evening koi pond …oil painting

Evening Koi Pond (20″ x 20″)

I decided to paint a larger work using the earlier small koi pond paintings as inspiration. As the size of a painting increases, the challenges can become exponentially greater. When paint starts drying, my usual alla prima techniques won’t work and it can be a struggle to keep the brushwork loose and fresh. Still, I hope I captured the feeling of the cool autumn evening watching the drifting willow leaves and lazily swimming fish.
Next time, I will try for the same feeling with a greater economy of brushstrokes!

Here is Tom’s haiku – he always uses just the right number of words 🙂

crooked branches bend
koi following time’s long curve
down straight water paths

image (c) 2018 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2018 TJ Radcliffe

 

autumn koi …oil painting

Autumn Koi

This small (8″x 8″ oil on canvas) painting is based on a photo I took a couple of weeks ago at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden here in Vancouver. It was a cloudy day but bright so I took advantage of the afternoon to do a little sight-seeing in my still relatively newly adopted city. The koi quietly swimming by while the willow leaves drifted on the surface of the water was a beautiful moment. It is a very picturesque Chinese garden and so there will likely be more paintings to come from my visit.

Tom’s beautiful haiku also captures the moment.

sky falls on water
dry leaves burn in autumn sun
koi pass by below

image (c) 2017 Hilary Farmer
poem (c) 2017 TJ Radcliffe