 Paudash Lake early spring 2020 acrylic on canvas | I haven't posted since the end of January. Sadly I have been far too busy to pay much attention to my art. We decided last August to buy my parents home on Paudash Lake and we began packing in earnest in February. We moved up here mid March and have been unpacking and renovating ever since. I have now joined A Place for the Arts which is an amazing artist run co-op in Bancroft. There is still lots of work to do here especially as fall quickly approaches but my dear wife. Debbie, informed me that I had to get out and paint. I am getting far too grumpy. I agree. I have been scouting out some locations and I hope to get out tomorrow. We will see how that goes. |
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I worked on this 20"X24" painting for a full class (about 5 hours) and put it away for two weeks. It was close but it still needed some work. I brought it back to class and put in a few more hours on it. I am really excited about this one. These aren't masterpieces but I have made the jump to painting larger from my sketches. I have always found the idea intimidating however I can now see me spending a lot of time in my studio at the lake.  Go home to a new home. We are moving. Debbie and I are moving into my family home near Bancroft, Ontario and the thought of having a studio, albeit small, with a view of the lake has me energized. I was starting to feel like I was in a rut. I am getting better but I am doing the same thing over and over. A new home in a new environment seemed the perfect time to rethink what I am doing. I have taken Laurie Wonfor Nolan's abstract class a couple of times and she has inspired me to paint big and to think of composition in abstract terms. I have wanted to do some large pieces from my sketches so I enrolled in her open studio class to get help.
I am excited and encouraged by this result. It was thrilling to be using a big brush and full arm movements while I painted it. I am not sure that it is finished but I will put it aside for a week or so and look at it fresh. This painting is 24" by 30" acrylic on stretched canvas. 
Yesterday was hanging day for the 6th annual Monday Painters show at the Dundas Museum and Archives. It is hard to believe that I have been painting outside with this group for more than six years. It has been loads of fun and I have learned a lot from this very talented group. There are 42 paintings by 22 of my artist friends and in my mind it is a show well worth seeing. I won't be at the opening because it is the same weekend as the Beyond the Valley Studio tour but it is a chance to see some fantastic artwork and chat with some of the artists. They will be the ones with the name tags and they are all very friendly and approachable.  I haven't posted in ages because home renovations took over my life. I am still not finished the reno but six weeks of camping and painting have me thinking more about my art than my home. I decided to move my blog from Blogger to my site so that it would be easier to post. It has been a long time since I've posted so it seemed the perfect time to move it here. My older posts, on my old blog, can still be viewed by clicking on "My Old Blog" in the Archives section to the right. I have a lot of paintings to work my way through and will post a blog about my trip in the near future.
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John ChristieI am an artist who works almost exclusively from life. Either in front of a sitting model or outside at my easel or better yet sitting on a rock during a canoe trip. 
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