"THIS IS MY COUNTRY. WHAT I WANT TO EXPRESS IS HERE AND I LOVE IT. AMEN" - EMILY CARR (MAY 1934)

Sunday, 22 January 2012

Colour Stories with Children

"A Party with Glowing  Red, Shining Yellow & Deep Blue"
Watercolour, 8"x10" Workshop Demonstration for the kids:)
View photos of workshop at the bottom of this post.
Here's the story:  
"One day tippy paintbrush got out of his blanket ( terry cloth for mopping excess water off tippy) and cleaned  his feet in a warm bath (clean water jar).  He was so happy because it was a beautiful day and he couldn't wait to go outside and play with the warm  sun.
So tippy dipped his feet in shining yellow and the sun came to play.
The sun danced here and shone there and tippy(the paintbrush) moved his feet around and around. 
This made tippy feel so happy and wonderful and warm inside. 
He dipped his feet again and again and the sun was shining so brightly.
(the paper is getting yellow) 
Then tippy decided to call on his friend glowing red and ask him to come play so tippy washed his feet and dried them on his towel which he always does before he visits another friend and then he dipped his feet into glowing red and they all went outside to play in the sun.  Red jumped here and danced there and held yellow's hand as they ran  across the meadow.  Glowing Red and Shining Yellow  were the best of friends  and so they decided to ask deep blue, and to their surprise orange and purple came out to play too, ...
and so  the story goes......"


On Friday, I did 2 one-hour long workshops with children Age: 6 and under.  The youngest about 2 and a half.  The classes were held at the local recreation centre and I have to tell you it was the highlight of my week (maybe even the month!)
This class is not about producing pictures or showing children the right way to paint: it is about the sensory experience of a young child playing creatively with paint.
 Pure watercolour pigments are pre-mixed in small white custard bowls, 140 lbs  cold pressed arches watercolour paper pre-soaked in water - painting wet on wet. 
They are given big brushes and mason glass jars of water so they can see the colour come out of the brush when they rinse it. 
All the materials are of the same quality that an artist would use. 
The children tell their own stories there is no right or wrong way. Some  just went back and forth with one colour only and watched the paint move others put colours side by side and mixed them on the paper.  They use their own imagination and the colours tell their own story to them, a wonderfully creative experience for children.
 I  would love to do more workshops like this and do them for adults too!
 Tippy is not my creation but used by a Waldorf teacher I viewed on YouTube.
Rudolf Steiner who created the Waldorf School used Goethe's colour theory and all the concepts used above are from this philosophy.

The later class had children aged 5 and 6 and a few of the moms were present.  These moms expressed an interest in painting with their children so we set them up and they did it too! We all had a lot of fun.  


























Saturday, 14 January 2012

RED ROSES

Rose #3
4"x4", Mixed Media
*sold*
 I had a dream last night that I was snow-shoeing through the bush and came across some beautiful rose hips and yarrow. In the dream, I painstakingly picked them and brought them home and painted them - I felt a deep sense of satisfaction.  When I awoke I intended to go out and find them only it was so bitterly cold today that I decided to stay indoors. 

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
of night and light and half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
W.B. Yeats  
"He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven"

Thursday, 12 January 2012

100 PAINT... oops! I mean MORE ROSES

Well, Fellow Bloggers, Followers, Friends and Peanut Gallery 
I need your opinion!   Two Rose Paintings 
Which One (I won't tell you  which one I like and don't)
Any comments feedback that you have would be greatly appreciated!
Roses #1
sold
or
Roses # 2
sold
Both are done on 4"x4" canvases  No.1 is smooth no texture 
No. 2 has lots of texture (globs of paint actually)

"There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted."
Henri Matisse

Tuesday, 10 January 2012

Love is the Flower of LIfe



The language of love is centuries old. Shakespeare had lots to say about it and about Roses too.  Red is a very passionate colour so there you have it -maybe I felt like drawing roses because Valentines Day is around the corner. There are many kinds of love (so the ancient greeks told us) and it is nice to celebrate them all.
I like the concept of philia  love which is close friendship or brotherly love. 
I think I am going to paint a few roses in the next little while. 

I drew these roses with Coloured India Ink, and used watercolour pencil to accent the colours on  Hand-Made Tibetan Hemp Paper. The card is a deckled ivory, acid-free,  creative card complete with envelope. It was nice to play with the ink and pencil and not paint a landscape.

"Love is the flower of life, and blossoms unexpectedly and without law, and must be plucked where it is found, and enjoyed for the brief hour of its duration."
D.H. Lawrence

Sunday, 8 January 2012

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #100

"Lapie Lakes, The South Canol, Yukon"
6"x8", Acrylic
SOLD
"What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from."
T.S.Eliot

I have reached my goal: 
100 Paintings in 100 Days  is now a done deal!  
I decided to finish with what I started with which is the South Canol.  I have really loved doing this project and I want to take a deep breath and just be in this moment and feel that I have accomplished something.   I have had mixed feelings about it being done; I can hardly believe it because you'd think I'd be relieved that it's done but I feel a little sad. 
It may be an ending but it is also a beginning, 
on that note I will say good night!

Saturday, 7 January 2012

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #99

"Summer on the Alaska Highway"
5"x7", Acrylic
sold
 I have painted this scene in watercolour, you can see it in the post for August 11, 2011.
It sold from the Yukon Artists At Work Gallery in Whitehorse.  It really is a typical Yukon scene with the fireweed and mountains and all.

Friday, 6 January 2012

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #98


"Behind the Magundy River"
5"x5", Acrylic
Sold
Two more paintings to go and a Hundred in Hundred is completed.
It is a good feeling to have gotten this far.
I appreciate all my friends who have supported and listened to me as I have been rather consumed with this whole project - thanks for being there!

Thursday, 5 January 2012

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #97

"Morning LIght"
6"x8", Acrylic

We are getting a little more sunlight now in the morning but not enough yet for me.  
The sun is still so low in the sky.
I thought I'd warm you all up!

"Elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; but here the earth was the floor of the sky. The landscape one longed for when one was away, the thing all about one, the world one actually lived in, was the sky, the sky!"
    Willa Cather
Death comes to the Archbishop


Wednesday, 4 January 2012

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #96

"Sunset on Little Salmon Lake"
6"x8", Acrylic
*sold*
"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

Tuesday, 3 January 2012

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #95

"Hiking above the Magundy"
6"x8", Acrylic
SOLD
"I want my paintings to "grab" you when you look at them. I want to take you to another place... make you feel something, move you, inspire you.  My process is joyful, playful, imperfect, messy, busy, amateurish, impassioned, impatient, experimental, sublime .... some paintings miss the mark but if just one can achieve this.... then I have succeeded. 
My life is a work of art in progress."
Jackie Irvine
(Note:  The last line I am not sure if I am the first to say this I hope I authored it!  the rest I am sure these words are my quote!)

Monday, 2 January 2012

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #94

"Summer on the Magundy"
5"x7", Acrylic
"The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare to let go.
Our true work is this voyage, this adventure."
Richard Bach

Sunday, 1 January 2012

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #93

"Yukon Golden Sunset"
5"x7", Acrylic
SOLD
 I am living a  fulfilled life and I am grateful for this.
I am contented with where I am at. 
 I am not sure what my destination is but I am  enjoying the journey.  When I look back over the last year, I see that it really matters little what I do with my painting - what matters is that I create.  That's why I did the 100 in a 100.  I do not feel that I possess any special powers or abilities over people that are not artistic, we all have things that we are naturally talented at and we can decide to show up for them or not.
I don't have any goals right now and I feel ok about this.

What matters is that I show up on a daily basis in my life and do the things that I need to do with my whole being, with gusto, with love- the best I can.
 It may be washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, working out, painting, singing, praying, chopping wood, lighting a fire, snowshoeing, cooking, reading, teaching, working, being and more.  This may sound like a no brainer but I don't think it is because for years I was dissatisfied with where I was at- I thought it wasn't good enough.
This didn't feel good for obvious reasons.
If I can do what is naturally before me mindfully, in the present, the best I can it will create something spectacular in my life.
AND THIS ULTIMATELY MAKES MY WORLD AND THE WHOLE WORLD A BETTER PLACE
Happy New Year all!



Saturday, 31 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #92

"Back country - Magundy"
5"x7", Acrylic
sold
I can remember standing here as if it was yesterday.  It was 30 degrees Celsius - we had hiked early in the morning and finally we came to this spot around lunchtime.  It was scorching hot. We could see right down to Little Salmon Lake far in the distance.  
 I am posting early today because I am going out to the New Year's Dance with my husband.
Happy New Year everyone!

Friday, 30 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #91

"Yukon Alpine Meadow"
5"x7", Acrylic
sold
The orange that is in this painting is brighter than the actual painting.  I do not have a flash on but it still comes out much brighter.  I am no photographer!

"What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit."
 ~John Updike

Thursday, 29 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #90

 Rose Creek, Anvil Range, Faro Yukon
6"x8", Acrylic
Photo Credit: Nina Toeller
Sold
"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures"
Henry Ward Beecher

Wednesday, 28 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #89

Evening Pond on the Mitchell Road
5"x5", Acrylic
SOLD

"Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace. If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. In that stillness you will know what His will is."
Amy Carmichael

Tuesday, 27 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #88

"Keno Hill, Yukon"
6"x8", Acrylic
Time for a summer scene.  Lots of green and arctic cotton.
Photo Credit:  Nina Toeller

“You become most powerful in whatever you do if the action is performed for its own sake rather than as a means to protect, enhance, or conform to your role identity.”

 “Don't let a mad world tell you that success is anything other than a successful present moment.” 

Monday, 26 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #87

"Winter-Pond at Magundy"
6"x6", Acrylic

"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."
~ Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180)


Sunday, 25 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #86

"Impression:  Winter Sunset"
5"x5", Acrylic
SOLD
I felt like painting from my imagination just letting the image and colour 
take shape on the  canvas - this makes it easy for me.  
My family and I had a big Christmas dinner and I went for a walk with my husband afterwards to clear my head.  It is a beautiful winter evening here in the Yukon.
The walk did me good as I ate so much today - so grateful for the good life!

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
~Henry David Thoreau


Saturday, 24 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #85

Sunset on the Pelly River
6"x6", Acrylic
SOLD

"The world in solemn stillness lay"
Edmund Sears
Wishing you all a peaceful and joyful  Christmas 

Friday, 23 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #84

"Lapie Lakes , the South Canol"
6"x8", Acrylic
Sold

"If my heart can become pure and simple,
like that of a child, I think there probably
can be no greater happiness than this."
- Kitaro Nishida

Thursday, 22 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #83

"My Front Yard at Magundy"
6"x8", Mixed Media
(Gouache)
sold
Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty, if only we have the eyes to see them.
John Ruskin 1819-1900


Note:  for those of you who don't know where I live.  We have an acreage on the Magundy River which runs out of the Pelly Mountains off the South Canol and meanders along for many miles  and makes its way to Little Salmon Lake.  Our house is built 60 metres from the Magundy River on 8 acres of land in the forest. Our lane is about a km long and is off the Robert Campbell Highway about 30 Km from Faro. I have often said that I could spend rest of my life painting around where I live and never run out of inspiration 



Post & Beam, Piece on Piece (Squared Log Home)
My husband built 

The Country behind our Place 
We were on a two day hike when this photo was taken

The Magundy River out our front door

Wednesday, 21 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #82

"Dancing with the Moon"
5"x5", Acrylic
SOLD

 It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love, is well done.
From The Letters of Vincent van Gogh to his Brother, 
1872-1886 

Tuesday, 20 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #81

" Cliffs and Pond Near Magundy"
5"x7", Mixed Media
sold
I spent from 12:30 to 8:30 tonight ( with a break for dinner) at the Local Recreation Centre with the youth of Faro making watercolour Christmas Cards.  I love watching children paint.  They are very spontaneous and don't think about making mistakes. It was amazing all the different cards they made.  We used transparent yellow, rose, and pthalo blue and had angels and reindeer and  Spruce trees.   We sprinkled salt on the wet paint to make snow and stars
I loved working with the watercolour again.  I was exclusively a watercolourist for years.
There is watercolour in the above painting and it didn't take very long.  Needless to say it has been a very long day!

"The pursuit of truth and beauty is a
sphere of activity in which we are
permitted to remain children
all our lives."
- Albert Einstein
~


Monday, 19 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #80

"Pond Reflections at Magundy"
5"x7", Acrylic

"If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing."
Marc Chagall

Sunday, 18 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #79

"Lower Blind Creek Road, Faro Yukon"
6"x8", Acrylic
SOLD

If you drive down the Blind Creek Road you come to a steep section where it drops off on the one side and the sandstone cliffs are on your other side.  I think this is a really lovely spot.  The moose like it too!

"Nature is the art of God eternal
"
Dante 1265-1321

Saturday, 17 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #78

"Sunset at Blink Creek"
6"x8", Acrylic
Sold
I have done this scene in watercolour - this is a first in acrylic.
I have been very busy with the Christmas season upon us - I never thought of Christmas when I planned this project.  If I start one next fall I will start in September!!

Friday, 16 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #77

"Pond at Magundy from the lane"
6"x8", Acrylic
Sold
"Winter is on my mind
 but eternal spring is in my heart.
"
Victor Hugo 1802-1885



Thursday, 15 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #76

"Magundy Valley looking to Atherton"
4"x4", acrylic
"The forces of nature are huge, and we are tiny, and in the mountains it's easier to remember this.... I live in, or rather below, the mountains for two basic reasons: because I think the mountains are one of the last huge and wild and magnificent things we have left in this country, one of the last few things we have not yet, in places, grasped and squeezed and sculpted into some unrecognizable, and diminished, shape - a landscape, therefore, in which possibility still exists."
- Rick Bass, Why I Came West




Wednesday, 14 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #75

"Evening Approaches on the Magundy"
4"x4", Acrylic
SOLD

Ice and water, again.  I really like the play of these two elements in a painting.  
It is hard to be objective with your own work but I think my brush work has loosened up since I started this 100 paintings in 100 days.  My work is not as controlled.
I am three quarters of the way done.  Wow!  I don't know what it  will feel like when I am finished.  I know that I will start another project but not sure what yet.  I have a show in March at Yukon Artists at Work so I will begin preparing for this.

"What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet."
~Gerard Hopkins

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #74

"Sunset At Fox Lake"
6"x6", Acrylic
SOLD
"Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty, if only we have the eyes to see them."
John Muir
\

Monday, 12 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #73

"Pelly Mountains from Blind Creek Trail "
6"x6", Acrylic
sold
Last fall, my friend Yasmine and I went for a hike along a beautiful ridge not far from their Farm.  I love the way the aspens grow stunted and twisted along the side of cliffs.  We could see the valley all along the trail this was in late September.

"Nature has given to every time, place and season, splendours of its own."
Unknown

Sunday, 11 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #72

"Pond on Mitchell Road #3"
6"x8", Oil Pastel
sold

This is my second day in Whitehorse and I have brought some supplies with me from Faro so I could complete my painting today.  I Christmas shopped all day and went out to dinner and came back to the hotel and launched in.  I am really tired. I asked my son what he thought - he's seen better.  I have to agree, I guess they all can't be masterpieces.
Good Night!



Saturday, 10 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #71

"Ketza River Valley #2"
6"x6", Acrylic
Sold
Some of you may recognize this place from a few days ago.  I did an oil pastel of the same place.  I wanted to try the same scene in acrylic.  I am not sure which one I like. I find the pastel was much softer.

"Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance."
                    
                   Samuel Johnson

Friday, 9 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #70

"Far End of Fisheye Lake"
6"x6", Acrylic
sold
I am experimenting with painting the mist on the water.  I like the effect.  I was reading a painter's newsletter that I subscribe to the Painters Keys by Robert Genn.  It talked about how artists that use a lot of photo reference end up with paintings that look stiff and like a photograpsh.  I have been using a lot of photo reference due to the fact that it is, on average, -20 Celsius and time constraints.  I love using a good photo as a reference.  I take a lot of them myself and get permission to use others.  I think it is a good tool as long as the painter does not get too caught up in copying exactly. 

Thursday, 8 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #69

"Moonlit Pelly Valley"
6"x6", Acrylic
*Sold*
"All my life, my heart has yearned for a thing I cannot name." 
Andre Breton

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #68

"September - Pond on the Mitchell Road"
6"x8", Acrylic
sold
For those of you who have been following - a few days ago I did this same pond ( with the ice and water) but looking the other way.  This is looking up towards the Campbell Highway.  It was a really beautiful morning when I was at the pond and I love it when the mist forms on those cool September mornings and yes it is a sunrise. 

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.
Helen Keller


Tuesday, 6 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #67

"Fall on the Magundy"
6"x8", Oil Stick

I received my new set of Oil sticks made by Paul deMarrais of Tennessee.
  The colours are fantastic but I think I am going to have to practice a bit as they are quite soft. I really enjoyed workiing with them tonight.  Paul even made a new colour for me  called "Jackie's Yukon Gold"
I hope I can become as skilled as him in the use of these oil sticks.

I am once again in Faro, I started this painting after unpacking the car and putting everything away and having a little bite to eat.  The roads were pretty good.  A bit icy in spots but the Klondike and Campbell highways were all plowed - it is full-blown winter again.  When the temps go above zero and everything starts melting in December - us Yukoners get a little nervous because we know it spells trouble when everything inevitably ices over again.



"A day's work is a day's work, neither more nor less, and the man who does it needs a day's sustenance, a night's repose and due leisure, whether he be painter or ploughman.



George Bernard Shaw


Monday, 5 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #66

"Early Fall at Ketza  River Valley"
6"x8", Oil Pastel
sold
I am amazed that I actually was able to do my daily painting today.  I was ready to leave Whitehorse today but when my son and I left the hotel it was raining at 8:30 am and it was plus 4.   By 11am it was -8 and we were in a full-blown blizzard.  I went to Yukon Artists at Work and visited for a few hours and after listening to a number of highway closures  and seeing the blowing snow - I decided to stay another day.  I do not have my paints with me so I had to buy a small canvas and a small box of oil pastels and the following piece resulted.  For some reason I could not crop the picture because I borrowed my friend's camera to take the picture but hey!  I am happy I was able to complete and post painting number 66. Hopefully the roads are plowed and 
it is decent enough to travel tomorrow.


Sunday, 4 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #65

"Pond on Winter Evening"
6"X6", Acrylic
sold
 Photographer, Robert Postma has a winter scene with these colours in it.  Some of you may recognize it.  I did not copy the picture but the colours - my tribute to Robert's  gifted ability to capture the most beautiful and vibrant colours.  I wouldn't think to actually use this for a winter sunset but as soon as I saw this combination I instantly loved it. 

"Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you...."
Sheng-yen
  

Saturday, 3 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #64

"A Yukon Pond"
6"x8", Acrylic
*sold*
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion." 
On Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau

I am not sure why the orange tones in the background show up so strongly when you look at the photo of this painting because it is not this bright in real life.  This pond is across the highway from our place on the Robert Campbell Highway. It is very beautiful when you have the snow but the pond isn't frozen over yet.

Friday, 2 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #63

"Snowy Alders"
6"x6", Acrylic

Another piece with lots of  texture and molding paste.  I know this is not as colourful as a lot of my paintings but I had an idea in mind.  I underpainted the whole canvas with brown and then added the white mixed with molding paste  and scratched out the trees. It looks three dimensional in real life.  I love the impressionists' works and this echoes their style somewhat. 

“All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.” ― Eckhart Tolle

Thursday, 1 December 2011

100 PAINTINGS IN 100 DAYS #62

"Fiery Red & Gold Autumn"
6"x6", Acrylic
sold
Yukoners will know that this is the Dempster fall colours.  I have never been yet and I have lived in the Yukon for 13 years.  I flew to Inuvik in 2009 for the Great Northern Arts Festival but would love to drive the Tombstone area and the Dempster some day- it's like another world.
"So come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings, forever, in Never Never Land."
Peter Pan
James M. Barrie