Double poppies

I have fallen in love with my double poppies.  So much so that they have inspired me to paint them in full-sheet format.  I am compelled to paint a few more before I have expired their inspiration.  Do you like them?

 

These poppies are annual but they lovingly persist by reseeding themselves and reappearing in my gardens the next year.  And their numbers grow.  They are flexible and willing to grow anywhere, even between patio stones.

This year I have been giving seeds to requesters - spread the beauty is a good way to improve the world, don't you agree?

As winter comes, with the hopes that it will not be as heavy with snow as the last, I expect that my beautiful photographs of this summer's crop will inspire me again to paint their glory, allowing me to dream of next year's show.

Visit my other poppies at dorisdaigle.ca if you are wanting to see more!

Bestest!

Doris

Five Sunflowers

Five Sunflowers (14" x 21" - Arches 300 lb)

This is my latest, five sunflowers on a tabletop, the background being a brightly sunlit window covered with a white sheer blind, gentle pastel blooms in the fabric.  So the light comes from every direction, from behind, from the lighting in the room at the front.  A winter month project, in anticipation of the coming spring and summer.

I am happy that this composition is from my own set up vase of sunflowers, and also that I sketched freehand, modified the forms, made the composition taller than it really was.  I've really made this one my own.

I first did a study which I am beginning to feel is very helpful for optimum observation of the nuances that make up what we see.  Observation is key.  It's really what delights, when we take time, really take time to observe something, relax and meditate on something.  This is when you begin to see the various nuances, shadows, light, small magical details, warm colours, cool colours.

Blue Clematis

Usually I like using my own photographs or sketches.  However this lastest painting was inspired by a photograph taken by Vivian Hughes Wilcox of Georgette Tardif's garden in Calgary, Alberta.  It was such a glorious, sunlit bloom, I couldn't resist trying my hand at it, with their generous permission to inspire myself for this painting. A bit looser work but that's what I'm striving for these days.  Hope you enjoy!


Blue Clematis (12" x 18" on Arches 300 lb)

Beach Glass and Clematis

Once in awhile, you are stopped by something that is simply beautiful to you.  In this case, I happen to have a tall and thin glass container in a windowsill at the cottage, that my husband and I - and guests - have filled over time with beach glass treasures found during our beach walks.

This year, in the summer, every time I looked towards the window, I would see the beach glass and, beyond, a wonderful clematis in full bloom.  It would stop me in my tracks and somehow my mind's eye would stop stare, end up at the hard line between the jar and the flowers, leaving me in some sort of quiet meditation.  And I would forget what I had been doing for some moments.  When this happened several times, I remembred me that "they" say that we should paint our emotions.  It occurred to me that it could just as easily mean something of this nature - something that simply stops me, quiets me.  So I simply decided to paint what I saw.   An unusual composition, I admit.  But beauty is in the eye of the beholder ...

Beach Glass and Clematis

22" x 28" - Arches 300 lb

 

The Goalie

 The Goalie

I loved the image of this young goalie, Hunter.  His mother is my coworker and is leaving to work in another province.  It will be Hunter's last season with the KV team.  I thought I would try my hand at this image, attempting to represent the colours faithfully, the feel of the ice, the shading through the mask, the glass boards along the rink.  I wanted to retain the emphasis on him standing alone, facing the ice and the players ahead of him.  I gave the painting as a Christmas/departure gift.

 

The Goalie (10" x 13")

 

 

Echinacea, 18" x 24" on Arches    

Echinacea

I love the simplicity of echinacea - like daisies, sort of, but pink.  They come back year after year, graceful - on strong stems, proud.  Our garden is kind of wild, unkempt, in light and shade.  I wanted this painting to appear as I see them, interspersed with other foligae, some shadows cast on the petals.

One rose ... twice

One lovely rose bloomed out of season.  One fine October weekend, here she was, one tea rose, in full bloom.  As it was to get really cold that night, I snipped it and brought it indoors.  From the rose bush that was a gift from my three fabulous friends on my 50th birthday.

I decided to sketch this beauty.  After sketching, I thought I should like to have more than one of these beauties, so I turned the vase and sketched it from another angle.

So here it is.  The fun part is that it was painted using only three pigments.  Yes, the same three pigments from the shell and feather paintings.

Fallen Angels - Shell and Feather 2

Here is a second in a series of paintings using a triad of colours.

I am thrilled to finally uncover the possibilities of using only three colours on my palette!

Imagine how easily a travel palette could be!  :)

Life cycles ...

A beautiful shell, eroded over time by winds, sand and water.  A feather, fallen from some majestic bird.  A fallen bird.  Lives that were.  What remains ... what remains is still beautiful, still useful, will return to the earth and be reborn, reused, in some form.  Gives hope, gives meaning, to every age.

Cycles

(Watercolour on Arches, 8" x 10")

Paint what's around you?

Hi everyone!  Here we are, mid June, and I really haven't painted very much this year.  A couple of tiny art cards, a couple of abstract blooms, and this.  They say:  "Paint what you love.  Paint what you know.  Paint what's around you."

So I did.  At my painting table, I looked to see what was around me.  My small travel palette.  Brushes.  The curtain.  A spray bottle.  So I sketched and painted what was around me.

Hope you like it.

Doris' Ark

Last week the Maritimes suffered a spectacular storm surge with very high tides, a strong Nor'Easter, plenty of rain.  The swelled ocean caused much coastal erosion and damage in numerous places.  Our home, though near the ocean, sits quite high on a cape and was spared any water damage, just a few roof shingles gone - nothing much to worry about.  But the access road did get breached with the tides flowing over, rendering it impossible to pass for several hours.  We couldn't make it home after work, so we ended up sleeping in a nearby hotel that night.  And so, I thought to "build an ark", my tool being paper and watercolour!  :)  So here's my version of an abstract "ark" to weather the storm. 

Doris' Ark - 12" x 19"

Merry Christmas, everyone! Joyeux Noël à toutes et toutes!

After much fun sledding, our ladybug friends head back to the house,

hoping for some spiced cider to warm their bellies.

Après s'être bien amusées en traineau, nos deux amies retournent au foyer,

rêvant d'un cidre épicé pour réchauffer leurs petites bedaines.

Merry Christmas, everyone!  Joyeux Noël à toutes et toutes