Another One Sold.

Well, today was a good day. I got the cheque for "Beached Logs, Harrison Lake" (thanks Brian!), and then got a call from Anne at Collective Works saying that the actual owner of the Orange House, had come in and put a down payment on "Orange House, Fernwood". Well, well. I had remarked to someone that it would be cool if the owner of the house would come in and buy it! The house is only, maybe five blocks away, so the odds were good.


Well, this little gem has found a place in quite a few people's hearts in the time it has hung, so I am glad it is now going to a home where it will be treasured.

A big part of the buzz for me has been that, not only have I been able to sell much more easily than I dreamed possible, and that I am getting respectable prices for my work, but that they are going to "appropriate" people. I mean, when I send my children out into the world, I want them to be properly loved and cared for. Sentimental I know, but it is important to me.

I know these pieces will remain on your walls for many years to come, emitting a powerful sense of calm, joy, and hope. And thank you so much for giving me the chance to actually get paid for doing what I was born to do--which is, sharing this good, solid energy with others. I am deeply honoured.

N.

Photo by Miriam Hulhall, our Treasurer.

Gallery Hours

We now have hours set for the Collective Works Gallery, which are:

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays:
11:00am-6:00pm
Fridays and Saturdays:
11:00am-8:00pm
Mondays:
closed

This is what we’ve decided to start with for now. We will gage things as we go along in terms of traffic trends through the week, weekends, etc. Also, we would like to appeal to the Belfry Theater crowd so we will also keep tabs on that to see when plays are on and such.

Collective Works Gallery is Here

Well dudes and dudettes, was the show a success or what?! For a while there, it was so packed it took a few minutes and quite a few 'Scuse Mes' just to get to the back to get more wine.

And speaking of wine, I vote the bottle of Uncle Al Williams' blackberry wine "Best in Show". I did find my own way home though--just not in a straight line.

At peak time, there must have been about 70 people there--but it felt like 300. It was super-encouraging to see this level of turnout. Huge kudos, props and resounding, hand smarting hi-fives to Anne, Miriam, Sean and all the rest of the unflinchingly dedicated volunteers who pulled this off. We are HERE.

It was huge for me to connect with my peers and collegues. I learnt a lot, talked a lot, and really connected a lot. I hope the freindships I made Friday night will last the rest of my life.

Thanks so much to Joji, Tammy, Cousin Mike, Ruthie, and those cool people Tammy invited (whose names I've forgotten) for coming out to look at the stuff. Love you guys one and all.

An interesting note is that I caught Joji and Tammy looking at my paintings in the photo above. I didn't know they were in the room at the time! And Mike--that was a nice surprise, man.

It was great that there was another piece sold before the show opened, besides my "Beached Logs." Oh, and speaking of selling--"Rising Cloud, Harrison Lake" is now SOLD to my good friend Dan C. I will be very honoured to have one of my canvases hanging in his home.

One of my very best pieces. I am so stoked that Dan has this one, because I know he totally "gets it". What Dr. MacCallum was to Tom Thomson, Dan is to me, in a way. He's the one with the cabin way up on Harrison Lake, and, thanks to his kindness and generosity, I am able to really get out there and look around and feed my creativity with the raw fuel of art--which is Nature.

And now, just for fun a drawing of a Renaissance jam-session. Veronese on fiddle, Titian on bass. I took this drawing from a detail of Paolo Veronese's "Wedding at Cana" from 1563. It is in a book my good freind and sister Roo gave me for Christmas.

The Old Masters rock, eh :) I'm telling you, there is nothing about painting they didn't know. Even abstract artists can learn from them. Mark Rothko did! He made several trips to Itally just to do that.

And, I have another painting of the Douglas Lake area coming down--just slapped on the underdrawing this morning. It will be unique, and I hope, quite eye-catching--although I will not have much time to paint in the next month and a half or so. We'll see.

Very Best to All,
N

Come on Down to the Show, Yo.

"Stilled" is happening at Collective Works Gallery, the first show of the Gallery, and the first proper group showing of my work. Collective Works is run by and for artists,and you can find our website here.

So come on down to the place this Friday, Feb. 15th, at 7:00 pm for the opening. There'll be the usual wine and snacks, and all the artists on hand to meet and network with. There will be a very broad spectrum of talent there; lots to look at!

The Collective Works Gallery is at 1311 Gladstone Ave. within yards of the Belfry Theater, Fernwood Inn, and The Cornerstone Cafe. You can find a map here.

I will be so delighted to see you there, so come on out to support me and this exciting new cultural initiative in Victoria. This may also be your last chance to purchase "Beached Logs, Harrison Lake" and "Orange House, Fernwood", if you are interested in either. They are my most popular works, and I am offering them both at the lowest possible price(includes the custom frames).

See you Friday night!

>>> As I was posting this reminder out, I got an email from a buyer. "Beached Logs, Harrison Lake" is SOLD to Brian H. This is one of my strongest pieces. It's going to a good home, and I am very happy about that--in addition to selling another piece of course! It'll still be on display there until the show closes March 6th.

Closing the Circle

Well, I was digging around in the closet the other day, binning some old photos and generally trying to lighten my load, and I came across these pics, taken on my old 35mm compact. A couple of beauties from a bike blast I did through Cache Creek, Merritt and Douglas Lake, back in, say '97. Of course, my ever vigilant eye saw possible paintings--I mean, that is why I took these photos, but had forgotten about them. So I'll be working up a series over the coming months. I have some perfectly iconic images here.

So I got busy last Saturday on this one, and managed to finish it last night. The surface quality and colours are very similar to what I was painting like at that time 10 years ago, and of course, so is the subject matter. This is very gratifying, since I have been longing to return to those days, both aesthetically and technically.

"Bend in the Road, Douglas Lake" 18 X 24"

A few small touch-ups to go, though, and maybe I need to wrangle the clouds a bit, but finished enough to post here. This was shot in indirect natural light, out on the balcony.

I finally got my priming (gesso) situation sorted out now, and that has helped immensely, returning a bit of the old delicacy to things. Also very happy that my 3-colour system can perfectly match what I was doing with the 10-12 colour palette I was using back then.

End of the first session, shot on the easel.

My palette, squeezed out. I like to start nice and neat, 'cause things tend to get messy fast. Even though my system depends so much on mixing, I am pretty concerned with keeping my colours pure... .

The same palette after 5 hours of battle. You can see the crossover I do between green and brown. That area just back of the thumb-hole is for those mixes and gradient colours. I keep the top row for the pure primaries and secondaries.

Upcoming Shows

People, I am absolutely delighted to announce that I have upcoming shows in great venues:

• "Stilled" Feb. 15th. Group Show, Collective Works Gallery, 1311 Gladstone Ave.
• "Through Clear Air; Landscapes 1997--2007", April 1--April 30th. Cornerstone Cafe, 1301 Gladstone Ave.
  
• "Illuminations" at Collective Works Gallery, running from April 18th--May 8th.
• Solo Show, Pandora Arts Collective, Month of July, #10-1921 Fernwood Rd.(Details TBA)

I am absolutely stoked to be a part of the Collective Works Artists' Association, the not-for-profit group I have recently joined in Fernwood (my neighbourhood of Greater Victoria).

Collective Works Gallery
1311 Gladstone Ave.
Box 5079
Victoria, BC.
V8R-6N3

For a map, click here.

This is a very cool and innovative endeavour by and for artists right in Fernwood, Victoria's Latin Quarter, the Montmartre of the West Coast, a hotbed of creativity, culture, and community values. This is where I'm digging in, folks. Artists, if you are reading this, join up!


For the Feb. 15th show, these 2 pieces have been accepted. If you wanted to buy them, you may be too late, sorry, as they may no longer be around after the show. Of course, you can still buy them if you come to the show, but then you will have to pay the show price as listed. But "Beached Logs, Harrison Lake" will have a custom frame by Greg Snead, so the frame alone is a $180 value right there.
"Orange House, Fernwood" 10X12" Oil on Board. $195.00.
Hoping for some local sales! The house is on Grant St. actually.....


"Beached Logs, Harrison Lake" 18X24" Oil on Canvas. $475.00.

Please come out to look, even if you don't buy. You can always look--and there will be lots to see. It's a bit strange that I have had very few sales to family and friends, even though everyone raves about my work. That is the way my career is supposed to work; selling to family/ friends at a discount. Oh well. When these peices gone, they're gone. We'll soon see if "the art-buying public" are actually out there, chequebooks in hand, or whether they are just another urban myth (like alligators in sewers, or what-have-you).

See you there!

Hangin' With the Pros

Like a custom suit or dress may make someone feel more professional, successful or self-confident, so too the custom frame.

Professional artist and framer, Greg Snead, who lives close to me here on Hillside, will be getting all my business from now on. The quality of his framing, his great service, and his kind mentoring have already been important to me, and is helping me put my best foot forward for my upcoming shows.

Tastefully chosen stock (I let him) and perfect mitres make me feel like I stole this piece from the National Gallery or something! I'm kinda shocked to see a frame this nice around one of my pieces.

The back of the piece, with the paper cover "to keep bugs out" as Greg says. It looks professional on the back now, too.















Plastic coated heavy-gauge wire, and the usual screw-eye replaced with a two-screw plate ensures that your picture will still be on the wall if The Big One finally hits the Left Coast here. The picture will last as long as the wall does......
















And these little plastic thingies will keep the bottom edge of the frame from marking the wall during the inevitable aftershocks.

Seriously, this level of workmanship and attention to detail is a revelation, and a nice match for the artwork. I am stoked to offer Greg Snead's frames for sale with my work.

True Blue

If you have been following this blog at all, you know that I have switched exclusively to a 3-colour system. The simplicity of this system allows me to concentrate on spontaneously mixing, and "composing" with colour, rather than hunting amongst 12-15 tube colours and continuously cleaning my brush to ensure colour purity.

My standard three primaries have been Manganese Blue (Hue), Winsor Lemon, and Permanent Rose. This is still the most flexible combination for me, but it only truly works with Winsor & Newton professional-quality colours. Blue is the backbone of my palent. I love all colours, but I have got to have a blue that rings out like a bell, clear and pure as cold fresh air.

Sometimes, though, I need darker darks and harder greys. My standard 3 as above are all a little tonally weak, and thus limits how dark I can mix those darks that I am at last coming to terms with. Even being able to deal visually with heavy darks is something of a major achievement for me. If you saw my work from the mid-'90's, you'd understand what I mean. My eye has preferred (until now) very bright and pale colours. Like Gwen John and Jacques Villon in their late work, I was trying to achieve harmony through tone. Now, it is tonal contrasts which interest me more.

"Pine Bog, Wickaninnish Beach" 18 X 24" So this is my most recent painting with my standard 3 colours. Pretty tonally homogeneous, with blues-riff colours. Bit busy, but quirky compositional stuff going on, and some nice chewy bits, too. I glazed the sky with Mang. Blue and then overpainted the clouds.


"Dark Shore, Tonquin Beach" 14 X18" Painted the rocks in one go, but had to beat the sky to death. What is with my inability to wipe on a good sky in one shot these days?? Painting the sand in wet-into-wet gave it the perfect effect. If you've been there in Tofino after the tide goes out, you'll know what I mean. Must be seen close up. (Eeeek! I am turning into a realist! ;)

This is my newest painting, but using what will now be my "Dark Standard" of Winsor Blue (Green Shade), Winsor Yellow, and Permanent Rose.

I do vary my yellow then as well and sometimes use Winsor Yellow with my "Bright Standard" instead of Winsor Lemon, so the only fixed colour is my red, the Permanent Rose.


The Winsor Blue (Green Shade) was a special order from Winsor & Newton in the UK, and took about 6 months to get here. It is a much stronger tinter (uses more white for the same tonality) than Manganese Blue, being very similar to a true phthalo blue, sharing the same pigment. It sure stains the brushes like a good phthalo!

But mixed with white, as above, you can see that it comes out very similar to Manganese Blue, at least in theory. In practice, however, it seems to lack a little of Manganese Blue's saturation when tinted. But it is very dark out of the tube, and so, when combined with the darker Winsor Yellow, makes for much darker greens, and of course when mixed with Permanent Rose, much darker browns and greys. I can mix something pretty close to black, in fact--at least to the untrained eye.

And, of course you know that I am a paint snob, using only the Winsor & Newton top-of-the-line paint. Previously, I compared whites, and you can see from this demonstration as well the difference using the cheaper linseed oil vehicle makes on brilliance and and brightness. This is after these paints had only 3 months to dry on a sheet of paper. I don't care what any art company will tell you, yellowing oil will, somewhere down the line, take away from the brilliance of your colours, whether you mix them with white or use them straight. And if your white uses linseed oil as well, so much the worse for you. If you are a professional artist, you'll be worried by this, as I am--another reason for using Winsor & Newton. You can also see from the above just how two of the more popular colour lines from Holbein and Gamblin stack up. I might be able to get away with the Holbein, but would not use Gamblin if I was paid to do it. Their Lemon Yellow is just as weak, proportionately, as their Mang. Blue.

I'll be comparing yellows in another post, but that is all the technical ranting I'll do for now.

I'll be working up more paintings like the above, from the blast to Ucluelet and Tofino Dad and I did in December. Real West Coast stuff. I depend on these occasional field-trips to keep me going. Stay tuned!

Life Drawing, Jan. 6

Went to Life Drawing at Xchanges again with my freind IJ. Artists have been drawing from the live model since at least the Late Rennaissence, and it traditionally forms a large part of an artist's training. Because it's so blazingly difficult! This is where the rubber hits the road. To do this, and do this well is a mark of professionalism, and we all know it. And I'm still not sure how well I do it. It shows up any flaw in technique, skill or focus, and is frustrating enough that I want to keep coming back for more--to conquer it. Nature is a tyrant.

I find the male model much more difficult than the female model--with the 2 sessions I've attended, I've had both. Men lack the smooth line transitions and have delightful blocky masses and sharper angles. 'Course, I like looking at women more :) but humanity is beautiful in most of it's forms, I am coming to realise..... I'm not always proud to be a part of this family of critters, eh? but I'm not above celebrating my species in all its (sometimes hairy-chested, paunchy-@$$ed) glory. Spirit meets matter in all of us.

After, IJ and I hung in a bus-shelter, drank beer, smoked clove cigarettes, and waved at passing cops. IJ is a punk chica, totally cool, and I am honoured to be her collegue and friend. I am also convinced that she is a Metamorphmagus, since she has the ability to change her hair-colour at will.

The greatest blessing in my life is my freinds. How many times do I need to be reminded of this before it finally sinks in??

Family too, you know. I love all my people. So if you are reading this, remember to keep in touch, OK? Because you are my most valuable asset.

Ucluelet Sketchbook

Canuck Iconography

"Blackcomb Mountain" 18 X 24" Oil on canvas.
SOLD to DHW for $500, before the paint was even dry.

I think I may end up famous for my ability to capture early evening light. This one is not too bad. Maybe a little too paint-by-numbers, but time will tell. I may have lost sight of my overall intention, but it is a good piece, for sure. A very challenging piece, but painted with a certain amount of bravado.


"Beached Logs, Harrison Lake" 18 X 24" Oil on Canvas.
This one was crazy hard, but I did pull it off. Have had some good comments on it already. I know people will think of Emily Carr, but it was me who found this one, and I have a photo to prove it! It is a matter of what is emblematic around here, so there will be some overlap by default. Harrison Lake is, of course, not the Coast, but there is something about it that suggests the coast. the fact that the lake has seals reinforces that impression.

I had to beat the sky into submission, but I think I am almost happy with it now.

Finishing these two was all the painting I did this weekend, but I am glad to have them done.

New Studio Furniture

Not willing to spend $100+ on an over-engineered easel at Opus, I decided to make one.

Most commercial easels need two hands to raise and lower the sliders, which means that I have to put my brushes and palette down, which is a pain. Even the ones that you can use one hand on do not work that well. Mose are not very solid and all have limitations. I also wanted an easel to lean against the wall, and everything I have ever seen is free-standing. I don't want a freestanding easel, because it takes up too much room in my flat, and is a pain to transport when I move.

So, being a DIY kinda guy.....


I was walking to the Hardware store though Fernwood yesterday, and got talking to a chap who was doing some renos. The weathered cedar came from him--free! So my studio has some good neighbourhood cred now. Thanks Dave.

I had some other bits lying around. The bicycle seatpost quick-releases as the tighteners on the sliders are a stoke of genius! Thanks to North Park Bike shop for those. I have tested it already, and this system works better than ANYTHING out there! There is a tiny bit of bounce in the thing when I am really going at it. I will reinforce the 1 x4 uprights when I get the chance. But the main problem of 1-hand adjustability has been solved.


Also, when I am pounding on some paint on the far edges of a 20 X24" canvas, I don't end up with the whole deal in my lap.


All good things for $35.

Sunsets and Coffee Cups

Well, here are two pictures painted with low autumn evening light. One took me 5 sessions and about 15 hours, the other only 2 sessions and about 6 hours. Can you guess which is which?

"Sunset, Willows Beach" 14 X 18" Really Fresh Oil on Canvas.
I started this last night, and finished it today, so no overpainting. I am happy that I am becoming more comfortable with my 3-colour system and finding myself more and more able to handle grays and rich dark areas. 10 years ago I would have never taken this on. I like this little peice. Sometimes, instead of getting all uptight over a larger, carefully planned canvas, I get the best results by just getting in there and slapping it on! I may not retouch this one, even if it needs it.


"Mt. Doug from Hillside". 16 X 20" Oil on Canvas, natch.
I like the intensity in this baby. Like a long blues riff in colour. I did listen to a lot of blues painting this one. I got the light down, and it has a feeling of air. The structure is great, and kinda Cezannesque. I resist atmospheric perspective, but do create a bit of depth through overlapping planes and intersecting horizontal and verticle lines, as in Cezanne. I love the painterlyness of this one and the sometimes illogical bits, like the tree in the forground. Particularily like the bits on the far left. Colour nuances, dry overpainting, vibrations. The horizontal line is a powerline, not a shoreline, as it may look. I did add that little green tree to offset this impression a bit.

Most of all, I like the abstract quality of this peice, and the sheer joy of painting this one (although the final touches were nerve-wracking). It is painted over an underdrawing of a still-life that I bailed on. You can see some of the lines still in the yellow poplar trees. If you have a good monitor, you will be able to see the true intensity of these colours. Or, better yet, come over some time.


"Small Single Americano" Pencil on Paper.
It was cold by the time I got around to drinking it :)

Be kind to other people.
C

Recent Drawings

A bit discouraged with the painting at the moment. No biggy, just a lack of creative energy. Things are going good in that department, but not as fast as I'd like. Got a big one of Harry Lake, and almost finished a bright 16 X 20 of Mt. Doug from my window, replete with fall colours and all.

But for now, here are some of my most recent drawings. Yes, Caroline, this post is for you :)


"Portrait of J.S.S." Oil on Canvas. 11 X 14" Unfortunately now covered by paint. Spot on the way it was. Why did I not just leave it like that!? Aaargh.


"Self-Portrait" Pencil on bleached tree fibre stuff. 8.5 X 11" My eyes are too large and close together, but this is a pretty good attempt at a self portrait. I just sat down and drew it. It would have been better if I had drawn from life rather than a photo. Life is always better, if the image is static. But the distortion, glasses and tie makes me look like some kind of severe modernist dude. Which I'm not, but I don't mind the emotion of this drawing. And I am proud of the fact that I do know how to tie a Half Windsor (Half Nelson?)


"Rooflines, Hillside" 8.5 X 11" Westall St., on my secret back route to the Mall. Sitting on the curb across the street, looking down somebody's driveway. the chimneys are to scale and in proportion. I have been looking at this one for awhile out of the corner of my eye. I hope I will be doing more like this, and paintings, too. I have been in Victoria for 4 1/2 years now, and am only just starting to see it.


"Coffee Shop Dog" 8.5 X 11" This critter and his twin where hanging out with their owner and entertaining some ladies outside Bean Around the World on Fisgard St. one Sunday. Size of small ponies. I managed to get the shaggy, goofy essence of this one down in about 30 seconds.


"Chess Pieces" 8.5 X 11" Craig, if you are reading this, you gotta know I was thinking of you the whole time!

I think you'll agree that the knight looks rather more an alpaca than a horse.....

Some exciting news today: I am entering a painting in a group show in Fernwood next month. I guy I spoke to in August called me up out of the blue. Has me pencilled in for a full-blown solo show in July. Good times.

'Night,
Nicholas

Painting with Intention

"Rising Cloud, Harrison Lake" 18 X 24" Oil on Canvas

Chromatically, this newest piece demonstrates the versatility of my 3 colour system. Yup, the same 3 colours as before!

But there is lots going on in this one with composition, and I finally was able to scratch an itch on a tight and structured layout without getting too uptight about it. I shot the photo from a kayak, on the backside of a little island out in Harrison Lake. I saw the painting before I hit the shutter.

I wanted to convey the exhilaration, joy and awe I felt in the face of this. The gate of heaven is everywhere, as Thomas Merton said, and at times like this, I think it swings ajar a bit. I have always considered the act of painting to be an act of worship. This time, it felt like High Mass.

So obviously, I needed to summon just about every tool at my disposal to project this to the viewer. Here is some of what I did intentionally, using some very strong hints from Nature.

So I basically started of with the time-tested grid of thirds, and the center stabilising pyramid. Guys have been using this since at least the Renaissance. So nothing new there. I wanted to lay a strong foundation.

You all know that Cezanne rocks my cage, and that I have been wanting to get at his knack for structure a little more closely, so this was the perfect excuse to establish a strong grid of repeating diagonals, creating rhythm, unity and a lively internal dynamic. painting and music have a lot in common, and I am not the first one to think so! I really did not have to manipulate the image very much to do achieve this.

Movement is really important here, too, because the cloud is rising off the mountain. But I wanted the painting to ascend in every aspect. The verticality of the trees emphasizes that of course, but they are static. Again, nothing new here, but I do not always get to apply all I know. Notably, this technique was used by van Gogh in his later stuff, and from him, Emily Carr, but I wanted to use more subtly, rather than it being the dominating thing.

Kinda like boiling water, this internal movement.

In fact, I tried to instinctively create some upward compression with curved lines in this piece too. The top and bottom of the "boiler", as it were.


I have also been interested in the way, in photos at least, the sky-colour seems to bleed into edges of things--especially shadow areas in tree tops. For this painting, I drew the trees in as usual, but then painted the sky-colour in further than I normally would, past where I wanted the masses of the trees. Then I used pure Manganese blue, straight out of the tube to paint over the dried sky-colour on the shadow sides. This blue is translucent in its unmixed form, so I effectively created a glaze in the shadow areas of the trees where they meet the sky. It worked well, I think. Although I wouldn't mind not being so freakin' versatile and clever in deference to developing an homogeneous style, it is good to impress myself one in a while with these little innovations :) I am very interested to continue these explorations in perception. I really feel like I am getting some work done then. Visual research, yeah.

But the biggest buzz of this piece for me was that I was totally in the zone for almost the entire thing. I really, really enjoyed seeing this one come off the brush. Yes, sometimes I forgot to eat--and sleep!