Category: watercolour
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Biodegradable
Everything in nature is cyclical: it goes through a system of growing, dying, decomposing, and beginning anew. It is a perfect, self-sustaining system. But we have created things that are not part of the system and do not decompose. Scientists believe that our global plastic pollution problem is nearing the point of no return.…
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Wetland Wonder
My recent painting, “Wetland Wonder”, was accepted into the In Awe of Nature juried exhibition at the Beaux Arts Gallery in Brampton, Ontario, Sept. 16 – Oct. 16, 2021. The subject is a restored wetland at Terra Cotta Conservation area. Here’s my statement about the piece: Wetlands are a significant piece of nature-based climate change…
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Painting in a Pandemic
Now that the weather has turned colder and the work outdoors has come to an end, I am reflecting on the past “summer like no other”. First of all, let me say that I am privileged. I’m not an essential worker, I no longer have a day job and daily commute to the big city,…
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Light and Darks
“Royal City Romance” is based on a photo I took in early winter when, for a brief moment, Royal City bridge and park in Guelph reminded me of Paris. It was “l’heure bleue” and the setting sun lit up the bridge. Within minutes, the light and the colour had gone, and I was back…
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Capturing the Magic of Glass
A recent challenge was picking glass as one of my two subjects for an exhibition of work by the Octarine Women Artists’ Collective. The theme of the show is The Colour of Magic, and I was determined to do my best to convey that. Two approaches suggested themselves: coloured glass and faceted glass. For “Ready…
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Beach Dreams
Ontario has had a harsh winter this year, with the polar vortex making an extended visit amid a multitude of weather alerts, snow storms, freezing rain and ice pellets. I have consoled myself by escaping to a nicer climate with my paint brush. It was my good fortune to attend the last Bermuda Plein Air…
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A Fresh Start
Hello again and happy New Year! Some of you may have noticed that this blog has been on hiatus for a while (rather a long while!). The reason was a number of life changes, which made it difficult to find time to paint, let alone time to reflect and write about painting. After resisting…
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Learning to break the rules
I had a lot of fun working on this painting. One of the reasons was that my confidence level with floral subjects is higher than other subjects — I love flowers and have studied them extensively (I am trained in horticulture). Another reason was that I was painting only to please myself and give pleasure…