Category Archives: Art

Battle Scarred

06 Friday Apr 2012

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Back to Ojibway Park again. There is so much going on there. This old Willow has been hit by lightning definitely more than once, and maybe its even weathered a tornado or two. Although, it maybe ravaged by storms but it will not give up. There’s still life in the old limbs.

Three Bumps on a Log

02 Monday Apr 2012

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I’ve got to catch up on my posting! So, Ojibway is the place I’ve been hanging out at lately. It was a gorgeous day this Monday. It was great to be painting with the group again. Margaret, Mary and Patrick all made it out. We are hoping for more next week. These three turtles had a lovely day basking in the sun on this log.

Birdhouse in a Hail Storm

30 Friday Mar 2012

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Mary and I by photographerpainterprintmaker
, a photo by photographerpainterprintmaker on Flickr.

Mary and I,  suffer for our art at Ojibway Park.

Mary and I were chomping at the bit to get back to Plein Air painting, so we braved the bad weather forecast and headed to Ojibway Park. It was cold when we got there so we opted to hide out on the porch at the bird feeding station. It did block the wind, and it wasn’t long before it started to rain and hail! But, what surprised us the most was the number of different birds at the feeder in spite of, or maybe because of, the bad weather. I could have kicked myself because I forgot my camera. A partial list of birds at the feeder that day were: Blue Jays, Cardinals, Juncos, Black Capped Chickadee’s, White Breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpeckers, Red bellied woodpeckers, and common sparrows. They were all there that day and I forgot my camera!! *cry*

March Break

19 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by in Art, Landscape, Plein Air, Watercolour

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With the wonderful early spring break in March many Windsorites are flocking to the riverfront parks to witness nature’s awakening. Three of our group managed to visit the beautiful river front Coventry gardens located at the foot of Pillette Road. .

However, the weather didn’t seem to know what to do. It was foggy all morning, but by noon it had warmed up, so we headed to the park. While we were in the midst of our painting, a sudden chill swept fog rolling into the Detroit river from Lake St. Clair. It was amaizing to watch this dark cloud roll towards us. It didn’t last long, but the gentleman that I was painting got a chill and moved to sit in front of this lovely tree. I think he was hoping it would block the chilly breeze. But, the cold and damp weather persisted, and chilled the bones.

This crazy early spring has everything all mixed up. The plants are not quite sure if they are supposed to bloom or not. I was hard pressed to find anything but crocus to paint. I do have a painting of crocus that I did yesterday, and I will post it soon.

By 3:00 we were cold enough to call it quits. But, getting into the car I found it sweltering. After the paint out I met up with 3 of my granddaughters and we headed for a walk along the river on the west end. By this time the chill had left, and we were peeling off our jackets, or wishing we were in shorts.

The Monoprint

18 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by in Art, Botanical print, Monoprinting, Nature print

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Sync 1 of 6 DSC_1054Watercolour Botanical Mono Print - Spirea

Sync, 1 of 6 Monoprints in a series.   Spirea, Watercolour Botanical Mono Print

by Elizabeth Gaye MacDonald, for Windsor Printmaker’s Forum Spring 2012 Newsletter

So, what exactly is a monoprint? Variations of this method of printmaking can be used in a number of different processes. The broad definition of a monoprint is a print that can’t be reproduced. To make a monoprint, a printmaker applies various medium such as oil paint, etching ink, or watercolour to a flat surface. This media can be manipulated in many ways to produce the final image. The chosen surface can be hand rubbed, or put through a press to transfer the image to paper, canvas or even cloth. Monoprinting is often referred to as a painterly method of printmaking, and is an excellent introduction to printmaking for both adult and youths.

Monprinting may also be used in conjunction with an etched plate. The printmaker may first ink and wipe their plate in the traditional way. Then before running that plate though the press they can add monoprint elements to the flat raised surface areas of the plate. This results in an etching with monoprint elements. This image can not be reproduced exactly the same in successive runs of the etched plate.

There are other methods of printmaking that use monoprint techniques. but these are classed in a genre all their own, and include:

  • Nature or botanical prints – The process of inking a plant or a leaf and transferring the resulting image to paper or other surface, via a press or by hand rubbing. This process along with pressing and drying plants was used to create a record of botanical species, for future identification. Also, included under Nature prints is a print or rubbing made from feathers, or other animal parts.

  • Gyotaku – From the Japanese, gyo “fish” + taku “rubbing” While this method of printmaking is actually derived from nature it is considered a genre all its own. This traditional form of printmaking was established by Japanese fishermen to record their catch. They would apply sumi ink to the fish, and then rice paper would be placed over the fish. They would then hand rub the paper to transfer the image. This method of printmaking has become quite popular. Rubber fish poured from molds are available and are used in classrooms to teach Gyotaku to young children. This genre has also evolved into a fine art all its own. If you do an online image search with the word Gyotaku you will find incredible colourful images created from many different marine species.

Reflection overload! Fruit en Plein Air

16 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in Art, Plein Air, Still Life, Still Life, Watercolour

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Spring has sprung, but the colours are just not out yet. So Margaret and I opted to bring some colour outside and paint fruit on a cake plate on the glass patio table. Reflection overload!

Morning Glories

09 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in Art, Flowers, Watercolour

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I’m not really satisfied with this one. In my opinion, it’s overworked for a watercolour. I tried to stay too close to the photo in the values. The photo of the painting itself has a bit more red in it than it should, but I could not correct the colour in photoshop. So, the post is more brown than orange as seen in this photo.

Vunerablity

27 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by in Art, Jorunal, Musings, Watercolour

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In order for me to truly love and respect another, I have to first love and respect myself. That, for me is a very tall order. I’m sure many of you, like me, heard the words “You should be ashamed of yourself.” coming from your parents, maybe even your spouse. This little sentence, I believe can have devastating effects on a child, and the future adult that child will become.

My parents were brought up British old school, with strict discipline. With the “Spare the rod spoil the child.” mentality. Mind you it was not all doom and gloom, but there were some things we didn’t do. One of them was hug, at least I don’t remember a lot of hugging going on.

There was no real physical love, but there was corporal punishment. Oh we were not beaten within an inch of our lives. But, we did feel the smack of a hand firmly on the seat of education at times, and I am alive today to tell about it.

We did know that we were loved. After all my Dad told me as he swatted my butt “This hurts me more than it hurts you.” Right… I had NO idea what he meant by that one. But, I did know I was loved. Even if I don’t remember a lot of hugs.

So… when I went out into the world on my own, I discovered something. People hugged one another! Who knew?! I realized that this was something sadly lacking in my father’s life. So, one day I started to hug him whether he liked it or not. There were no guarantee that he would accept this affection. To my delight, he did accept it. At first he was uncomfortable and wanted to pull away after the “acceptable” time limit.  But, I always held on a few seconds more.  He would never be the one to initiate the hug. But, low and behold he started to change. The first place I saw this change was him hugging his grand children.

So, what is my point? I had no guarantees that Dad would accept my affection. I had to step up to the plate first and become vulnerable. I had to risk rejection in order to gain the reward of his returned affection.

I learned something profound from this. A hug can melt the most hardened and damaged heart. It can even mend your own.

I dearly loved my father. He was a generous man who always wanted the best for us. He was a teacher at heart, and was always teaching us. Although, at the time his lectures were intimidating. He spoke the truth as he knew it. He was himself. He never tried to be anyone else. Because he was honest with us, we respected and loved him.

So, be honest with yourself and others. Live with your whole heart, and choose to be yourself. Stop trying to fix everything that “you should be ashamed of” you are not perfect, none of us are. Love yourself for who you are now, not who you will be tomorrow. Know the you are “enough.”

~ inspired by Donna Mulholland’s 21 days of watercolour journaling, and Brené Brown’s TED Talk on The Power of Vulnerability:
http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html