Here’s a painting I did back in the spring but missed posting. I was in a local shop, caught a glimpse of some of these wonderful lemons and had to take at least one home. The colour as you can see, is much oranger than regular lemons and I really enjoyed how the slices glowed in the sunlight. They are also just sweet enough to eat as is …OK pretty tangy! I also had some fun with the wave pattern Japanese plate I put the lemon pieces on.
image (C) 2021 Hilary Farmer
I just had a three day open studio as part of the Gabriola Thanksgiving Studio Tour. It was a wonderful experience slightly tempered by the necessity of keeping strict COVID protocols. Welcoming people into our space after being quite solitary for the past year and a half was heart-warming. People were so thrilled to be able to take part in this activity and visit many artists studios throughout the long weekend. This painting was shown at the central gallery where each artist displays one piece of work.
The idea for “skyflowers” – or clouds that taken on the aspect of various flowers – drifted into my mind and just had to be painted. The seascape part is very much inspired by the local waters here amongst the Gulf Islands off Vancouver Island on the west coast of Canada.
Here are irises cascading into the ocean behind an island at sunset.
I built up and scratched away layers to enhance the evening glow in this part of the sky.
One more piece of sky clearing showing the shape of the iris clouds.
This painting is definitely not the last of this series. 🙂
images (C) 2021 Hilary Farmer
About a week after my first visit to Nola’s pond, I had the chance to go back and focus on the now blooming waterlilies. What a treat. There is something about painting waterlilies …I guess Monet was onto something!
image (C) 2021 Hilary Farmer
Another lovely day in late June spent painting a garden. I was so pleased to be able to create this piece which ended up having quite a personal resonance for the owner.
And here is the setup in the strong sunshine we had that day.
Have I mentioned how much I enjoy my plein air set up? It’s a Coulter Easel, and I have been using it for a couple of years now both for plein air and often (at least for smaller paintings) in the studio too. It is compact and very ergonomic with the palette and painting held at the perfect heights for working …and in cases like this with sloped ground, it is very easy to adjust a leg of the tripod to compensate for the terrain.
images (C) 2021 Hilary Farmer
Another friend/neighbour invited me to paint their lovely garden. I really enjoyed the pond here! A chance to get into the shadows and reflections in the pond as well as the varied planting around (and in) it. In June, the irises were still blooming and the waterlilies were just starting to show some colour.
image (C) 2021 Hilary Farmer
Another lovely few hours spent in someone’s garden painting a lovely view. Back in June when this was painted, everything was fresh and blooming. All that crazy summer heat we experienced was yet to come.
I have in the past been used to keeping pretty much up to the minute on this blog but actually, I find I have really been enjoying looking back from the distance of a few months and dare I say feeling a sense of accomplishment for everything I did in this (still) rather strange period of history. From the perspective of a bit of time, I no longer see the breaks and gaps but just the work. Interesting.
image (C) 2021 Hilary Farmer
Starting from an image of shadows and waterlilies on a pond’s surface, shapes dissolved and reformed into this. I find it curiously freeing to oil paint on paper …like I am giving myself more freedom to play.
image (C) 2021 Hilary Farmer
Back to plein air painting. I have a friend who lives quite close by and has a most delightful garden. I painted there three times this summer and each time it was a different kind of treat. In May, the peonies, roses and irises were showing all their bounty. So lush and joyful.
images (c) 2021 Hilary Farmer
My next exploration with a big sky. This one was starting to get closer to what was in my head. I had a vision of clouds as flowers and thought “why not?” As artists we do not have any constraints expect those we put on ourselves. Kandinsky said, “There is no must in art, because art is free.” Whatever I imagine, I can paint! So freeing!
image (c) 2021 Hilary Farmer
This one was an imagined view. I was thinking about clouds and this colours, shapes and patterns they make. It has more of a feeling of the landscapes where I grew up in Southern Ontario than where I live now on the West Coast of Canada. Fairly flat farm land with trees between the fields and dreamy puffy clouds.
image (c) 2021 Hilary Farmer
