"I Have Arrived!"

This year in Southern Alberta, we have had a dismally cold and very long Winter.
By now, some branches usually have a couple of buds on them, but not this year.
Painting this canvas has given me great hope of the things to come.
I hope it is as pleasing to you as it is to me.
~~Kathleen

"After the Frost"

"After the Frost"

12" X 16"
Acrylics on canvas

I have finished this painting.
This took me a lot longer than I could have imagined.
As I said on a previous blog entry, this painting was (for me)
a totally new direction in style and execution.
I an quite pleased with the end result!
Hope you enjoy it.
~~Kathleen

"This is really Exciting" (UPDATED)

....Well, for me at least. I am trying a new style of painting. I am taking a class that is offered by one of my fellow posters @ Wet Canvas, and being that the class is about Abstract art, I am in a totally new Realm.
What I have learned to date, is that doing anything in art that is outside your comfort zone is very hard, but it can be done, and done well.
I took this photo last Fall when we had experienced a monumental Frost. The plants in the garden were all frozen except for this one. All that the frost had done was turn some of the leaves Pink.

The composition of the jumble of leaves was so very pleasing to me, and I kept the photo in my "For Painting File"
I looked at it so often wishing that I had the expertise to paint it as it looked.

What I learned (in the class) was that you can step out of your comfort zone and do anything as long as you knew colour and composition.
So I began to paint it yesterday.
This is how far I have gotten, and I must say, that I am pleased with my progress.
I tend to be a bit heavy handed with paint.

But this time the paint I am using is very watered down and, I am "Washing" it on as opposed using to solid colour.

"After the Frost"
12" X 16"
Acrylics on canvas
(Work in Progress)

The painting is slow, as I often have to leave it, go away and then go back to assess where I am.
Hope you like this so far.
~~Kathleen

Todays work....
After I painted in the last leaves in the upper left corner, I have begun to work on my colour Values.
This painting is all too much one hue.
I will have to add shadows and deepen the colour of some of the leaves.

But it is getting there.
Thanks for looking.
~~Kathleen

A new attempt & And "Hidden Lake" completed.

"Sunbeams, A Forrest and The Trees in Front"
Acrylics/Mixed Media on canvas
6" X 6"

What I have here is just a little Jewel.
With the help of Kathy @ Wet Canvas, I am learning a new technique and delving into a somewhat more abstract type of art here.
I have never understood a lot of abstract works. Yep I like Picasso and his contemporaries,
I like Cubism because I can see something in the paintings.
But blobs/lines and splotches were/are beyond my comprehension.
The above painting has used different techniques for the background that lent themselves to the final work.
The foreground was totally inspired by the background.
While doing the background, I had the brilliant idea of adding some Gold & Copper foil
bits that I had saved from an earlier work.
Unfortunately foil is almost impossible to photograph in a realistic manner, and it really throws the camera lens off with glare)
So the photo of this painting really does not do it justice.
Once the background had dried, and I scrubbed off the excess foil, I had a perfect pallet for trees, being visited by the rays of the sun (foil)
And that is how this work came to be.
I hope you like it......
On to
"Hidden Lake"

Acrylic on canvas
12" X 14"
Again, I had a lot of help with this one from my friends at Wet Canvas.
I was having a hard time depicting the drop from the viewers point of view to the lake below.
(Almost one kilometer)
Posing my problem there brought just a wealth of suggestions and offers of help.
It is a wonderful community, and I am proud to be a part of it.
I was being too technical (way too much detail for anything that far away) with the trees below, and originally I did not have the ledge in the front (bottom of the canvas) therefore no depth perception.
It is completed now, and I am very pleased with how it turned out.
You can compare this final work with where I decided I had problems in the previous blog entry.
Hope you like both these lovelies.
I am quite pleased with them myself.
~~Kathleen

Finally a new beginning....Update

Well, it is coming along, I will change the foreground a bit to enable the perspective to
appear a bit more clearly.
I have not got the depth that I want yet.
No shading, no true colour, but a lot of work between the first picture and this one.
More later.
~~Kathleen

"Hidden Lake on Mt. Sarrail"
Unfinished work
Acrylics on canvas
12" X 12"




Finally, after a month of being very sore, and unable to even hold a brush properly, I have begun to paint again.
I am working on a painting of "Hidden Lake"
You can get to this lake, but only after a 19 kilometer hike up the side of Mt. Sarrail.
But what a view.
It is hidden way up high within a Valley
on Mt. Sarrail in the Kananaskis area of The Canadian Rockies.

The Mountain behind the lake is Mt. Indefatigable.
And yes, it is that big.
This view (that I am painting)
is from above the lake before the decent to the area.
The mysteries of nature are wonderful and abound in this area of Alberta.
Hopefully I can do this scene justice, and that the paint falls from my brush in a pleasing manner.
~~Kathleen

How many artists does it take?

"Trust"
The town of Cochrane Mural

I have become friends with a lovely lady in Scotland through blogger and our mutual love of art!
We are not close, but we communicate!
The interesting thing is that she has a son now living in the City of Calgary.

Yep, she & I meet on the net, and her son is now living less than 30 minutes away from me.
Isn't the internet a fabulous place?
We note eachother from time to time, and enjoy each others blogs.
Katie sent me a note (pasted below, as for some reason Blogger will not let me publish it under my comments.)
Check out Katies blog here:

http://katiedeespics.blogspot.com

The neat thing about this whole thing, is that I have been following the making of these murals, and while I have actually seen some, was not aware that the Cochrane Mural was completed.
Well, now I know, because a wonderful Lady in Scotland took the time to let me know what was happening in my own back yard!
(BIG GRIN HERE!)
Please copy/paste the URL she provided in her note to me and check out this wonderful site.
The Murals that have been done are wonderful and truly Works of Art
Again small world Huh?
~~Kathleen

Katies note.....

"My son in Calgary sent this to me today and I thought you might be interested as it is in your part of the world, Regards,

Katie

This is truly amazing!!

LOOK CLOSELY BY CLICKING ON ANY PART OF THE MURAL. It is called the Cochrane Mural....

For those not living in the West, Cochrane is NW of Calgary and East of Banff, in the foothills of the Rockies. This mural was unveiled last week at the Cochrane Ranch House. Each tile is one foot square and has its own individual picture. Each tile is by a different artist. All of them placed together form this huge mural.

You can click on each tile to see them in detail.

Check out the horses eye.

http://www.muralmosaic.com/Cochrane.html

"You Just Gotta Believe!"

"Santa "Bob" of the Crossfield Fire dept. "

Please note, I have changed the Heading photograph so as to
highlight "Santa Bob" of the local fire dept.
He loves being Santa and is rarely out of his suit all December.

On Christmas Eve Maura, Bob and the boys picked me up in Crossfield and we headed out on Limit Ave to the overpass to get to their place.

Well, wouldn't you just know it, we saw Santa beside a Fire truck a street up from my place.
Of course we made a detour so we could see him.
We got to the Fire truck and Santa came over to Bobs Truck Shaughn got out and Santa spoke to him!
Needless to say this was the moment of truth to Shaughn.
But the story doesn't end there!
We all got back in our truck (Marshall slept through the whole thing)
back to Limit avenue and the way home, until we passed the next street!
And there he was in a matter of seconds there was Santa again and the fire truck making sure that all the little boys and girls would go to bed before he started his official rounds.
"How could he do it so fast?" asked Shaughn. " He was on that other street just a moment ago!"
"It is Santa, and he is Magic" answered Shaughns Mother.
The next street we passed and there was Santa AGAIN!
By this time Shaughn was beside himself and by this time a complete believer in Santas magical powers!

The town of Crossfield has a Fire Department with three trucks, and this group of dedicated men (all volunteers), take the trucks and drive up and down every street in town saying goodnight to all the children, letting them know that the secret to a good visit is being in bed and asleep at the right time.

How wonderful these men are, and how wonderful for all the children in our town!
For the Volunteer Fire-fighters of the town of Crossfield, Alberta I have this to say....
May you all be blessed with safety and good health this coming year.

Please know that your kindness to our children meant so very much to this six year old boy.
In this day and age, Magical powers that are actually seen are the greatest gift of all.
Shaughn will never forget The Christmas Eve that he actually saw Santas' Magical powers, that he could be in three places at the same time.
You just Gotta believe!
I hope that Santa was good to everyone this year.
I hope that the most meaningful thing about your Christmas was seeing
A child in awe of the power of the season of love.
~~Kathleen

"We are what we make our world!"

"Winter Dance"
Acrylics on sealed Mdf Board

I wish for you Peace, Happiness and Warmth
In the coming year.
Be well and enjoy life.
Smile at a stranger, Smell the air.
Laugh and Dance.
Hug a child, and tell someone just how complete your life is with them in it.
Grow a flower, bake cookies.
Look up Compassion in the dictionary.
Learn to live it!
But most of all
Be Thankful.
We can have a good life if we allow ourselves to .
The world around us cares.
One person at a time.
Slowly we can add our input to a positive world.
Collectively it works so much better.
~~Kathleen