Commission: Harbour

I have a large 18x96 inch commission in the works based on some photos of the Saint John Harbour, like the one above. I'm really looking forward to this one. I sketched out the concept on the canvas today - happy with the dimensions and the subject material. I love clients with an ambitious idea and willingness to try for an unconventional canvas shape. 

Saint John is Awesome

I saw this video from Discover Saint John at the Board of Trade OBA event last night. My city! 

Fog

It was sunny. Then the fog rolled in. I was prepared to hate it, because we've only had twenty minutes of sun in four weeks, but I couldn't. It's just too cool. 

So I had some ideas about fog and cold wax. For a new project. Haven't worked out all the details yet, but I ordered some materials last week.

Gallery Hop Program

Courtenay Bay Project (Yes, Another One)

Courtenay Bay painting in progressI just started working on another large Courtenay Bay painting. Because I love Courtenay Bay. In the image above, I have started to work on the lay-out of the canvas, roughly charting the placement of the mixed media elements and later oil paint detail. 

Courtenay Bay painting in progressHere I used acrylic matte medium to hold some material in place.

Courtenay Bay painting in progressOn Saturday I started working on preparing the painted background. I'll do a couple more layers with the brush and then switch to the palette knife. 

Goodbye Boats: New Series

Wenworth Street Compositions No. 1, mixed media on canvas, 8x24 in., $275Wentworth Street Compositions No. 2, mixed media on canvas, 8x24 in., $275Ok, so I'm officially off boats. For now.

I started a new mixed media series this week, all inspired by the rooftop imagery and streetscape of Wentworth Street.

The material is unbleached cotton and (on the 8x24 in. pieces) a little bit of copper flashing.

Rooftop Compositions No. 1, 2 & 3, mixed media on canvas, 4x5 in., $60 each

Gallery Hop (+ Open Studio) Report

Courtenay Bay from Causeway, mixed media on canvas, 12x36 in.Friday night's Gallery Hop was brilliant. Just brilliant. The high attendance (hundreds and hundreds of people!) was the result of some great online promoting by Uptown Saint John, snazzy Valentine's Day-themed invitations, and a mild February night. I started up at the Saint John Arts Centre at 4 p.m., giving an artist's talk for my show, Port City - had a great little group of listeners as people were already beginning to make their art-hopping rounds. I made it back down to my place by 5 p.m., switched on some twinkle lights and put out my open studio sign. I had planned to work on the painting (above) throughout the night, but only managed to make a few strokes every hour. The crowds of Saint John folks didn't stop coming until after 8 p.m. I love this city. 

I stopped into a few of the uptown galleries on Saturday morning to see their new shows that opened the night before. If anyone missed the big Hop, I highly recommend checking out Jeneca Klausen's jewelry and Cliff Turner's new work at Handworks... really good stuff.

Courtenay Bay from Causeway (detail)