Gabriola Encore

Welcome to "Whimsy Wednesday", today's post will talk a little more about my Gabriola painting experience. We stayed at The Haven, and set off for a different painting location each morning. Below is a picture of the totem pole on the foreshore in front of The Haven.

We started at Full Moon Farm; Neil Patterson was our first instructor. He is currently the president of the Oil Painters of America.

“Painting is all about passion,” declares Neil Patterson. “If you respond to the passion that you have inside yourself, that’s when the real painting comes out. Selling your work is a bonus; painting itself is what really matters.  It is his ability to paint feelings rather than merely replicating what he sees that makes Patterson’s vibrant, impressionistic oils so appealing."

Link to Neil Patterson's work.

 Neil's demonstration was in oils starting on a canvas that had been painted black and working from dark to light. I was working in watercolours so this advice was not so useful for me at the time; watercolour is usually painted the other way around with the light, especially the whites coming largely from the paper and working towards the darks. I am trying the technique of starting on a dark background with conte and the results so far are interesting.

He challenged us to set aside 15 minutes every day (he recommended first thing in the morning) to do a painting and to stop after 15 minutes, date the painting and put it aside. He said "Do this every day for a year and you will be a better painter at the end of the year." I may not get to a painting every day but I think it is a good exercise and intend to follow his advice.



Neil Patterson demonstrating painting technique (above and below)

 





Our group gathered around



Stan Miller met us at Berry Point and demonstrated in watercolour. A quote from his website:

"Shakespeare said the world is a stage. He directed, gave freedom to, and controlled his characters, the players. The writer directs the word; the musician, the note; the dancer, the step; the painter, the stroke. Each artist struggles at some level to bring together and unify the complexity of his/her creative expression without losing the importance of diversity. Too much unity through sameness, we have monotony. Too much diversity, we have chaos. To express the maximum complexity of thought and feeling, maintain diversity, yet simplicity, and end with unity is not only the goal of every artist, but the goal of every citizen of life and of this world."

Link to Stan Miller's work.

Stan talked about getting our creative and logical brains to work in harmony. He had many helpful ideas on choosing a subject, use of light and dark within a painting and the arrangement of objects within our work to create interest and to give the eye an interesting path to follow. He demonstrated in watercolour, I was in my element.



Stan Miller demonstrating at FCA workshop (above and below)





A photograph of his finished painting


Stan Miller also presented a slide show later in the week on the different ways the right and left brains recognize and interpret visual stimuli. His slide presentation included many famous paintings and gave some valuable insights. 


Mark Hobson was our instructor on the third day. We started at Drumbeg Bay, at the south end of the island, but moved when it started to rain. Our "rain" location was a very beautiful house, with a large covered deck, high up on the island with a beautiful view towards Vancouver Island.

From Mark's website:

'A strong advocate for preserving the wilderness he loves to paint, Mark has donated numerous paintings and much of his time to efforts to preserve natural environments.
Mark's Float house studio is only accessible via a 9 km boat ride from Tofino'

Link to Mark Hobson's work.

Mark brought quite a few of his works from a recent "en plein air" painting journey. He was demonstrating in acrylics, and chose to start on a dark background, purple in this case, and painted the negative spaces first. There are two kinds of spaces in a composition, the actual subject matter or focus of the painting are the positive shapes, all the rest of the work between and around the positive shapes are the negative spaces.

'Paint what you love and take time to really look at it. Choose a single focus for your painting and use hard edges and intense colours to define it. While you are on site make sure that you get the unique information like the shadows, highlights and direction and flow of sunlight.'

He premixes colours that he will use a lot and stores them in sealed containers, then he does not have to take time to do that on location.



Mark Hobson demonstrating acrylic technique and starting with negative spaces (above and below)



Than k you to my painting buddy Beverly for helping me with this part after I lost my notes.

On our last day outside Alan Wylie demonstrated in acrylic at Gray's Farm.

Link to Alan Wylie's work.

He chose the old truck is his subject and first did a value study then a painting. He recommended that we start with a black or sepia and white value study, and then move to our painting. A value study strips your painting of colour, focusing on the lights and darks, which is just as important to your composition as form.



Alan Wylie demonstrating (above and below)





The painting on display at our "chair" show on the final evening



Gray's Farm was my favorite location partly because of the variety of subject matter and partly because of the animals. The sheep and donkey went about their day, grazing, drinking from the water trough and walking amongst us. There was one sheep that was quite vocal, and surprised many a painter as she would sometimes get quite close before announcing her presence. Baaaa! I knew we were going to have a critique at the end of our session but I didn't think it would be from the animals. 

Here are a couple of my pictures, I need a lot more practice with plein air work:

And a painting that I did since my return:



I took a lot of photographs; here are pictures of a photo walk along the beach in front of the Haven at low tide.



An inviting chair




A busy tidal pool





Interesting rock formations





Silhouette of an Inuksuk




Driftwood detail


A few more island memories:



Curious sheep (above and below)





Birdhouse among hollyhocks




The rocks appeared to have been sculpted




Whimsical garden decorations (above and below)





Colourful boat at Silva Bay




Odd shaped tree trunks





Canopy of maple leaves




Leaves starting to change



 I am still "processing" the Gabriola en plein air experience, it will give me lots to think about and to paint over the fall and winter months.

"Thought for Food" series original paintings on display at Image West Hair Salon in October:

I am pleased to announce that I have accepted an opportunity to display my work at Image West Hair Salon at 2885 West Broadway. 

All 12 of the original paintings in the "Thought for Food" series will be on display beginning in October.

The paintings are 6.5" X 6.5", matted and framed in 12" X 12" black wood frames.

"Podcast?" is sold but the rest of the paintings are available.

Here is one of the paintings that will be on display:

"Just Peachy"

Follow this link to see all 12 of the pictures.

 Thank you for visiting my blog and happy "Whimsy Wednesday".

Painting on Gabriola Island

I have just returned from a week away on Gabriola Island, where I attended a "en plein air" painting workshop put on by the Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA). We stayed at The Haven resort, spent our days at several outdoor locations and evenings at lectures or demonstrations.

Gabriola Island is located about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east of Naniamo on Vancouver Island. A short trip by ferry from Naniamo, Gabriola Island is about 60 square kilometres in size and has a resident population of slightly more than 4,000. The Haven is located near the northwest end of Gabriola Island:

"The Haven is a not-for-profit charitable organization located on beautiful Gabriola Island, BC, Canada. For more than 25 years The Haven has offered programs for personal and professional development and growth. People leave The Haven with skills to be fully alive, have healthy relationships and communicate effectively."




The Haven from the water side

 



I shared a double room, right side middle floor, wow what a view!

 


View from the room





View over the bay

 



Horseshoe Bay Nanaimo Bay ferry passing in the distance

  En plein air is a French term which literally means "in the open air", it is used to describe painting on location or out of doors. We were divided into four different groups (of 15 to 20) and during the five day painting workshop we painted at four different locations on the island, each location with a different artist. Here are some of my photographs.

First my group (the reds) were at Full Moon Farm; an appropriate starting place, I thought, because we arrived on the full moon.





Full Moon Farm, farmhouse

 



Arbutus trees were abundant and beautiful

 


Old fruit tree with swing, story of the past?




Young eagle




This doe had three fawns in tow


Next we were at Berry Point at the northern tip of the island. The weathered wood and eroded rock formation were facinating.



Driftwood and eroded rock





Distant Lighthouse

 


Passing boat




Pretty as a picture



Drumbeg Bay was our location on Thursday, and because of rain we also visited a beautiful house up on the ridge of the island. You can probably tell from the next photograph that it is just starting to rain.

Just as we were setting up the skies opened and we packed and moved to our "rain location", a beautiful house located up on the ridge overlooking the island and looking out towards Vancouver Island.



Arbutus tree wound around a conifer




Chickadee posing for the camera




View down from the house




Elephant Chair that has lost its' tail



The last day of painting we were on Gray's Farm. So many images here, it was hard to decide what to paint. Made friends with the donkey, who loved having its forehead and neck scratched, and the sheep entertained us all day with their antics.



Old farm buldings





Did you know that sheep have rectangular irises?




Hard to get a picture of this guy, he kept coming close enough to have his neck scratched




Great old truck





A better picture of the rectangular iris



It was the first time that I had ever done en plein air painting. It was a really challenging but valuable experience; with so much visual information, deciding on a subject and then trying to capture it before the light changed kept me focussed and left me exhausted by the end of each day.  I have a head full of images now, enough to keep me busy for most of the fall and winter months.

We were treated to a portrait painting demonstration by David Goatley:

"David Goatley is widely recognized as one of North America’s leading portrait painters, with a strong following in both Canada and the USA. Born in London, England, he trained at Camberwell School of Art and began painting full time in 1990 following a successful career in advertising. He came to Victoria in 1992, from where he travels all over the continent, fulfilling commissions – around 300 in the past 20 years."



David Goatley

 We were also treated to a demonstration of pastel work by Andrew McDermott, senior member and  current president of the FCA. Below is a picture I took of the piece, it does not do the work justice I'm afraid.

At the end of the week, fortified by a good breakfast at the Haven; we headed home, tired but satisfied. I will need a few weeks to mull over all the information and put the lessons learned into practice.



Looking back at Gabriola ferry dock



That is all for this week, next week more detail on the four artists that led the daily sessions, their messages and work.

Don't forget to drop by the PS Whimsy site (http://www.pswhimsy.com/) to look at the 12 "Thought for Food" images; these are offered at a special price of 12 for $36.00 or a set (1 of each of the 12) for $36.00.

Until next, thank you for stopping by, and happy "Whimsy Wednsday",