Blog moving

Hello all,

I'm happy to announce that I have a revamped website up now and it includes a blog page. This will be the last post on this site.If you'd like to checkout the new site and future blog postings, go to www.janicerobertson.ca

all the best
Janice

More Flowers

I'm working my way up to some larger loose florals. The white one is 24 x 30 and the yellow one is 24 x 36. I tried a 36 x 36 floral - worked really hard on it and could not make it work. Right now I'm getting about 50% success. It's a new approach in that I'm letting go of control in a way that I never have before. Exciting and nerve wracking at the same time.

I'd like to incorporate more of this approach in my landscapes.Will see where that leads. Right now I'm longing for colour so the florals are chance to indulge that.

Flowers

These two 16 x 16" paintings are my most recent. I'm in a phase of wanting to work with no restriction and so they were mostly painted out of my head. I'm enjoying the colours and the brushwork and letting the paint do much of the work. I have had several other pieces that I couldn't resolve- that's the danger of working intuitively. It's ok and I'm learning more with each piece. There's a bigger one on the easel now, which may or may not work. Fingers crossed!

Family pictures

This 12 x 16" acrylic is of my daughter, Laura. It was challenging because I was trying for a likeness Happy to say, I think it looks just like her. Painting people in acrylics is nerve-wracking- the slightest error and the person looks grotesque. I have learned to just keep plugging away with each little area until I get it right. Usually I would choose to use oils for a figurative piece, because blending is easier,  but this one worked out ok in acrylics.

Italian scene

Rock of Ages, Italia

24 x 30" acrylic

This painting was close to finished for a week and I lost momentum on it. It just didn't feel compelling to me. I usually paint landscapes of familiar places and this image was from a trip to Italy that I took about 5 years ago.

In the photo, the foreground was very dark and I lightened it up considerably. Yesterday, I got the notion to glaze the foreground with black and let the light sit in the sky and distant fields.Then I glazed the clouds with very dilute layers of quin red and hansa yellow. It made a huge difference and suddenly I'm happy with the painting.

pet portrait

This is  20 x 18" acrylic of my beloved dog, Havi. I haven't done many dog portraits but it was really fun to do. Right now there are several artists that I know who have taken the pet portrait to a whole new level- great brushwork and innovative approaches, with backgrounds and colour. I'm inspired to paint more dogs.

Painting Big

                                   

This place is about 7 minutes from my house. I spent a beautiful afternoon painting plien air there a week ago. I took a few shots with my phone and one photo led to this 36 x 48" painting. I love painting big- have resolved to do a few more large scale pieces soon. It feels like being there when I'm working on a big piece.

This will be the final major painting that I'm taking to Calgary for the Stampede Art show. I might get a few more little ones done before I go. I'm getting excited, looking forward to being there again. The camaraderie with the other artists and the chance to talk to people about my work are my favourite things about the experience. It does feel like a marathon at times and the days are very long, but I feel blessed to be able to go.