Spring - LaPasse

I started this painting in the field and finished it in the studio a few days later, after I had time to reflect on what it was that really captivated me. It was the stillness of the water and the quality of the light which was reflected from the water that really got me going. I also love the greyed yellows of the leafless trees against the true saturated blues of the water and the sky.

LaPasse - sketch

Last Wednesday when the temperature was an unbelivable 88 degrees Farenheit Marina and I drove to LaPasse looking for pools of melt water to paint. There was very little melt water this year which is very unusual. We ended up on the dock/boat launch at LaPasse. It was almost too hot to paint but at the end of the dock a cool breeze from the cold Ottawa River kept us comfortable enough to paint. This is my first sketch of the afternoon, done very quickly to get a sense of the design, colour, etc.

Blue Sky

The Bue Sky in the title refers to the name of the dishes pattern. I remember Phil and I bought these dishes in Ottawa before we moved to Parry Sound where I had my first full time position as a nurse many, many years ago. We were so happy to move to a beautiful town in the north on Georgian Bay where Phil could paint and I could have a beautiful, quiet enviroment to live. I spent quite a bit of time on the arranging and drawing of this piece and unfortunately very little on the actual painting. I was pleased with the colour harmony and the composition but the brushwork needs to have had a little less hurry.

Sugar Bowl with Clementines

Yesterday Marina and I painted again together after a pretty long hiatus,  we had a wonderful afternoon.  She is back from Costa Rica with wonderful stories of warm climate, monkeys and all kinds of wild critters visiting their digs.  I was really attracted to a still life set up she was working on and so joined in and painted her set up.