December 18, 2010 – 9:39 am
Recently I’ve purchased a number of excellent videos through North Light, including three of pastelist Richard McKinley. His two recent ones are excellent, but the one I want to mention here is an older one entitled “A Studio Session with Richard McKinley.” In this 3 hour, 2 disk DVD, Richard is shown completing an entire [...]
November 8, 2010 – 9:56 pm
For a change of pace, I recently took an acrylic painting class from local artist Kebbie Gibb. Kebbie’s teaching style is extremely organized and helpful, and during this short course she walked the class through both foundational painting principles and the many uses of acrylics. New to me were the various mediums that are available [...]
August 30, 2010 – 7:23 pm
I am pleased to report that the painting Far From Here has been selected for the Pastel Artists Canada (PAC) annual juried show, which will take place in late September at the Neilson Park Creative Centre in Mississauga. Thanks to Brian Smith, juror, who selected the work. This is my third successful submission to a [...]
August 30, 2010 – 7:07 pm
After 23 years in one location, it is time to move on. Many factors figured in the decision, and it was a difficult choice, but we have left behind our lovely cloistered home in the trees, and moved to a new home on a wide open waterfront. It’s a culture shock, to say the least, [...]
The Bowmanville Branch of the Clarington Public Library, at 163 Church St. in Bowmanville, will host a re-mounting of the Oshawa Works pieces, from Aug 4-31, 2010. If you missed seeing them in Oshawa, and are interested, please check out the show in the Artspace on the Mezzanine of the library.
When the letter came, I knew it was a chance of a lifetime: an invitation to study with internationally-renowned pastelist Elizabeth Mowry for a week in Giverny, France, the home of Monet’s famous garden. I had very much enjoyed a week with Elizabeth in the Lot Valley in France several years ago, and so, despite [...]
On Wednesday, April 7th, my solo show Oshawa Works had its official opening. This show, consisting of twelve figure paintings, is my tribute to the neighbourhood in which I’ve been living (during the week) for the last two years, and which I will be leaving soon as I move to my new home and studio [...]
Ok, so I’m a wuss. It’s true. Despite my resolution to paint outdoors more, I have discovered that I simply HATE painting outdoors in winter. Instead, I’ve “cheated” by painting the view outside the window, or dashing ouside to take a photo and then painting from it. Oh well, maybe in the spring. Here are [...]
December 1, 2009 – 6:02 pm
This past weekend I attended a figure drawing/painting workshop with one of the Pastel Artists Canada repeat award winners, Glenn Bernabe. Glenn, a resident of Markham, Ontario, usually depicts single female figures in urban settings (laundromats, coffee shops etc.) and his work has a polished, while rather melancholy atmosphere. Without doubt, his mastery of the [...]
October 30, 2009 – 12:49 pm
My friend and fellow pastel artist Jessie Grant and I spent five days last week studying with Sally Strand. Sally has long been near the top of my list of “must-study-with” artists based on her magical way of portraying light (see her “men in white” and “player” series of paintings for examples), and when I [...]