"Ducky!"

The duckling is finished! Or, more accurately, the water around the duckling is finished. The water is what seems to have taken the longest to do. It's been some time since I've done water but as it happens watercolour lends itself very well to the subject matter. Shocking, I know.

The challenge with painting the duckling's reflection was to blend the blue of the water into the yellow of the reflection without introducing any unwelcome green. Now as I look at the image on my computer monitor, the blue grey in the background seems to have picked up a greenish tinge, but I'm here to tell you I don't know where that came from because it's not in the original. I guess it's time to make better friends with the colour correction tool on photoshop.

I can't post a picture of this painting without mentioning that Clarence is in love with "ducky." While I was painting this, Clarence would shout "ducky, ducky" and then take his small stuffed animal duck and throw it at me over the baby fencing that protects my work space from his little grasp. Very cute. I'm going to send this watercolour out to have prints made, but after all of Clarence's enthusiasm for ducky, I think the little bird had better find his home in Clarence's room.

The Miscellaneous Portfolio

Now that I've participated in the last Holiday Makers' Market for 2010, I'm refocusing some energy on sprucing up the ol' website. As I've alluded to before, the technology side of things isn't my strong suit but I do find it helps to do computer related things at night. Daylight is for painting. Clarence has gotten back into monster naps, as I like to call any nap that goes beyond 1.5 hours, which has allowed me to get a fair bit of painting done during the day. So I suppose I can't begrudge the computer for keeping me from watching lousy sitcoms and reruns of design shows at night.

I'm finding the challenge with the website is how to organize the images, especially when there's a piece I'd like to show but not very many examples of that kind of work. Case in point is this oil painting I did about three years ago for the Dundas Valley School of Art Annual Auction. I did this from a photograph I took of the city as I looked out from the Wentworth stairs near Concession street.




I suppose one solution is to do more paintings in this style. I suppose that's one of the good things about art: you can always look forward to doing more.

Christmas Reindeer

I met a lot of nice people at the Makers' Market this past Saturday and was happy to sell a few things as well. I'm looking forward to this coming Saturday's market at Christ's Cathedral, 252 James Street North, Hamilton. The market begins at 10am and goes till 4pm. I have another Christmas card design that I'm going to be selling:

In other news, my latest watercolour painting is coming along. I'm tempted to post a picture of it incomplete, but it just wouldn't be fair to introduce the little duckling to the world without giving him all his feathers.

Sophisticated babies and other matters

In a little less than two weeks, I'll be presenting my wares for sale at the Holiday Makers' Market. The market is happening Nov 27, from 10-4 at St Paulʼs Anglican Church, 1140 King Street West, in the Westdale neighbourhood of Hamilton. I'll also be participating in the Maker's Market on Dec 4 at Christ's Church Cathedral, 252 James Street North.

Phew, I'm excited and a little nervous as this will be my first time setting up shop at an arts and crafts show. I thought I'd give a little preview of some of what will be for sale. If I were a little more computer savvy I'd know how to label these images with their dimensions and prices. Sigh, I'll comfort myself with the thought that if I were more electronically competent perhaps I wouldn't be indulging in watercolours in the first place.

So all the images you see here will be for sale as high quality reproductions known as giclees. The Sparrow, Squirrel and Spangled butterfly are 12" x 10" (including a one inch white border) selling unframed for $40.00 each. The Robin and Cardinal are 12" x 12" (including a one inch white border) selling unframed for $45.00 each. And the Goldfinch,Chipmunk, and Monarch are 11" x 10" (including border) each for $35.00. But if you're buying more than one of these puppies, we might be able to work something out ;)

This woodland creature kick that I'm currently on started out as a project for decorating Clarence's baby room. The originals of the monarch, finch and chippy are in his room. From there, the wholesomeness has just spiraled out of control. Some of these images could definitely provide bedroom decor for that sophisticated baby on your Christmas shopping list. Not to mention, delight the bird lover in your family. If you'd like to purchase a print but can't make it out to the Makers' Market, just send me an email and we can make arrangements.

Bunny Rabbit?

I’ve finished another watercolour. This one was inspired by one of my toddler’s favourite books, Hop. Seeing illustrations of so many cute bunnies gave me the irrepressible urge to paint my own rabbit. What’s the difference between a bunny and a rabbit? It seems that baby rabbits are called bunnies, but to my mind ‘bunny’ is what you call a really cute rabbit. In which case I’m going to go ahead and call my rabbit, bunny.
Another wonderfully illustrated book I’m reading with Clarence is called Quack! In case there’s any wonder as to what that reading material could possibly lead to, here’s the preliminary painting I did yesterday.