watercolour on yupo paper

This is a watercolour on yupo paper that I painted of a cedar tree, from my window on a rainy day on Haida Gwaii.  Painting on this paper has brought me back to using my watercolours again since I had been using mostly acrylics on canvas.  I love how this synthetic, tree-free paper is so forgiving and can be wiped clean if I have made a mistake.  I also love the vibrancy, brightness and true clarity of the pigments and how the colours mingle with a wet on wet technique.

    Today is March 27, 2018 and it is snowing like goose down and I have decided to use this spring snowy day to update my blog which has collected dust without mites and spider-less cob webs because I have let it go dormant since sometime in 2015, AGAIN!   I tend to procrastinate like humans do, especially when it comes to anything technology related.   Not only am I human, I am an older one, retired from 37 years of working mostly in an orthopaedic clinic and emergency tending to people and their injuries.  So far my blog has been about my art and not so much about me and what goes on between the brush strokes.  These days, I am doing something different with my life.

     I am working on a book of short stories because I am a writer of sorts, poems and articles and I have won three editorial awards and I come from a family of writers and artists.  I am also working as time and money allow, to build an artist retreat off the North shore of a beautiful place called Haida Gwaii.  This is my real work and my labour of love, my art and writing and my retreat on that magical island.

    I am an early morning person, especially when the days are longer and I can listen to the birds sing their best songs in the morning hours.  This is when I weed my garden, before the day gets too hot and before my body threatens to keel over from the heat.  My creativity also sparks a rise in my soul in the early morning and I love to be outside and paint something that inspires me.  When my creative side overflows just like my garden then I want to share it, just like my garden, with other creatively inspired people.  This is who I am and what I want to do.......share my art and myself to connect with you, my friends and fellow artists and art lovers.

   

Gregory Beach on Haida Gwaii

Title - Gregory Beach   Medium - acrylic on illustration board   Size - 8"x10"   

I was inspired by the raw beauty of Gaida Gwaii and Gregory Beach is one of my favorite places to go to feel in tune with nature and our living world.  Haida Gwaii is a place where I feel connected to the earth.  I am fascinated by this place on the edge of the world.  It is a place of culture and is rich in artistic expression which displays a fulfilling balance between the people and the natural and supernatural worlds.  

I also submitted this image in my application for the "Artist in Gwaii Haanas Residency Program - June 2015".  

Title - "Osmosis"     Medium - acrylic on canvas   Size - 20"x30"  February 2013 is when I finally completed it.  

I was inspired by our living world and how the process of osmosis is vital for the balance of life.  This is the process of one concentration moving through a membrane to balance out the concentration on the other side of the membrane.  It takes place at the cellular level of life.

I submitted an image of this painting in my application for the "Artists in Gwaii Haanas Residency Program - June 2015".  

 I call this painting, "A Vision".  Medium - acrylic and ink on illustration board    Size - 10"x12"     

Date - 2014     

This is a painting that evolved over a few weeks.  It is one of seven paintings that I chose to submit for my application to the Artists in Gwaii Haanas Residency Program - June 2015.

photography

The bottom photo is the forest in Naikoon Park, Haida Gwaii.  It comes out onto a giant bog, the two above photos.

photography