A Baroque Take on Winter...

A beautiful flaring and flaming sky to open the day... but the warmth ended there. The thermometer never rose above -16 C and the windchill weighed in with a feel of -26C throughout the entire day. The forecast for tomorrow promises between 15 and 25 cm of snow. Not good news for this plein air painter. Just the few minutes it took to kindle up this evening's fireplace supply told me that today was at best a studio operation. No more frozen digits... and besides, I had anticipated that such days would most certainly arise sometime during February and that it was best to have a "Plan B" to keep my Challenge moving along.

On my walk down Old River Road on my way down to The Lighthouse Variety Store for Deb's newspaper, I happened to notice a really cool mailbox. I collect digital images of such oddities. I stopped to look at it carefully and was intrigued with the detail and craftsmanship that had been given to this mailbox. It was obviously important to the maker to have spent so much time and energy in its creation. It was quite simply... a veritable work of Art... capital "A" very much deserved!

I immediately wondered who it was that made it... and if it might have been commissioned. Glancing across the road ... the answer was immediately obvious. The white frame house that my eyes now rested upon... was exact in every detail to this mailbox. What pride this owner must have for his home to have a mailbox unmistakeably  mimic it... even to the dual aluminum chimneys on either side. I was so captivated by this find that I immediately grabbed my camera when I returned home with the paper and went back to record this piece of Canadiana.

As I stood there... sizing up my shots of the mailbox, a Baroque "idea"... "Silly ol' bear!... shot through my head.A very strong memory from my university days. The art history course spanning the Baroque period was highly interesting to me. It was a golden age for Western painting, sculpture and architecture... an age of highly ornate interests and wild accomplishment and embellishment. One painting of that period, "Las Meninas" (The Maids of Honour), painted by Diego Velazquez really captivated me. Velazquez was the court portrait painter for the Spanish King Felipe IV. Though he created numerous portrait masterpieces of court members, this one was a group painting of the entire royal family.

 Las Meninas (The Maids of Honour) by Diego Velazquez in 1659 (From the Prado Museum Collection in Madrid, Spain)

 Mail's in!.... Sun's out!

A Rockport "Baroque" moment... for "Me" at least!

What captivated me about this one painting was that it was a "triple portrait"- three portrait settings within one painting. One level of this single portrait records the children of the King and Queen looking out at you, the viewer. In the same portrait, one can see a self-portrait of Velazquez palette and brushes in hand, engaging you as well. And in a mirror on the back wall is registered the portrait image of the King and Queen together... giving the feeling that they are standing with you viewing this portrait session. It is a coup in the world of portrait painting and has been repeated by many painters after Velazquez. This morning... looking from behind the mail box directly at its inspiration... the white clapboard home and at my shadow on the road, I smiled at the Baroque notion that had been summoned up from my past experience... to Rockport. How strange!

So my challenge for the 7th Day came out of  this totally unexpected and "chance" discovery on a walk. Sometimes... "ideas" for paintings are all around us... if we get out... pay attention... or simply use our imaginations. As well, when we raise the bar and extend ourselves by creating our own unique challenges and projects, we open up new paths and directions for our painting. I hope that my challenge offers each of you food for thought and perhaps motivates you to reach out beyond the everyday. I hope you enjoy today's studio painting... sent from my studio to yours!

"Triple Portrait... A Baroque Moment in Rockport"- Oil painting on  10x8 inch panel
This perhaps could be considered a quadruple portrait... if you add in the painting itself as a portrait of "The Group of  Three"... together! HA HA!!

A Post Script... Nature.... adding to "The Baroque"

This was the fireworks which ushered in our day this morning. Brief though it might always be... it never fails  to conjure up awe and wonder within "Me." Later in the day... while painting and preparing the post... and revisiting my Baroque memories I came across this quote. All of the Arts flourished ... though floridly in the Baroque. Great masters arose and created monuments... markers upon which future Western Art would revolve. Painters included Velazquez, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Reubens and Caracci... just to name a handful. And then there was Bernini... master sculptor, architect and painter... successor in the 17th Century to Michelangelo. His emotive "Ecstasy of St Theresa" and his St Peter's Square and Baldachin in Rome attest to his greatness and the power of his creative genius.

Literature in the period flourished as well... and still to this day drives our thought and our preoccupation with the same metaphysical interests. Most art forms demonstrated a great preoccupation with the reoccurring theme of "illusion vs reality" in Baroque culture as a whole. "Don Quixote" is such an example which ewe all have met in some fashion along our journeys. A lesser known example from Calderon de la Barca is his "Life Is A Dream." I found this quote interesting...  thought-provoking and worth leaving to end my Baroque "babbling."

What is life? A frenzy. What is Life?
A shadow; an illusion, and a sham.
The greatest goodwill is small, it seems
Is just a dream,
And even dreams are dreams.


Sweet dreams !...All...

And Good Painting!!

PPSS It would be a sham(e)... if one viewed Life as a sham. I share no view of Life in that way! Life is a precious blessing for "Me"...I go out to it... embrace it and celebrate it each and every day... even in its very coldest times! I love Life fully... and am deeply blessed...

Day #6 Challenge: Timing is everything in life... and plein air painting!

Over the past few days, I have had to put my daily walk routine on hold... in order to make time for my February Challenge commitment. While this challenge in no way places any burden upon me to abandon the daily routines which I enjoy personally, nor does it preclude plans for outings and time together which Deb and I share, it does necessitate that I be selective and more organized in my time management. That is not my best suit... usually. I am, without apology, an unrepentant day dreamer and always have been. I enjoy just watching and thinking about things which most other people wouldn't spend their time at. I think that that may true of all creative people - we seem to need to pay attention to "the workings" of life as it plays out around us.

Perhaps this Challenge exercise is a good thing then... because I truly find myself more engaged and in touch with the clock and even more closely attuned to weather conditions around me while I am painting. I make quicker decisions about beginning or ending sessions than before and I find that I am using more common sense in how long I push on with my painting. Too many times in the past, while painting en plein air, I would let my passion for painting override common sense.  On more than a few occasions, I  put myself into situations and places that were either riskier than they should have been... or my lack of  communication about more exact timing and location was worrisome to those who awaited my return. I have worked at that in the past few years. In this project,  it has been my priority and I have adhered to "the plan" stated clearly before heading out. In most cases... like this morning, I actually shortened the outing and came back earlier than scheduled... choosing to finish at home.

I had decided early this morning that I would do the "short walk" around the perimeter of the village. It is a comfortable distance of about three kilometers which follows a walking path up behind the churches and down along the Old River Road across the Parkway back to Front Street on which we live. It is an interesting route as is protected from gusty winds and for the most part, is quiet with little or no car traffic. I had only climbed the high steps to the promontory overlooking the River at St Brendan's Church and gone a few dozen paces up River Road... when I came across a lovely sunlit path and stone fence entry into a now vacated summer property...vacant until summer returns. I looked at the scene before me briefly and immediately knew that I should reshuffle the deck and return home for my gear. This would be today's Challenge site.

Deb had gone off to do errands, so the vehicle was gone. She was aware that I would do the short walk and then head out to do my painting session. So I quickly gathered together my "short kit"... my  plein trip "carry on." I had readied the kit before I had gone out so I wasted little time fetching it and  headed off at a trot back to the location. As is the usual case in winter, the light had changed in that very short time. The scene was not as visually exciting at the moment, as it had been previously.  Weather changes quickly during winter. I had brought along my camera (tucked inside my mackinaw to keep it from the cold) to await the return of the lighting conditions from before.

I set up quickly and in a short time dropped  in the basic line map to guide my lay in. I had, due in my quick exit from the basement to get underway... forgotten to bring along my brush cleaning can and solvent. So I selected three brushes... two flats and a small flat (turned by lengthy service) into a snub-nosed bright. These would have to suffice for painting tools today.This strategy I hoped would lessen the need to clean my brushes... except by using shop towelling. The lay in proceeded without difficulty and the paint "behaved itself" this morning. The sun did appear briefly... long enough to obtain a good reference photo. At the one hour point, snow began flurrying and the sky darkened. I knew that real snow would soon be on the scene... and on my palette as well. I had reached that crucial lay in stage however... where all of the necessary structure and nuances of high interest are recorded sufficiently to allow one to finish in the warmth of the studio. So I headed off home... content with the makings for a successful Challenge project #6  in hand.

My challenge for the day focused upon my need to "peek through" a maze of trees and information to isolate what I was interested in. As well, I eliminated what broke up patterns or shapes that I wished to be central and prominent in the final impression. Too much detail in between me and the subject... the yellow house would be a distraction. So my challenge was to reduce the scene to what I considered pleasing essentials... and to highlight those characteristics using light and shadow.

Since my photo references did not capture the initial strong lighting effects, I decided to use my own experience in the field and intuition to create that ambiance and drama that struck me dead in my tracks this morning. As I previously mentioned... the weather in winter changes incessantly and late in the day the cloud cover departed and the sun returned. The snow moved off at the same time. I decided to lace up and head back up to the site for another look and took along my camera. I returned after I made the circuit that I had abandoned in the morning and found that the lighting in the new photo did in fact have good strength and visual appeal. However... I have left the image as it was after an hour of reworking back in the studio. For now... I think it works... but it is interesting perhaps for you to see how closely intuition resembles reality in both. This is the value of gathering plein air painting experience. The knowledge continues to be held in one's visual memory and can be recalled and put into use randomly... as the need occurs.

I hope that you enjoy seeing the process in this Day #6 Challenge!

Stay tuned!...

Good Painting!...to ALL!!

The chosen site... without lighting... a little on ther drab side!

A bit better,,, with diffuse lighting... but not dramatic!

 My "short kit" set up...already into action!

Lay ikn reached... just as the snow begins. Time to pack up!

 "Shadowland on River Road, Rockport" - plein air oil on toned 9x12 inch panel after completion in the studio

End of day lighting... active... bright and full of contrasts! Maybe I shoiuld add a bit! I'll letv that idea perc a bit!

One Above ... Below ZeroTemperatures!

The blast of deeply cold weather continues to have "Rockapolco"... and most of Ontario it would seem, in its frigid grasp. The temperature was hovering at a cold -25C this morning, as I headed out to paint en plein air. Fortunately...there was no wind at all... and even better the sun was shining and the sky was a perfect azure blue . Perhaps it was this "perfect" combination of pluses which motivated "such a  foolhardy decision"... my wife's expression) to risk a trip "out there" for a paint.

Again... I had gotten up earlier to watch the sunrise, as it would form the first prerequisite for a decision to go or not. I had another "idea" ready for a studio-driven undertaking, in the event the weather turned up to be unacceptable. I prepared my gear using the same drill as always: squeeze out sufficient clean pigment on a clean palette... enough for one painting, get all of the necessary gear ticked off -  paint box, brushes, easel, extra toned panels of varying sizes, towels, brush cleaning container and a drink... Pepsi for today! I loaded the gear into the car and started the van to give it time to be warm and cozy before setting out.

Everything loaded aboard, I headed westward up the Parkway about two kilometers to the spot I had decide earlier to paint at today. I had wanted to paint this many times... but today... my focus for the outing and the challenge of the day was to paint from above... looking down on the subject , as opposed to being at the usual eye level perspective. There is a pull over/lookout area designed for visitor picture-taking opportunities, but strange as it might seem... I had it all to myself for the entire painting session! HA HA! I did have occasional chickadee support from time to time, but for the most part the morning was completely quiet and the solitude was grand.

The lay in on my burnt sienna acrylic ground started out and  moved along quickly and smoothly right from the start, but about three quarters of an hour into the session, my paint started doing strange things. In all truth, I have never experienced this impass before during the deepest cold outings of my past experiences. My buddy Frank and I once painted in the Gatineau Hills, north of Ottawa back in the eighties... and the temperature on that weekend dipped to -39C. We both completed two paintings each... both of mine were large 20x24 inch canvases. Perhaps, the answer lies in the fact that I recently switched from regular turpentine spirits as my thinner and medium to an eco-friendly "green" version. I was truly glad that I had (wisely) opted for the smaller 10x12 panel, as opposed to the much larger 20x24 incher!  A cardinal rule for winter painting en plein air:  You manage the process... not the other way around!

In any event, that frustrating factor which prevented me from applying paint ... except to trawl it on with a painting knife, hastened my decision to pack up and go home to finish up. It could also have corresponded to a very rapid drop in temperature at that time in the morning I found out later in the day from a friend. Whatever the reason, I did pack up after a little over an hour and a half and returned home. I immediately put on the coffee pot... had a chat with Deb... warmed up and then retreated to the studio to work on the "unfinished symphony."

Lay in stage of completion... when the cold kicked my tail back to the studio to finish. No problem... all of the necessary structure is already in place... so why freeze one's "dummers"... or other "more vitals" off??? HA HA!!

"High Requiem ... For Winter Along the River" - plein air sketch on a 10 x 12 inch toned panel

It was a good decision in hindsight... the paint really flowed nicely and the image of the site was still really vivid in my mind. I chipped away at it pushing and pulling tones... made darks and lights adjustments and worked up the foreground area to provide a sort of screen... which I think adds depth and a heightened sense of elevation. I will leave it to you to decide if I managed to pull it off. I had fun... and my Challenge has an additional member added! Life's as good as it can be... at -25C!

Stay warm... and stay tuned! Hope that you are getting something you can use on your own journey!

Good Painting!... to ALL!!!

LIfe Can Get in the Way.... or Not!

I spent a lot of time last evening... besides watching the Super Bowl  pondering my course of action for the Day# 4 Challenge project. I try to shuffle the deck on each occasion to keep my enthusiasm fresh... but as well to create interesting and different challenges which cause me to approach my painting process in varied ways... addressing different focuses "out there."

Today's plan was causing me great consternation than usual, simply because Deb and I needed to make a trip to Brockville to exchange paintings at a location that exhibits my work regularly... pick up our new vehicle licence permit for the van/studio. No permit... and the van's a no Van Go! W also want to share time with Deb's aunt and uncle in Prescott, located about twelve miles east of Brockville along the St Lawrence. This painting fool needs a haircut as well to round out the errands... and Deb needs a colour cartridge for her ever working printer. All this said... my quandary was simple. How do I make a painting after getting home every late in the afternoon?

I arose this morning extra early at 4:30 am... that happens with regularity when I have things on my mind.  I poured over digital images... hoping to find an "idea" to kick start today's challenge. I became more and more discouraged because I wouldn't have the three hours that I invest in most small pieces... no matter the dimensions. That is my process. I paused... as I clicked through my deep freeze adventure last week to Ivy Lea Park when I came to a fairly nice and simple to translate composition focusing upon a Canadian span the International Bridge... which links Canada to the United States. There was potential there for certain... but was there time... even to complete a small 8x10 panel?

I decided no... but out of the corner of my eye I noticed my original pochade bx... the smaller one which carried 6x9 inch panels. Then the idea struck me. Why not take an 8x10 inch panel and break it into quarters ... thus creating smaller 4x5 inch formats... which maintained the ratio and scale of the larger format? Why not "let it all out'... and aim for a simple and "painterly" miniature? Isn't that a new take on the Challenge? I took a pencil and lightly divided the 8x10 into quarter spaces. Then I taped off the area I was going to paint on with Frog brand painter's tape... isolating it from the other three spaces. I chose three smallish brushes... including two small flats and my rigger for finishing details and brought my paint box to my computer area. I isolated the Bridge format on my computer screen... and jumped into the painting part!

As is my custom... I record my process at various intervals of finish. I then gather those images into a file and whenever I want to... I can view a slide show to see how I'm doing... and believe me... those jpegs REALLY do reveal weaknesses that you miss while engaged in the painting process. These files become ... "the third eye"... and guide re-evaluation and changes to consider. I have used that to finish this miniature work today. I think it best for me to cease talking at this point... and let the images do the talking and explaining. A picture can indeed be worth... a thousand words... and with "Me"... maybe three thousand! HA HA!!! Enjoy the rest of your morning trip!

Stay tuned!.....

Digital image selected

 Division of 8x10 panel into quarters using painters tape... masking in a 4x5 inch sector for the painting area

The painting  at the lay in stage. Note haphazard... loose application of basic shapes

Progress after an hour of "play" using two small flat hog bristle brushes... and just a bit of rigger at this point. In this second to last version... viewing of the piece shot and viewed on my computer monitor indicates a strong need to correct the too similar tonal values of the oak leaves and some tonal punches here and there around the whole picture plane

"Bridging Winter, Ivy Lea, Ontario" - miniature oil on panel 4x5 inches.... Just a few pushes n' pulls to tidy up a few values in the sky and water areas

Good Painting... to ALL!!!

Day #3 of the Challenge.... One +One = New!

We got buried overnight by another blast of eight fresh inches of the white stuff from ol' Man Winter! For me... it greatly pleased me to have the landscape white and fresh again. I hate dirty snow... or slush! It was to be more hard cold as well... with the temperature here again hovering in the negative double digits. When  I arose this morning for my coffee ritual... it was very grey and overcast when morning broke... and still flurrying a bit. The evening weather forecast predicted more snow activity for the next few days... so out door painting might be out of the question. I was preparing myself to plein air in my van studio once again.

As the light broke... it was obvious that the sky was broken and a beautiful sunrise surprise ensued, I grabbed by coffee and my camera and headed down top our front dock to a location I had been looking at for a number of weeks. The lighting was perfect for the painting idea I had in mind. I snapped a few quick images before the momentary pinkish-red coloured light came above the horizon... with the bright retina burner sunlight rapidly replacing it. It is a very transitory moment... beautifully breath-taking to behold... but too short in duration.

As the morning developed, it was obvious that the sky would be clear to start and the snow had ceased sop I gathered my gear together after breakfast and headed down to the dock to get started, I set up quickly and got underway with no difficulty. It was indeed cold... but there was no wind. I had previously decided that this painting  was going to use a vertical format... to accentuate the main focus in the foreground - that being the curved stern of Eugene Johnston's iced in work tug Ishpeming. That curve against the flat field of shadow on the frozen and snow covered River had drawn my attention weeks before... when the River was still open. Today was the day... when everything I had envisioned was in place.

I laid in the painting on my usual burnt sienna toned 10x8 inch panel establishing the horizon and island areas first and then dropped immediately to place guide lines which established the stern and the dock patterns which were the basic structure in the painting. I began laying horizontally applied stained pigment for the water areas with a tonal value that approximated to the low shadow bluish colour of the river surface. I added darker areas where they occurred... but again only with slight attention to hue or tonal correctness.

 The  sunrise view at 7:25 am.... Beautiful... EH???

 The same scene at 11:00am... hardly has the same visual appeal to inspire.... has it?

Here is Eugene's work tug Ishpeming... the subject for an earlier painting two years ago. It won "best of show" at The 1st Annual Rockport Plein Air Paint Out two years ago.

Comfortably "out there"... for the moment... and hard at it!

 This is the raw sketch from the field. Note the intended complete lack of treatment to the sky area and background. No attempt to arrive at final finish anywhere in the outdoor sketch.

I used the information gathered from reality in this session to be carried inside and be used as the foundation for my "idea"... incorporating that momentary sunrise effect. It would then become a "One" situation (reality)... added to another "One" (digital capture) used in the studio to equal a whole "New" impression... being the sum total of both. This will be worked further... once the new sky area and water has set up a bit more. Not much to add... just glazed in highlights and a few details to add further interest and punch.

I am really enjoying the challenge of coming up with rather impromptu subjects and approaching each painting in a distinctly different vein. Adding the pressure of the time factor... keeps me thinking a step ahead to the next day and subject. I realize that there will likely come a few days when getting out to paint  is impossible because of inclement weather. As well... I'd like to include summer painting themes using other seasons which are more popular than winter to my clients and visitors. Not everyone likes... or wants to hang winter in their living room. In this part of the world... winter is a very long... and trying time for many folks... my Self not included.

I hope that you are enjoying my adventures and I sincerely hope that this challenge might offer others insights and encouragement to stretch their wings... and set their own courses in their work. Working with someone else's challenge can be motivating and yes, rewarding. But being in your own sailing craft... at the tiller is a much more rich experience from my humble perspective.

Stay tuned...


Good Painting to ALL!!!

February 2nd... Challenge Day #2

Happy Groundhog Day y'all ! Yep !... today's the day that Wiarton Willy in Canada and Punxatawney Phil in most other places comes out of his winter hibernation  to guestimate or forecast how much longer that ol' Man Winter will be a-hangin' about. If he sees his shadow, as the story goes he will head back into his burrow to wait out the remaining six weeks of winter. I put no store in this traditional soothsaying at all, but I surely understand the thinking behind it. The town of Wiarton near Georgian Bay has made February 2nd an annual weekend celebration. It is filled with events that encourage folk to come out and play... and spend their money. Both are good things for the Wiarton economy and sense of community spirit!

But I celebrated February 2nd in my very own way today. I headed out to find a painting site to complete painting # 2 in my own Thirty... Thousand Island Paintings in Twenty-eight Days Challenge. The temperature was still mighty cold here, hovering frigidly at -12C at 5:00 am in Rockport. The River was frozen straight across... once again when I got up for "Operation Sunrise." The "badder " news, however... was that we could expect snow showers throughout the entire day all around the area. Snow and pigment surely don't mix.  When combined on the exposed plein air palette, they immediately make porridge. The snow leaches out every particle of the linseed oil from the pigment, leaving a granular residue on the palette that is completely unmanageable and useless. End of painting session!.... Maddening!

However, I had prepared for this eventuality last fall. I had ordered a new and deeper pochade box which would hold three 8x10 inch panels. My other trusty pochade was made to transport and paint on 6x9 inch panels... too small for my taste or needs outdoors. This new one, deeper and very lightweight easily carried the necessary painting supplies. No crowding! Backpack friendly too!

This morning, I set out in my van for a place that I have wanted to paint forever. It was only three kilometres down The Parkway, very near to Narrow's Lane Road where we summered as a family in my youth and where my daughter Lisa currently has a residence. This morning, I was about to open a satellite version of "The Paint Box Gallery"... within my van. I had it all planned in my mind and was totally ready for the first plein air paint out... complete with heat... comfy chair... classical music and a Pepsi to swig along to the strains of my favourite public radio classical music station WNPY. I reserved a place for a tallish tool box in the console between the two front seats... high enough to elevate the pochade to a workable height and just enough space to place me at an arm's reach from the pochade box.

"How sweet it is!"... crooned Jackie Gleason in 60's hit, The Honeymooners. This morning... "How sweet it was!"... to be warm, comfy and protected from the wind and snow outside the studio! It worked like a charm. I'll never be rained out, or snowed out again! Again, I made no attempt to completely finish the piece on location. I had all that I needed within my memory... a memory which predated the actual reality of today. Note the significant differences between the digital reference... used only to present my point here. My own "view" was entirely a Resurrection of sorts... completely from my past. I caught my first Northern Pike just off this island a bit... while fishing with my dad in a rowboat in our first summer at The Narrows. The digital image shows it as it is today - an upscale, renovated, well used and enjoyed summer retreat. Change is good!

This very small cabin getaway, in my memory though never had visitors during my youth... except... if you count our presence, when my cottage chums fished and swam from the island in our early teens. It was our tradition in early spring,  to use birch poles left on the island by commercial fishermen to pole vault off shore and into the frigid May 24th water. One of those chums is no longer alive, so this painting is a remembrance and tribute to my longtime pal and fishing buddy, Bill Blanchard. Bill and his family also summered on Narrow's Lane Road. We hung out at the Narrow's and later, even  into our early adult life. I think of "Him"... each and every time that I pass this very small island cottage.

The ways and workings of this Universe truly are  mysterious to "Me." As i was laying my first stroke to the canvas, the classical radio host announced that the next piece came out of Venice. How strange! ... Second daughter Dr Jemima was actually there in Venice at that very moment! The Oratorio Juditha Triumphans by Antonio Vivaldi was the piece being played... and  AntonioVivaldi is my favourite classical composer. For my tastes, he never wrote a piece that I don't fully enjoy and thrill to. His signature use of soaring violin virtuosity never fails to lift my heart into an elevated state of  "paint-readiness'! This combined choral and orchestral piece was written to celebrate the triumphant victory of Venetian forces. With the aid of the army of The Holy Roman Empire they drove out the Turkish invaders at Corfu in 1716. It is used in allegorical fashion, using the biblical heroine, Judith in her defeat and beheading of Holofernes... to musically celebrate the victory of Venice in successfully driving out her Turk invaders. The allegory of Judith was also a favourite painting theme used by major Venetian masters like Artemisia Gentileschi and Caravaggio... to name but a few... for the same allegorical reasons.

I thought as I listened to this beautiful piece of music and was moved to think of my painting in the same allegorical vein. While the painting and the cottage itself likely create and satisfy a surface visual interest perhaps for most people... it is on another level, buried deep in my memory where it represents something else that others perhaps might not be aware of,  or be privy to. My painting of Tim Berry operates at a similar dual level for "Me." On the surface, it satisfies the interest of the viewer I hope. However, for both Suzanne and "I"... the portrait represents something much deeper... and sacred. Both of these paintings celebrate and acknowledge the gift of love and friendship which will continue on... though the people have passed from this plane of existence. Do such feelings and these paintings not then....  repesent a form of Immortality???

I wonder...

Whatever way you may wish to look at these paintings, it is always my goal to reach out and share my painting process(es) and my thinking. Through the included digital images you will be able to understand that the day by itself was hardly conducive to encouraging the drama and colour that I have chosen to inject into the painting. What I am suggesting is that you jump fully in at some point in the painting process and truly strike out on an individual journey of truly creating, as opposed to merely replicating what is before you. In so doing, you will truly experience the total joy of ownership which comes only from this kind of painting path. I hope that you are enjoying my own Daily Challenge, as it unfolds. I have found it both stimulating and highly rewarding... and an impetus to expanding my own painting adventure in new directions! Plein air painting can be accomplished... without discomfort. If you want it be a "totally en plein air" experience... just paint with the window down! HA HA!!!

The satellite version of The Paint Box Gallery.... Go Van Go!

The subject as it is today... not really inspiring as it sat this morning!

Details for the Tar Island shoreline in the distance

The unfinished sketch in progress... pretty much as it was returned to the studio

The sketch finished and titled:
"L'oratorio per il 2 febbraio" Oratory of February 2nd, 2013 - plein air oil sketch x 10 inches

As Allison wrote to "Me"...  now so many years ago: "Be Bold!"

Stay tuned!...

Good painting!... to ALL!

Thirty Day Thousand Island Challenge... Under Way!

I decided to begin my Challenge en plein air at Ivy Lea Park, a popular and picturesque campground  facility run by Parks Canada. I knew of several possible painting sites because I had recently visited there with my camera when the snow was deeper. I knew as well... that several of the sites were well protected from the wind... and that would be absolutely essential because the temperature here was hovering at -12C as I left on my morning foray.

I pared down my equipment as well because I knew that I would have a carry of over a kilometer to reach the site I intended to paint at. No problem on the way in, but after several hours in the cold, the trip out can be really gruelling carrying the gear back... plus a wet painting. The sky was overcast and the terrain treacherously icy in places. We had experienced rains and very high sou'westerly gale force winds over the past two days. These had all but removed all of winter's icy river handiwork in Rockport. The River was completely open again... save for odd drifting shards of ice pans as they passed... moving slowly eastward.

When I arrived at Smuggler's Cove, I was astounded... and disappointed to discover that the sou'westerly had driven the broken ice right fully into the cove. The piled up ice now obliterated most of the attractive dark waters which usually flow continuously... even during winter. I decided however... to just jump in and make do with what was there. Time was of the essence in this cold. Rambling about aimlessly wastes time and valuable energy and most usually spells disaster for the day! Grin and ... bear down! Glad that I had chosen to bring a smaller format (8x10 inch panels) than usually is the case for me outdoors. In hind sight, anything larger requiring longer working time... and I would have been beaten for sure!

I had laid out my palette completely before leaving home... so my set up time was quick and I settled right into my work. As I was in the process of establishing my "map" for the painting... the sun suddenly emerged, ever so briefly... but it gave me ample seconds to observe and  to put the effect to memory for later use in the painting session. I had purposely left my camera at home. The cold really plays havoc with electronic equipment and the alkaline batteries. So today... "Shoot from the hip... and the end of the brush" was the order of business for the day!

My lay in was moving along nicely, when suddenly, the wind shifted around and began to blow straight into my face. There was nowhere to hide... so every stroke had to count. The wind chill had to be in the high -20s... and my hands began to quickly feel the cold. I had enough structure and detail to finish (comfortably) what I had to back in the studio. I knew from previous experience that you pack up and leave early... as opposed to hanging in foolishly... and dangerously. By the time I reached the car and loaded the gear into the van, I could indeed feel the first pain of frostbite on both hands. I put another pair of gloves on and within about five minutes they soon began to lose their stinging feeling.

The first jpeg shown below records the sketch ... "raw from the field." The second records the small changes I felt were necessary to correct tone and add small details for increased viewer interest. I played around mostly with the ice in the foreground to create patterns and shapes... adding slivers of dark here and there. All in all... I felt the exercise worthwhile... and I did truly enjoy the outing... despite the cold at the end. Preparation... and common sense are the go words ... if you paint en plein air in sub zero weather. Cold is not just about mere comfort. Tt is more about safety.

Stay tuned!... 29 more Isleviews to go... in a 28 day month! HA HA!

Good painting ... to ALL!

Raw..."bitterly raw"... from the field!

"Jammin'... in Smuggler's Cove, Ivy Lea" - a plein air oil sketch 8x10 inches