Here's the finished version of the painting that I posted a while ago. It was really fun to do and I was happy to avoid getting too tight with it. I feel a series of juicy still life pieces coming on- I just love the color and texture opportunities with this kind of subject.
The painting is going to the Federation gallery in Vancouver for the upcoming Medal show. The opening is on Dec 8th and everyone is welcome if you are in town.
"Counting the Hour" 20 x 24" acrylic.

This weekend the mountain opens for skiing at Whistler and the Adele Campbell Gallery is having the opening of their annual Winter Show. This is one of the new pieces that I sent up for the show- "Indigo Sky" 18 x 36" acrylic.

The gallery is in the Westin Hotel and Spa so check it out if you're in the area.

OK- I thought I had put the finishing touches on this painting but turns out my vision was different than the client's. Fortunately the changes they wanted were easy to make so this is what we ended up with. I have to admit that I might like it even more in this new incarnation. Commission are an interesting part of the journey!

Today I finally put the finishing touches on this painting. It is a 30 x 48" oil and is a commission for a Vancouver client. I thought it was done about a week ago but there were things that bothered me about it, although I was having trouble knowing what to do.

My sister, Suzannne, had a look at it and made some very helpful suggestions. I think I had been looking at it so long I couldn't really see it any more. I ended up doing some work on the freighter to improve the drawing and I reworked almost the entire foreground. I'm much happier with it now and am looking forward to showing it to the client.

This week in my Vancouver intermediate acrylics class, we did an interesting exercise. We all had photos that we had taken of a still life set up from the previous week. Everyone was given a bit of time to under-paint their canvas and draw in the basic composition. Then we had one hour to paint as much as we could. At the end of the hour we lined up all the paintings and had a look.

Most people really enjoyed the exercise, a few chose not to do it and a couple found it so stressful that they dropped out. Hopefully they will all forgive me for putting them through it. The benefits of this exercise is that you have to very quickly decide what really matters in your painting and what you can leave out. No time to get bogged down with small details.

I found it exhilarating- kind of like white water rafting. Here is my effort- 20 x 24" acrylic. I like it and plan to spend a little time bringing it to completion, while trying not to lose the freshness.

Before and after. My studio during the workshop last weekend and today. Seems awfully quiet now

Just coming to the end of a wonderful weekend. Gaye Adams was here teaching a workshop in my studio and our friend Mark Hobson from Tofino was here for the weekend too. We had great conversations around the dining room table with Gaye, Mark and some of the other artist friends attending the workshop.

I learned a lot about oil painting these past three days. We did small oils from life- no bigger than 6 x 8". Here are two of mine.

Gaye is a wonderful teacher. If you ever get a chance to take a workshop with her, I highly recommend that you go for it.

Here's a shot of our workshop group- thanks all for making it so much fun!

Lots going on right now. I did a very enjoyable 2 day workshop on Gabriola Island about a week ago- I had a wonderful group of people to work with and I love the natural beauty of the island.

The Vancouver classes are in full swing. We only have 2 more classes after this week so it has gone by in a blur. I do a south Granville gallery crawl with my intermediate class on the final day, then we all go out for lunch together- it's one of my favourite days. Each time we do it, I'm reminded of how important it is to get out to galleries and see what other artists are doing.

This weekend I'm hosting a workshop with Gaye Adams in my home studio. This is the first one so I'm very excited and looking forward to learning lots about daily oil painting from Gaye.

Painting-wise, I'm working on a big commission for a Vancouver client. It's an image of the harbour from Jericho beach. 30 x 48 " oil. I will post it when it's done. Then I need to get busy and do some new pieces for each of my galleries for the holiday season.