I've continued on the path of mixing my media in my work on canvas, this time, returning to canoes. I think this will be the last of this exploration for awhile as I need to buckle down and complete my studies on Shakespeare and my thesis on Jane Austen. Plus, with recent exams and travels behind me, I have a lot of work to do. This has been a nice way to re-visit my history as I was initially taught to draw and embroider by my Oma, who was from South America where embroidery was an important part of the culture, when I was very young. I will continue to create small paintings with watercolour on my walks throughout the weeks ahead as that time is absolutely necessary while I have so much work to do to finish my degree this semester. Fingers crossed!

This is my favourite 5x7 landscape painting so far and it's basically because of the sparkly gold paint that I added to the wild grasses growing along Nose Creek. I never used to be particularly fond of shiny paint, but Beam Paints has totally shifted my perspective...in fact, my two favourite colours in their repertoire are Dreamer's Gold & Wild Salmon. I especially enjoy how the paint shimmers or looks matte dependent upon the angle that you view the painting. I think I need to add these sparkly colours to more pieces going forward.

“Women, whether subtly or vociferously,
have always been a tremendous power in the destiny of the world.”

​-- Eleanor Roosevelt, “It’s Up to the Women”

My husband asked for a couple of my bird paintings for his office, and since the Cedar Waxwing is one of his favourites, I knew I wanted to include it...plus, it's a favourite to paint.  The second bird I chose was a sparrow as we have so many living in our yard. ​This time, I also added green embroidery to reflect leaves in the trees and to add some 3-dimensional texture.

As I'm currently working on a new canoe painting I thought I'd share a little overview of my process:

1. First I add layers of pattern and colour using layers of different mixtures of primary colours + white along with stencils and acrylic markers.
2. Lately, I've been incorporating embroidery into my works on gallery depth canvas as it was the first artform I learned as a very young child - it's another way to add pattern, colour & texture.
3. At this point, I go through my sketchbooks and find a shape of canoe that I would like to add...I also decide which direction the canoe should face.
4. Using either an acrylic marker or a brush with paint, I draw out the shape that I am drawn to - I keep a rag and small spray bottle of water handy to "erase" any marks that I'm not happy with in my drawing.
5. Using transparent glazes, I fill in my canoe, and with a couple of colours opaque paint (a colour mixed with white), I roughly paint around the canoe shape.
6. Finally, I re-introduce any patterns and colours that I feel will make the piece feel more cohesive (utilizing certain colours and patterns around the work keep the eye moving around the piece).

I was going through old photographs when I suddenly realized that I have had my Guerrilla Painter pochade box for almost 20 years. Since then, I've been given the opportunity to try different pochade boxes but none of them have compared to this one. Judson's still creates a similar one but it is a little shallower which means that it isn't able to store as many supplies or as many painting panels, which could be a great thing, but I absolutely love how mine works for me. It has accommodated many paintings, including 8x10 gallery depth portraits, up to 4 painting panels when I worked on daily painting project a number of years ago, to plein air and cafe painting. It has been an invaluable asset in creating large paintings whenever I've been asked to paint live as I can attach it to a tripod, but it also works sitting on a tabletop because of the rubber feet, as well as being held by hand because it has a thumb hole so I can comfortably rest it on my forearm. 

Many years ago, I attended an exhibit which featured small watercolours, oils and wood carved prints of landscapes and, to my great delight, the original pochade box of the artist, Dorothy Shelton, was on display as part of the exhibit at the Collectors' Gallery. At the Leighton Art Centre, the pochade box of A.C. Leighton is continually on display and it happens to be my favourite part of the entire centre. At the Whyte Museum in Banff, Mary Schaeffer Warren's pochade, along with several of her botanical watercolours, is constantly part of the museum's exhibit. Viewing the tools and materials of artists are the things that bring me the most joy. My paint box has created works in oils, acrylics and watercolours on canvas or wood and, though my pochade box is a bit battered and bruised, it is still the thing that makes me happiest as an artist.

While I was working on one of my 'Women of the West' portraits, I thought I would share my process for painting portraits using watercolours. The colours I use aren't as important to me as the fact that I have a combination of warm and cool colours (ie. pinks, yellows, blues). I also share how I enlarge images using the grid method.

Colours Used:

• New Gamboge
  
• Potter's Pink
  
• Rose Madder
  
• Rhodonite
  
• Rose of Ultramarine
  
• Burnt Sienna
  
• Turquoise
  
• Indanthrone
  
• Blue
  
• Indigo
  
• Payne's Grey

Now on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOFzR60OVQw​​www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOFzR60OVQw

by Emily Dickinson
​​
It sifts from leaden sieves,
It powders all the wood,
It fills with alabaster wool
The wrinkles of the road.

It makes an even face
Of mountain and of plain, --
Unbroken forehead from the east
Unto the east again.

It reaches to the fence,
It wraps it, rail by rail,
Till it is lost in fleeces;
It flings a crystal veil

On stump and stack and stem, --
The summer’s empty room,
Acres of seams where harvests were,
Recordless, but for them.

It ruffles wrists of posts,
As ankles of a queen, --
Then stills its artisans like ghosts,
Denying they have been.

I've completed the final piece of the 'Women of the West' project after almost 2 years of work. Now I just need to put all of my notes into some semblance of order before arranging an exhibit at some point. It was such a privilege to create this body of work and, especially, this opportunity to include a friend's grandmother in order to complete the project.

"Snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness."

​~ Mary Oliver