"You there, boy, what day is it?"

Yes, it's Christmas eve.  A good time to wish Christmas blessings for all of you and to update my art blog.

It's a misty, mild, maritime day here in Nova Scotia and not promising any of the white stuff. That makes for easier travel, but lacks a bit of the visuals which inspired Irving Berlin.

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Fishermen's Preserve- This little huddle of fishermen's huts is on what was once a small island (now connected by a causeway) on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia.  It's right beside the descriptively-named Three Fathom Harbour.  Watercolour on 200 lb. paper

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A Kat Can Look at a King-  or so says an old Gaelic proverb.  Something to do with independence of spirit and self worth.  A good line for KR, shown here talking with Prince Charles at a milling frolic in Pictou.  Charcoal on sketch paper

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Self Portrait at Pictou-  We almost perished with the cold at that milling frolic in Pictou.  Just as  I dragged my hypothermic remains out onto the street, my wife snapped a pitiful pic of me.  Herewith, the results.  Pastel on sketch paper.

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Super Buds-  My dear friend OPL and his bud R in our kitchen on Hallowe'en.  I loved the 150 Watt smile on OPL as he basked in presenting his chum to us, where he has often been since he was carried in as a babe in arms.  Charcoal on sketch paper

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Missing Those Days-  The Black Market is an interesting little shop in Halifax.   The owner sources all sorts of clothing, jewelry and nick-knacks from small, independent and fair trade craftspeople in the third world.  The young woman passing by seemed to be wistfully observing the mother and daughter who were browsing on the sidewalk.  Acrylics on canvas

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Street Beat- A couple of blocks away, the same afternoon, this young man had set up his drums outside of a shoe store and was busking away.  Something about the couple walking toward him told me that they must have strolled off one of the cruise ships tied up in the harbour.  I thought I was being so original showing the scene reflected in the window until I noticed that every second artist since the renaissance had stolen my idea!  Acrylics on canvas

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Peggy's Conservatory-  The Maritime Conservatory of the Performing Arts is a 100+ year-old institution in the heart of Halifax on a rather un-Maritime looking streetscape.  I relocated the Conservatory to scenic Peggy's Cove and put together this image.  Acrylics on gallery canvas, left side shown

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UBC, Kispiak Campus-  An image based on one of Emily Carr's paintings of the Haida indian village at Kispiak BC with the addition of a few landmarks from the UBC campus and some famous composers.  Acrylics on gallery canvas, right side shown

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Portland Street, Dartmouth-  The first of these two images was in my last post, but I wasn't happy with it, so I roughened up the front of the buildings in the sunshine to give them a bit more texture. Acrylics on canvas 

The second is at the end of the street which runs down to the harbour.  I wanted to catch the ferry leaving for Halifax and the Christmas wreaths on the lamp poles.  Just then a car serendipitously passed by, and two Christmas trees on its roof.  What luck!  Acrylics on canvas

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Christmas Gifts-  Christmas often brings commissions of portraits for gifts.  Here are two.

BML in Glasgow-  BML and his wife celebrated the freedom of their retirement by spending  a year painting and studying in Scotland.  She's a talented artist herself, so I was flattered when she asked me to paint him.  It's not so dark down in the lower right corner.  Something funny happened to this JPEG.  Oils on canvas

Summer Reunion-  These children are all grandchildren of JR.  They were at a family reunion last summer, so their auntie commissioned this group portrait.  I wish I could show the many photos they took of the kids squirming about to get something useful for a painting.  Watercolours on 300 lb. paper

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I hope you enjoyed this latest post to my art blog and that the new year brings health and other good things to all of you.  Thanks for all of your comments and encouragement over the past year.  -Joe

More Faces of Nova Scotia

Putting together this post, I noticed that I've been doing mostly portraits and figure drawings over the summer and fall.  So, yesterday I started a watercolour of small fishing village near here which will have to wait until next time.  So here are few of the faces of summer in Nova Scotia.

JE at our Canada Day Street Party.  For the last few years, the neighbours on our street have been hosting a summer street party.  All the usual stuff- free barbecues, a concert by any of the neighbours keen to get up and perform and lots of getting caught up.  Here's JE waiting to hear her daughter to sing.  Oils on canvas.

MJ waiting for the BBQ-  Another street party portrait and the ubiquitous bag chair.  Young MJ waiting for the BBQ to get going with all the patience a kid can muster.  Oils on canvas.

The Stars Are Out-  My huge staff of marketing advisors have been saying "Joe, do a few sketches of people everyone knows, so your followers can see how you're doing at getting a recognizable likeness."  Well, I'm kinda an anti-hero worship guy, but here are a charcoal and graphite sketch each of a couple of 1960s movie stars.

So-So Sophia-  OK lets see if you identify this first one.  No her head wasn't that small, but I thought it looked better as a vignette.  Graphite on sketch paper.

Audrey Speaks Out-  A little charcoal I did for BT to answer a question as to "who sings what" in the film version of My Fair Lady.  Charcoal on Paper.

What Unites Us-  The Farmers' Market here in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, is a wonderful event every Saturday morning down at the ferry terminal.  There are always live entertainment, a big crowd milling through checking out crafts, art and of course, wonderful fresh baking, produce, meats and seafood.  During the summer months a few of the vendors set up outdoors.  I climbed up a stair to get a view of them, then did a small (4"X6") study, and later a final, brighter (11"X14").
Acrylic on canvas

J Brightens the Day- Anyday.  My sister's grandson is the apple of the eye of his entire supporting cast of mom, dad, and a gaggle of grannies.  Pastel on sketch paper

Set 'er up.  Four couples to a set.  A set of Irish dancers, about to perform at our annual multi-cultural festival, run through their steps under the eye of their teacher, EM.  Only three couples in view in this pic.  Acrylics on canvas.

First Day of School-  My little model HCL started school this fall (sniff, sniff).  Here she is on her front step with big brother, OPL, waiting for the school bus.  He had a Captain America cap which did not get past my filter, so I inserted their dad EJL and his trombone.  Charcoal on paper.

de Profundis-  An early morning view of a downtown street (Portland St.) near the harbour here in Dartmouth.  Some of those out and about included a couple of re-cyclers heading off to cash in their night's finds.  Painted this month from a picture taken a few years ago.  It's been gentrified a bit since then with art galleries, gift shops and high end cafes.  Acrylic on canvas.

JMN-  The Mackeral Man-  A generous neighbour of my in-laws is JMN.  Descended from the MacNeils of Barra, he's a fisherman and often pops by with a bucket of mackerel to share.  Charcoal on sketch paper

Home for a visit-  DeeDee grew up on our street and was home with her young son, JTS, to visit her family while dad was off at Donut University.  Only in Canada you say? Watercolour on 300 lb paper

So What Else is New?  Here are a couple of other projects which have been on my easel over the summer.

Soprano and Tenor Tune Up-  A couple of members of our church choir tied the knot this summer.  I designed a front and back cover for their wedding program.  It's based on views of our St Peter Church beside Sullivan's Pond in Dartmouth and a part of the Pentecost stained-glass window which overlooks the choir section of the church.  They're a family of six, hence the number of ducks and the tongues of fire.  Watercolour on 200lb paper

 

A New School Year,  A New School-   My daughter started a new teaching assignment this September, calling for a new sign for her classroom door showing "the cloud factory" next door which dominates the skyline from the schoolyard by the harbour.

So that's a bit of what's been keeping me busy over this summer and fall.   I hope you enjoyed these samples.  I'll say again that I always enjoy getting your feedback through the comments option.  Bye for now,  - Joe

Some, Some Summertime

Some, some summertime.  It's here.  Summer has gloriously exploded in Nova Scotia with sunny days, lush greenery and the constant hum of lawn mowers, weed whackers and the occasional June bug colliding with the window which lights my easel.  I've been continuing my experiments with applying watercolour glazes to graphite and charcoal portrait sketches and nudging out the occasional landscape of the sights of the return of the fine weather to the east coast of Canada.


A Rude Awakening - revisited.  I posted this painting last time but wasn't happy with it.  So, I've reworked the composition to draw more attention to the people on the ferry.  I might do it yet again and make them bigger still. Here are the first and second versions.  Acrylic on canvas.

EM at the Royal Milling Frolic-  Prince Charles was here in Nova Scotia last month and a few of us were asked to perform some Gaelic Waulking (work) songs for him.  EM was among the performers and I caught her with her nose in a book between songs.

EM- Nighean Donn Bhoidheach-  The title from an old Gaelic song, means Beautiful Brownhaired Girl.  It certainly applies to EM, so I added a dash of brown felt marker to see how that would work.  "It's different." as my number one critic says.  Charcoal on paper, then felt marker on paper.

CIM @ 50th anniversary.  It's a sign of something or other when your friends start having their 50th wedding anniversaries.  In my defence it was one of my profs from college days.  So I sketched CIM in charcoal and tried another watercolour wash over that.  Here are both versions.  I think the colour brings it to life, alright.

Ours the Task Eternal-  A colleague of my daughter is retiring after teaching 31 years at our neighbourhood school. So, she asked me to put together a pic for the retiree.  Title stolen from the motto of Carleton University in Ottawa.  Acrylic on canvas.

Caring Causes Cures.-  NS is a doctor on the oncology floor where my wife works.  He's a very personable man, so important in working with people living with cancer.  My sister snapped his picture at a birthday party and I tried to suggest a patient care room in this very loose background.  Oils on canvas.

Stay with Me! -  BMD is a wonderful fiddler and geography teacher but she also plays a bad bass drum, a key spot in a pipe and drum band.  Here she is with some of the Dartmouth and District grade three band at the 150th Antigonish (Nova Scotia) Highland Games last year.  Acrylics on canvas.

How it Starts-  The Broad Cove Scottish Concert is another tradition of summer in Nova Scotia.  It takes place the last Sunday of July in the priest's pasture behind St Margaret of Scotland's church in Broad Cove, County Inverness.  Many people attending are families removed from the parish by two or three generations,  but it gets in their blood early like the little girl in red enjoying a bag of chips and is "the second Christmas" in this tiny farming and fishing community.  It's the first painting I've had printed in a small run of half a dozen prints.  Acrylics on canvas.

Newfound Friend-  OK, OK, I can't make a post to this blog without the latest picture of my dear friend, HCL.  Now four years old.  This one show her rooting for bugs in an old tree stump.  One of her favourite pastimes.  This painting won the People's Choice Award in a local art show last month.  Watercolour on Curry's 200 lb paper.

Well, I'd better get out and enjoy this beautiful summer's day.  I hope you enjoy this sampling of what I've been up to over the last few weeks.  Have a safe and happy summer.  I always enjoy hearing your comments via the comments page.  'Bye for now.

Spring Has Sprung.  - There is no continuous theme in this posting- just a few paintings and drawings finished over the past few weeks.


You CAN dress up a hockey player.  Here's J LeL, home from economic exile in Alberta and weekending at his cousin's wedding over in Prince Edward Island.  Oils on canvas.

October in Shubie- The Shubenacadie canal cuts across Nova Scotia and Shubie park is named for it.  The little brook on the left is one of the overflows from the canal.  This was my first attempt at painting a sunny day in a forest as a preparation for the next painting.  It definitely needs people.  Acrylic on canvas.

Explorers- So this is the painting which followed October in Shubie.  The same spot, same day, my good friends OPL and HCL and I.  I think I back dated my hair by a few years :-)  There's a smidge more gray in it than this shows!  Acrylic on canvas

DeeDeeS on Deck-  One of my young neighbours was home visiting her parents, so I did this quick graphite sketch for them and washed in over with a few strokes of watercolour.  Here it is before and after the watercolour wash. Graphite and transparent watercolours on (dry media) sketch paper.

Sloshin' to school- Taking pictures of our local school crosswalk as part of a plan to get drivers to park further away from the white lines, I kept getting schoolkids and their parents in the picture.  The nerve of them!  Watercolour on Curry's 200 lb. wc paper

His Beak Can Hold More Than His Belly Can-  ZMB was on her holidays in Florida and sent me a snapshot of herself and flying friends.  Charcoal on drawing paper

KML as Tintin.    KML was almost completely blind at this point in his life but never lost his great, ironic sense of humour.  Here he is sharing a laugh with his brother.  A few months later we lost him to cancer.  A lesson for us all to enjoy each day as he did.  Charcoal on sketch paper.

A Rude Awakening- Another practice painting.  This one is for an upcoming show on the theme of "Awakenings".  I've just started the next version, trying to concentrate the image showing only the central portion but on a larger canvas- if that makes sense.  The osprey is giving a "Rude Awakening" to the poor fish.  Acrylic on canvas

That's it for now.  I hope you enjoyed these latest pictures. - Joe

"A" Pencil portraits...OK, a lot of these are charcoal, not graphite pencil, but the idea is the same.  I try to draw a charcoal or graphite portrait sketch every day.  I'm hoping it will help my ability to closely observe people and other images and then render a good likeness.  So these are essentially practice sketches from my notebooks although I sometimes snip them out and give them to the subject people.  The ones that look more like their cousin than the actual subject, stay in the notebook.  My computer organizes them alphabetically, so here are some of the "A" listers.

AL and RL-  A mother/daughter pair- dyed in the wool Cape Bretoners!  Graphite pencil on sketch paper

AD was at her sister's wedding when I snapped a photo for this sketch.  Graphite on sketch paper

A and S- A lovely, young couple who live in our neighbourhood.  Both very athletic, he was an olympic athlete for Canada at the Beijing games.  Charcoal on drawing paper.

AMS - Flowers in her hair.  She too, was at HER sister's wedding. Charcoal on toned drawing paper.