The Workshop

I had been asked to give a one day instructional workshop to members of the Brant Visual Artists' Guild to be held in St George. There would be between 15 and 20 intermediate level adult watercolour students in attendance, all of them strangers. Although challenged by the offer, as this would be my first workshop, I felt confident that I could do it since I have always liked to teach.

The topic would be pet portraiture. I broke down the steps taken to paint the Zephyr portrait (shown in the previous post) and would use this painting as my main teaching example. But a couple of days before the event, it occurred to me that some students might prefer to paint a cat instead of a dog. I quickly decided to add a kitten photo from a royalty free website. This was fortunate, since the kitten was the preferred choice of many. I have noticed that artists and cats (and avid readers) often go together.

I have heard that the definition of an expert is a person in the room that knows more about a subject than anyone else. Here I was showing others what I had learned, and being treated as an expert on the topic............ Who, me?!......... Perhaps I had more to offer on that topic than the others, but 'expert' is a relative concept. So often I hear teachers say that they learn so much from their students, and it is true. We all learn from each other, and there is still so much to learn. I was just showing what I had acquired up to this point on my artistic journey.

And it was a thrill.

Thanks Pam, and members of the BVAG.

Oh Zephyr!

Our time raising Zephyr for the National Service Dogs was quickly coming to an end. (See the blog post of Aug 30 2007). We had trained and nurtured him for nearly a year and a half, and he thought of himself as part of the family. We nearly did as well, but we held on to the belief that his was a more noble future. Knowing that we would only have him for a few more weeks, I took him out for a photo shoot. As usual, he happily obliged, and this portrait is the result.

There had been the usual puppy mishaps, the inevitable slipper chewing, the house training accidents and the like. But as he grew, we discovered that he was becoming a very strong dog, and was generally more excitable than his peers. Great strength combined with over excitability are not traits sought after for service dogs, and we became concerned. Sure enough, only two weeks into his four month professional training, we were informed that Zephyr had been "released from the program". Did we want to keep him? We could cover the cost that he had incurred to the service organization, such as vet fees, and he would be ours. Or we could pass him along to another group, and with little hesitation, we agreed that he should be given another try. For the second time, we said our good-byes as he went off to school, this time the Lions Club Guide Dogs of Canada. We had hopes that with the chance of training for one of their four categories of service (seeing, hearing, physical, and seizure) he would soon find his place.

I always said that Zephyr was a 'boomerang' dog due to his great ability to retrieve, but I hadn't expected that to also mean that he would keep on bouncing back to us. We were informed that he did not have the right stuff for Guide Dogs either. Better, perhaps, but still short of the mark.

As I write this in March 2009, Zephyr is on his third try. His retrieving skills may be his salvation, since, based on his enthusiasm and tenacity in ball retrieval, he easily passed the qualification trials for yet another school. He is now training with the Canada Border Services Agency to become a 'sniffer' dog of contraband goods. I am optimistic about this match...we'll see.............................

Katie and Raffles

After the studio tour, I slipped once again into a season without painting. First came the simultaneous training at two new part time jobs, then an illness, surgery and slow recovery. My dad suggested I paint while convalescing, but I just wasn't up for it. Although not physically demanding, painting takes mental energy, something like a chess game. Watching old movies was more my speed. Finally, in the fall, after a couple of trips away, I was ready for a fresh start.

A co-worker had seen my blog, and asked me to paint her aunt's two cats. This would be my first double portrait. Intended as a gift for Christmas, I had plenty of time to work on it, which was great because my time now had become so limited.

Katie, the tortoise shell, and the "marmalade" Raffles, are not friendly towards each other. Their posing together was not likely to happen, and to complicate it further, Robyn had to slip the reference photos to me without detection from her aunt, this being a surprise gift. It was a new challenge for me to coordinate the scale of the two images, crop and arrange the subjects into a unified piece.

I was struck by how similar these two cats were with our own, Friskey and Orville, shown in the photo.

Oxford County Studio Tour 2008

The idea of a studio tour is that visitors may observe a number of artists working or displaying their art within their own studio. Brochures are distributed showing which artist may be found where, within a specific region. Most tours last for a couple of days, usually over a weekend, and groups of artistically minded friends often travel together for a fun day's outing.

I moved my drafting table to the main floor and was able to work on a painting while visitors looked over my works. My living room had temporarily become my very own art gallery. It was a challenging and exciting adventure, and I'll be doing it again April 4 & 5 2009.

Amaryllis

This macro floral was painted in my usual way. I then mounted it onto a wooden panel and trimed the paper edges. The one inch panel sides were painted in casein, an opaque artist's paint. When dry, the whole thing was sprayed multiple times with a clear matte protective finish. In this way a watercolor painting may be hung without glass. It gives the painting a bold presence, resembling a work done in oil or acrylic.

Lovebirds

This one was a lot of fun. After painting numerous fur bearing animals, it was time to give feathers a try. I found an image that had potential, but I wasn't satisfied with how the birds were distributed on their perch. I printed out the image anyway, and then literally cut and pasted until I had my eureka moment and was satisfied with the composition. I especially love the colors of these birds. This painting is a lenghty 30" long.

Potted Amaryllis

The soft backlighting from the window is effective in this composition to highlight the delicate beauty of transperant petals. I am not much of a gardener myself; I would much rather paint a flower, than attempt to keep one alive!

Pink Lily

I really love it when a painting turns out realistically. It's one of the thrills I get when painting. As a realism painter, it is a goal that I strive for. I knew I was onto something with this beautiful lily when, as I painted, the photo illusion began to fool even me. This painting will be published in the Oxford Studio Tour 2009 brochure.

Poppy

This was not the first poppy I had painted, the other one had been done experimentally on watercolor canvas. This was done conventionally on 300 lb watercolor paper, as I nearly always use. Multiple glazes of pigment were used to bring out the flower's depth and vibrancy.

Peppers

Sometimes I get the feeling that every artist at some point paints peppers. The colors are so saturated and reflective. Their shapes are interesting and composition potential is far reaching. So why not give it a try? This painting is quite small; not quite 5" x 8".

Sunset

With April came a flurry of painting activity as I anticipated being a part of the first annual Oxford County Studio Tour, held the first weekend in May. I had been pursuing other interests since Christmas, and consequently spent much of April catching up. I really liked working on this sunset, building up layer after layer of warm colours to intensify the deep glow. I was thrilled to see it sold on the first day of the tour.

Jersey Remembered

I was asked to paint another portrait of Jersey, this time from a photo of her standing in a field. I hadn't done a landscape, which really is what this would be, in a long time, so that would be a challenging change. Also, Tim and Melissa requested that it be done very large, to go over their mantle. Twenty-two inches by 30 inches seemed like a lot of paper after working for so long on an 8"x10" surface.

I wanted to convey the sense of bigness of the sky and field, and yet not loose Jersey in the landscape, since, after all, this was a painting about her. She will be remembered here in this harvest time field near the family cottage on Lake Huron.

Santana

Mark and Robin adopted this regal Belgian Shepherd cross from the London SPCA when Cassie and Hayley were very young. True to his shepherd calling, he faithfully watched over the children, keeping them safe by cottage lake or backyard pool. A loyal companion for fourteen years, the family will miss him this Christmas.

Chocolate Chunk

At 89 pounds, Chunky is one big chunk of chocolate lab. Labrador Retreivers come in three colours: yellow, black, and brown, which is known officially as chocolate. Jan and her family in Ingersoll really have their hands full with this very active and large one year old.

Lighting does interesting things to a solid colour, and I found it facinating to work with such suprisingly rich colour and shade variations.

Jersey

I have always had a fondness for a good old fashioned 'farm dog'. Perhaps this was due to the many stories my mom told of the great dog they had on their farm during the depression. Although I did not meet Jersey, it is clear that she was this kind of dog. She and her brother had been abandoned as pups and found wandering in the country. Janet's family adopted this noble collie shepherd cross and had many happy years with her.

Sambuca

When Mark John and Nanette got Sambuca as a kitten, they had no idea how large she would become. Long and lean, she is one of the largest short hair cats their vet has ever seen. Although rather shy, she is no stranger to the comforts of a cozy bed. With this painting, it was important to capture the many colours reflected in her jet black fur: blue, red, purple and green.

Bluejay

At my first studio tour exhibit, I was offered a commission to paint Deborah and Don's cocker spaniel. Gone, but certainly not forgotten, Bluejay's silky fur was so black that it had beautiful blue highlights. I enlarged a small portion of a good snapshot of Bluejay, and completed the painting by working quickly and steadily over the next couple of days . As it would happen, only hours after completion, I was emailed a much clearer image of him with the suggestion that this photo might be easier to work from. Deborah was very surprised that I had already tackled and completed my assignment. We arranged a time in the following week to get together. Meanwhile, I wondered how the painting would have turned out if I had worked from the second image. Finally, a couple of days before they arrived, I decided to give it a try. I think they were surprised to be offered a choice between two paintings. After some consideration, they chose the second one. Which one would you have chosen?

Montana

Montana, or Tana, is a Golden Retreiver owned by a Lisa, good friend of mine. I chose this pose to paint due to the sweet, alert expression that she had. Like most of her breed, she has proven to be a great family pet. Here was one time that she didn't have her favorite chew toy in her mouth!

Mitsy

This painting was done in memory of Dave and Esther's sweet cocker spainel poodle cross, Mitsy. Right from the start, she was a good fit for the family. She was a young adult when they got her, and she proved how bright she was on their first walk together, when she knew exactly which house was their's going home. She was a very special friend to their son, Paul.

The National Service Dog

A few years ago, while at a freeway service center, I noticed someone with a puppy at the food court. This puppy, although small, was wearing a jacket such as those worn by working guide dogs. I learned that this puppy was in training; becoming familiar with many indoor public locations in preparation for the full time training he would receive from professionals before becoming a full fledged service dog. The puppy raiser would only have the dog for just over a year, and several months later would be invited to attend it's graduation and meet the dog's new owner. I made a mental note at the time that puppy raising was something that I would like to do.

A couple of years later, my son and I attended an open house for Guide Dogs in Oakville, and learned more about this facinating service. Demonstrations were given to show what these fully trained dogs were capable of doing to assist their owner, be they blind, deaf, or quadraplegic. At the time, we did not have a suitable home for puppy raising, and so it remained a dream.

And then, a series of connected events occured over the summer; the dog show in July got me thinking of dogs again, a chance meeting with a guide dog owner in early August informed me of another service dog school which was closer to home, and wouldn't you know it, their annual open house was to be held the following weekend. Of course we went, and two days later we had our seven week old service puppy. Zephyr. A Labrador/Golden Retreiver cross. Cute, smart, and teething. And not house broken. We suddenly had our hands full.

The National Service Dog organization trains dogs to work with children with autism. Their dogs have been very successful in helping keep these children safe, as well as calming them, which allows them to focus in class, and to better interact with others. As a puppy raiser, I see that Zephyr gets out to lots of public venues, and experiences a wide range of things. I take him to obedience class taught through the organization, and follow up with daily practice. And for a little over a year, he is with us to enjoy. And paint. This painting was done from a picture taken the first day we got him.