"Jam Jar Roses"

Jam Jar Roses", oil on 8x10 canvas

A quick study, and it made a change from cats and dogs!

Babs

Peony in Ichiban Vase

Peony in Ichiban Vase, oil on 8x10 canvas

I was lucky enough to be given a gift made by one of Johns friends it's  a wooden vase with spikes for the flowers so you can arrange and keep them secured in place. Our peonies this year were battered with continuous  rain when in full bloom, but I managed to rescue a few and this is the result of a study I painted today.
I enjoyed it too using bright colours made a change from what  I use for horses or pets.
Thank you Mike, I really like my gift.

Babs

Spring Has Sprung ....Almost

"Spring Has Sprung ....Almost"  8x81 oil on board

Something I know is there is a shipment of baby trees  coming all the way from Oregon, how do I know?

A lady called Ellen she and her family own a Tree farm. Ellen has been in our lives for quite a while she has a blog that we follow called "growing Gills" she's a photographer and writes about all things in nature and goes along with her lifestyle.

She appreciates everything around her and Spring  I think  is one of her special times, lots going on with the Farm and surrounding areas.

She has the ability to see beauty from her family and where she lives.

She can write poetry so well it can bring you to tears or give you a big smile for the day. We enjoy our long distant friendship and treasure her as something special she even follows our blog!

Ellen this is to go with your afternoon tea I painted this a little while ago as it looks like a fine Spring morning.
Thank you for all you do.

Cheers have a fine day.
Growing Gills cab be seen here  : http://roaring-camp.blogspot.ca/


I had to show it on the blog, this little painting has been on my mind to do for a while and for some reason gave me a lot of problems but I like the feel of it it's bright and cheerful .

Babs

Flowers in a glass vase

"Flowers in a glass Vase" oil on 8x10 board

A repeat of an earlier study.

I wanted to paint a still life, last time I managed to make an effort that pleased me , but in the back if my mind I knew I could improve it.

Glass ware is always difficult with reflections and there were plenty! So the need for me was patience and determination.  

The dark background brought out the colours which I like.  

Babs

Casper the Donkey

Casper, oil on 11 x14 board

This is Casper the miniature donkey owned by Kai-Liis Mcinnes an animal lover and artist:

See her at http://www.kai-liis.com/

Kai-Liis says of Casper: "I bought him as a 4-year-old in 2006 - he was living with a potter.   He looks adorable, like Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh - so he came here, to be a companion to my llama, Everest.  But Everest didn't like him, so, as Birkir and Erling were here, Casper went in with them, and Erling acted as a protector for him for the first while."

Bikir and Erling are Icelandic horses that I painted for Kai-Liis recently.

Casper was another challenge he was actually running away from John when the photo was taken, he was rushing to join the two horses. His fur is in between winter and summer so a bit disheveled!

Babs

Art in the Changing Hour

Experiment On A Sunny Sunday.

As we seem to be in a bit of a dream, we decided to use knives, not cooking, but pallet knives and chose Lilac thinking of Spring.

Duelling easels 8x8 oil on board and plenty of it! can you tell who's is whose??

It was fun just trying to make it look like it's easy and flowing trying hard  to make  the picture look like flowers but sort of abstract affect..

But that is not all the experimenting, for later we are roasting a piece of Beef in the Turbo oven.

For sure we will be so worn out we will not feel the effect of the hour change!

Loose Tulips!

Tulips, oil on 8x10 board

Warning step back  when looking at this picture! Squinting is Better!

Another week of freezing cold temperatures ! I didn't realize how much I missed colour ! I did have a lovely pot of Azaleas bright pinky red which are sort of struggling to keep going, they were good to look at and cheered up the Parlour a lot.

But somehow I didn't think about painting them, looking through photo's I found some tulips a small crowd of them different colours, they looked bright and cheery I used 8 x 10 board and got down to painting in a loose style, trying to see the different colours in each one, my suggestion is not to look at it too close as the subject looks all over the place. 

I just had fun with a lot of paint on the pallet to see how it turned out! and here it is,

It took about a couple of hours. I guess you could say it looked like I was going to catch a train and had to finish it in a hurry!

Hey it's all  good practice.

Babs

Friday Afternoon

Sitting out side under the awning on my own with some time, I didn't expect, to myself. It's

roughly 26 degrees very pleasant looking at a newly mowed law and  the greenery around me then looking  at our pink, white, and red peonies. Every few minutes I get a waft of their scent it's delicate for such large flowers and the frowsy loose petals show off their  beauty.


Having a new bird feeder that seems to standing a lot of traffic from some lovely yellow birds mostly coming around lunch time to feed, the chipmunk pops out about the same time for any castings that will give him his lunch. I've watched a black squirrel trying hard to get some seeds from the feeder away at the top which ( thank goodness ) doesn't move.

John has planted pots of red geraniums a Favourite of mine and they are just shooting up very well with lots of buds because of all the rain we have had in the last few weeks, our herbs are doing well too, parsley thyme mint and the bay bush I manage to winter over are enjoying some sun and the breeze.

It's not that often we sit outside, even more so on my own, we rush through the garden more often than not! usually with groceries . Right now I feel very grateful having sat for a while and let nature entertain my mind it"s very relaxing and giving my brain a brief but lovely experience just letting everything slip into the background and taking the time to breath, look and listen like a little vacation that dropped in to say HI wondered where you were!

Babs

Iriae

"Iriae" Acrylic on 45"x22" masonite

Lots of fun and frustration, but I guess all painting attempts are such!
Earlier in the year we decorated our bedroom after the roof leaked and destroyed a wall, but we had a new roof installed and the wall was rebuilt. Then the colours for the walls and bedding and drapes were carefully picked after much "discussion".

The colour scheme is green, purple, white. We had a big sheet of thick masonite which was used as paint tray to stop slops on the floor. So with a brilliant stroke of genius, the wife suggested we paint a picture on it using wall paint, the chosen subject was Irises, using a painting I did a couple of years ago as inspiration, and that we would both work at it.

Well that didn't happen the housepaint is not easy to mix etc, and herself got into painting horses and had no interest in flowers anymore.

So I, brave soul that I am, got out the acrylics and began a journey, with the board flat on the table I sketched, and daubed and using iris pictures from our garden and from a friend's pictures of Iris in his Texas garden (thanks Mike), and some imagination for the leaves and background.

The picture will be hung in the bedroom when we have worked out a method of framing - I just found out one end is 1/2" longer than the other!
John

Magnolias and Me

"Magnolia" oil on 8x10 board

.
I love the scent the lovely shiny leaves and the thick petals of a Magnolia, I have  often had them given to me as a gift. A few years ago I asked John to take a photo of a flower that did particularly well before it faded, unfortunate I am not a good keeper of indoor plants they tend not to last to long in my care. I have a tendency to not water or water too much to catch up, any plant I give it a feed of  Epsom salts or even a little sugar to help with my clumsy gardening ideas.
I think I could destroy an Aspidistra quite easily, not by choice but perhaps over attention.

So I decided to paint one, just to show I really do love flowers of any sort but they will stay with an owner who knows what they are doing and take a picture to enjoy it that way.
The painting was harder than I thought, white picks up light and shadow so I squinted a lot with this painting and found a pinkish hue and deep lavender colours in the petals, as always I could have gone darker but decided to leave it alone before I messed it up completely  being a close up >the background is more like an abstract I think it works though.

Symbolism of a Magnolia. Divine beauty, life force, and perfection

Babs

Roses?

Oil on 8x10 board

Love them and so many different varieties, the two I tackle for practice has given me a new out look on these beauties.

I know patience is a virtue but these really gave me a lot to see, twists and turns light and shade the most complicated flower I think to paint and make it look like what you see!

Amazing when you sit in front of flowers after a while it's not just the main colour you think it is, delicate touches you wouldn't notice at a brief glance and making the depth with a variation of the same hue is fascinating.

So for now before I get totally squirrelly I decided to leave roses alone for a while!
Babs

Oil on 8x10 board

A "Rose" Painting

"Rose" oil on 8x10 board

The first of a series of rose paintings, I want to learn about petals now, what a difference from fur!

This one was from a birthday card, but the next are from very well done photographs.
A whole new experience!

Babs

Watercolor - Painting or Paining?

For Christmas we were given an unexpected gift, a set of watercolour paint!

We have both talked about water colour painting on an off for a while, and here we were with no excuses and decided to try them as soon as we could..

Having all the equipment necessary to start a few days ago we got down to business and worked on our first project I picked some roses. and came up with this:

I am so used to painting with oil paint and realized trying this new medium is certainly a very different technique from what I am used to. I found the paint thinning to hardly a colour and building the petals slowly hardly using the brush and waiting for parts to almost dry before applying similar colour to mix into the petal.

Next my favourite subject, a doggy:

I realized you have to have a different mind set from painting with oil. I managed after a fashion to complete the picture but knew by the end of it my patience had been slowly draining and concentration certainly giving me a hard time. I thought it would be a good idea to show the work I did, but, now at least if I decide to continue, like anything you want to do when it comes to creativity is practice,
Practice ,practice so hopefully watch this space !!

Babs




I tried using watercolours about 8 years ago and after much splashing came up with this:

Last week I used a photo of some hollyhocks resulting in this:













And today a photo of a water-lily led to this:

Watercolour paints are so different than oils it is like learning another language, You have to rely on the paper colour to capture white, it is impossible to predict the results when painting wet on wet. But somehow the process is quite relaxing.
I suggest if you meet anyone who paints with watercolour bow your head and give due respect.

John