Weekend workshop-March 24-25, 2012-Canmore

In this weekend workshop the participants painted mountains, light on the snow and, by request, we did an afternoon of mono prints. I had forgotten how immediate and exciting mono prints can be. It is a system I devised when I wanted the effect of mono prints but did not want to use oil paints. Painting on glass, pressing the paper, and lifting to see the effect are all very organic. Then, you have to find those images-trees, streams, rocks, lakes-on the pulled paper and add and subtract paint before the first wash dries! Needless to say, this process works best when you can do several at one sitting. The more you do the better you get-isn't that the way with everything in life?

Larch Valley-2012 and The Class of Art

My latest painting at Canada House Gallery in Banff- "Larch Valley". Personally, I love painting mountains and enjoy my summers hiking the trails. One of my students, who paints flowers beautifully, was struggling with her mountain landscapes. I asked, why don't you paint flowers because you do them so well? She replied that she felt she should be doing something that she wasn't good at. An admirable trait, but remember those artists that found the place or the subject that they love and that is what they painted.....this would be painters such as Andrew Wyeth and Chadds Ford, Georgia O'Keeffe and the desert of New Mexico,and Charlie Russell and the old west.

The Advanced Class of Art

The Watermedia show at the Whyte Museum runs from January 21until March 20, and 12 of the 18 artists are from the advanced class in Canmore. For all but one person, this was their first juried experience. They are shown here working on some of their pieces. Since the advanced class began in 2009 they have-as seen here-exceeded their expectations! I., however had every confidence they were ready to use their skills on their own material. It is especially rewarding to see the discussion amongst the group during class. They learn a lot from each other by seeing the progress, and the obstacles that every painter has... in class, as in life, the more you do the better you get!

The Advanced Class

August Plein Air Workshop

We were fortunate to have sunny weather for outdoor painting at the August 20-21, 2011 workshop. The boardwalk is a short 10 minute walk from the Union Hall and there were spectacular views of Mt. Rundle, Ha-Ling and the Bow Valley! The mountain landscape workshop this year is on August 25-26-we'll hope for more of the same weather so we can spend an afternoon outside again!