Faster Art

T

he whirlwind that surrounds my painting is sometimes hard to control. It feels like I better just hold on with two hands and enjoy the ride.

Recently I had the chance to paint along the shore at Shad Bay. The the wind was up and the sky was filled with low dark clouds threatening rain at any moment. It was the clouds that attracted me swirling and boiling in the sky reflecting off the water creating a very dark point to begin. As the day went on small gaps began to open in the clouds and within a very short time sunlight washed across the oceans surface. The painting changed with the conditions. So fast. So two paintings were created on top of one another all within a very short period. One dark and one light.

Then as I packed up to leave, Carl the small dog who had sat by my side as I worked detected a deer and sprang to the chase.  You just never know what will turn up.

Seven Paintings

Beginning work on a new project stirs all sorts of feelings. The smell of fresh canvas fills your lungs and stirs emotions. Lucky for us we are beginning on the shore and have a beautiful day for working outside. 

 A fresh new palette of colour joins the canvas on the rocks for landscape painting One o One just as the fog began to roll in again and ended our work for the day. Seven paintings full of promise.

Advocate Harbour, Nova Scotia

  Just down the road from Parrsboro or Apple River if you come from the other side is the village of Advocate Harbour. Incredible for the eyes and if time allows to make a painting or a walk. There are so many places to stop and of course you just never know what or who you will bump into.  Walking down the fabulous driftwood beach while the tide moved out we found time to untie a knot of ropes and have a late lunch picnic.

The village as seen a few years ago with the famous Isle Haute in the Bay of Fundy. To the left Cap D'or stands protecting Advocate Harbour. Blueberries where everywhere and Blackberries as well so pies and jellies are in order. 

The Colour Blue

It is interesting that as similar as we are everyone sees things differently. Even something like colour is experienced differently by each individual. Does the variability of experience create the attraction?

on a recent camping trip beginning on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia at a place called Country Harbour I had the opportunity to experience blue in previously unimagined ways. Country Harbour is about two hours by car east of the city of Dartmouth. It is located on a inlet far inland from the ocean and made a beautiful spot to draw as the sun rose through the early morning mist while the tide moved out.

As the sun rose in the sky and light levels increased the blue sky grew in intensity. A warm blue violet tone filled the sky and reflected off the water as birds stirred to flight. A kingfisher passes by and then a streak in the sky and a splash near the island reveals an osprey catching a fish breakfast. Not long after all that excitement a family of fourteen mergansers paddled by. The blue sky is glowing.