Seasons Greetings

Warm wishes for a wonderful Holiday Season! Our Christmas is made up of good food, good visits, shortbread, crackling fires, time to read a good book.

This crabapple tree was still fully loaded when the first snow came and it somehow evoked a spirit of endurance and beauty when I saw it. I painted it for a friend who has all of those qualities in spades!

All the Best

Tracey

Dog Walk in Fall

12x12 Oil on Board

$320.00 Framed

This scene is along my regular dog walk. It seemed the leaves just danced when I stopped to take the photo. I love this time of year on the prairie, the golds and reds are like jewels amongst the trees.

I am excited to have received my active status in the Federation of Canadian Artists this month. The Federation offers some excellent workshops for members as well as the opportunity to submit for entry in shows. The next show is called Capturing the Canadian Spirit, in celebration of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It will run from January 26 - February 28, 2010 at the Granville Island Gallery.

I hope to post more regularly as we are getting to the end of the work to get the studio finished and prep done on a couple of commission paintings.

Back Road to the Cove

8x6 Oil on Board
I've always felt you can travel with books and I'm coming to believe you can do the same thing with painting. This little painting is from a photo my husband took in Moorea before I knew him and it transported me to a warm, timeless place today while the wind is howling outside my window.
The last coat of mud is going on my new studio as we speak so I will soon be able to step way back from my easel. I can hardly wait!

Nuevo Vallarta Yacht Club

Oil on Linen Board
9x12

This is a little study of a yacht club in Nuevo Vallarta. I loved the feeling of the palm trees and the heat. We are getting a last little blast of really warm weather and I expect it inspired me to paint the scene.

S. Cooking Lake Looking East

7x10 Oil on Birch Panel

This is the study I posted at the end of June, with the paint spots removed. Who knew it would be two months before I got to posting it. Anyway, I'm excited to get back to it. We had a very late summer so hopefully we will have a nice fall and lots of painting days left.

The Zen of Plein Air Painting

NFS 8x10 Oil on Birch Panel
A bunch of us were at S. Cooking Lake this morning before we head off in different directions for holidays. We had 1 1/2 hr. to get something down so there was excitement in the air. It was a hot morning day so I'd underpainted my panel with hot pink which I find helps as I don't have the white glare to start with. Everything was going swimmingly and although I didn't finish, I felt happy that I could finish it up pretty quickly at home. When we got back to the cars one of the girls asked if she could see mine so I opened my box and the painting fell jam side down onto the leftover piles of paint. I think by that time I was so dazed by the heat and concerned about picking up kids, I couldn't really react. I must have stood there looking like a guppy. I'm sure there is something to be found in this .. perhaps detachment, or funny memories. Well it will be funny a few days from now!
I'm taking my paint box to B.C. so hopefully I'll have some beaches painted when I get back.

Summer Solstice

Elk Island Summer Solstice Paintout

We had a great time yesterday at our Summer Solstice Paintout at Elk Island. Some of us caught a bit of Bluegrass at Katie's Crossing in Ardrossan



and then off to Elk Island for the evening. We were greeted a few minutes into the park by a big guy



and then ate potluck dinner at the lakeside and planned to paint until dark. Normally that would be about 11:00 but at about 9:30 the weather gods decided to test our mettle with a windstorm.






We finally had to abandon our paintings after being buffetted for about 1/2 hour or so and get back to our cars. Once we had our stuff safe, we decided we had to stay and watch the sunset. We laughed and chatted portrait painting as the sun went down in a spectacular setting.