Kiwi keeper- This commission went to New Zealand. The farmer shown here was a friend of some Nova Scotians and they wanted it for his family. Among other things he used to adopt "rescue" dogs of just about any breed and train them to the level of champion sheep dogs and compete with them around the country. That's a famous NZ volcano in the background, but the name escapes me. I showed it to a fellow artist and they recognized it. Acrylic on birch gallery panel.
Arriving at McGill- This is another commission for the lady in Toronto. Her husband is a graduate of McGill, a prestigious university in Montreal. So I was flattered to be asked to paint this avenue, I think it's called McGill College Avenue, which leads up to the campus in the heart of the city and just below the royal mountain that gives the city its name. Acrylic on canvas.
Mystery lady- I have no idea who this beautiful woman is. I was taking an acrylic portraiture course at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in 2016 and her photo was among a dozen on a table in the studio. Our instructor told us, "pick a photo and paint a portrait of that person". I changed her hairstyle, changed the background to this neutral colour array and took off her 1980's padded shoulder blouse, being careful not to expose anything she hadn't already done! It's on canvas and really spiffs up our basement wall since I didn't have a patron for it.
Downhill all the Way- And now, for something completely different, to quote Monty Python, a Red-breasted nuthatch doing its characteristic thing, searching a tree trunk for food from top to bottom. Acrylic on canvas.
Everyone was there! Yet another guest at that wedding in Inverness, Cape Breton as reported in my last post. A quick sketch of my sister-in-law, RG, in ink on sketch paper.
A Son is Born to Us- Yes, the famous quote from the prophet Isaiah, since this is our son, RAM, and it's from a photo of him on Christmas day, 2016, on the beach at Lawrencetown, NS. It was 15C that day and he and his sister both got it the ocean for a good few minutes of a swim. The sun was just setting as he squinted off to the westward. Acrylic on canvas.
Theodore Tugboat and HMCS Sackville- The popular children's TV show about this little tugboat and his friends was based here in Halifax harbour and there's a small tugboat made to look just like him, which takes tourists out and about on the harbour. Alongside Theodore is HMCS Sackville, the last surviving example of the small Royal Canadian Navy ships which maintained the lifeline to Europe during the second world war. My dad sailed on three ships like Sackville for five years of the war. This is another of the sketches done in the wonderful company of the (now non-operational) urban sketching group. Ink and felt marker on sketch paper.
Well, I'm off to a life drawing session so I should be able to wrap this up with one more installment of 2016-2017's art output.
Best wishes, - Joe
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