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.
