being ill, etc., and falling into my periodic "existential angst" and hoping I am coming out of that boring phase real soon! I have planned to have my male model try to get out here again soon and hope this time I stay well and that we come up with something great together for me to paint! Meanwhile I'm knitting an afghan...Happy New Year!

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  8. Hi there Karen!... Good to hear from you again!

    I too... appreciate our online contact and friendship. I have very much missed your presence lately... but well realize that life can often pre-empt and get in the way with our creative processes.

    I'll look forward to seeing what comes out of your "boxed in" model set up! Sounds interesting and I know that the product will live up to the usually high standard of your figurative draughting and painting excellence that is your hallmark!

    Good luck with your Afghani mission... a nice break from the regular!

    Happy New Year! Have a good rest! Look forward to more sharing in 2012!

    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  9. Wonderful words and thoughts so eloquently expressed full of food for thought.
    I'm trying to choose which one of your 5 paintings is my favourite and I think it is Minuet d'Hiver, because there is something about the trees and the sugar frosting in the painting that makes me smile.
    Best wishes for the coming year to you and all of us.

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  10. Hi there Diana!... Happy New Year and Best Wishes to"You" and Yours in 2012!

    Thank you for your continued support and contribution of meaningful ideas to the blog. They make the site appealing beyond my own small contributions!

    "Minuet d'Hiver" was indeed special to "Me" as well... in that I feel it captured the vital and rhythmical relationships of all aspects of the landscape in a lively and light-filled way.

    It was painted in response to these observed traits in a very intuitive and whimsical fashion! It is... I believe, a step beyond my usuallly impressionistic process which separates it into a style of its own.

    Thanks for your visit and online Friendship! Both mean a great deal to "Me"!

    Good Painting... and Sales in 2012!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  11. i think you know which is my favorite. what a lovely collection of work bruce. visiting your blog is always a joy, your thought provoking words always hit the mark. i am fortunate indeed to know you. best wishes in the new year and a boat load of sales. suz

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  12. Hi there Suz and "The Fab Four"!... Thank you for your always uplifting and encouraging visits and added insights and ideas!

    I very much appreciate and value your input Suzanne because I admire your Fine Art and our our common sentiments and principles... both in our personal and artistic lives!

    "I" too... feel that our relationship... though it be online and distant... benefits us both for the same reasons! Our journeys travel in parallel really... and this is comforting to "Me" to know!

    Best wishes and many sales back to "You" Suzanne! Rich blessings of Good Health and Happiness added as well!

    Good Painting!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

    PS Your email was touching and right on the money ... both directions Suz! Thank "You"!!

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  13. Enjoyed this post very much Bruce and loved seeing all of the paintings you've posted. I especially like the last one and really like the way you've captured all the seasons in one scene. Superb.

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  14. Hi Bruce,

    I remember the time when you were wondering whether you wanted to get involved with the blogging world. I'm so glad that you did. Your blog is one of the more interesting ones and it's always a pleasure to read your latest posts. It certainly is an enriching experience to share art with people from all over the world.

    These paintings are a nice varied collection and all interesting in different ways. It's a pity we don't have 12 foot computer screens for the Algonquin Park panels. To stand in front of that one must be quite an experience!

    Hope 2012 is good for you,

    Keith

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  15. Hi there John!... Happy New YEAR to you!

    Glad that you found something of interest in both the visual and written content of this post!

    I really enjoyed bringing forward that concept of depicting all seasons within the single landscape and the four separate canvases. I really had to work things through fully to capture the gradual transition in a believable manner. Lots of planning!

    I think that I was successful in achieving that goal... and as well... finishing a project that had been percolating for almost twenty years. It is a fine tribute to a very special and iconic Canadian Wilderness.

    Thanks for your visits and your comments!

    Good Painting!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  16. Hi there Keith!... Happy New Year to "You"!

    Thank you for the many positive comments... compliments and encouargement you have provided in the blog with your visits.

    It is the particiapation and sharing of thoughts and painting like yours that gives impetus to my continuance and added interest for others like us... who value this medium for open sharing.

    The quad certainly has had the effect you have described upon viewers who have seen it when exhibited. Its sheer scale is humbling... when one stands in front of it. It really is the second best way to have experienced the unparalleled beauty which Algonquin Park offers.

    I'm very proud of it!

    Good Painting!... and all the best in your work in 2012!
    Warmest regards
    Bruce

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  17. If I ever felt down, I would visit your blog and everything else would be history! Your words are always so uplifting, Bruce! You are an incredible blogger friend! I love all these paintings...However, that "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom Time"....Well..I think the word is fantastic!!! I will look forward to your next painting in 2012!!

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  18. Good evening Friend Hilda!... I just shot off my first "Hello" to you after seeing your new portrait... at this very moment! How strange is that!

    Your site has the same effect upon "Me" as well Hilda! I always come away uplifted and a bit more positive and uplifted!

    I am so happy that we can form a circle of kindred friends who share the belief equally that sharing our ideas has value and benefits for everyone.

    Let's continue this practice and build our numbers into a larger and more vocal group.
    "Sharing is caring!"

    Good Painting!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  19. A pleasure to peruse this visual year in review, dad! Some real gems! I don't remember seeing that apple blossom one before - that is a keeper! A lovely little still-life! And the guitar player is really a departure to be proud of - came out beautifully.
    Love Allie xoxoxo

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  20. Hello there Jemima!... Thank "You"... not only for these sentiments of support... but as well for the years of love... encouragement and the example you set by constantly meeting your own challenge after challenge... and then raising the bar higher! "You... are TRULY an inspiration... and I am so proud of "You"!

    Much Love ALWAYS! Happy... Healthy and Prosperous New Year Allison!
    Dad
    XXXXXOOOOOXXXXX

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