Still Life Sketch

This is an 8x12 inch graphite sketch on sketch paper.

Summer Landscape

This lanscape ia a 10x12 inch pastel on sanded paper.

Frazer River Sketch

This little landscape is another 9x12 sketch in acrylic on watercolor paper.

Abandoned

This 9x12 landscape of an abandoned rural house is an acrylic sketch on watercolor paper. While I like the composition of this sketch, I'm not sure the values work. The old house gets lost in all that green, and so do the flowers in the foreground. A bit more value contrast is definately in order when this becomes a larger work.

Les Toit Rouge

The Red Roofs

This is the third of the paintings that I have placed at Maison Catherin'Art. It is a 15x15 landscape in oil on watercolor paper. If it seems a bit out of focus its because its framed under glass. I didn't want to go to the trouble of pulling it out of the frame to photograph it. Lesson learned--photograph before framing.

Lightning Storm

Tempete Eclair

This 16x20 landscape oil on watercolor paper is one of the three that I have on display in the gallery at Maison Catherin'Art.

Stanley Park Ducks

This is a 10x13 inch pastel on sanded paper. Again, this landscape is less about the land than it is about the reflections of the sky in the water of this quiet pond in Vancouver's Stanley Park.

Big Sky

This little landscape is a 5.5x10 inch oil painting on sanded pastel paper. Perhaps it should actually be called a skyscape since it is more about the the depth of perspective in the sky than it is about the landscape itself. The trail leading out of the meadow and seemingly into the sky serves to emphasize the expansive depth of the sky.

A word about the technique of painting on paper. The initial underpainting is done with paint heavily diluted with turpentine. This gives the paint qualities more closely associated with water colors, but with a great deal more control. Subsequent layers are thicker, and the final touches, the highlights on the trees for example, are directly from the tube.

Wreck beach sketch

Thought for the week:

The Buddhist prayer chanted by the monks of Myanmar in front of the home of Aung San Suu Kyi in September:

“May we be completely free from all danger, may we be completely free from all grief, may we be completely free from poverty, may we have peace in heart and mind.”

I went back to some of my old sketch books and found this graphite sketch of Vancouver's Wreck Beach that I did back in the summer of 2001. I'm thinking this might make an interesting pastel what with the weathered greys of the wood and the light and shadow on the rocks.

Intimations of summer

This 11.5x16.5 pastel on sanded paper is based on the sketch I posted a couple of days ago. I'm surprised at how well the glass of the window turned out. It's the first time I've tried to render window glass in pastel. The berries look rather yummy too.

Merci pour les fraises Margo.