Looking up on the Admiralty Trail in the Pacific Spirit Regional Park in Vancouver on a beautiful Spring day in April this year. You can see more photos of these spectacular leafy canopies from our trail walk in spring forward fall back, and the same trail decked out in glorious autumnal colors last October in Boundaries.
“When you pick up your brush it should come to life in your hands” writes Tony Smibert at the beginning of Chapter 6 in Painting Landscapes from your Imagination. He continues, “Somehow we have to free the brush so that it will dance across the page as if it were alive in our fingertips rather than trapped by them.”
This second part of Genie of the brush is all about Making Marks, the title of the chapter, using the four simple steps of Dotting, Dabbing, Dragging and Rolling, with my brushes hopefully dancing across the page.
The best part of this exercise was following Tony Smibert’s suggestion to “free movement to a rhythm or a beat.” I took this to heart and dotted, dabbed, dragged and rolled to one of my favourite Jazz pieces, Blue Monk by the great, late Thelonius Monk, the genius of the keys to match the genie of the brush. It was also the perfect opportunity for another “Over my shoulder” video. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it.
Over my Shoulder VI – Making Marks
One of yesterday’s landscapes that followed the exercise using a combination of dots, drags, dabs and rolls. Definitely a good day 🙂
You can find links to all of my other Over My Shoulder videos on
From Yardwork to Artwork: The Photinia Story Part Three
Todays title is taken from Tony Smibert’s Introduction to Painting Landscapes from your Imagination. The book is a joy to read and full of a wonderfully inspiring text from which I will take my favourite quotations over the next few weeks. The full quote today reads:
“When a watercolour emerges from the wash, it does so imbued with possibilities.”
This exercise is entitled Sunset over the Valley and combines the various washes from the last two days, namely flat, graduated and variegated. Adding the graduated sunset wash in the top right hand corner was a quiet revelation. It involved turning the board, wetting the sky up to the edge of the mountains and then dropping in the red which then charged the wetted area – oh what joy! Light red was recommended for this but not having any I combined brilliant red with burnt sienna with a satisfying result I feel.
Worldwatercolormonth Day 3
I would like to dedicate today’s post to the memory of those who lost their lives so cruelly in Baghdad and Bangladesh.
Arizona remembered I 2.7.16
The title of today’s post is taken from Tony Smibert’s quote in Exercise 3 of Landscapes of the Imagination, which I am working through this month, “Be your own painter and adapt what you want to your own work”. This exercise is all about graduated washes and includes maneuvering the board upside-down as the secondary washes are applied.
The quote was all the inspiration I needed to apply the exercise to memories of our memorable trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, where we stopped before continuing on to that never-to-be-forgotten visit to Antelope Canyon.
That night we walked on the McDowell Sonoran Reserve after sunset where the Saguaro cacti were dramatically silhouetted against the evening sky. It was thanks to Laura Macky that we included this in our visit and her wonderful post Painted Saguaro is one that I recommend you all visit. Thanks once again Laura 🙂
Arizona remembered II 2.7.16
Worldwatercolormonth Day 2
Happy First of July everyone, and to my friends in Canada a very Happy Canada Day once again. Today is the perfect day to start a new project and what better project could there be than a month of watercolor painting as part of World Watercolor Month, thanks to Charlie O’Shields at Doodlewash.
This time a year ago I was part way through all the watercolour exercises in the book by the great Australian artist Tony Smibert, Lessons from the Great Masters, which my dear friend and always-inspiring Debi Riley happily introduced me to on her blog. Some of you may well have followed my journey on thechangingpalette through those four weeks last year. I thought for these next four I would work my way through another of Tony Smibert’s books, Painting Landscapes from your Imagination, something which I often love to do.
So for Day 1 of World Watercolor month I undertook the first exercises in the book and am now eagerly looking forward to making progress in the coming four weeks.
I will certainly endeavour to paint everyday, but on those days when I’m visiting my beautiful granddaughter, which will always take precedence over everything else, I will plan to post some of my favourite paintings from last year’s Lessons from the Great Masters. Today’s exercise working with washes was an encouraging start to the month. I hope you agree 🙂
Happy Canada Day from Vancouver
Happy First Birthday to our beautiful granddaughter
whose birth we were celebrating a year ago today.
Love, love, love.
partners no longer
The Story Behind The Door…or the muse that meows.
As I arrive at the studio today behind the door my unclothed muse awaits me…
purring quietly and sitting patiently, ready to inspire me with her presence.
Her name is Sunday and she is greatly loved by us all.
This magnificent carving by the late great Haida artist Bill Reid, entitled The Raven and The First Men, can be seen in the Bill Reid Rotunda of the Museum of Anthropology on the campus of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
The stunning beauty of this work with all of its majestic curves is truly breathtaking and you can read about its meaning on the Bill Reid Foundation web site.
It seems the perfect photographic way with which to celebrate National Aboriginal Day today.
thechangingpalette 