"A Quite Corner" 24x24 Acrylic on canvas

This painting is from a photo that I had of one of the gardens, at 3 Valley Gap in B.C. My husband and I were passing by along the Trans-Canada highway on our way home from vacation in June of this year. We often stop there to take a few photos and enjoy the view of the lake before continuing on. There's a large hotel there and anyone who has ever stopped or stayed there, can appreciate the wonderful work they do with the gardens. It's well worth the stop. I would say that it is a floral painter's haven. You can spend a lot of time there painting small quite sections of the flower beds or painting the great views of the lake and surrounding mountains. I was just thinking that this area would make a nice destination to go to, to attend a painting workshop. Any artist's out there listening!  As for this painting, it's painted loosely and I just had to capture the Lupins in it, which were huge at the time I photographed them. It reminds me of a Gauguin style painting. I will have to do more garden paintings, they're fun to do and a real challenge at the same time. 

"Granny Apple Trio" 11x14 Colored Pencil Study on Canson Paper

Oh no, more fruit! Yes, more fruit. I'm having alot of fun drawing fruit with my colored pencils these days. They are actually relatively simple to draw as you don't have to get the shapes down perfectly. Although, the lone apple on the left does look more like a kiwi then an apple. Now there's a thought! Ah! Just kidding!  The hard and tedious part of coloring is all the layering as you know. That takes more time and effort in order to make them look real. If you are wondering what kind of colored pencils I use, not to sound like an advert, but I like using Faber-Castell Polychromos Pencils. They are oil based pencils and don't produce a wax bloom on your work. I do have some other varieties of colored pencils that I sometimes use but Faber works best for me. As for my next post, I did a little painting with my acrylics and I'm just finishing  that now. And, no, its not fruit.  Stay turned for the next one.  

"Carnation" 9x12 Colored Pencil Study on Strathmore Pastel Paper

A few days ago, I bought a small bunch of carnations. As I was preparing to place them in a vase, I remembered seeing those beautiful books on flowers that are drawn by botanical artists. They are flowers drawn in intricate detail on white paper. I really love seeing those types of drawings and in my own attempt to try to acheive in producing the same kind of floral art as the experts, I chose a single carnation out of the bunch, held it in my hand and began to draw it with my colored pencils. It's not that easy to keep on holding it while drawing, but I was able to manage it. Anyway, this is the result. Not too bad, I think!

"Found Objects and Yellow Daisies" 12x16 Colored Pencils on Canson drawing paper

My latest Still Life colored pencil drawing, features found objects that I picked up at a thrift store for under a dollar each. The small orange cup to the left is a pottery piece made by someone who obviously didn't like how their piece turned out. It looks a little crooked but I still like it and wanted to keep true to its form. The blue vase is also a hand made piece and the green vase is factory made and both are crooked as well. No matter, found objects together can make a nice drawing or painting. They add interest and make a pleasing composition by way of color and form. I added a few yellow daisies that I bought from the grocery store and voila! I enjoyed working on this drawing but I have to admit that with my busy schedule, it took over a week to complete and I was getting a little tired, and now, I am anxious to move on to something else. 

"Wild Rose" 6x8 Colored Pencil Study on Strathmore Pastel Paper

To start off the month of July, I decided to draw this wild rose. They are the floral emblem of the province of Alberta, in Canada, adopted in 1930. They are a flowering shrub and seem to grow everywhere in Alberta. They bloom from late May and last until early August. What I didn't know about them is that the wild rose can be used in the manufacture of perfume. It's no wonder, they smell so nice! I used a 9x12 green pastel paper which compliments the colors in the drawing and I used lots of layering of different colors of greens and pinks to enrich all the tones. This drawing was a fun piece to do.