Month: March 2012

In honour of St. Patty’s day, I thought I’d share some of my favourite green mixtures. The can’t-miss-must-have mix is ultramarine blue plus any primary yellow. I find myself using cadmium yellow these days. This mix can lean to the blue, making a hooker’s green, or lean to the yellow, making a sap green. I never buy those 2 greens – they are just too easy to mix. The one green that I do buy is phthalo green (yellow shade). The brilliance of this colour cannot be mixed. Think brilliant emerald green. If you want to tone it down, a bit of burnt sienna does the trick. I also add yellow or blue to the phthalo green from time to time. And the green they put into beer tomorrow? I have no idea. Happy St. Patrick’s day everyone! 

  Earth’s crammed with heaven, / And every common bush afire with God; / But only he who sees, takes off his shoes – / The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning 

The current class is enjoying learning from Lawren Harris and A.J. Casson. Both were members of our Canadian Group of Seven. Both also employed a beautiful simplification and smoothing of form. One of the things we have learned, is that the simplification is more complex than you imagine from just viewing the painting. When you actually start to paint through one of their works, there is more detail than you might think initially, and the exact value and colour shifts are subtle and so skillfully done. Here is a link to see some of Lawren Harris’ works – enjoy! Paintings by Lawren Harris – find link on my website cherylo.ca,    if reading this on facebook or elsewhere. 

“Wetland” – currently available at Paint Ontario in Grand Bend – Paint Ontario is an annual juried show held in Grand Bend at the Lambton Heritage Museum (across from one of the entrances to the Pinery on Hwy 21), open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  I am happy to have 3 paintings in this year’s show. I am also very proud to have quite a number of students and previous students featured there. It’s a wonderful show, well worth the drive. It is on right now and ends April 1st. Hope you get a chance to see it. Here’s their website for more information: Paint Ontario (find link on my website, if reading this elsewhere) 

Describing the upcoming art class “Toward Abstract”, I was carefully explaining that in this class, people do not have to work without a subject, but that the exercises will encourage people to have a looser approach to their interpretations. A student responded with enthusiasm, “That’s great – I think I’m more of a loose woman …. oh!” We laughed. And if there are other loose women or men interested in “Toward Abstract”, this class still has room for more and starts April 5. (See Local Art Courses on my website.) 

There are some things in life you don’t want to be lazy about. Lots actually. Things such as: what side of the road you drive on… or… getting to the airport before the plane leaves. Things like that. Then there are the other less obvious things. Such as: change the water in your container before it’s a swamp. Long before. Because when you use that dirty water to paint with, it is subtly dulling down your colours. It really helps to have a larger container for water. 2 litres is good and the water won’t get dirty nearly as quickly as with a little container. Don’t be lazy – your art deserves better than that. 

“Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde 

I’d like to introduce you to Dan Goodwin. Dan has a blog called “A Big Creative Yes – to the creativity within”. Natch the title already has me hooked, but his writings are pretty inspiring too. Here’s a link to one that I particularly enjoyed…”Embracing the White Space – How to Learn to Let Your Creativity Breathe“. I think it’s great advice. What do you think? Do you need more white space in your art and life? 

I used to be horrified about the amount of paper towels that I went through as a painter. Too many trees! Then one of my students introduced me to blue shop towels. You can get these at local hardware stores. These towels are sturdy and absorbant. If you are using watercolour or watermixable oils, at the end of your session you can quickly rinse the towel out and use it again and again. Even with acrylics, the towels are so much more absorbant than regular ones that I use a lot fewer. Hope you will also go green with blue towels – and thanks for the tip Judy S. 

I thought that I’d try to make you smile on a Monday. I’m not sure exactly what year this photo was taken, but it seems that when the stork left me, he forgot … his legs. But the coolest thing of all about this photo? That straw hat has a plastic palm tree on top of it. How cool is that?