Summertime....

When I don't see my surroundings as just a whole lot of work...I guess I'm pretty blessed.  A few hazy photos from the beginning of a very hot day here at Little Red Wagon Vineyard and of course home! Stay cool!   

30 in 30....day 28

For all the work I put into yesterday's painting this one is the opposite....a quickie to the extreme which did not pan out to my favour.

I went too quickly and as a result made some fatal anatomical flaws which I more or less corrected only by using acrylic paint to cover up my errors.
 
Rather than scrub and work and agonize I am chalking this up as a learning experience....in taking time and preparing.  A lesson I need to re-teach myself again and again and again as the years go by! So this is what it is, kinda quick, kinda okay but nothing monumental!

I think I'll be happy to take a break after the next 2 days are done...30 paintings in 30 days is a HUGE commitment, another lesson learned!

9 x 6

watercolour and ink and acrylic

 

30 in 30....day 27

Today's painting is the 2nd in a series I have now done which features Shawville Fair in the spotlight.  Again centred around my favourite part of the whole weekend, behind the barns...where all the excitement happens...at least if you're farm folk!

I am always hesitant to start these and nervous to share because I feel so much more weight is placed on them as the locals will see and of course will have opinions!  Did I get the cow just right?  Who exactly is that?  Well, that doesn't look a bit like him/her! ...and so on.

Anyway, I sketched this painting the other day but didn't have the time required to paint it so after I put a coat of mud on our renovations in the back room this morning (which are coming along wonderfully...if I do say so myself!) I sat down to finally fill it in and other than the odd break to chauffeur kids to lessons and make supper I only just finished now!  So a very late post for me!

For anyone who wants to play the "name game"...ie: try to identify anyone this photo -this is again circa 2002...so you have to reach back in your memory banks!  Enjoy!

17 x 12 

watercolour

 

30 in 30....day 22

Another quick image today.

I always like this view of the old farm while heading into town.  I suspect this is the barn that will invoke more memories for my in-laws as they enter their golden years because most of their lives centred around it. This is Glad Crest Farms...made a lot more picturesque by the neighbours' charming white fence and omitted old implements around the yard! -That folks is called artistic license!  ;)

This is the place where I started doing the odd shift of milking before Scott and I were married and where I continued to milk every morning with him for the first few years of our marriage along with helping in calf rearing, herd management and more.  Considered a "big farm" in its time for this community it was quite a thrill then to work there....especially alongside my sweetheart.

Times changed and now the main dairy is situated up the road and across from our home, it is a much larger barn, a more complex operation, but the old barn and yard are still very much an integral part of the farm. My role changed too, and although I suspect I am less respected than when I did the daily grind, I now manage financials from home and very rarely make my presence known in the barn other than to snap some picture of the lovely ladies to paint or help catch the girls when they go on the occasional gallivant.

On the farm we undergo monumental changes, not always pleasant, and yet again this is what we are going through.  As a result I had mixed emotions while painting this image. The word that kept popping up in my mind the most was "big".

Big business, big headache, big dreams, big successes, big losses, big fun, big work, big tears, big laughter...I could go on and on and on.

Although these days I seem to dwell on the negative "bigs" I needed this list to see that there have been and will hopefully continue to be just as many positive "bigs" down the road. Just like any path in life there are ups and downs and there is likely no business with more volatile swings from negative to positive and back again than agriculture.  I've learned to hang on in spite of a little voice screaming at the top of it's lungs in the back of my head saying "Run for the Hills!" because there's a big piece of my heart wrapped up here too, unbeknownst to most.  

Maybe the tiny scale of the barn in this painting should remind me that we're really not all that "big" after all.  Our problems are small, our lives are maybe irritating but more or less manageable and healthy and I suspect that if we're privileged enough to reach our golden years we will also look back on our "big adventures" with more happiness than sorrow.  I also hope everyone else that has touched Glad Crest can someday say the same.

 

14 x 11

acrylic on canvas board

    

30 in 30....day 16

Today I continued on the watercolour experimentation and again I'm pleased with the outcome.

This is a picture I took of a place I hope at least some of the locals will recognize from my painting?!?  However, I won't go as far as asking anyone to recognize the individuals....you might, you might not.

This was challenging and very time consuming...my back is sore, I've been hunched over all day long...but I think the results are well worth it! I have taken various photos at the Shawville Fair over the years but never had the patience or confidence to try to portray one although that's the reason I took 'em in the first place!  Case in point: the back of the shot is dated 2002, takes me awhile to get around to things, see?

Anyway, I think it's a great representation of what is in my opinion the best part of the fair!   Agricultural producers getting together in competition to show off a little bit of what they do by doing a lot of hard work in selecting, raising and training the animals.  Whether it be beef, dairy, horses or other...all work with animals (for shows or just as a day to day occupation) takes time, persistence, patience and dedication.  I think it's awesome that the "little" country fairs still exist...a great place to socialize and catch up with neighbours and old friends and also an amazing way for urban dwellers to visit and find out a little bit of what we do!

Again, a fuzzy picture, I'll try a shot with my actual camera on another day!

          

17 x 12

watercolour

30 in 30....day 8

Some days life gets complicated and it's a little hard to fit in enough time to paint an entire completed painting.  I have a feeling that at the end of January I will be faced with at least a dozen canvases which need varying degrees of touching up!

Today was such a day.

However, what I did complete in the time I had feels successful to me.  Back to my favourite subject, my beloved bovine!

Sure, there's lot of anatomy corrections to make, the foreground and background to develop but all in all I like the direction this one is taking.
 
I took this picture travelling around on the back roads one early spring day last year. Obviously early as there's not a stitch of green anywhere to be seen, but somehow the cattle looked like they were just breathing a sigh of relief, as was I, after a very long winter.

I imagine if I were to take that same drive today I'd find some of the same girls huddled side by side tight to the round bale feeders with a layer of snow and ice caked on backs and the air heavy with fog as their breath steams up the entire yard. I'm not tired of winter yet, but I know that day will come very soon, and I suspect even the cows will long for the day when they can again loiter around a dry yard and soak up the first weak rays of spring light while watching the world come slowly back to life.

  

24 x 18

acrylic on canvas

Check out the Gallery page!...

Hi There!  Just updated my gallery page!  Unfortunately you have to scroll through lots of older stuff.
There's a few more to add and I have a show coming up so will have a couple more soon.  That happens in October at Café 349 in Shawville.
In the meantime here's a few images of paintings which are already sold that never got posted!
Wanting paintings for Christmas?  Order soon!  ;)    Jen 

"Spring Bouquet"

"Bullwinkle"

"Valley View"

"Sorority Sisters"








 

Coffee Bag Art

I agreed to participate in an exhibit some time back and the deadline is looming.  One of our local artists has a great coffee shop and art gallery called Art Brulant and Impressions.  Since he has begun roasting coffee he has accumulated quite a collection of bags that hold the green coffee beans so being resourceful he's decided to hand them out to other artists to transform into art of their choice.  The exhibit will be called "Beyond the Bag" and starts on May 5th in Shawville.
 
I've discovered a couple things about these burlap bags.

-I really like them...just as is.  I hope to get my hands on a few more and make some great toss cushions for outdoors under my porch, love the graphics on them and think they are pretty awesome all on their own!
-But also, even after a good thick coat of gesso and then some more acrylic primer I've discovered that this stuff really sucks up the paint!  I'm going to go broke painting this bag! We are so fortunate to have a plethora of quality art supplies on hand just about everywhere these days, I'll be happy to return to the ease of  my regular canvases shortly.

Meanwhile the coarse nature of the ground means I have very little control over the detail in the painting and this has forced me to loosen up and just go with it.  What the end result will be remains to be seen but I'm doing a bit of a tongue in cheek thing, not getting too serious about the subject and just relaxing about the process. 

I was told in college that I took tasks very literally, I see that literal interpretation popping up yet again in my project but at least I'm stretching my creative legs and moving outside my box even if I'm not getting very far beyond the coffee bag... I just couldn't kill all the printing on the bag- my love of coffee and all the rough, natural burlap and yes- cows are coming through and I'm having fun...so thanks, Raymond for the experience!

I cannot wait to see everyone else's interpretations and creations.  I'm sure most will be far more ingenious than this and it will be a really energetic and entertaining exhibit!  

'Cafe au Lait'  -with miles to go!   ;)

God given Talent

I spend too much time worrying about my talents.  Am I using them to the best of my ability?  Which ones should I focus on?  Am I wasting my most important ones and instead imparting too much time and energy on ones that won’t deliver optimal results?  Some days I create intricate excuses or just throw up my hands in frustration and bury my time in some useless activity then invariably feel all the more miserable after for the time wasted.  Should I not have done something, made something, achieved something?  What a messed up ‘canvas’ I’m creating!  Maybe I was right where I needed to be at that moment and maybe I’d save so very much anxiety if I just learn to accept who I am as I am.

What I am slowly coming to realize is I am very much affected by the seasons and the weather.  William Shakespeare long ago wrote “At Christmas I no more desire a rose than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth; but like of each thing that in season grows.”  That is me.  There are seasons when I cannot force myself to put paint to canvas.  There are seasons when I cannot resist the allure of some warm wool in my hands as I turn it into something else.  There are times when I cannot put down a novel and other times when I have no desire whatsoever to pick one up.  I even wonder sometimes why I fill my space with things that I have no desire to use.  There are seasons that I embrace the pull of warm, rich soil in my hands as I plant and nourish and grow and there are seasons that relieve me of my guilt in not tending to all my outside spaces with the precision and attention they undoubtedly deserve, I am then elated to be finally buried inside, in the warmth, with a new set of goals in hand.

So, I’m thinking maybe I shouldn’t worry.  I also don’t need to categorize and itemize every task and talent and numerically order them from greatest to least.  I make mental lists, but then my head gets so full of all I haven’t done that I go through fits of despondency when really I might need to step back and check out the ‘canvas’ I’ve been creating from a different angle.

So what if every moment of every day is not spent with artist’s brush in hand?  Sometimes I trade it out for a hammer or a pen or a shovel or someone else’s hand.  Perhaps I’m not wasting my talents at all but using every single last one which was given to me.  I imagine it’ll take more than my lifetime to perfect any one of them but in the meantime the picture I’m creating is pretty rich.  Instead of worrying about efficiency or people’s perceptions I’m listening to the quiet…and the silence isn’t telling me that I’m wasting space or energy, the silence allows me to breathe and maybe just whispers ever so softly that I’m doing just fine.  Relax and get on with it…whatever “it” may be.

Meanwhile..."it" is painting again! ;)

Exhibiting soon...

Just putting the final touches on a few last pieces before my next show.

I am exhibiting at Cafe 349 in Shawville starting November 7th.  There will be a vernissage on Sunday, November 13th from 1-4 pm...if you're in the area drop in to say hi, I'd be delighted to see you!

Although I would have liked to be ambitious enough to have all new works to display for this; my first solo show outside of the studio, I will have to fill in with some that some of you may have already seen.  There will be be well over a dozen pieces that are new though... Hopefully enough to pique your curiosity!

As for a statement about my exhibit...it will go something like this:

I paint what I know.  I know beauty in the world all around.  In flowers, trees, landscape and sky...the vast open space that is my home and the creatures that inhabit it.  The way the light plays on the leaves, the land and the buildings all around, I have not seen much of this great world yet but what I've seen is pretty awe inspiring.
In cows  I see old, gentle souls.  They could not survive without the help of man and they seem to know it.  Together we are partners.  Anyone who has ever worked with them and paid attention can feel the trust and the contentment they have with the arrangement.  Likewise, when we do something out of routine those girls become scared.  We need to reassure, calm and care for them...not so different from people after all!  People say my cows have expressions and feelings, I say they're right, because they do.

...I dunno, I suppose a little too out there for some...but I guess I didn't get the reputation for being a bit of an artistic type by thinking like everyone else...can't change how I feel!

Metamorphosis can sometimes mean staying the same.

All right...the time has come to post again. 

The Pontiac Artist's Studio Tour is done.  I have survived and thrived. 
(And Julie, I did not sell out, but I did sell well and so I thank you for your support and encouragement all the way...you and many others that will go unnamed are what propelled me forward through the yucky times and kept me going with humour, wit, sincerity and rock solid advice and support.)

I committed to the event not knowing what to expect of myself, of the tour, of the visitors, of anything.   I found it harder to produce art than I expected.  Somewhere in my world a transition had occurred and this was that I'd stopped creating for entirely personal reasons and started to create for a larger audience.  I have, as expressed in older posts, found this change challenging but think and hope that I've finally made peace with the metamorphosis.  To be true to myself was a struggle.  I am (or try to be?)  a pleaser and while I hope this is an honourable characteristic I can too easily lose track of my own identity from time to time.  Part of my struggle leading up to the tour was this desire to create what people wanted rather than perhaps what was me. 

If clientele was mostly urban would they really want my simple cows, flowers, rural scenes?  In simple I mean it: simple.  That's what I felt when I worried.  Simple, plain, uncomplicated, uneducated, not the least interesting and completely uninspiring.  Who would want that?  I however could not turn my canvases into trendy, edgy abstracts or bold expressive scenes illustrating more in single strokes than some of the oft labourious studies I was attempting.  I wished to create these so that I could be that dramatic and exciting artist that seems to exist only somewhere in some parallel universe from mine.  The longer I struggled with this desire to please and anticipate what people wanted, people I hadn't met, didn't know, the more blocked I became and then finally I just gave up and started to again paint for me.  Back came the subjects I love, the bright colours that I think are likely a little too much for many and in being true to my soul and creating as I do, I moved forward and became pretty prolific.

In hind sight I can say I made the right decision.  My art, like any art is not for everyone, but I did find it was appealing to quite a few.  People were very complimentary and sometimes even enchanted by my home and art, how I express myself and surround my family with a big part of me not only on my canvases but on walls, doors and furniture throughout.  Some of you that know me are likely saying right now as you read:  "She's such a dope, how could she not know that people would be impressed?"  Well, for you I say there's impressions that are good and then there's shock and awe that's horrifying and I wasn't entirely sure which side of the coin I would land on.  ( I have a recurring nightmare where someday some high profile designer will feature my home for an entire episode of their program.  This will be broadcast to illustrate all things hideous that should never, ever be done...weird yes, but entirely possible!)

So, since it was a positive experience in the end and I did get over my block, I am happy to say I am anxious to create again, first for a show at the local Cafe in November and then again if God and the committee is willing for the Artist's Tour in 2012...I look forward to the privilege and thank all who supported me in visiting or purchasing or encouraging from near or far!  Thanks so very much! 

...will update my art page soon, but for now...it's off to Emma's Elementary school graduation!  Cheers!  Jen

Just a couple of newer paintings...

A painting I donated to help raise funds for a New Women's Housing Project in Ottawa.

A girl with an attitude?...I think she looks kinda teenagery?!?!

This one is entitiled:  "Little Lady" and is presently on display at Cafe 349.

This too...although I cannot remember what I named it just now!

Tulips

My tulips brightening up an early spring day!

Hi y'all...just a few pics of some completed paintings I've done over the last while.  Some slightly over exposed...still trying to figure out the new camera. 

...Now back to the easel for me.  I'll transfer the images to the art page and dream up names and list prices just as soon as I can breathe again!

Take Care...Jen