China Town and the Salt Mines

 What does Chinatown have in common with the salt mine? One, they waited a long time for me to paint them, and two, they both had strong under painting. It is proving a challenge to paint the water over red. 

Goderich salt mines, underpainting

The initial drawing is covered up entirely but I try to leave sparks of the underpainting peeking through in small amounts. Blocking in dark areas is fairly quick and very satisfying!

Chinatown, sketch, underpainting and 90% finished,
These are Acrylic, 8x10 on stretched canvas.

My brushes are a mixture of sizes. I want less fussiness so I choose the largest I think I can work with. Ideally, each small painting, if successful, could be made bigger with a similar approach. The Salt Mine, Goderich has subject matter I love. I wish it could look more like Hester Berry painted it! Ah, well, perhaps in time. I think the umbrella in China town needs more bright saturatied colour, and the hats and sign lettering need addition, as well as the flag lettering details. The blue sign at the to needs the top truncated to get the cantilever in the architecture back.

I’m using a new medium for these, by a Canadian company - “TriArt” that offers better UV protection, and improves the stroke.

Fields North of Newmarket, March in the grip of winter

Fields North of Newmarket, March in the grip of winter

8 x 10 ins, ins, landscape, Pastel on Strathmore Paper, winter

An over-cast day offers so little in the way of inspiration, contrast or colour. The undulation of these low hills always catches my eye though, as we fly past in the car homeward bound. I want this to be part of a series of pastels. I want it to convey the hard-scrabbles bits of snow left clinging to the corduroy plough lines. The colours needed juicing up, especially since a great distance sweeps so far back in space. A little chalk mark becomes 25 acres! Focal point in the composition worried me as I set out- but then I looked closely and discovered a horse hidden in the bush. She looks a little cold, bored and lonely... how we pine for spring’s arrival at this time of year!

Bye Dad, I love you

The photo of Dad was taken about 20 years ago... he liked nature and the land, and shared it with us, peppered by anecdotes from his lifetime there, like where they used to boil maple sugar, watching thunderstorms and identifying trees with pet names. He and my uncle created this pond by drag-lining a large bowl into the soil of a marshy valley, and we grew up swimming and skating on it, and barbecuing down there after a hot day. The dog was two years old and my daughter not much older than that. I love the energy of the dog moving away from us as if he spotted an adventure around the corner. The second version was completed just after Dad passed, last March of 2018. Red and orange underpainting really helped the colours. Softer chalk built up in layers gives the edges more softness and subtlety. I wanted it to have that frosty, misty appearance the photo has, but with the colours richer and more alive. People who know me recognize the pond as a happy place with memories of friendship and fun. Thanks, Dad.

Across the Pond, Pastel on paper, 8 X 10 cold-pressed Strathmore

March, 2019

Mount Pleasant

A friend and I painted "en plain air" in mid-afternoon. Magnificent trees were turning fall colours, and though the day was not sunny enough, the landscaped offered deep spaces framed by the branches. A passer-by wants the paintings, as they commemorate the place and a person they care for.