I’ve been immersed in a hefty coffee table book from the library called The Writer’s Garden: how gardens inspired the world’s great authors. As the title suggests, these literary giants found creative fuel in their personal gardens—sanctuaries of beauty, and solitude.
Many of them dreamed of a self-sustaining life, planting sprawling vegetable gardens, fruit trees, and berry bushes alongside beautiful flower beds. Some chose the lifestyle to stretch a modest income and make room for writing. Others used their royalties to create the dream environment they had long imagined. But all of them shared one thing: a deep need for the beauty of a garden. It wasn’t just a backdrop—it was fuel. The natural world grounded them, offered rhythm and renewal, and gave them the energy to focus deeply on their craft.
Their garden visions echoed my own when Larry and I left our narrow semi-detached home in downtown Toronto in 2007, heading toward a rural life in Bear River. Like those writers, I longed for a quieter life, rooted in nature—one where creativity could grow alongside the tomatoes and flowers.
Our First Garden Oasis
Back then our Toronto garden was small, about the size of a modest room, tucked in the backyard and ringed with tall, gangly trees that cast shifting shadows on everything below—especially on the few brave vegetables I attempted to grow. Still, it was our precious little oasis. Private, lush, and alive. In the warm months, it became an outdoor room where we ate most of our evening meals. I painted out there too.
The Reality of Garden Work
But back to the book. What struck me most was that like us, some of these writers hadn’t anticipated the work involved in homestead farming—or even maintaining a small home garden. Some said that gardening pulled them away from their writing.
Reading that made me smile and feel so much better about my own efforts. I often feel that same tug-of-war between my garden, my studio, and daily life with the endless rhythm of meal prep. And yet, I enjoy my garden time as much as painting. Theoretically, I now have the time to develop my ideas for painting, writing, and gardening—but I don’t have the same stamina I had at 47. I confess that at 74, I still haven’t quite mastered how to schedule my time effectively.
Still Creating, Still Growing
But I keep trying. I enjoy everything I work on whether it’s with a brush or a shovel, and that’s a very good thing.
But it feels even better to read that I’m in good company. Many creatives—past and present—have wrestled with the same balancing act. It’s oddly comforting to know that the struggle to manage time and energy and tasks is part of the human condition.
——————————
A Helpful Habit
One thing that has truly helped me maintain my strength and stamina for this life is attending yoga two mornings a week here in Bear River. But more on that in another post.
I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m thrilled with the paintings I’ve been working on these past few weeks.
Thrilled—because all winter, my desire to paint had vanished. I stopped seeing the world through a painter’s eyes. Artists, photographers, creators are observers, endlessly noticing color, shapes, shadows, and hidden vignettes in the ordinary. I love seeing the world that way.
But last winter, that lens went dark. Scenes that once begged to be painted left me numb. It was unsettling, like losing a sense. On top of that, shingles and COVID drained my energy, locking me further away from my easel.
Yet creativity is stubborn. It lingers in the subconscious, waiting. Like muscle memory, it can flicker back to life with patience and practice. And now, here I am: grateful for time to nurture my garden into a living palette, to lose myself in brushstrokes again.
My only other commitment? Muddy Duck Yoga twice a week—a wonderful ritual that fuels both my body and my art.
After months of drought, I’m finding my rhythm again. And it feels fantastic.
It started with surrender. Letting go of expectations and feeing lupin joy again.
It’s been about a year since I last posted, and over that time, three significant shifts have reshaped my creative life.
Last fall, after ten fulfilling years in a co-op gallery I helped to found in Bear River, we made the difficult decision to close its doors. Letting go of Bear River Artworks Gallery was bittersweet — a goodbye to a community space, shared energy, and the experience of seeing my work alongside others’. But it also opened up personal room for quiet, for personal expansion, and for a different kind of creative exploration.
Then came winter, and with it, an unexpected stretch of illness — first shingles, then Covid. Both forced me to slow down, to listen more closely to my body, and to let go of any expectations, schedules or illusions of control. I watched the shifting winter light across my bedroom wall, and slowly an idea unfurled. I needed to realign my creativity, to expand it. I needed to rethink my studio activities and space.
I spent weeks in my head, rearranging my studio. What began as a practical response to shifting circumstances became something more meaningful — a quiet recognition that I am not the same artist I was a year ago. Part of my recovery was to sit in the studio and visualize a new layout and organization. The space I’ve created now feels like a reflection of that: a place to write, to experiment, and to allow the next phase of my work to emerge. I’ll tell you more about this in my next post.
I share this here because I know many of you, too, are living through seasons of change — creative, personal, or otherwise. I’m reminded that creativity doesn’t just live in the big, finished pieces we show the world, but also in the quiet ways we adapt, heal, and prepare the ground for what’s next.
Thank you for being here, reading along. I’d love to hear how this past year has shaped your own creative life. What have you had to let go of? What have you rearranged — inside or out — to make space for what’s coming next?
Bear River Artworks season opening on Saturday, June 1, 2024 marks the tenth year since a group of local artists opened a cooperative gallery in Bear River, Nova Scotia.
I attended the very first meeting back in 2015 and joined without hesitation. I was eager to find a venue for my paintings and to help develop a member-directed community project. I also wanted to meet the wonderful people who bought my paintings and who created their own bonds with a piece of my art.
New Paintings
But even after ten wonderful years, I still worry at the beginning of May that I won’t have finished enough paintings in the autumn and winter to hang. But, surprise, every year when it comes time to varnish and name the babies, I find that I even have a few extra!
This year’s crop of paintings is almost entirely flowers.
The one exception a the huge double painting of sumach trees.
It is a thrill to paint live flowers, but I am severely limited in the winter to forced tulips, forced forsythia branches from our enormous bush and potted geraniums. All of these made their way into some of these new paintings.
The remaining paintings were developed from a group of floral paintings that had been neglected until this winter and spring when I finally finished them.
Every artist has her own unique approach to painting. Bringing my easel inside from the centre of a living, moving garden and surroundings is a difficult transition at first. Painting from memory, from sketches and from my photos is a completely different way to work.
I must shift my concentration away from the living world and the outside elements to a static one. So, I use the opportunity to focus on learning more about the mediums (oils vs. acrylics vs. sketching) and color theory.
When I’m not able to get inspiration from Nature, I look for it in the work of other artists. I revisit and add to my collections of artists’ paintings on Pinterest. In this way I ‘discover’ so many new living artists along with new-to-me works from long-gone artists. I learn a lot about what I like in a painting and am able to step back and to take a critical view of my unfinished paintings that got ‘stuck’ and, hopefully, inject life into them.
The greatest way to learn is by doing, and there is a lot to learn. I am very fortunate to be able to paint in this beautiful corner of the world. And I’m grateful to be a part of a group gallery with supportive colleagues. It is truly wonderful to be part of a small gallery where I can exhibit my paintings to people who are interested in what I do and to those who have helped me pursue my passion by buying my artwork.
Bear River Artworks Gallery is open in June from Thursday to Sunday, 10-4pm. We plan to extend the week by 1 day for July, August and September. Hours will be posted on our social media.
All the artists take turns managing the gallery and while there is a schedule, there is no set day that I work. I will be there June 1, 7, 15, 21, and 30th from 10am until 4pm. If you would like to visit me in the Gallery or in my home studio, please contact me.
The other artists are jewellers Larry Knox and Laurel Strachan, painter Crystal Pyne and photographer Gary Fraser. They would love to meet you too!
Gary FraserLarry KnoxLarry KnoxCrystal PyneCrystal PyneGary FraserFlora DoehlerLaurel Strachan
Standing outdoors in autumn at the edge of a tangled sumac grove is a reminder that some things remain constant even as the world around us transforms. Birds fly overhead, branches sigh in the wind. Falling leaves add their fragrance to the damp earth. These earth and sky sensory gifts are all abundant in Bear River.
I feel a magical otherworldliness in places of unmanaged overgrowth. They return me to childhood fairy tales filled with mysterious forests and magical beings. Anything and everything can and will happen.
The Enchanted Sumac Grove
Our little sumac grove is one of my favourite painting locations.
Sumac trees have an unmatched fall presence with their red leaves, dark twisted limbs, and the sweep of their branches. But their crimson leaves are brief. They drop to the ground with the first hard autumn rainfall.
Much of my painting is inspired by the rush of joy I feel when an object or a colour moves me in a scene. I can’t anticipate it and it comes unbidden. The impulse is so strong that I follow it when I can and before it disappears. The experience of painting outdoors lifts my spirit. Indeed, the entire act of painting is my medicine.
My setup. The canvasses are protected from wind gusts by 2 cinder blocks.
Setting up My Outside Studio
These sumac trees are in an out-of-the-way spot end of the house where I don’t usually walk. Half the leaves had already turned from green to red when I noticed them. The arching trees and wild growth in this chaotic, private setting just added to the drama.
I rushed to the studio and dragged my heavy wooden, Italian double easel out to the spot. I felt I needed a huge canvas to capture the expansive beauty of the scene. The wheelbarrow transported my easel, brushes, water, charcoal, paint, rags.
There was a problem with a 4 feet x 6 feet canvas. Size matters but can be a problem. In the past I have depended on the help of friends with trucks to transport large paintings from our house to a gallery, because my car can’t handle anything wider than 40”. My work-around was to tie 2 canvases, each 3 feet x 4 feet together at the back. I also wheelbarrowed concrete bricks to anchor the easel so that the wind wouldn’t turn my canvases into sails!
There is an additional excitement in battling the elements this way. It definitely combines physical exercise with problem-solving.
Painting from the Heart
Once the palette and canvas was set up, the hard part begins. How could I translate my feelings of excitement and joy about the scene onto a blank canvas?
I loosely sketched the large shapes onto the canvases with quick charcoal marks. I wanted to capture the shape and the movement of the grove of sumac as a mass but also to show a few individual trees.
Working out the layout with charcoal.
The beginning of the painting took place over a series of chilly, blustery days. It is never my goal to reproduce exactly what I see. Instead, I want to suggest a feeling, movement and to follow the curve of the landscape and then to edit what I am seeing. Eventually the painting takes precedence over the actual scene and leads the way. I become present in the environment and feel like I could step through the canvas into another world. Everything melts away except an awareness of colour, paint, trees, wind and sky.
A couple of days later, a wind and rain storm blew in and overnight the red leaves lay shrivelled on the ground in spirals of deep maroon. That was the fall of 2021.
Drying leaves are ready to blow away.
Refining the Painting Inside the Warm Studio
I stored the canvasses until the sumac leaves turned red again. The painting waited. I missed the window in 2022. This past fall in 2023, I returned to the scene.
This time when the leaves fell, I continued to paint it in the studio. The shapes and colours of the painting needed refining. At this point it’s not as much about feeling and intuition as about tweaking colour and adjusting the overall design and composition. I rarely paint from photos because I love being IN the nature. Having something real, three dimensional and living inspires me. But now I needed to closely examine those signature twisted trunks of the sumac.
When I looked at the panels separately, I saw that the left panel had more interest. The right hand panel needed a variety of elements so that it could also work as a strong stand-alone painting like the other panel. It needed contrast; a focal point; defined large and small areas and a variety of marks and brushstrokes.
The Enchanted Sumac Grove – left panel of diptych The Enchanted Sumac Grove – right panel of diptych
Painting is a call and response process and each additional stroke of colour affects what’s already there and influences what is still to come. It’s a constant dance with the brush and the colours. I put down some marks, I step back and look, I walk over to pick up some colour on my brush from the palette, apply it and then step back again and assess. Painting is a journey of a thousand marks and the end for me is always unknown until it’s done.
The Painting’s Debut in Bear River
I was very excited to debut this painting during February at Sissiboo Coffee Bar and Gallery in Bear River and now at Sissiboo Coffee in Annapolis Royal until mid April. The day after we hung the show, I sipped a divine cup of coffee and sat and stared at the painting and thought about all the steps it took to bring it to completion. Because it’s a diptych, I designed it so that it can be hung as one large painting or hung as 2 separate ones, depending on wall space.
The other 2 artists in the show at Sissiboo Coffee are Crystal Pyne (painter) and Gary Fraser (Photographer). We all depict Nature in this show. We are artists at Bear River Artworks Gallery during the Summer months. We love this opportunity to show our works during the off-season at our favorite coffee shops run by friends who are community minded.
The exhibition continues at Sissiboo Coffee in Annapolis Royal until April 14, 2024. Open daily until 4pm.
Hi. Remember me? I’m that painter in Bear River, Nova Scotia whose paintings and posts resonated with you. I didn’t mean to let 6 months slip by between posts, but here we are.
Truthfully, this year has been a challenging time at our house involving healthcare and procedures and worry about the unknown. However, in this moment and today the future looks bright and I hope this continues.
I wanted to let you know that Bear River Artworks Gallery which I am part, is opening for the season on Saturday, May 28. On this first weekend, all the artists decided to be there to hang out with whoever drops by and to enjoy the fruits of our labour.
Something fairly profound happened for me this month.
I have felt quite sluggish this winter. Not actually depressed but just completely unmotivated, disinterested, lazy and believing that my strong desire to paint had completely abandoned me. This was quite distressing because there was absolutely no substitute interesting endeavour that came to mind. Nothing. Not writing. Not gardening. Not visiting. Not travelling. I wondered if this is how the end begins.
If you love flowers, you’ll know that actual blue flowers are rare. Horticulturalists try to develop true blue blooms, and sometimes they come up with a purple and call it blue. And even though some flowers are blue, like a Cornflower, a Delphinium or a Forget-me-not, you can’t find a blue Zinnia or Daisy.
Except if you are a painter, and you can imagine it. You can paint the flowers any colour you want to.
Do you also feel the unsettling psychological impact of the threat of Covid-19 and of the isolation from others? Even though the rate of infection is almost nonexistent in my little province – we haven’t had a single case in our village. – it is that imaginary threatening future that always hangs in the air.
This is the final weekend for my Summer Garden show of paintings in Bear River. I’ll be at the café sipping a latte and I hope you can join me on Saturday, Oct 10 from 2 -4. for my last meet-up at this location.
“Left a good Job in the City. Workin’ for the Man Every Night and Day…” Proud Mary, John Fogarty
Thirteen years ago,my husband and I ditched our jobs in the big city and moved to this sparsely populated province. Our dreams were all about creativity and community.I yearned for the luxury of having time to paint.I yearned for nature. And I hoped I would be able to find a market for my artwork. Continue reading →
I had a lovely time last week with the small, but enthusiastic art friends who came out to see my new paintings at Sissiboo Cafe in Bear River.
I will be in the cafe gallery again this afternoon, Friday September 11, from 2 – 4pm and would love to meet you for coffee and to share my painting stories with you. Continue reading →
I am so pleased to invite you to my exhibition of new paintings at Sissiboo Coffee Bar and Gallery in Bear River.
The 16 paintings celebrate the beauty of living flowers and gardens. All the scenes were created in my garden and studio in Bear River, Nova Scotia Continue reading →
I am so happy to be able to show you my newest paintings that will grace the walls of Sissiboo Coffee Bar and Gallery for 6 weeks.This summer we didn’t physically open our artists’ Gallery, Bear River Artworks. We just had a virtual presence. It never seemed like the right time to open as we waited for life to go back to ‘normal. Continue reading →
I belong to a Co-op Gallery that I co-founded with other Artists in this village in 2015.
This year, for the first time, The Bear River Artworks Gallery has invited artists across the province to join us for a special ‘Leap Year’ Exhibition. Continue reading →
This month I got out my watercolours and beautiful watercolour paper and painted little landscapes and water scenes.
I love it when the dry painting still looks wet. This can only happen by painting watercolours into damp cotton paper.
I created these scenes for the Bear River Holiday Spirit Craft Show and Sale on Sat, November 30, (from 10 – 4.) They are perfect for framing and are a standard size. The images are 5.5″ x 7’5″. They can be used as cards. Continue reading →
My art studio is buzzing these days. I have quite a few paintings on the go as well as new ideas for future paintings. It’s feast or famine in the art area. And as with any passion, the more time you can set aside for it, the more you want to set aside time. It’s a wheel that keeps on turning.
Currently, I do not have painter’s block, but I do have writers block. Every morning I think “this is the day I’ll send out a newsletter or a blog post. But first I’ll walk out to the studio for inspiration.” Continue reading →
This new painting is special to me for several reasons. For starters, I really like it! I always enjoy the process of painting and trying to solve the design problem, but sometimes the end result falls short of what I am trying to achieve. Ironically I believe this is a motivating factor to paint and to try it again. But this time I am happy with the look and feel of this painting; the spontaneity and lightness. Continue reading →
Let me squeeze under the wire and wish you a Happy New Year before this first month of 2019 ends!
I love that January feels like that reflective month when it’s OK to throw caution to the wind and change your mind, your direction and to question everything you’re doing. Continue reading →
There are many busy artists out there this week furiously getting ready for the next seasonal art and craft show and I, for one, am feeling a mixture of excitement and frazzle. Continue reading →
My exhibition will include new, luscious flower paintings.
When I returned From Brier Island, I was delighted to see the gladiolus and zinnias in full bloom. It took my breath away as both are new additions to the garden.
I dragged one of my biggest canvases outside and set to work. Continue reading →
What’s in a painting?
Each viewer reads a different story into an image and comes to see more as they live with the painting.
It wasn’t until I finished “The Garden Party” that I saw something that made me smile. Continue reading →
“Every war already carries within it the war which will answer it. Every war is answered by a new war, until everything, everything is smashed… That is why I am so wholeheartedly for a radical end to this madness, and why my only hope is in a world socialism… Pacifism is not a matter of calmly looking on; it is work, hard work.” – Kåthe Kollwitz, 1943.Continue reading →
The process of learning to make art is like that of learning to speak. You learn the language, the grammar, the idioms. But what you say with it is totally up to you. – Jane Davies in Abstract Painting: the elements of visual language.
I am inspired by a recent painting workshop with abstract painter Leya Evelyn, and I want to tell you about it with this video to give you a peek at my new painting series. Continue reading →
This week is busy in the best way possible. The art show opening was amazing. It was great to share my paintings with interested art lovers, artists and collectors. 56 7 paintings sold! This and the week’s conversations with interested visitors are a validation of all the work I put into this show. Continue reading →
Images and stories of flowers from my exhibition of paintings at Bear River Artworks Gallery, 1913 Clementsvale Road, Bear River NS.
April 15 – 23, 2017. Daily 1 – 4pm
Paintings can be shipped. Interest-free payment plans available. No HST. Continue reading →
Here are images of my current exhibition of paintings at Bear River Artworks Gallery, 1913 Clementsvale Road, Bear River NS.
April 15 – 23, 2017. Daily 1 – 4pm
Paintings can be shipped. Interest-free payment plans available. No HST.
———————–
I painted this from the shadows of the vegetable garden. I was startled by the strong light cast on the distant lawn and how it silhouetted the tree. Continue reading →
My exhibition in Bear River opens in 6 days and I’m finishing up edges of paintings and varnishing and putting the wiring on the backs of the canvases. (Thank you Larry for that part.)
This part is fairly tedious compared to painting and I have to hold myself back from starting anything new.
And now, in my opinion, I am faced with the toughest job – finding titles for the paintings. Continue reading →
I have 5 new paintings on the go and I’m eager to tell you about the one that is closest to completion. It’s temporary title is “Garden of Persistence”.
I once looked at a list of 50 invasive weed species in Nova Scotia and recognized most of them because they’re growing at our place! Yet, I see beauty and persistence in all of them. Continue reading →
I’m very excited to be 1/2 of a two-person show in Bear River at the new Sissiboo Coffee Bar and Gallery. The show opens this weekend on Sunday, May 22 at 2pm and displays until the end of June. My good friends Jon and Erin asked me if I would like to be the first artist to show in their beautiful space. I am touched to be asked and very happy to celebrate with them. I asked artist Wayne Boucher to join me and he agreed! His large paintings are gorgeous and luminous. I think our work will look great together. Yeah! Continue reading →
An exciting, painting opportunity presented itself this year.
The Bear River Board of Trade invited me and 6 other artists to paint large murals for public display in the village. Continue reading →
Iris are my favorite personal flowers. The iris in this painting came from blooms in my grandmother’s garden in Toronto over 60 years ago. I paint them every year and think of my mother and grandmother.
My paintings always reflect my state of mine. While I worked on this, I brooded about a problem in my non-painting life that turned this into a very purple and blue painting. But as the week wore on I changed my way of seeing my problem and that’s when I (coincidentally) changed the focal point in the painting to an optimistic yellow iris.
I actually do have some yellow iris like this one, but they didn’t bloom this year. Well, except for on my canvas. 😉
I started this painting outdoors in front of my ‘model’, the flower bed. I have a wonderful pop-up screened tent to protect me from vicious black flies, who are out in full force in spring. The orange curtain is clothes-pinned to reduce the glare from the direct sun.
I bring in the work to refine it in the studio…along with some flowers.
Right this moment, the iris and lupins in my Nova Scotia garden are in full bloom. The landscape is green and purple. I am so inspired and want to share this with you.
..and the posing model. 😉
Lupin painting in progress (detail)
So, I’m taking you with me! Through these peak painting months, I’ll send you a short newsletter every third Monday to share my art experiences – painting iris, painting on Brier Island, co-founding the new Bear River Artworks Gallery. Whew!
On the weeks in between, I’ll send you an image of a recent painting with a little background story.
Just add your contact info at the bottom of this page to subscribe.
Thank you so much, for your interest in my painting news. I’ll talk to you on Monday!
“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake.” ~ Francis Bacon
There were years and years when I believed that all abstract work was bourgeois and decadent and wasn’t actually art. The shift in my thinking has been gradual and unexpected. All I can say for sure is that the more I paint, the more I feel drawn to the work of abstract artists. I notice this when I view art exhibitions or when I look at online works. The bold colorful paintings of abstract expressionists past and present excite and move me.
And yet what I paint still remains literal… That is, the viewer knows exactly what they’re looking at. Even when I try to paint in a non-representational way it gradually morphs into a flower painting or landscape. I can’t seem to help myself.
So I decided to create a series of works that would challenge my way of approaching a painting.
This series that I created for my October 2014 show in Annapolis Royal is my way of abstracting flowers. Instead of painting live flowers, I painted from sketches of mine of live flowers. The “big deal” for me was to use a previous drawing as a point of reference rather than the actual plant or flower.
The original drawings are ink and ink stick on watercolor paper. I cropped them that I would be forced to paint a larger-than-life version of the flower which is also not my usual way of painting.
The finished paintings are one painting removed from the original subject and have morphed into an abstracted painting that suggests a floral theme. I would like to experiment by cropping these paintings and developing new and changed versions of them.
I’ve very excited to explore a new approach to a favorite subject and I can’t wait to hang these in a couple of days at my show in Annapolis Royal. Please come, if you have the chance!
I do and I want to share with you two of my favorite websites that are always playing my music.
If I don’t have specific music in mind, but just a rough idea of “electronic mood music with no lyrics” or “introspective” or “hypnotic ocean waves” or “drinking at a dive bar” 😉 , then I select the website songza.com
All the music is “made by an expert team of music critics, DJs, musicians, and musicologists” and includes over 2 thousand playlists.
Painting a series of musical events from the Rebekah in Bear River.
When I am concentrating on my subject; especially in the beginning of the work, I prefer instrumental music because I find lyrics too distracting. There is a certain amount of tension about getting to a place where there is only color and texture and a creative flow. Sometimes, the music can help me get to that place faster.
Starting with a feeling of colour.
I work with fluid acrylics in plastic, lidded containers in muffin tins. And LOTS of medium. This is a tulip series that I finished and delivered this week to Catfish Moon in Annapolis Royal.
If I have a specific band in mind, then I go tojango.com Like Songza, they bundle playlists and match your chosen musician with similar music.
The work of Marconi Union is ethereal and moody and it really helps me to get in the ‘zone’. If there is a musician reading this perhaps you have the vocabulary or understanding to tell me why this is. All I know is that their music helps me enter a creative space where nothing exists but my close observation of the subject and the moving of the paint on the canvas or paper.
My daughter Emily introduced me to this group several years ago. The kids are good for that. 😉
Drawing into wet watercolour paper with charcoal and watercolour crayons.
Sometimes even music is too distracting. Thats when I open the window and listen to the birds or the frogs/peepers.
I started this large painting outside last summer and am working on it this week.
Today was the anniversary of my dear father’s birth (1910) and death (1996). I don’t know how he managed to enter and exit this existence on the same day, but I think there is something unique, even profound about it. And speaking of coincidences, I know that some of you believe in them and I want to tell you about one that happened to me today that is connected with my father.
When I was about 6 my father came home with a book of the Brothers Grimm Fairytales. It’s the only book my dad ever read to me and when he had time, I’d ask him for the same stories over and over again.
Going for a walk with my dad in Cabbagetown, Toronto.
He wasn’t a perfect father and I certainly wasn’t a perfect daughter but we loved each other and I cherish those memories of being read to and still have that book in my collection.
Fast forward to February. There was a call for submissions to a community art show in Bear River called “Fairy Tales and Fables”. At the time I was organizing a retrospective and sale of my watercolors and had set aside lots of experimental paintings to use in collages.
As well this winter I was frightened by a couple of dogs one of whom had (in my mind) a wolf-like appearance. But did he really? Or was I creating my own fairytale?
I also took this photograph during the January thaw and I loved the perspective of peering into the woods to see people on a path.
Walking down in Kniffen’s Hollow, Bear River.
I drew (pardon the pun) from all of these elements to form an idea for my submission to the art show.
I sketched and cut and pasted a mixed media collection that combined my dog experience with the Red Riding Hood tale.
In my version, the viewer of the painting watches the story from a very safe distance, and from the point of view of the predators, which is why I called it “The Ambush”. I had a nightmare as a child that there were 2 suns in the sky. It was terrifying because it presented a dystopia of an alien solar system. For this painting, I put several moons in the sky to ad a surreal feeling to the work.
Assembling the pieces.
Sometimes our fairytales are self-created. My father’s Canadian fairy tale was about the winter he spent living with his 2 German buddies in a log house they built on their homestead in Alberta in 1931. That experience was so rich for him that he told this story and the details many, many times over until I felt like I had been there.
Horst Doehler, 21 years old and friends in northern Alberta, 1931
When I was thinking this morning about my father and his brief experience in Alberta, the telephone rang.
“Hi Flora. I was wondering if you had sold that painting from the fairytales show. It was my favorite and I’d like to buy it.”
The caller is originally from out west. And do you know what else? I had forgotten that Red Riding Hood is in my Brothers Grimm fairytale book.
Happy Birthday to the man who taught me how to swim, how to tell time and how to imagine a fairy tale.
I am very excited about these images of the foam on the river as the tide came in today. There are so many patterns and variations.
I want to play with these in Photoshop and see what I can do with sandwiching the layers together to come up with a new interpretation.
I have spent the last few weeks immersed in colour after organizing for my art show in the village. After spending last weekend talking to friends and visitors about my colourful watercolours, it feels good this week to experience the absence of colour.
Yesterday I pulled out my watercolours and painted this remembered lake. The marks are created with epsom salts! It turns out to be the perfect type of salt to use for creating this effect.
It was exciting today to see this type of patterning repeated in the river.
This show is a thank-you to my community and admirers for your wonderful support of me and my paintings. I have never shown my watercolours in Nova Scotia and the vast majority of these paintings have never been exhibited. A few of the works are watercolour monoprints. (also one-of-a-kind) At this point in my career as a painter, it’s time to say goodbye to drawers of work to make way for new works. For this reason, the works are for sale this month only at “thank-you” prices from $20 to $175. Shipping is extra. Please email meif you have questions.
Here is a slide show of all the works. Where no ruler is shown, the pieces are about 11″ x 15″.
This last month my morning walk through the village and lanes is dotted with clumps of asters growing in the ditches. They are shades of lilac, purple and a few rare deep fuchsia blooms.With their happy yellow centers, they seem to burst out all over our field beyond the studio. I don’t remember seeing as many of them other years and I’m not sure what was different about our weather this year to encourage them.
Asters have been with us for thousands of years.
I picked a big bouquet of these wild flowers and brought them into the studio to paint.
This vase was made for these asters.
I started with a rough sketch of the flowers using a thick acrylic marker.
Some yellow will peek through my finished painting.
I am intrigued with the effects of clear acrylic mediums and paint on canvas. Some painters like to mix acrylic paint or inks into medium to create a transparency. I like to cover my canvas with medium and then paint into the wet surface and I usually use a thin matt medium to do this. But often that medium dries too fast. So, I’ve been using gel medium more and more which is thicker and takes longer to dry.It also lets the paint lie on top of the gel…but you must gently drag the paint brush across the canvas and try to just touch the surface once! Go in with confidence!
Drawing into the wet gel medium and paint with a rubber tipped tool.
The thick gel has the added bonus of showing every brushstoke which is apparent in this painting.
painting detail
Next, I painted in a yellow background. I liked the colour harmony of the yellow with the blues and violets.
Almost finished.
At this point I felt that I needed to ground the painting so I added a subtle horizon line and slightly darkened the space underneath the line.
I haven’t used this much white paint for a very long time, and I like the results. It really illustrates the airiness and delicate nature of the wild asters that I’ve been enjoying for weeks.
Acrylic painting by Flora Doehler, 2013 The china plate at the top is a gift from my sister, Ellen, in England. The one on the bottom was left behind in this house when we bought it. I treasure them both and don’t they look perfect with this painting!
For now, this painting is available at my studio. Let me know if you are interested in purchasing it. I ship worldwide.
Wild Asters Painting by Flora Doehler 2013 18″ x 24″ $750
Update June 30, 2014
I decided the painting needed more depth so I applied a thin coat of transparent acrylic ink to parts of the painting to give it some depth and definition.
Two weeks ago I was interviewed for the Halifax newspaper “Chronicle Herald”. They ran a piece on Bear Riverfocused on the culture and small town revival in Nova Scotia.
photo by Ryan Taplin of the Chronicle Herald.
The painting on my easel that day was this one of lupins. They are still blooming on the edges of our property and their arrival every year is stunning.
I love the shapes of the pods and the intensity of the purple colour. Although I usually paint outside in front of my subject, this canvas was so large and it was more practical to work in the studio with samples of lupins posing in empty wine bottles.
The article in the newspaper had wonderful quotes from friends who live here and are very happy to have the opportunity to explore their cultural side in a beautiful corner of Canada.
February was a month of amazing opportunities and discoveries — especially with regard to my art career. I had a solo art show in Bear River. The collection of recent works looked strong and I heard some moving, positive feedback about it from visitors. I’m a shy person when it comes to talking about my artwork so it was great practice to talk to people about it and to hear their thoughts. In some cases the paintings evoked strong, emotional stories for individual viewers. I felt so honoured to hear their personal memories and it reaffirmed in me the universality of all of our human experiences. We are all connected.
The Happy Flowers by Flora Doehler. (sold)
Pop-Up Painting Show – DIY
My show was a “pop-up art show”. That’s when the artist rents a venue such as an empty storefront, and organizes the entire show herself. This includes creating labels for the paintings, writing and printing publicity materials, handling the invitations, marketing, hanging the work, planning an opening event, handling sales, delivering paintings, and staffing the show.
It sounds like a lot and it is. In lots of ways creating the work is easier– at least it feels more natural to me. What really helped me to pull this off was:
allowing a good chunk of time to get everything done
online research about tips for self-hosting a show
writing up a list of tasks and organizing it
working through a methodical to-do list
having the support and help of a few good people
making the final decisions myself
My main support, as always, was Larry. He wired up all my canvasses, delivered the work to the gallery, and served people during the opening. He put the show up, took it down, and offered lots of moral support and positive feedback. He did way more than his share of the domestic chores so that I could stay focused on my tasks.
Fortune shone down on me when Rob Buckland-Nicks, owner of the Flight of Fancy Gallery and store in Bear River offered to hang the show with Larry. Because of this the display was professional. The owners of the gallery space at the Rebekah Hall, Jonathan Welch and Erin Schopfer, were very accommodating––In fact their repeated urgings that I hold a show were the push I needed.
My other “invisible” helper was someone whose blog I have read for a number of years. Alyson Stanfield is a guru in the world of art marketing and her book “I’d Rather be in the Studio” is a practical guide that shows ways to use social media for self-promotion. Alyson is big on using the power of an e-newsletter to build excitement and momentum about an upcoming event. Using Mailchimp (free), I sent out several newsletters leading up to the show containing new paintings, instructional videos or other visuals about what people might see if they came. These newsletters served as value-added reminders. I highly recommend subscribing to her blog.
Waving Nicotiana by Flora Doehler. (sold)
Measuring Success
When you come right down to it, the show forced me to get my act together. I finished paintings. I looked at my work with a critical eye. The show gave me goals and motivation. All of the many steps I had to take to get there reminded me that I haven’t lost my ability to organize even though I’ve been out of a formal workplace for over 5 years. I discovered how much I enjoyed having a solo show because it was relatively stress-free. I could make all the final decisions each step of the way and not have to negotiate or compromise. And the viewers weren’t the only ones who had never seen all my art presented together. I had never pulled those 30 canvases out and hung them neatly on the wall lined up with each other either. So the show gave me a good sense of where I have been going these past 5 years and how my work has developed. It was a gift to myself and to my creativity.
And just between you and me, I’m thinking about another pop-up art show–on my birthday. I’m thinking of small pieces–mostly watercolors and mono prints. If you would like to hear more about it, please subscribe to my newsletter. The form is at the bottom of this website.
January Garden by Flora Doehler. (sold)
There have been spin offs too from having this show and I’ll get into that in the next post.
The opening for my painting exhibition was fantastic! Lots of people came to take a look, many having to travel through ice and snow to get there. It was a thrill to talk to people about my Nova Scotia work and wonderful to find new owners for some of the paintings.
The show will be up at The Rebekah Gallery for the next few days and closing at 4 pm on Sunday, Feb 3.
January Garden (sold)
Waving Nicotiana by Flora Doehler. (sold)
I Watched Sumach Dance
Pangean Landscape
Bear River Hills # 1
Bear River Hills # 2
Bear River Hills # 3
Life on the Edge
Winter Fantasy
Red and Green
The Blue Melt
Along the Line of Smoky Hills the Crimson Forest Stands
Pond Cove
Brier Island Afternoon (sold)
Down the Path
Brier Island Summer (sold)
Bear River Wilderness
Bear River Jungle
Cure for the Blues (sold)
Brier Island Heat (sold)
Summer in my Heart (sold)
Tulips
Feeling Sentimental
Pink and Red (sold)
End of Summer
While Bees Buzzed
Just for You
The Happy Flowers by Flora Doehler. (sold)
I’ll be there for 4 afternoons starting tomorrow, Thursday Jan 31, 2013. I have a gorgeous bouquet of flowers to paint and you can see how I work and what materials I use.
If you haven’t had a chance to visit the show yet, or if you would like to view it all again before the show ends, please join me.
@ The Rebekah Gallery 1890 Clementsvale Road Bear River.
Please stop by on these afternoons:
Thursday January 31
Friday February 1
Saturday February 2
Sunday February 3 from 1 pm to 4 pm
Over 30 paintings are on display.
Here is a video to give you a better idea of the size of the paintings.
If you are interested in purchasing a painting, the prices range from $250 to $1300. Payment plans are available too. Email me at flora.doehler@gmail.com
I had an epiphany. I was listening to a woman singing. Her voice was lovely and so was the music. She obviously had great technique. But, something was missing. After watching her for a while, I wanted to send her this thought:
I need to sing like I mean it. I need to let the emotion that led me to write this song come out and be expressed.
Perhaps through fatigue or shyness, she was just going through the motions that evening.
And then it occurred to me that the same is true with painting or with any creative pursuit. It must be injected with some confidence, some passion and some Raison d’être.
Do I paint like I mean it?
Painting by Flora Doehler. c2010
I certainly try to. When I paint it is because I get a feeling of inspiration when I view a particular thing or scene. It sends me to my art materials and I have to work on it right away. Sometimes it all goes wrong, and in my opinion the work falls flat. But unlike a musician, a painter can revisit her work and overlay it with more of the energy and feeling of the initial encounter.
What makes a great painting or a memorable song is more than technique. It’s an expression of a deep energy and feeling. So embrace that passion that inspired you in the first place and use it as the seed of a new creation.
And please, if you can, join me in a celebration of my recent paintings. I would like to share my inspiration with you.
Summer on Brier Island, by Flora Doehler, c. 2012.
Saturday, January 26 – February 3: A BRUSH WITH LIFE: paintings by Flora Doehler
@ the Rebekah downstairs location (1890 Clementsvale Rd.) in Bear River.
Gallery opening with refreshments on Sat Jan 26, 1 – 4 pm.
I will be at the gallery from 1 pm to 4 pm (or by appointment) on the following days:
• Sat. Jan. 26, Sun. Jan. 27
• Thur. Jan. 31, Fri. Feb. 1, Sat. Feb. 2, Sun. Feb. 3
I’ll be painting starting on Thur. Jan. 31. All welcome.
Larry and I are busy creating pieces for the upcoming craft shows in the area.
Our first stop, this coming Saturday, is the Holiday Spirit Craft Show at the Rebekah Hall in Bear River. (See poster below). Continue reading →
I have a strong need to paint from life so wintertime here is a real challenge for me! It is a great feeling to be present with a living flower and to sense the life force of it. Sometimes I paint from photographs I’ve taken, but it’s not as satisfying an experience. Continue reading →
Occasionally I’ll read an article about some old Masters painting that was x-rayed to reveal another painting underneath. The writer will seem amazed and surprised by this. Oh, if those writers only knew how common this is for painters! Continue reading →
Snow has been falling all Coinstar online day and all night. Fortunately, our commute to the studio is a shortcut through the barn and down a snowy path. Creativity calls!
Rust on linen and photo transfer by Flora Doehler.
I’ve been experimenting with dying rusty objects onto fabric. Fabric artist friend of mine, Marilyn Preus, used this technique in one of her beautiful wall–hangings and I had to try it out for myself!
The key ingredient for this is to find rusty objects and we still have quite a few of those in our barn. Thank goodness I didn’t throw everything out when we moved in last year.
Suddenly all those funny bits of nails and who–knows–what seemed like a pirate’s booty and I was so glad that we haven’t quite got to sorting things out in the barn. I was also glad that we saved so many of the handmade nails that came out of our house during renovation. They have all rusted at this point and could be used for my project.
Iron nails that are more than 100 years old.
Rusty nails, hooks and buckles.
Rust dyeing works best on natural fabrics so I used cotton canvas, linen, and silk for my experiment. I also tried dyeing a piece of polyester-cotton but the results were very poor.
After placing my pieces on the fabric, I squirted the entire pieces with vinegar until the cloth was saturated.
Rusted pieces laid out on poly cotton and silk.
I slipped the plastic board that held the fabric into a large plastic bag and let everything sit for 48 hours.
Vinegar dissolves rust.
My art room smelled like a fish and chips store for a few days!
I wanted to use a ribbed pattern to dye the cotton canvas and I found just the thing in an old wood stove pipe that is resting in the backyard.
Thankfully this old stove of ours missed the dumpster.
I brought the stove pipe into the house, and wrapped the cotton canvas around it. Then I poured vinegar all over it and place it in a bag where it sat for 48 hours.
I loved the result when I unwrapped the cloth but unfortunately I washed it before it had a chance to really set so I had to redo my steps again. I learned to rinse in cold water and then let the cloth dry and sit for another 2 days before attempting to wash with soapy water.
The shapes that the ribbing in the stove pipe made are reminiscent of a birds wing. I am now looking for donations of rusted rebar because I think that would be very cool.
Rust dyed canvas from rusted stove pipe.
Why this experimentation with rust dying? I am working on a piece for a show here called “Pirates and Outcasts”. This art show will be part of a Bear River Winter Carnival event. Both are wonderful opportunities to have fun in February.
I have been working with an image transfer as well. It’s an abstracted photo of young men sailing to this new world in the early 1930s. These men were in their 20s and are probably all dead now. One of them was my father although this isn’t a portrait of him per se. In the piece I create, I want to suggest the impermanence of all our situations as well as suggesting that immigrants are both casting out and are outcasts.
I have ideas floating around in my head, but there are still the technical details to master!
This piece was on linen and although I liked the placement of the metal pieces, for some reason I had difficulty getting enough rust on the cloth.
After a couple of attempts I decided to roll up the cloth with those rusty pieces and spray the heck out of it and shove it in a bag for three days!
When it was finished it certainly had a lot of rust marks on it! The shapes weren’t as controlled as I would’ve liked them to be and in retrospect I wish now that the photo image transfer had been larger.
I also rusted a piece of silk and discovered that the most interesting results happened in rusting this piece. Look at the detail in this piece of fabric, especially where the spring was placed.
It is back to the drawing board for me or to the rust heap! I am also experimenting with the image of my young men with paint on a canvas which I may show you next… and there is also the landscapes that I continue to work on… plus I just dug out my weaving books and am considering threading the loom again…. so much to do–lucky me!
It’s absolutely gorgeous outside right now. There is a thick blanket of snow covering the fields, and the hills. With all the leaves gone it is really easy to see through the trees to the hills on the other side of the river. What I see is long stripes of trees that border fields, slashed diagonally by roads that wind their way down the hills.
Looking from the Annapolis side towards Riverview Road.
The colors now are so muted that it is a challenge for a color-loving painter like me to actually paint that scene in a monochromatic way. in fact it would be easier for me to use brilliant colors to depict the snow scenes around me–but I want to try an abstracted approach using muted colors.
Acrylic on canvas.
I start with charcoal drawings to get a sense of the shapes in the distance.
Charcoal sketch of snow scene.
Larry is immersed in creating a pendant and is listening with me to a podcast from This American Life about the fictitiousness of money, starring the Federal Reserve.
I discovered, quite by accident, that if I put my paper on top of the hot wood stove, and draw on it with crayon that the wax melts instantly and leaves a very dramatic line.This must be what encaustic painters experience!
Melted crayon on paper and charcoal.
I chose for my palette:
anthraquinone (blue )
burnt sienna (rust)
raw umber (brown)
titanium white
carbon black
These canvases are 16″ x 16″. I’m using fluid acrylics mixed with matt medium. This one was my favorite as far as the intensity of colour.
I rarely use burnt umber and I never use black. In fact I hardly ever use white either. So all of these choices amount to a complete departure for me. But I was determined to give it a try.
This was my favorite of the 3 canvases as far as paint texture goes.
I will work on them tomorrow with the objective to create a more harmonious look and feel to the 3 canvasses. Although I really like the intensity of the colour, it is more than I intended. But, a reduced colour seems to go against my very nature. I may try to mute things anyway. Stay tuned!
Canvases drying on my new cushioned mats. (I stand when I paint).
This is a good exercise to work on while winter is upon us!
The studio is like a giant playroom for Larry and me.
Our Green Willow tree, Cordelia, has finally dropped her leaves. A Cherry tree stands to the right and produces tasty cherries that drip down your chin in the summertime. Mostly the birds get the bounty as the limbs are too high for us to reach. Our studio is the red building. The other two ‘public sides’ are painted periwinkle blue. We heat it with a wood stove and a small space heater.
2010 was the ‘birthing’ year for our Green Willow Studio. We started with an uninsulated garage and transformed it into a warm, walled and electrified studio! It took us some time to get everything arranged so that a silversmith and a painter could work in the same space. Together, yet apart.
Most of the time it works. We listen to music or to podcasts. We break for tea or coffee and either talk about our work or we go for a walk around the garden to get a different perspective.
It is a thrill for us both to have the luxury of such a well lit room (there are windows on all four walls!) and to be surrounded by garden and a wild field where pheasants live.
As part of the Bear River working artists studio tour it was essential for us to have our studio ready for the beginning of the tourist season in May. We set up a display area in the studio where people can buy our work. We have met some wonderful people that way and have sold some pieces.
Tulips. Acrylic on canvas by Flora Doehler. SOLD
My painting sales this year at the Flight of Fancy, at Paint the Town and in the studio were motivating and rewarding. A series of one-on-one art coaching and tutoring in painting has helped me to share my painting techniques and to practice teaching. Attending the Bear River Artists and Farmers Market nudged me to develop affordable art as well as gave people a chance to see my work.
Larry received jewellery commissions and is showing sculptural pieces at Art and Jules Gallery in Halifax.
“Growth Spurt” hammered copper vessel by Larry Knox, 2010.
Now 2011 lies before us like a blank canvas or like a shiny sheet of copper waiting to be formed.
The possibilities are infinite; the ideas are many and there are decisions to be made about content, about intention, about the best way to express one’s creativity.
Blooming summer flowers were a constant inspiration.
I will spend more time posting to this blog and sharing step-by-step, the creative discoveries and techniques that I am using in my work and that Larry is using in his work. Up until now my blogging focus has been on our day to day lives in our adopted village of Bear River. After three years there are over 100,000 hits on that Blog and it has even brought visitors to Bear River. It’s time for me to shift some of the energy spent in promoting Bear River into sharing our artistic life and promoting our work to the world!
Commissioned copper and silver bracelet by Larry Knox.
Copper pieces.
Larry and I are excited about these developments and we look forward to sharing our creative journey with you in this coming year. Thanks for your virtual visit!
Happy New Year and may you experience many creative moments in 2011 and may some of them be inspired by our creative journey.
While my main form of artistic expression is painting, working with textiles has a big appeal for me too.
Playing with fabric and fibres in the studio.
At different times in my life I have woven, screen printed on fabric and sewed with appliqué.
Hand woven cotton warp.
My approach to textile work is very similar to painting. In both cases I use strong colour; I enjoy lots of texture and I use the interplay of light and dark and complementary colors.
Fabric painted with acrylic, printed with bubble wrap.
Many, many well-known painters have worked in this medium. Last spring in Los Angeles I saw some beautiful paper appliqués by Matisse in the museum there that inspired me to sew this little bag.
Cotton, arctic fleece, netting and ribbon.
My daughter Emilyis an animator and I am inspired by how she integrates her animation sensibilities into her sewing.
Emily designs, sews and paints dolls and creatures.
Another source of inspiration for me is artist’s blogs and sites on the Internet. I check the daily blog of my friend and fellow painter Barbara Muir. I love her use of colour and we had many shows together in Toronto. Her persistence at writing a daily blog about painting inspires me to create and make better use of all the precious time I have.
Barbara drew me while we talked on Skype!
Recently I came across the site of Susan Sorrell, a fiber artist. Her work excites me because of her bold use of color and texture. I signed up for an online class with her called Personal Symbols — who could resist signing up for a course with the name like that!
Susan Sorrell’s work.
Susan has been teaching for a number of years and the course comes with PDF handouts with lots of photographs. She has a forum on the Internet for the class where participants can show and tell their progress. I haven’t used the exact materials on her list. I’m adapting what I already have. Susan suggests painting fabric dye on interfacing fiber, but I’m using canvas and watered-down acrylics.
The assignments use a combination of drawing, painting and sewing which is quite exciting for me to combine.
Combining symbols.
There are at least three assignments connected to each of the six lessos. Ingeniously she had each of us draw and make up some of our own symbols.
My Symbols.
In the following image I have cut out and combined some of my symbols. The fabric is cotton and I ironed a stitch witchery product to the back of the cloth before I cut the pieces out. In this way the pieces stuck down when ironed. Then I embellished it with buttons and beads.
I would like to try some of these techniques in acrylic on a large canvas. It’s nice to know that it’s possible to take a course online and to feel so inspired by it and by the links to images and blogs and websites of other participants.
Susan Sorrell offers quite a few different online courses. Her enthusiasm comes across loud and clear and I would recommend any of her courses. She also hosts a monthly chat with people in the creative arts and that is quite inspiring too.
The course is opening a new world for me…a truly virtual community of people combining paint and fabric and a passion for creativity.
Where does it come from and where does it go to? Like all eternal questions the answers vary from person to person and the reasons are complex.
There are several ‘givens’ for me. My feelings have to kick in. I have to feel an inkling of an inner joy or excitement about looking at the object that I want to paint. I like to be well-rested so that I can focus on the task at hand. I feel especially inspired by nature, by colour, by visual things around me. Sometimes I am amazed by the sight of a flower grouping or a landscape or a cloud formation or even a colour and I want to stop everything and pull out the paints. I like to play music that accompanies my mood and my approach to the canvas.
Cloud in Bear River East
Sometimes a life event will trigger the painting. My painting Exuberance that sold recently at the Flight of Fancy in Bear River may look like a flower painting, but it was really a celebration of a breakthrough in my painting style.
After painting exclusively with watercolours for years, I had discovered fluid acrylics and found them to be a logical extension of wet-in-wet watercolours. Fluid acrylics have both the translucency and brilliance of watercolours with the advantage of the flexibility of acrylic. I was so excited about this and I think that energy came through in the painting.
Recently I’ve been getting my inspiration from beautiful Bear River Blooms on Sissaboo Road. This flower growing farm is worked by the caring hands of Cheryl Stone. Her bouquets are loaded with blooms, they are fresh, cheerful, colourful and the ones I’ve been getting from her have a country-cottage feel to them. How could I not be inspired
I drew inspiration from a bouquet to develop my current painting.
For me, the painting process starts out as an exercise in getting to know the subject matter. I focus on the object so intensely that I don’t want to talk to anyone or to be interrupted. (My wonderful studio-mate and life-mate Larry is very respectful of this).
Next, I choose the colours that I will use. My objective is to narrow it down to 3 to 6 colours. It’s a tough discipline, but it means there will be more harmony in the painting.
I changed the colours of the blooms as I was in an “orange” mood.
The flowers emerge out of darkness and for me, this painting is about the joy I feel in finally being set up in a fabulous studio and having the chance to play with colour.
Into the Light (sold)
It is interesting to me how much more I get out of the flowers knowing they were lovingly grown by someone I know. If you get a chance to go to the Annapolis Farmer’s Market, stop by Cheryl’s booth and buy some old-fashioned blooms that last forever.
Some of the music I listened to was Jane Ira Blooms’ Chasing Pollack. It’s quite jazzy and loose. You can sample it here.
I also listened to the Peat Bog Fairies and you can hear them in the background of this little video of me painting. They live on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, an extremely inspiring place if there ever was one!
The pasty looking gunk on the canvas is matt medium. It allows me to move the paint by scratching it and scraping it. It also dries clear. You can also see which colours I used for this piece.
This month I got out my watercolours and beautiful watercolour paper and painted little landscapes and water scenes.
