The Meeting Place - for chickens and artists!!

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

THE MEETING PLACE - 10 X 12  Graphite, $340 unframed

Chickens and farms seemed to go together.  When I was out to Kilby Historical site last spring I took some great pictures of this rooster on the fence.  He was busy calling everyone to attention.  The hens of course were just eating and paying no mind.  I decided to build this picture giving him all the attention he was looking for!!  (Kilby opens Easter Weekend, March 28 with their outdoor Easter Egg Hunt www.kilby.ca )

Update on the new Artist in Residence Gallery in Langley:  We are now almost in full swing there.  There are only 2 studios left, yes the bank vault has been rented.  We should number approx. 30 artists in total when all the dust settles, of course not everyone is there every day but Mon - Sat. 10-5pm you can count on a goodly number in Residence working and ready to talk about their work.  A very unique place in the Fraser Valley.  My days are usually Mon and Fri afternoon, so see you this Friday.

BIG MAN ON CAMPUS

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

Big Man On Campus - 5 x 7 - $130 unframed

A beauty eh??  Isn’t he gorgeous, well in a rooster kind ‘a way.  I was out to Kilby Historical Site, near Harrison Hot Springs and this fellow was wondering around on his own, looking for the hens I guess.  His walk and manner just seemed to say “I am the head honcho” and of course I had to photograph him.  It was great fun drawing him.  I was working on him down at the Painter’s Square at White Rock and I guess it seemed a little funny to be drawing a rooster at the beach but you know sometimes you just have to do that drawing no matter what . . .  !

If you are out in the Fraser Valley, check out Kilby Store and Farm, it is a reminiscent of the early 1900’s and actually built in 1908.  The store is on stilts, probably more than 10 feet in the air as it was a train station for the Harrison Mills area and had to be up high because of the yearly flooding of the Fraser River.  Today of course, with the dike systems,  it doesn’t flood.  I have been involved with Kilby for 7 years now, they use a number of my pictures for their promotions and I have a nice display in their gift shop and café.  http://www.kilby.ca

As always matted prints are available of all of my work starting at $7.

Out With The Hens

Out With The Hens 10x 14 SOLD

Have you ever been to a workshop that just left you feeling so inspired you just want to paint, paint, paint!! I just spent two days with Harold Allanson doing his workshop “Fearless Watercolors” and had a wonderful time. He does beautiful big watercolors of sights along the west coast that you could just die for. See some of his work at http://www.haroldallanson.com/

We spent our time working on these wonderful chickens from his place. I must admit I loved their tail feathers; they just were so interesting and lovely to add colors too. I definitely learned a lot from him and I think that I have finally got a firm handle on my darks. I had felt that often my watercolors were lacking in values but after this weekend I might have trouble getting some soft colors!!

Another Award Winner!!

Yes I am really on a roll, two awards this summer! I have won an Award of Excellence for my picture "Far From the Maddening Crowd" at the Federation of Canadian Artists Chapter Show at the Fort Langley Museum. I am quite excited about it, I really liked this picture and I felt it was a good fit for this show "A 100 Mile Harvest". I just loved the way the duck was settled in by the old sickle cutter and the way the old machinery came alive with the graphite. I had the picture for awhile before I named it and when I did I just felt just right: that little duck is really far from the maddening crowds of the city.
I don't live on a farm, my reference material for this picture came from Kilby Store and Farm, a historical site that has costumed people presenting life in the early 1900's, a small gift shop and café. It is a wonderful place and I have been involved with it for about 6 years.

Moving On

This is a great old truck that Steve and I found out in the bush near Harrison Hot Springs. It was in the middle of a pasture covered with blackberry vines. I loved it because it has a crank, wooden wheels and is definitely way before my time. I painted it first as a small miniature and then in pen and ink just to see how it would work as I was adding chickens to the scene and changing the season of the picture. (The original was taken in February and everything looked gray and dead at the time.) I started the picture last summer and then had to abandon it and so now I am returning to it. This has proven difficult as I have had to figure out my color palette for it (I don't use the same colors all the time) and I was not happy with the grasses that I created with the frisket when I did the background. I tried a few things on the background on the left side of the truck and I decided I could work things out so now I am back on track.
The original work was laid out in pen and ink and then I worked with watercolor to develop it. As you can probably tell the background was done wet-on-wet adding more and more foliage as the paper dried. I must admit I really fell in love with that part. The foreground it only roughed in as I will develop it with watercolor washes but leave a spot for my chicken.Well I will get to work and let you know how things are going.