Xmas window

We decorated the Xmas window for the gallery this week just in time for the Santa Claus parade through downtown Kingston.  Despite the reflections of the lights at night on the window, you can still sort of see my two little paintings on the left. They are 2 that sort of work well together as a pair. It would be great if the same person buys both. ha ha. a little wishful thinking there!

in Frameworks gallery

Here’s a wee picture of a wall in the gallery, which is featuring some of my artwork for Nov-Dec.

Sally Chupick in Frameworks Gallery

 Whoopee, one of my paintings was chosen recently to be made into a Christmas card. Will post about that soonish. Busy weekend, off to Ottawa for family dinner, then on to Toronto Arts & Letters Club for a Portrait Society of Canada Dan Thompson portrait drawing workshop Mon & Tues.

20″x 16″ – oil on canvas – a little fun this morning painting the point where shore becomes river…i will probably glaze it again a few times before I’m finished. 
I’m excited to go to Spain in January to paint. My good friend is doing a house-sit there for 6 weeks, and asked me to come for a while during the time she is there. I booked my ticket last night, Jan. 11th – 19th.   Whoopee! 30 km from Barcelona in the countryside…there is room for 1 more art friend to join me if anyone is game? Costs are: airfare + food while there.  Any takers?

Getting there

oil on canvas – 26″ x 24″  Spent a few hours working on this one this afternoon.  Another wetland in the spring and the morning sun spilling through it.  I had started it last Sunday and laid in the darks, but didn’t get much further.  Today I worked on the pond scum and the light areas on the trees a bit more.  My palette here is: Cad Yellow Pale, Permanent Rose, Dioxazine Violet, Cobalt Blue, Cobalt Teal and White.  A few more sparkles and a tiny bit of line work left to do, but will take my time and think about that.

gathering resource material

What a stellar morning. When i woke up i could see that it was going to be terrific morning for gathering resource info. Between 6am and 8am is the window of opportunity for me… I pulled my jacket on over my pj’s and before i had coffee i was out there.  Some geese watched me.  The wetlands are so full of life, even early on a November morning. 

You Never Know What’s Around The Corner

‘You Never Know What’s Around The Corner’ – oil on linen – 12″ x 12″ I decided to give in to my inclinations.  After yesterday’s playful landscape venture I thought I’d play around again with some urban landscape elements…moving them around to satisfy my whim.  If you know Kingston you might recognize some landmarks in this painting, but they have been whittled down to simple elements… you definately wont recognize the exact place! ha ha. It’s a product of my imagination.  I really had fun with this. 
I will be showing 7 or 8 paintings in an upcoming show at Kingston Frameworks Gallery beginning November 6.  The work will be in the gallery for the month of November and some of December.  The show is to feature the work of 3 artists: Sylvia Naylor (stitched paper collage), Florence Niven (fused glass) & myself (with oil paintings).  All of my pieces for this show have a whimsical bent…a little bit of magic  and frolic for the holiday season.

inventive observation

Here’s my inventive observation in process: Floating around in the hot-tub this morning at 8am,  looking out over the autumn landscape around me i decided i was really in the mood to do something to celebrate the gorgeous fall day dawning around me.  In the studio digging through my photo resources I came across this landscape  scene;  I loved the roly poly hills and fields.  It’s one I snapped on a pitstop somewhere between Toronto and Kingston one day in May.  You can see (vaguely)on the monitor the photo resource I am using for this piece.  It’s my jumping off board to start today’s painting.  I’ve posted my start so you can see how it’s going.  Fun and liberating.

Halloween tonight

‘Tapestry’ - oil on canvas – 30″ x 30″  It’s 5:45 pm, so it’s officially Halloween I guess.  I wouldn’t know it.  Out here in the country, trick-or-treaters are pretty scarce.   
This evening I’m posting the painting that I’ve been working on most of the afternoon. I had originally painted it with a cool forground, but it didn’t  work.  This afternoon I decided to glaze it with a warm dark which helped a lot.   Almost every evening around here I get a most spectacular sky show.  I’ve been painting it quite a bit lately.  The sky affects the local colour of things on the ground like the trees (in this case) or the livestock, or farm buildings in the other paintings i’ve worked on; but  it always surprises me how much these things are influenced by it. Something about this composition brought to mind patterns from a silk kimono or tapestry, and so the title.

Sheep Farm -oil on canvas – 14″ x 18″  Using summer sketches from a rather grey afternoon near Perth,  I developed this painting yesterday in the studio.   Queen ann’s lace is in full bloom from July to September along the roadsides and ditches in Ontario…it’s spritely growth habit really appeals to me and I’ve often wanted to have a go at painting it.  There’s quite a repitition of soft rounded shapes here,  the queen ann’s lace, the sheep, and then the haybales near the barn. hmmm…the mound of turf behind the sheep might need a little more condsideration.  Best to leave it alone for now though.

studio tour weekend

 Setting up for the studio tour weekend always takes me way longer than i think it’s going to, and consequently  I dont get any painting done while I’m making it happen.  So instead of new work, I’m posting pics from the tour. Here you can see two of my favourite people Claudia and Donna who came out for a visit; enjoying a cappacino in my livingroom gallery with some of the paintings.  Stoneheath studio saw about 60 visitors on Saturday,and about the same amount on Sunday.  I sold some work,  and had a good time greeting visitors.  However I have come to the decision to stop doing the studio tour in the future. I want to try other things now.

Whither Portraiture

Last week on Thursday night I went with a friend to the Kingston Arts & Letters Club. It’s a relatively new club, in it’s 2nd year in Kingston and is still finding it’s feet with art enthusiasts here.  There was a big turnout, as the topic for the evening was: “Whither Portraiture?”…a timely subject, as The Kingston Prize is currently on exhibit at the Grand Theatre in Kingston this month before it moves on to Wolfville NS,  Toronto & Calgary.  That evening the speaker was Gary Michael Dault (globe&mail art critic).   He spoke once last year at the club as well, and i found it interesting.  However this evening  I wasn’t very impressed.  I was surprised to realize just how little insight an  ’art critic’  needs before waxing poetic contempt about a subject.  Being articulate doesn’t necessarily mean one knows what he is talking about and in fact he proved this a few times on Thursday evening…in my opinion he was  narrow minded on the subject.   Thank goodness there was a few humourous quotes, and some educated portrait artists in the crowd: Daniel Hughes, Ben Darrah, & JT Winik (to name a few) who were able to argue for the relevance, culture and validity of portraiture in art.  We left early.

Finding the Light

‘Finding The Light’ -oil on canvas – 16 x 20″  I forgot to post this one when i finished it.  I think i forgot about it because it kind of evolved over time. I started painting the nasturtium growth habit about 8 months ago, basically to satisfy my urge to paint one day when i wasn’t focused enough to plan anything out.  (I usually do at least a small thumbnail of a painting before i start one).  I just charged away with gusto, slap- dash and there you have it.  It sat around  for a long time looking rather garish and brazen, but somehow i didn’t paint over it.(it must have been hiding out of sight, because usually if i have something lying around that’s not working i do the old paint over trick) There was something about it’s twisting curling vines that still appealed to me, but it had no depth.  Anyhow about a month ago i got a hankering to try a deep raw umber glaze on it, trying to get the feel of dappled sunlight on a dark corner of the garden.  It certainly wasn’t working as is was, so i thought  ”what have i got to lose?”  i mixed up the glaze and painted over that gregariously gross green vine until i found a light pattern emerging.  i would say that light inspires 90% of my work,  although i am attracted to shapes and rhythm running thru subjects too. I plucked a couple of nasturtium buds from my garden and brought them up to the studio to model for me after the glaze had dried.  So that’s my story of “Finding the Light.”

afternoon near the george

‘The George’ – oil on board – 12″ x 10″  Sunshine on the old stones of Kingston’s landmarks can be quite  lively on a July afternoon.   We have a 100 year old sepia photo in our shop showing this same view of Ontario street in 1910;  the only difference is that in that photo  there are no trees  and the boys are wearing bowler hats!   It was fun for me to think about those chaps 100 years ago as I was painting this yesterday.  The city has worked hard to spruce up this area of town over the years.  Even when I went to college in Kingston 30 years ago, Ontario street wasn’t a place you’d make a destination. There were a few seedy pubs and watering holes, but that was about it.  The tourists flock to this part of town now, taking in the music in the park on the weekends, and  eating ice-creams watching the boats on the waterfront.  The building on the left in this painting is The Prince George Hotel, it’s recently had a facelift, and the hotel rooms have now been made into upscale condos. well, that’s it for the history lesson! ha ha!

Gala Opening for The Kingston Prize

Tonight was the Gala opening reception for The Kingston Prize- Canada’s National Portrait Competition.  The $10,000 prize winner was Andrew Valko of Winnipeg Manitoba.  He was pretty happy accepting his award.  The Kingston Prize is sponsored by the W. Garfield Weston Foundation; it’s so nice to have a healthy $ prize in visual art. There is lots of prize $ allready in the literary arts and music. Below is a selection of images from the opening. Below Andrew Valko accepting his award from the Weston Foundation…and Andrew with his winning portrait, titled ‘Personal Surveillance’.Another amazing portrait was one titled ‘Le Defi’ by Marina Dieul of Montreal.  It was an amazing conceptual trompe-d’oleil style piece masterfully painted by Marina, pictured here with her family in front of her portrait.  There is 30  finalists in the exhibition; all are contemporary  portraits in a variety of styles and mediums. If you get a chance to come to Kingston be sure to see the exhibition, it is at the Grand Theatre in Kingston until Oct 24.  After that it will be travelling to Nova Scotia, Toronto and Calgary. Dont miss it!   NEWS FLASH!!!  The Peoples Choice Award for the Kingston exhibition is Marina Dieul of Montreal for ‘Le Defi’.  There will be a Peoples Choice Award of $1000 offered for the exhibits in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Toronto and Calgary as well…

today’s efforts

Pasture At Night Fall – oil on canvas – 30″ x 30″ I had to colour correct this photo on the computer after I took a picture of the painting in my studio.  The lighting was off, and the painting looked like it had a blue cast, that wasn’t accurate.  I had pretty much finished this painting the first day I started it (i love it when i can get to that point in one session!) but i needed to complete the cattle and a few other small areas.  The most interesting thing for me was discovering how much the light source will affect the local colour of the objects…in this case the cattle.  Those bovines are black and white holsteins(painted with the aid of little plastic dollar store toy cows for reference) but they are painted with mostly mid tone blues & dark grey/purples! Can you see the farmer out there tending to his burning rubbish? heh. 
I spent quite a bit of time today painting edges on the canvas’s i’ve  finished so that they dont have blaring white sides.  I like to paint them in tones that work with each painting…it takes a little longer than if i were to just paint them black, but this way they dont scream at me when they are on the wall, somehow it seems a small thing to do to give a painting a more harmonious finish.  I’m hanging my paintings next week for the studio tour; most of them will not be framed, so I think this will work well.

The Way Through

The Way Through – oil on canvas – 16″x 16″ I had a little painting time today, and completed this small marsh painting.  I usually try and ask myself “what is my painting about?”, and “what am I trying to say?”  The answers dont always make themselves apparent to me… it doesn’t stop me from wanting to paint even if I dont know why.   In this case perhaps that’s why the title of this painting came quickly…just finding ‘my way through’ the process, and seeing where it takes me. 

 The opening wine&cheese reception for the Art For Heritage art show at St. Georges on Friday night was fun.   There must have been over 200 pieces of art for sale.  My piece “Heaven Is a June Day”(thumbnail) was sold.  I painted it plein air on a glorious June day last year.  The dome of St. Georges is visible above the blossoming spring trees & a couple. Talk about a narrative! Funny how some of my work is very narrative, while other work is less so.

a start today

30″x30″ oil on canvas 
I thought I’d be working at the shop today, but turned out I didn’t need to.   A surprise day off is always a treat, but I’ve been especially busy travelling, so i was a bit tired…really glad to have a little unexpected down time to myself! 
I’ve been wanting to start another ‘night falling’ rural landscape.  So today was the day.  Mostly, I wanted to play with the fading light, this time on some grazing bovines… so far I’ve blocked in the sky and the pasture…although you can see where I will place the cattle, i haven’t put them in yet with paint.  So far so good. I’ll post the finished painting when done.
On another note, i also had time to put a warm glaze on the marsh painting(see Sep 25th post) forground.  I’m keen to get going on finishing this one too, but patience is important with painting on top of glazes. I’ve learned my lesson from going in before it’s completely dry. It’s definately not worth it. 
 I have to work again tomorrow; no more time to work on these again til Saturday.  Tomorrow after work i will be attending the opening reception for St. Georges Art For Heritage art show.  I have two small 9×12 paintings (urban landscapes) in the show for sale. About 60 artists will be participating.  Should be a fun opening… mingle mingle mingle:)

gallery hopping in Vancouver

While in Vancouver this weekend, i spent a full day out gallery hopping. I saw lots of terrific paintings.  One of my favourite stops was a gallery in Granville village called the Winsor Gallery.  They currently were showing 2 wonderful exhibitions. My favourite one was an exhibit of fantastic oil paintings by an artist named Rimi Yang.  These were huge contemporary figurative canvas’s of hauntingly familiar doll-like portraits dressed in all sorts of regalia, and combined with a very bold abstract-ish treatment of the paint…I found them so beautiful.  I’ve posted a couple of thumbnails, but they really dont do justice to the pieces. 
Makes me feel like getting going on  some portraiture again.

 

stealing away to paint

I’ve been quite busy this week at work (we had an opening reception last night at the gallery and I didn’t get home till 11pm!)and also getting things together for a quick trip west to hang out with my hubby while he’s working in Vancouver.  There’s been less time for painting.  But this may not be a bad thing… while doing all the other things that need doing i’m often  perculating ideas for paintings that i want to work on…for example,  i said before that i wanted to explore some more with the marsh paintings…so in between other commitments i was able to steal away for two 1 hour painting sessions to work on one that i’ve started.  Here it’s spring, and the new green growth of the rushes is dewy and new; the colours are clear, fresh but also subtle…I’m enjoying the way it’s progressing so far. I learn a lot while doing these, and i like learning stuff.

painting for distraction

‘Small Town, Ontario’ – oil on canvas – 10″x12″ Painting the summer light falling on the facades and rooftops of a rural Ontario town is a distraction for me.  It is certainly what i needed this past week, while nursing a wicked toothache all week with ibuprofin.   When i saw my dentist, he confirmed  an absces and so i had the first part of a root canal yesterday morning. The other part will be in the first week of October. It wasn’t too bad actually, though i was nervous.  All I can say is although i love the ‘turn of the century’ architechture,  i’m so glad that i live in this century! Honestly, how did those poor dears manage with tooth abscess’ in their day? I dont even want to think about that  amount of pain, and the solutions for it!

My own critique of this painting is that i think i got  way too carried away with the ’ bucolic’;  too much ’pretty flowers’ emphasis, making it lose something as an art form overall.   Perhaps I may tone down that hanging basket next week, but yesterday it was art therapy at work…really nothing more than a distraction.