A lady in Greece - This image caught my eye and it is one I painted a few years ago...I think if I did it now I might emphasize some of the darks.  I have found getting some "pow" into the darks  really makes a difference on your painting.

Here is the picture I did today...I did lose a little of the yellow centre which I can still save with a little lifting.

This is a l0x14 painting.

Since I live in the garden city of Canada (Victoria area) I am passionate about painting flowers.  There is never a lack of subject matter everywhere I look.  At the moment the peonies are coming to an end and I I am currently finishing up one now.  I'll post it later.

This poppy is very light and airy, and I have enjoyed painting it many times.  I do know the proper name but for the life of me can't think of it right now.. If you know let me know :)

Blue Poppies are a very rare type of poppy from Tibet ( I believe)  The local world famous Butchart Gardens has beds of these beautiful flowers.

This is the time of year that the cruise ships are visiting Victoria on their way to Alaska.  This is a painting I did on my cruise a few years ago.  This painting has sold.

Happy Father's Day to all you wonderful father's out there!  It was a wonderful day at our house and since "Father" doesn't want anything he got alot of chocolate :) yummy you can't miss with chocolate!

Since I live on the ocean front herons are a regular visitor.  Standing so quietly and patiently for their meal.

This heron I painted a few years ago has been a great seller on my gift items (trays, trivets and coasters). 

Maybe we should all stop awhile and stand still and watch the ocean waves instead of rushing around like mad... sound like a good idea?

I had a wonderful day last week at a Stick Painting one day workshop. We had a model, plain paper and a dowel broken in half and we were off to the races! You had to work very quickly to get the outline down in a few strokes.

You hold the stick near the end so you get quick lines. The idea is not to work like a drawing but a sketch. You then can take a brush and wet the ink to make shadows, etc.

It is a great way to free up your work.

This is the attempt at painting a dog.... well it isn't great but it passes as a dog right?

Hurrah the sun is shining and the birds are singing! We have had so much drizzly weather that I personally needed a break!

My challenge this week is to paint a dog...I haven't had much luck with animals but I will post the end result anyway.

SPRING STUDIO TOUR

JUNE 12 -13

10 - 4 P.M.

EVERYONE IS INVITED TO COME FOR A CUP OF COFFEE AND BROWSE THROUGH MY NEW WORK AND SEE THE WONDERFUL GIFT ITEMS I HAVE FROM MY ORIGINAL ART.

TRIVETS, TRAYS, COASTERS, NOTEPADS, NEEDLEPOINT KITS, AND MUCH MORE!

2362 WEILER AVENUE

SIDNEY, BC.

I did this painting in Frank Webb's workshop. I had the rock and trees on the left almost the same size as the one on the right. He suggested I crop it and it makes a much nicer composition.

Frank gave demonstrations on different ways to approach your painting. One of them was patchelism. He wet his paper and laid in colours with a flat brush making sure the colours met so they would run together a little. This made a wonderful colourful painting.

One of the classes with Frank Webb was underpainting with warm colours (or cool) and leaving your whites just as white paper. This gave all of his work such a punch.

This was the one I did that day.

A wonderful painter and instructor...Frank Webb and myself at our workshop this week.

FRANK WEBB WORKSHOP

Tomorrow is the beginning of a 5 day workshop in watercolour with Frank Webb who is one of the guru's of watercolors.

I will give a running report so you can enjoy the workshop too!

Let's talk about Watercolor paints. I have found that I use a combination of different brands I like W&N of course, but I have found you can't compare some of the colours that Daniel Smith has in his quinacradone line. Q Gold is my all time favourite as it is such a great tranparent colour to get a glow on your flowers, etc.

I like the size of the Davinci for the price and I have found them to be just fine.

Cheap Joes has a few in his American Journey series that I use but I find it prohibitive because of the customs. I also like some of Holbeins. Tom Lynch gave a workshop here recently and he only uses Holbein. He claims that they lift so easily and have a clear, bright hue.

What do you use?

This is the finished piece that Kim has been working on and I think it is a beauty! Congratulations Kim.

This piece was learning how to blend the colours so there were no "hard" edges. We have incorporated some "soft" edges throughout the painting. The idea was to change your colour every few inches to make your painting more interesting especially in the background.

When we thought we were almost finished we set it up and took a good look where it needed to be stronger or pushed more into the background. We also chose the "queen" of the painting and made it more prominent...can you find it?

I like to glaze with Quinacradone Gold to unify the painting and give it a soft glow.

Not a great shot but these were two of my paintings at the SPAC Spring Show this weekend. I was thrilled to win two Juror Awards and then I sold one of my paintings

HURRAH