TM and Daughter in Paris.TM is a nurse working with my wife. Last year she and her daughter spent March Break in Paris. Here they are up the Eifel Tower with the Trocadero behind them. Weren't they lucky?
MEG with Chicken Little We're missing my mother-in-law MEG who passed away just at the time of my last posting to this blog. She lived on her farm in Cape Breton. Here she was with a little friend who came in from the barnyard for a visit.
MEM With Eyestone- MEM was named for her grandmother MEG.
One of her cousins is an artist and MEM found this painted beach stone outside of her studio last winter.
Park and Ride Ave. This three paintings are about bicycling here in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Park Ave, is lined with cherry trees which are gorgeous in the spring.
Happy and Gloria's- Gloria is our well-known local member of city council. She's a big booster of Dartmouth in our regional government so I gave her the Dartmouth Ferry for her bike helmet.
Vera after Varley- At a portrait workshop recently we were offered famous portraits to copy. Here's my copy of Fred Varley's 1931 portrait of his student, Vera Weatherbie. I've admired this work for years and was happy to have an excuse to paint a copy. You can find the original in the National Gallery of Canada. Check out their website or just Google Vera Varley Image and see if I got anything near his wonderful work. I must admit, copying a masterwork taught me more than I expected.
Ceitidh is Mobile- A local gallery celebrated its sixteenth anniversary this year. Artists were invited to help a fundraiser by creating and donating a painting on the theme "Sixteen". One of our neighbours turned sixteen in the spring, so I figured a driver's license might be in her future.. Those are her shorts alright, but she tells me she can't find them now. Too much trading outfits with her friends!
H Channels Henderson- HA is a professor of Choral Conducting at a large university in what we still call Upper Canada. She came back to her native Nova Scotia last summer to conduct our NS Choral Federation Choir Camp. She chose, among others, a beautiful piece by Canadian composer Ruth Watson Henderson. It was a hot week down in the Annapolis Valley and I tried to show that warmth in this watercolour.
JM At the Birthday Party- Our cousin, JM, was also at the birthday party. Oops, I guess this another sketch after all. It's in charcoal with some pastel highlights to give it that party atmosphere.
BM at Irene's- BM is as close as any member of our family and she also popped into the party at Irene's pub in Ottawa.
Hintonburg Park- While in Ottawa I received a commission to do two paintings in the neighbourhood of Hintonburg. Although most of the locals call it by its more prosaic name: Mechanicsville, named for the workers at the nearby railway roundhouse, now long gone. If you know Ottawa, that's St Francis of Asissi church on Wellington St.
Carruthers Avenue- Here's the second painting form that commission in Mechanicsville/Hintonburg. It's the front porch of ZL the lady who commission the works so I worked her initials into the wrought iron frame.
The Great Escape- A lot of my artist friends love painting florals, but I'm rarely moved to follow their lead. But this plant (can't remember the name) escaped from the beautiful garden of one of our neighbours and popped up through the concrete right in the middle of their laneway. They let it grow all summer and only the first snows did it in.
Ice Cream Sunday- A quick acrylic on paper of AML and friends at the Broad Cove Concert in Cape Breton. He looks relaxed but he was in the middle of reading something over a hundred novels as he was a judge for the Giller Prize in Canadian literature this year. It's the 60th Broad Cove Concert this year. Last Sunday in July. Be there or or miss a great time.
New Zealand Farmer- This commission is going to this farmer on North Island, New Zealand. He adopts rescue dogs and trains them to be sheepdogs.
TMN and MMN in Big Beach- A mom and daughter pair in Cape Breton. They also double as local school principal and diligent high school student. ;-)
True Primary Love- Our Dartmouth Visual Arts Society challenged us to do a painting featuring the primary colours- red, blue and yellow. So I gave the Dartmouth, Nova Scotian and Canadian flags to these kite surfers at West Lawrencetown Beach near Dartmouth.
KML at the Broad Cove Concert- KML Lives in Windsor, Ontario. But his family's roots are in Cape Breton and every year he joins them at their home in Dunvegan and we get to hear his great fiddling at the Broad Cove Concert.
AK at Storas a' Bhaile- Every year the Clachan Gaidhealach (Highland Village) in Iona, Cape Breton host a week of Gaelic tradition sharing. AK has been a student of mine on a few courses and she's a dab hand at the strathspeys and reels.
So, that's a sampling of my artwork over the last year. I hope you enjoyed it. If so, drop a line. I'm always glad to hear from you. 'Bye for now, -Joe
