Today was another stifling, sweltering humid day and tonight my student and I really had to push ourselves to get out and paint. As often happens, once we found our way to open sky and started working we felt much better. The air cleared and cooled and it turned into a beautiful evening.

June, Remains of the Day

oil on canvas

6x6in, 2010

available

Yesterday I posted an image that I wasn't sure I was happy with. When I post images it really gets me away from the work, allowing much needed objectivity. Well, I removed the post shortly after as I saw almost immediately what the painting lacked. I worked on it today and am much happier with the outcome.

Time to leave work for a week or so is ideal. Right now I have four paintings on the go and this usually helps me to stand back with a fresh eye if I work on them alternately. Easier said than done--some get in your blood and you just have to stay with them--sometimes regrettably- but worth the sacrifice as they always teach me something.

June

oil on canvas
18x24in, 2010
available

Today I saw a large transport hauling bales of hay. Usually in June the field behind where I live is turned, but so far no hay. I wonder if it is because we have had so much rain. Every year I paint hay bales from this field I know so well. The birds have finished nesting and now the carpet of clover is rolled up to be recycled for livestock bedding and food. The vast size of the round bales provide a perfect place to hide and paint, and I relish in the fresh-cut scent as I am working. Here is a wee oil sketch from last June.

June

oil on canvas
9x12in, 2009

This one's for you Robyn, as per your comment on the earlier post. ( and yes, there is a story..)

Finally, My Hollyhocks!

oil on canvas

24x40in, 2008

private collection

This kind of day—humid, sticky and stifling- can turn into a perfectly pleasant evening and I took advantage. After the usual Saturday chores I headed out around 5PM for the back field and wasn’t disappointed. The air had cooled and freshened and was filled with my favorite a capella bird melodies. 

I think that is what I find most enticing about being in an open field. You know that it is home to so very many creatures but the colours and textures camouflage them so well.

June, Greenbelt Disaster

oil on canvas
12x12in, 2010
available

I didn’t realize how long I was out until the sky really started to churn and I heard thunder nearby. It was a scramble to get my shoes back on, gather my gear, round up the dogs and make my way home- as I write this it still hasn’t rained.

I have been working outside all week on some larger paintings. It is important for me to paint in the same light, so they are not yet finished. For a ‘quick fix’- a wee field painting...

June (Greenbelt Disaster)

oil on canvas

6x6in, 2010

available

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SUMMER PLEIN AIR

The June fields here are a show of pink and green-more so this year because of all the rain. It's a good enough reason to play with rose madder and cadmium yellow light. And, thanks to the rain, the cloud-scapes have been spectacular and ever-changing.

June

oil on canvas

12x24in, 2010

available

Are we not all tied to the seasons and the cycle of harvest, and intimately connected to the turning skies?

June, Remains of the Day

oil on canvas, 30x36in

reserved

June is ‘the door of the year’, the gateway to inner realms. In the goddess calendar the first 12 days of June belong to Hera.
European folklore tells us that: good weather in ‘Flaming June’ is required if there is to be a good harvest; bats flying on a June evening are a sign of hot, dry weather, and if swallows fly near the ground in June it’s a sign of coming rain.

June, Remains of the Day

oil on canvas, 12x36in

SOLD

"I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June."

- L. M. Montgomery

June ( a pretty good day so far)

oil on canvas

24x24in, 2010, available

Considering the weather here in Niagara, I thought it appropriate to post this little painting.

June, After Rain

oil/ beeswax on panel

8x10in, 2009, SOLD

Happy June

I was finally able to get out in the garden ( to actually garden, NOT paint). June always puts me in mind of the poem made famous by Jenny Joseph (who was young when she wrote it!). I never understood the worldwide phenomenon of the Red Hat Society, as this poem is clearly about NON-conformity.

When I am an Old Woman

encaustic on canvas, 28x46in, 2000, private collection