coloured pencil

The larger portrait is done of my late sister, Diane. The one of the girl is of my oldest daughter when she was about 13 or 14 years old.

some pencil work

These portraits were done in coloured pencil and also graphite for the one of the couple. The one with the green matting is my daughter from when she was around 12 years. The wedding portrait is a self portrait I did of my wedding day.

A Passion for Portraits

It's a new year and a new direction for yours truly. I have thought about this quite a bit, and have come to the conclusion that portraits really ARE my passion and the one subject matter that constantly challenges me. I have decided that I am going to work on them as exclusively as I can this year. I am going to post a few of the ones that I have done in the past and then post my most recent one. I hope you enjoy looking at them and if anyone would like to have a portrait done for either yourself or someone else, please let me know and we can work out the details together. My email is firespirit@bwcs.ab.ca.

Finally back at it

I honestly did think I was going to be on this blog a lot more...really! Life has a way of taking over, though.

I had a painting class yesterday and it was a much better experience for me than last week. I think I was just overwhelmed last week. (The extremely sensitive and introverted me was in full force!!). Thankfully, the more extroverted me came out to play yesterday. I had a lot of fun doing a very interesting assignment. The teacher, Gillian, had us all do a painting from a coloured slide she had projected up on the wall. She made sure the image was very blurry and that made this very interesting and challenging! She also dimmed the lights, so it was actually pretty difficult to see your colours of paint! This was all part of the exercise. It was to 'free' us and force us to not think too much about the subject matter, but more think about shapes and colours. Anyway, I was pretty much thinking that this was a tree in a garden, but as she sharpened the focus more and more, it became evident! The picture was actually sideways, and it was of a boat! lol I found that very clever...and actually, our paintings DID look like a boat! :)

After that we put up our assignments from the week before. These were 16 x 20 paintings of complimentary colours. Red/green, blue/orange, and violet/yellow. I have posted them at the top. I was happy that my teacher liked what I did, and she gave valuable insight as to how to improve it.

My Great Class

Yesterday was the first day of my Painting 1 class at the University of Alberta Extension. I am working towards my Fine Arts Certificate.

I found the classroom in this mammoth building that used to be The Bay department store many moons ago. As it goes in life, these old buildings get replaced by newer ones. FORTUNATELY, this building was not demolished (I am sure it is a historical site) and was renovated to provide a new space for the Extension department for the University of Alberta. (I will take a picture of it soon and post it.) Anyway, I found the classroom and saw that the teacher was young and vibrant. So far so good! It took a little while to get the class going and then we were all asked to tell everyone our names, a bit of history about ourselves, and which artists we like the best. It was a very interesting session and we have a wide variety of people there. Two men are included amongst the 11 women.

As it goes with these things, the first hour was basically finding out what we will be doing during the 10 weeks (one class per week) of our course. The second hour was looking at slides and getting refreshed on certain facts about colour, etc., and the third hour was doing a bit of painting. It will be mostly all painting from now on, so I am very much looking forward to that. I had to tell my teacher, though, that I will have to miss the October 4th class as I will be in the Run For The Cure that is taking place at exactly the same time! That is so very unfortunate...but I made a commitment to do the run, and I can't back out now. I have, after all, many sponsors that I don't want to let down!

So, not too much to report for the first class, other than there is a wide diversity of people and what looks to be a very nice teacher. Will post again soon as I continue on this week with homework, etc.

Back to work

Well, summer is over and it's time to get back to work. I must admit, I thought I would be on this blog far more than I have been. I intend to start back at it now and with my new "re-start" into my University of Alberta Fine Arts Certificate course starting back up on Sunday, I will be much more motivated to share my journey. My first 'back to it' class is Painting 1. Because I have never had any formal training in painting, I am very much looking forward to this. I stopped taking these classes a couple of years ago due to health issues, but I feel now like I can get back to it...the timing seems right to me. So, onward and upward as they say....

Business part 5

This is the fifth chakra which is called the "Throat Chakra". This painting is 10" x 30". The original painting is priced at $250.00 and the print is $75.00.

Business part 4

This painting is called "Heart Chakra", and it is my fourth in the series. It's dimensions are 22" x 30". The original is priced at $450.00 and the print is $90.00. The print is also done on glossy paper.

Business part 3

This is the third chakra in the series, the Solar Plexus Chakra. My daughter Danielle was my model for this painting. It's dimensions are 15" x 30". The original painting is priced at $350.00 and the print is priced at $80.00.

Business part 2

This is 'Sacral Chakra', the second chakra in the series. It's dimensions are 20" x 30". The original painting is priced at $450.00 and the print is $90.00.