The Gibson Gallery 8 x 10 Oil on Ampersand gessobord $275. framed.Painting the gallery on location .
Say hello to my latest plein air piece. This is the lovely Gibson Gallery located in Amherstburg, Ontario. My group, The Windsor & Essex County Plein Air Artists group exhibition “Painted on Location in the Great Outdoors.” is currently on display there until August 2nd. This painting will be one of over 35 paintings featured in my solo exhibition at ArtSpeak Gallery in Windsor, Ontario. This exhibition opens on Monday July 20th, and runs to Saturday July 25th. ArtSpeak Gallery is located in the historic neighborhood of Walkerville. It is my extreme pleasure to be showing my work in the gallery during the 13th annual Art Walk & Rock Festival. This festival is one of two annual art walks, and by far the best attended. There will be dancing in the streets to the rock bands. and foodies in the cafe’s sampling local wine, and craft beer. An event not to be missed!
…This former Michigan Central Railroad Station, ca. 1896, has been renovated to its original Romanesque glory featuring towering ceilings, hardwood floors and beveled glass windows. A full season of exhibits showcasing Essex County artists, traveling exhibits from Ontario museums and galleries and an unique Artisan Shoppe make this heritage building a vital center for the visual arts, offering art and craft lessons, an artist guild and three needle art guilds. A railroad museum, featuring artifacts and memorabilia, is housed in the attached caboose. ~Gibson Gallery
Solo Show Windsor & Region Arts Council, Art Speak Gallery during the Walkerville Art Walk & Rock
The Lavender Festival was a two day event. Our group was supposed to paint on location in the lavender beds on Saturday, but mother nature decided to dump torrential rains on us once again. Will it ever end?! I know California could really use some of this rain. Fortunately, Sunday was a much better day. It was a bit windy, but their were bright fluffy clouds, and beautiful sun.
It was my first trip to Pelee Island, Canada’s most southern Post. I am so blessed to have good friends. My Plein Air group the Windsor & Essex County Plein Air Artists is chock full of wonderful people. I could not be more grateful. One of our members and incredible artist Vera Graham, invited the group to spend the night at her cottage. Two of us, Kathy Hudak and I, were able to take advantage of her generous offer.
A large backhoe barely fits in the Jiimaan hold.
It was an early day Monday. We had to be at the Leamington dock by 9:00 to board the Jiimaan Ferry to the island. It’s amazing what this vessel holds! A huge backhoe on a trailer bed, large trucks, a garbage truck, a cherry picker lift, and many other smaller vehicles.
Life jackets … check Life boat … check
It was a full and heavy load. The ferry listed on the Port side from the incredible weight of the trucks. I’m sure she was never in any danger of capsizing, but I was very grateful for calm seas. Just to be sure I made note of the life jackets and lifeboat locations!
Bon Voyage!
Once we’ve boarded we headed up to the deck to watch the boat leave the harbour.
The one and a half hour cruse was pleasant. The brisk breeze was refreshing. I could hardly contain my joyous anticipation of what the two days ahead would hold for us.
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OOps! We got into a bit of trouble. We walked down a set of stairs into a restricted area. Well they didn’t have any signs, and the steps were not roped off! How were we supposed to know? The equipment was just so COOL!
OOps! Ship’s hand chased us out of here, but not before I got this great photo of a huge winch. They need better signage!We reach the Island docks.
First order of business snacks! Chips, salsa and Pelee Island WINE!
Relaxing on the beach.
Then off to paint.
Vera’s Refuge 8 x 10 Oil on Ampersand Gessobord $275.
Painting Vera’s Refuge on the East Beach, storm incoming
The rest of our 2 day painting holiday was filled with a great beach bonfire, nighttime thunder storms, hiking on the beach, hiking in the woods, sack lunch at the winery, snacks at the cottage, and good friends.
Chairs positioned to catch the last rays of the day.
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Monday’s sunset is an incredible light show.
Monday’s sunset is an incredible light show – looking west
Looking back to the North and heading home.
No trip to the cottage is complete without a good campfire. One on the beach is the best!
Tuesday’s tour of the island saw that Monday night’s storms flooded much of the farmland.
A walk through the forest at the south west end of the island.
The southern most tip of Canada, which is the south west tip of Pelee Island.
The harbour lights signal we are home again.
A beautiful end to a wonderful 2 days. Sunset on the north shore of Lake Erie.
Mary and I went to visit our friend Margaret today. Margaret is the co-founder at the Windsor & Essex County Plein Air Society. She and I founded the group back in 2009. She’s been laid up with a broken leg for over 6 weeks, and we all miss her.
I first got the watercolours out after having them tucked away since fall. The pot was sitting in the shade, and lack of sun made it difficult to give it depth. I should have put a cast shadow in, but I forgot. Oh well. It was just a quick sketch. You always see your mistakes once you photograph your work. I don’t go back in and fix my plein air paintings in the studio. Why? Discipline. My mistakes will glare at me and hopefully make me get out of bad habits.
I also brought along my vintage Sheaffer fountain pen to try out. Everything was going swimmingly, until I tried to add watercolour. OOOPS!! The ink was not waterproof. So… I rescued the sketch by washing the ink. It was fun. Need some waterproof ink though. There is no one who sells it around here, so I will have to go online and have it shipped in. That of course raises the price beyond reasonable. *sigh* … and people wonder why artists charge so much for their work.
Yesterday we cleaned up the front garden. My hydrangea bush had some incredible blooms on it this year. It was a joy to bring these inside. I found a lovely spot for them in my office. The background is a section of my abstract watercolour/rice paper collage which measures 40 3/4″ x 49 3/4″.
When I was a child we had two very large lilac bushes in our backyard. Every spring I would cut lilacs from these bushes and bring them in for my mother. She would go to the china cabinet and pull out this vase to hold them. Little did I know that this piece of American pottery was anything special. It is Red Wing RumRill art deco pottery with the number 629 on the base. The crochet table runner was made by my mother.
This was one of my final BFA pieces. My classmates, I’m sure, didn’t appreciate having to hop over this painting every day in order to get to their studio’s. I had to lay it on the floor with fans drying the large pools of watercolour. This process would take hours.
I love it because it was one of those pieces that I pushed beyond the breaking point and brought back. I thought it was trash, but my professor Adele Duck made me work it to death, or should I say back to life. I think I learned more on this one failed painting than in all my other works combined. Thank you Adele!
I photographed this in natural light. It’s a bit grainy because it is a cloudy day.
Watercolor en Plein Air in Tuscany with Artist/instructor Elizabeth G MacDonald May 8-15, 2013 Cortona, Italy
I am very excited to offer a workshop in Tuscany next spring 2013.
In this workshop I will be focusing on sketching and watercolour en Plein Air. The day will begin with a short discussion, demo and question period. Throughout the day, each student will receive individual instruction. We will Alternate between quick sketches in a journal, and larger paintings. As an urban and a landscape painter I am at home painting in any environment. The focus will be on capturing the rapidly changing light and contrasting values as the day progresses. You will also learn how to interpret colour using a limited palette. I will teach you how to edit what you see en Plein Air to create your cherished memory of Tuscany. As an added bonus I will show you how to use photography as a tool to plan your composition,photograph your work for the web or to make art cards from your paintings. These keepsakes can be shared with friends and family. You will learn how to work Plein Air painting into your daily life. I will be only demonstrating watercolour, but if you are an experienced painter who wishes to do your own thing you are more than welcome to participate at the same cost. You may bring any mediums you like with you. However, if you bring oils do not bring thinners, as they are prohibited from flights. You may purchase thinners at the local art store.
I wish to introduce you to the joy of painting in the largest studio in the world, the great outdoors. When I paint en Plein Air I experience nature and the world in an intimate way not experienced by the casual observer. The experience exhilarates me. I am also a photographer. When I capture nature and life through a camera lens I feel more like a voyeur, stealing a moment in time. However, when I paint I become immersed in my surroundings with all my senses. I am alert, and the scene becomes a part of my existence. My heart yearns to interpret what is before me. By painting en Plein Air I go beyond copying that stolen moment in a photograph in the studio. I live the moment. I live the painting. The experience becomes a memory not soon forgotten. When people see my work, I’d like them to experience a bit of what it was like to be there. There is no greater joy for me then when I introduce others to painting en Plein Air.
I’m not really satisfied with this one. In my opinion, it’s overworked for a watercolour. I tried to stay too close to the photo in the values. The photo of the painting itself has a bit more red in it than it should, but I could not correct the colour in photoshop. So, the post is more brown than orange as seen in this photo.
What an incredibly mild winter we’ve had. I’ve not been out to check my garden in a few weeks, but I swear these little guys called to me. COME LOOK! We bring JOY! They sure do bring joy. It is the promise of winter’s end, and springs new life. Every year I thank God for giving us these little promises.
Sweetest l’il feller,
Everybody knows;
Dunno what to call him,
But he mighty lak’ a rose!
Lookin’ at his Mammy
Wid eyes so shiny blue,
Mek’ you think that heav’n
Is comin’ clost-ter you!
W’en he’s a dar a-sleepin’,
In his li’l place,
Think I see de angels
Lookin’ thro’ de lace.
When de dark is fallin’,
When de shadders creep,
Den dey comes on tiptoe
Ter kiss ‘im in his sleep.
Sweetest l’il feller,
Everybody knows;
Dunno what to call him,
But he mighty lak’ a rose!
Lookin’ at his Mammy
Wid eyes so shiny blue,
Mek’ you think that heav’n
Is comin’ clost-ter you!
I have a print of a baby boy by Bessie Pease Gutmann, entitled Mighty lak a Rose. It was inspired by this poem which was also made into a song by Ethelbert Nevin. This sweet lullaby was sung by many artists over the years, including Bing Crosby, and Petula Clark. I went looking for inspiration today, and found a beautiful photograph taken by my friend Margaret. I don’t normally work from photo’s but this rose begged me to paint it. I knew immediately what words needed to accompany the painting.
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