Yukon College Workshop: Paint Winter with a Klondike Cabin

We had a workshop with a group of locals at the Faro, Yukon College Campus this Saturday past.  Paint a snow scene with a Cabin and the winter moon. We used 6x8 canvases and acrylic paint, chocolate cookies and coffee!

 I painted an acrylic painting a few years ago of this theme, which gave me the idea - it is shown below.  We had a great time and a lot of the ladies that attended this class have been painting for quite some time. Some of them attended a series of workshops I ran  weekly in 2013 - funded by Recreation Parks Association .  After the workshop series was over, a lot of them kept on painting ..... I love their enthusiasm & results!

Klondike Cabin 2013
 8x10 Acrylic on Canvas

The Ladies' Paintings - Beautiful!

Painted this one as a demonstration :)
8x10 Acrylic on Canvas

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Forest Lover - North End Gallery Whitehorse

When I picked the theme Forest Lover for this solo exhibition- I had a lot of the paintings in my mind before I even started.  I love the forest.. It surrounds me, my home so it has permeated my sub-conscious.   Our cabin is nestled in the spruce trees  near a pond and by the river.  There are a lot of trees! aspens and poplar mixed in with those spruce and the occasional pine. The mountains are there but in the background- gentle old mountains not dramatic peaks but a comforting presence.

When you come off the highway you drive for a kilometre (half a mile) to get to our home.  On the left side the lane follows the river banked by the moss covered forest with lots of deadfall.  I often walk along the river. A few days ago it was so beautiful!  You could see the water running over the aqua ice as freeze up is not yet complete; hoarfrost over all the trees including the alder leaves and the sun was shining through them - they were glowing a burnt orange, painters know it as burnt sienna. A humbling experience it is to see all this beauty and then try to capture it with your paintbrush.  Of late, I have made a point to just go out and enjoy it.  My snowshoes will become regular attire now.

I started the work for this show on September 27th and took the show into Whitehorse on Nov. 2.  The roads were very bad - freezing rain mixed with snow on mountainous roads in the Yukon do not make for good driving. A few years ago I had a very bad accident on the highway so I find it hard when this time of year comes again.  I took my time driving, instead of 4 hours it took me 5 & a half. I thank God I made it there in one piece.

The paintings I hope tell their story.  Forest Lover I am and will continue to enjoy it's beauty.

Here are 5 of the 15 paintings in the show.  Will post some more in the next few days :)

Forest Floor Study at Magundy
11x14 Acrylic on Canvas
Sold

Midnight Sun Burn (near Eagle Rock)
24x36 Acrylic on Canvas

Yukon Pond Reflections
16x20 Acrylic on Canvas

Foliage by the Magundy
11x14 Acrylic on Canvas

The Pond at Magundy
16x20 Acrylic on Canvas

Paint Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia July 8 - 10th

Plein Air Painting At Peggy's Cove 

What a blast! I was on site all three days for this wonderful festival, Saturday 8th, Sunday 9th and Monday 10th of July between 10am and 5pm. I was born and raised in Nova Scotia and have visited Peggy's Cove but nothing prepared me for the experience of watching the phenomenal changes in ocean and sky that occurred daily over the 7 hours of painting. The weather was ever-changing from rain &fog in the morning to hot sun and wind in the afternoon.  It was exhilarating and inspiring to watch the water and sky change so dramatically and I did my best to capture its beauty!

I met so many nice people, from all over the world. At my easel I sold one of my Yukon Northern Lights painted on a fire-killed spruce wood cut from the forest near my home to a man from Bosnia who loved the aurora and a small painting study of a dory that was in progress on the wharf on day 3  to an enchanting 9 year old girl named Mitra who wanted to buy the painting right there  and as is! (her parents obliged :)  So encouraging! These are the experiences that make painting worthwhile! When your work moves, inspires and brings happiness to others. It was inspiring for me to see all the other artists works and I enjoyed meeting many of them.

Each Day's Work as well as studio pieces of my work were on view and for sale in the large Mongolian Yurt ( round tent) located a short walk from the Peggy's Cove Lighthouse. I put a selection of Yukon art in the Yurt. There were lots of maritime scenes of boats, lighthouses and ocean- very beautiful for sure but I wanted to show them my beautiful wilderness, the mountains, northern lights and fireweed. I am a Yukoner now not a bluenoser :)

It was a great challenge to paint outdoors again and I look forward to another festival somewhere in Canada again next year!  If any of you have suggestions, I would be grateful if you would please let me know in the comments. For any artists interested the  Paint Peggy's Cove Festival of the Arts, was a well-organized, professional event.  The organizers were helpful, hospitable and supportive and I would recommend it to other artists as a great experience.  The ocean, scenery and people were spectacular! Best.... Jackie

 Day One by the Yurt:

 Day 2: by the Visitor Information Centre

Well, of course! .... the Lighthouse :)

Day Three about to begin on the Wharf

My Yukon!

These were some of my Yukon Paintings that Sold!

Paintings & Letters by the Grade One Students, The Children's School, La Jolla California

I am so thrilled to see some of the Northern Lights Paintings made by the students in California. Some of these children have never seen the Northern Lights before.  Their works are very inspiring! I received these lovely letters from the students and sent them each a reply with a Northern Lights Art Card. 

 Mural of Northern Lights by the Students

Sticks and Stones: Group Show, Yukon Artists At Work Coop Gallery

Sticks and Stones, a Group Exhibition 

 in Whitehorse opened on April 7th, 2017

Magundy River Gravel Bar is the first painting I made for the show, I was picking stones the day I stood out here last summer. It was an incredibly beautiful day, vivid blue sky and sunshine. Some of the stones are by my easel in my studio.  I spend a lot of time by the river as it is 60 metres from our cabin. I also found a beautiful heart-shaped rock, it sits beside me at my table. 

Title: Magundy Gravel Bar

16x20" Acrylic on Canvas

This is painting No. 2 for the Show. My lane is a kilometre long; this spot is about halfway down where the pond is. A special place for me; I often go here to meditate/pray. I love the dead branches that lay in chaos strewn on the forest floor, it gives me a feeling of peace to know that life is always in process. In the natural world everything is not ordered and logical but there can be decay and growth side by side. 

Title: Magundy Deadfall

24x24 Arcylic on Canvas

Finished Northern Lights Painting from Demo for Grade One Students

Here is the finished painting!  A few things to tell you......

I used a light blue paint and put snow on the trees.  I put some mountains in the background along the horizon.  Also some rocks in the foreground. AND....STARS!  I use Blue, Yellow, Green, Pink  and White dots to make the stars in the night sky.  

I am hoping that I will be able to put your paintings on my blog when you are done

so everyone can see your paintings as well. 

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PAINTINGS!

8X10 

Aurora Borealis Demonstration

Acrylic on Canvas

Colours for Northern Lights

 Stay Wet Palette and Brushes

 Outside the Cabin

And.... Meet Chevy .... she is waiting to go for her walk :) 

Northern Lights Painting Demos for Grade One Students

This is a very simple demonstration ( in five parts) of how to paint the Northern Lights.

We've seen them a lot lately in our night skies because when it gets very cold outside the skies get very clear and you can see the stars and the lights too!  I told you in the video it was -34 this morning.  I cannot walk Chevy for very long when it is this cold because her little feet get very cold!

You will notice that I have not put too many details in the painting ..... You can use your imagination to decide what you put under your sky!  In Part 4: I show you that I put in a horizon line and some water and a row of trees with their reflection.  You may choose to put a row of big spruce trees or some mountains.  That is the BEAUTY of painting.... you get to decide! 

Wishing you the very best with yours :) 

In the next post you will see the finished painting.

Part One:  Set Up and Materials

Part 2: Working on the Sky

Part 3: More On the Sky

          Part 4: Adding Some Water & Horizon Line           

                    

Part 5: Putting in Trees and Reflection

For The Children's School Grade One Class in La Jolla California, Part 1

Hello from the Artist! to the Students of the Grade One Class at the Children's School!

Painting.... creating art has been something I have done since I was younger than you!  I remember being 5 years old and colouring with crayons in a book.   I felt a sense of frustration when I was colouring because the colours I wanted to create were not in the box!  I took the crayons and pressed very hard to make the colours very vivid and then the  people ... well!  I had to create the colour of their skin. This involved using the white crayon the orange crayon, red crayon and brown and blending all these crayon colours together.  I used the crayons like oil pastels. My mother watched in fascination as I did this.
As the years continued, I acquired some paints and I was always drawing, colouring & painting.  In high school.  I was lucky enough to be able to have a wonderful art department at my school  and I studied art and art history.

I have always enjoyed mixing colours and in particular deep vibrant  and bright colours -they are a big part of my painting today. Colour enables me to create a sense of drama, mood and to evoke emotion.  I also like the play of light and dark in a painting as well.  This is the reason I really LOVE to  paint the Northern Lights and Sunsets. They make me feel so happy!

A Larger Northern Lights Painting 24x24 inches 

Right now in the Yukon we are still very much in the midst of winter.  Today it is - 25 degrees celsius  and there is a bitterly cold wind blowing.    I have my friend's little dog with me that I am looking after for a couple of months while she is in Florida!  Lucky her :)  Chevy and I go for a walk daily and when we come back I usually paint.  It is important that we both get outside  for a bit.  The cabin is not really big and you can get cabin fever if you are in for too long without going out!

I have a attached a little video as an introduction to the students of The Children's School in La Jolla California and a picture of some of the work I have been painting in the last few weeks in preparation for the upcoming summer season. Things open up in the summer months here in the northern part of the world. We have winter tourism that is growing especially around the Northern Lights, lots of people come from Japan to see the lights but in the summer lots of visitors fly from Europe and the U.S. Many travel the Alaska highway to come to the Yukon and go to Alaska.  We are known as the land of the Midnight Sun!  Your teacher can explain this to you :)

Smaller Paintings from the last few Weeks

What the Yukon Summer looks like. The fireweed in this painting 

is what grows after a fire has burned in an area. A beautiful purple flower. It is the official flower of the Yukon Territory.