Author: mynameisdayna

Living Room Window.

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I have started a new project! I have been thinking about doing a series of window/curtain paintings for many, many years, and then that last painting I did of the window for the commission really inspired me to get going on it. It is interesting how things come together sometimes. Last year when I was at work one night at the library I discovered the most beautiful art book on the American artist Lois Dodd, and she has the most amazing series of window paintings. Just google “Lois Dodd windows” and you will see what I mean. Soon after that was when I was contacted about doing the commission piece of the Radium condo window. It was funny because I was immediately excited about it, as it was in line with what I had been thinking about, but then my husband asked if I was sure that they wanted the window frame in the painting. I had not even considered that they did not want the frame in the painting, so it was good that I asked. I can’t imagine if I had done the painting only to find out they had meant something completely different.

So I finished up this painting in acrylic this week–painted from life in my living room. I do much prefer working from life so I feel like I am back in my element. This one took a few days to do, and I was ready to paint over it at one point before I added the venetian blinds. But the blinds was what it needed. I am planning to do all the windows on the main floor of my house and I am actually on the third one right now, but I am behind on blogging about them. It has turned out to be the perfect time for this project, and very much a snapshot in time, since I am currently off work and mostly stuck at home right now. I have been painting them on sunny days which I think makes them more optimistic and hopeful even though they are paintings of being stuck in a house.

Radium Painting.

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Radium Window, acrylic on masonite, Nov. 2020

So I didn’t actually go to Radium to paint this–it was a commission painting that I did at the end of November and it was painted from a photograph. It was an interesting challenge for me and very different from the way I usually work. I ended up setting up my easel in the living room so I could still paint in natural light, as if I was still painting it from life, and I used my laptop to view the photo while I painted. I painted it over several days and in the same time period every day which turned out to be between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm as it was the best light in the living room. Also maybe because I imagined that the light in the photo was more of a morning light, although I could see it being afternoon light as well.

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It was very different from life painting–a completely different skill set. The biggest difference, aside from the light and not being there in person, was the sense of time and urgency, if that makes sense. With a frozen image, I could work forever on it, but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. I think I have honed a skill of making snap decisions on site, and editing, and working quickly. With this one I constantly felt I was close to overworking it. Now I don’t think that I did, but I had to keep stepping away from it and stopping myself before I went too far. This is something I have always had to work on, even when painting on site. One of my University professors once told me that I should always stop just BEFORE I think I am done because I had a tendency to overwork things.

And just for fun, here is a lovely and loose in-progress shot :)

 

10 Years and Cloudy Skies.

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I started this blog ten years ago this month! I feel pretty proud since even though I have been a bit sporadic with blog posts, I have kept painting the entire time. I started an Instagram account thinking that I wanted something more direct and easy; so I could just post a quick photo after doing a painting. It was nice and direct and easy, but I was also a bit lazy with it. I took photos on my phone rather than my good camera which was fine for Instagram, but not good enough for my blog. Now I am having to go back through and re-photograph all the paintings that I did. It feels like a lot to catch up on for my blog. I still want to put them up here though. Especially the 30 days project that I did in April during the quarantine. I may just have to throw them up here in one big slide show.

For now here are two watercolours that I did on Saturday because it was such a glorious day–maybe one of the last days to enjoy my patio this year. The first one with the tree tops is looking up at the sky from my patio. Lately I have been fascinated with capturing those whispy clouds that stretch across the sky in watercolour, and I am very pleased with how this one turned out.

Looking Up, Oct.10, 2020, watercolour on paper

Then just before supper some crazy clouds and wind blew in, and I did a quick study of the clouds out the living room window. Very pleased with this one too.

Clouds Rolling In, Oct. 10, 2020, watercolour on paper

Time for the Real Thing.

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It has been a long time since I have been in an art show. I have been painting the whole time, just not showing my paintings anywhere other than on social media. But there really is no substitute for a real live art show. Maybe it has taken the time we had in quarantine and all the restrictions and closures for that to really hit home. This pandemic has shown us all that we can accomplish virtually and online, but it has also highlighted what we are missing. Paintings always look better in real life. I can take photos and photos and photos, and even when I think it is a near perfect match to the colour of the real painting, it still just looks better in real life.

These four paintings, my newest plein air pieces that I painted over the last few weeks, have been accepted into a juried plein air art show at the Leighton Art Centre south of Calgary. We drove out there this morning to deliver the paintings, and I got to browse their gallery space. All the artists and paintings that I have been enjoying on social media as everything shifted online, now there in front of me; the pleasant surprises of seeing the scale and colour of the paintings in person, and names that I recognized from virtual shows, was a treat for my senses.

If you live near the Calgary area I highly recommend visiting the Leighton Art Centre, not only for the art, but the property also sits on a piece of land with amazing panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains and the foothills.

The show that I will be a part of is called In The Open Air and it will be running from September 12th through October 31st, 2020.

Facing south, 8 pm, Aug.5, 2020, acrylic on panel, 12in.x12in.Facing north, 6 pm, Aug.5, 2020, acrylic on panel, 12in.x12in.Fields, Aug.12, 2020, acrylic on panel 12in.x12in.The View from Highway 734, Aug.19, 2020, acrylic on panel, 12in.x12in.

Road Trip Paintings.

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Fields, Aug.12, 2020, acrylic on panel 12in.x12in.The View from Highway 734, Aug.19, 2020, acrylic on panel, 12in.x12in.

I meant to do a blog post last week, but I completely missed it so I will just have to blog about both these painting days at once.

The first painting was done August 12th during a little day trip we took south of Calgary. It was on a little side road just off highway 22. I was sitting right next to a field and there were swarms of these tiny flies that got into everything. Quite a few of them lost their lives in the painting as I couldn’t get them all off so I just painted over them. The joys of plein air painting! I must admit though, I have never had an experience quite like that one. I am pretty proud that I kept going until the painting was done, inspite of the flies.

The second painting was done this week on August 19th when we decided to do a little road trip from the “hump” to the “gap”. I had never heard of either of these spots until I got a book out from the library all about the Cowboy Trail. The trip started with highway 532 west of highway 22, then went south down highway 734, and then jogs back along highway 517. The “hump” refers to a high point along highway 532 where you can see seemingly forever, and the “gap” is between two mountains on highway 517. I initially thought I would paint the view from the hump, but it was super, super windy, and it was a small, somewhat treacherous road with no real spot to set up and paint. The road is closed in the winter and there are signs that no trailers are aloud. I don’t think a vehicle with a trailer would make it up that road. However we did sit and eat a picnic lunch by the road there and it was beautiful. The painting I did was done along highway 734 when it was around 6:00. It was also pretty windy there, and at one point the painting flipped off of my easle and landed on my shoulder while I was bending down to clean a brush. I was so frustrated and ready to quit, but again I kept going. I had to repaint the sky when I was frantically trying to capture the light, and I now have another studio shirt, but I finished the painting!

Here is a couple of on site photos from that second painting day–one in progress with the light I was trying to capture, and one with the finished painting, but the sun had gone behind the mountains by then. Both photos were taken from where I was painting in the shadow of the van so they are not accurate to the colour of the painting, but I like that they show the quickly changing light.

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Day Trippin’.

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Facing south, 8 pm, Aug.5, 2020, acrylic on panel, 12in.x12in.Facing north, 6 pm, Aug.5, 2020, acrylic on panel, 12in.x12in.

We took a day trip through southern Alberta on Wednesday. It was a beautiful hot and hazy day. We took a cooler full of food and stopped at a few spots to picnic along the way. First we stopped at the candy store in Nanton, then went to see the Frank Slide and then on through Pincher Creek. We stopped along a secondary highway just west of Pincher Creek for me to do these little plein air paintings. The first one was the hazy one with the little fence posts–I was facing north and it was around 6 pm. Then I stood up and turned around and the view behind me had completely lit up in the dusk evening summer light with bright yellow fields and hazy purple mountains. I sat back down and did a quick second painting of the view facing south. It was around 8 pm by then and the light was changing fast. By the time my husband took the photo the light was much more orange, but I didn’t want to change the intense yellows I had captured so that is when I called it a day. I don’t know if I have ever painted on site with this type of light–at dusk in early August during a heat wave. It felt like a completely new experience for me. Like I was not in Alberta. I think most of my plein air landscape painting has been done in the middle of the day in June or July although I would have to go back through my records to make sure. It makes me want to go back to that same spot at all different times of the year and day to compare.

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Why can’t I share my gift?

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A friend from work passed away just over a week ago. He was younger than me–only 32. I thought I knew him fairly well, even though I was just getting to know him. But now I feel like I did not know him at all.

There were sides to him that I knew nothing about–he had a radio show on the local college radio station, that I knew nothing about. It was all pre-WWII music, all 78rpm records. I have been listening to it now, and I am in awe that he left such a legacy. That he was able to share his passion with the world. I still can’t believe he’s gone. It feels like he is just on vacation. Anytime I think about it I cry.

I have never quite figured out how to share my paintings with the world in any meaningful way. Did Jeff ever feel his radio show was pointless? I don’t know. I feel like I am only doing half an assignment. I go out and I paint, but I can’t get further than that. I am trying to remember back to my University days–what the next step is.

I missed the memorial they had for him at the King Eddy in Calgary–I had pre-booked a mini vacation for my family in Drumheller that week. So I went to Drumheller and I did a watercolour there and I thought about the stupid randomness of life and of who lives and dies.

I apologise for the bleakness of this post. I have not figured anything out.

Spring Green.

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A study of greens, May 2019, watercolour on paper

A beautiful, beautiful week. I had some days off and I spent them all in my yard. Not a lot of blooms yet, but a whole lot of green coming up after the week of rain that we had. I did this watercolour study of one of my flowerbeds over two of the days. Soon this will be full of phlox, cornflowers, and alliums.

I am gardening a bit obsessively right now–I think Thursday was the first day that I just sat and enjoyed the yard without getting up to weed this or that, or transplant or prune something. I sat out on my patio on a perfect day with a book and a drink in the dappled shade of the Honeysuckle tree…it was glorious. This corner of my backyard that I turned into a patio garden last year is my favourite place in the world right now.

 

Painting with Acrylics in my Living Room.

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Tree Shadows, Mar. 2019, acrylic on panel

I did an acrylic painting! I haven’t worked with acrylic paints since 2017. It was fun. It was also fun to be able to rework areas and add things after the fact. Watercolour kind of just gives you the one chance to get it right.

I did this over two days and was very lucky to get two sunny days in a row that happened to be on my days off work. I am fascinated with how the shadows here are never the same. It depends on the time of day, the weather, the time of year, etc. I had done a watercolour of this same view, but it was painted in the morning so the shadows were stretched out longer across the yard. This one was painted between noon and 3pm.

And now I can can put all this away–the living room is pretty cluttered with my painting stuff set up right in front of the window. It makes me a little crazy.

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