Next Stop:  OLDS! was created for the Olds Library annual fundraiser, “Pillage the Village”, that features a Medieval theme.  Twelve of the shields were cut and sanded, to be painted by volunteer artists from the community, then auctioned off by silent bid the evening of the Feast, the 23 rd of May, 2015.  It seemed innocuous enough, so I signed up to paint a shield.  HA !! Then the fun began.  I first expected to use traditional heraldic layouts and emblems.  Research was not terribly satisfactory.  Olds does turn out to have a “logo”, but it is thoroughly modern and just not the flavour with eagles and dragons and such that I was hoping for.  The next idea, of putting a different local symbol in each quadrant became entirely too cluttered.  Ye gads, what was  going to do with this chunk of plywood ?  Finally, a week or two after this  major set-back, I began to envision a painting that told something of the story of Olds itself.  Many sketches and a deadline looming (why, oh why, do I work best under pressure ??) had me slathering the board with gesso, and the painting had no more excuses to use.  I rather bravely began at the top–with those Alberta Wild Roses, after underpainting the entire board with diluted burnt sienna as a delaying tactic, and found myself repainting the roses four times and the sky beneath them at least three times.  (The right shade of blue IS critical, you know.)  The mountains were not expected to be a problem–anyone who lives near the Rockies can surely paint a mountain–but they did go from classic purple to a bluish green, shrank a bit, became several layers, not just one, and finally decided that a change in the sky colour would do the trick.

Moorings demanded to emerge !  I had painted four versions of this photo several years ago, after obtaining permission from the photographer, Christian Smith.  Why it became an obsession this March is unknown, although I do have a theory.  Having bought pairs of canvases in 12 x 24  in and 16 x 20 in, then painted one of each, the two lonely ones kept giving me depressed looks from their place beside my printer.  The day that a local shop brought in an array of canvasses set me off–or was it up?

Logistics were a frequent problem while painting.  To begin, a simple pencil mark separated sky from ground, so ligning up those major areas was straight-forward.  Then the fun began !  My work space, the kitchen island, is complicated by “life”.  The cats regard it as their space, there are an electric kettle and resident tea pot to work around, and then the just started Christmas puzzle, under the plastic table cloth, creates some unhelpful “texture” to  complement the scattered bits of dry cat food that appear mysteriously.  All three canvases WILL fit on at once, but only if one hangs off the end of the island in a precarious position that will not tolerate the sudden arrival of an air-borne cat..  Quick checks for alignment really must be quick !  Because of the volumes of paint needed, I was also trying to use both of my small Sta-Wet palettes, further complicating the effort to keep cat paws out of the paint.  They are not supposed to drink the painting water or chew my brushes, either–much less carry them off to secret hiding spots.  Trying to paint while all three are asleep seems to be the logical answer, but they draw straws to see who is on duty, looking for tempting things to do with me, while the other two get to nap.  Ah, the struggles in the life of a painter…… 

After my very early experiences with painting instruction, and my quite recent ventures into different techniques as a retired adult, it came to me that starting out by using painting knives instead of brushes could be a very useful way of eliminating the common reliance on tight control and tiny details that so many of us get involved in.

I am using painting knives more and more in my own work–and I love the freedom of expression that they spontaneously bring to painting.  I admit to being somewhat horrified by the volume of paint required, however.   As a painter of tiny miniatures, the fact that one scoop of the knife can gather more paint than needed for an entire painting of my usual size and style is more than a tad unnerving.

Perhaps that is one reason that my class and I are enjoying grabbing a knife to scrape our palette at the end of a session, then just playing with the paint.  Some results are rather mediocre–but others get the “WOW !” reaction.  Besides, it is so much more interesting than just wiping the palette clean and heading home as we used to do.  On days like today, some of us will even work the entire session with our knife in hand.  We are finding that using 140# or heavier watercolour paper, or stretched canvas, works well for this method.  In class we work mostly with acrylics, although watercolour is a second choice.  As we paint at the local Seniors’ Drop-In Centre, we have mostly avoided oils because of their odor/solvent requirements.  There is no need to gas the Scrabble players behind us!