2014 Paintings 1

June was all about paintings.  I got about 25 paintings done through almost-daily practice, mostly landscape, mostly from photos I've taken on my travels over the years.  It was a good exercise, I'm kind of sorry I stalled out right after Art Walk.  Neil left for his conference, there was a heat wave that made working in the studio unpleasant and I spent a week in the basement among some of the greasiest dust bunnies I've ever encountered.  The next couple of paintings went particularly poorly.  It's enough to stall anyone.

While I'm trying to get back to the studio I'll be working on pencil crayon stuff, comics and sketches.  In the meantime I might as well show off the fruits of my labours.  All acrylic on hardboard.

Evening Sail.  From a photo I took on Vancouver Island a few years ago.  Sold at Art Walk to a nice lady who is displaying my art in her tea shop right now.

Farm Shack.  From a photo I took last year near Sherwood Park.

Chair Garden.  From a photo I took in Montreal a few years ago.

Montserrat.  From my Barcelona photo set.  I quite like the textural look one gets on rocks by applying paint with a palette knife.

Above the Badlands.  I quite like this one.  Not sure anyone else did, but I don't care.  I snapped a bunch of photos from the car on our Drumheller/Waterton trip.  Love those Alberta fields!

This was a good learning experience and I should really continue it.  I'm not sure I learned a whole lot more about painting, but I sure learned a lot about choosing a subject!

Journal Sketches - Cafe Plume

It was a chilly morning in Montreal and we rode our rented bikes to Cafe Plume for coffee.  It was busy and we didn't stay there long, just long enough to inhale a couple of lattes and for me to sketch this guy.  I liked how he was framed by the window and the plant.

Journal Sketches - Miso Ya

The weather turned cool suddenly.  I wanted to go downtown and sketch some of the architecture but we had to find a place where Neil could sit and work while I sketched, where I wouldn't freeze, and where interesting architecture could be seen.  We ended up in a lounge on the second floor of one of the Concordia University buildings.  Good old school campuses, they never let you down.

My brother went to Concordia and it was interesting seeing his school.

Son of Montreal People

Forgot to post this pic from Montreal. There's a few others as yet unscanned that should go up one of these months.

More Montreal People

On our last full day in Montreal we went to Tamtams, the gathering at Mont Royal Park where people play the drums, dance, juggle, conduct mock battles, make out on the grass and have a good time in general. I had a fun time dancing even though the heat and humidity were downright nasty and Neil was inexplicably disgruntled by the whole thing.  I have never had a pair of jeans actually be stuck to my legs before.

Anyway, I sketched a few people while I was there.  Here's a dancer, a juggler and a vendor of hippie equipment.

Montreal People

A lady I saw in a mall in Montreal. It was rather difficult finding a place to sketch that had a decent view of either scenery or people that Neil would not get bored with rather quickly.

Parc La Fontaine 2

I got the name of the park wrong in my sketchbook.

Anyway, more life sketching from Montreal.

Cafe Neve

Neil really liked going there for coffee. We went there pretty much every other day for 2 weeks.

At one point we decided to have lunch there (try the green salad with bacon MMMM) and I got a chance to sit and sketch for a bit.

St. Denis

Sketched this while sitting on the patio of Le Saint-Bock in the Latin Quarter of Montreal. They have good beer there.

I think this is one of the Frites Alors restaurants that I sketched out. It was dark, and I was somewhat beered up.

Parc La Fontaine

It is danged difficult to draw people out in public without them shuffling around or noticing what you're doing.

Parc La Fontaine, Montreal.

Old Factory

Did some sketching from life while I was on vacation this summer. These are the remains of the Five Roses Flour factory on the waterfront.

Big, rusty, and looks absolutely gorgeous in the light of the setting sun.