“THE LETTER”

My latest mixed media, fiber arts project.

A 17th Century, Restoration period lady with her four Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.

She is standing by her clavichord, lid painted in the Dutch manner. The clavichord sits on a 17th century style table with turned legs.

The floor is faux finish painted parquet.

The lady is dressed in Chinese figured silk, petticoat in Thai slubbed silk, over skirt in crepe silk. The bodice is boned. Her face and hands are two part epoxy putty, as is her hair and the whole is painted with acrylics.

The dogs are made with epoxy putty, armatures underneath and then painted with acrylics.

The whole piece is 13” x 17” x 18” tall. That's 34 x 44 x 45cm tall in metric.

Mrs. Pepys and her Spaniels Gentle

An almost complete sculpture of a 17th century lady with her clavichord and four Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.

Birds on the go- an exploration of "loose"

Starry, starry night

I love nighthawks and this one (24" x 48") is the hawk and the my impression of the starry sky I saw while I was in Austrralia

New winds, new directions

I've been trying new ways to express the birds. Since my trip to Vancouver Island, I've been interested in flocks.

Travel

A trip out west to give me some fresh air, some inspiration and maybe some direction. To be by the sea is very inspiring, even if I have no idea (other than traditional ones) of how to present or paint it.

These are a few of the attempts I am enjoying.
I didn't bring the acrylics as it was all to bulky and hope I can draw some paintings from all these sketches and photos I've taken.

Some oil pastels.

Finishing with the whimsical, of course.

Some pen and ink. Some were even done plein air when it wasn't raining.

And, some resist work, done by painting white gouache where you want it to stay white and when that is dry, washing waterproof ink over the whole. Wait for it to dry and then rinse under the tap. Voila! a piece that resembles wood or lino cuts.

Watercolours are eluding me now. Determined to not just paint in the style I always used to, I'm not satisfied with what is coming out. So, no pictures of those.

Of course, there will be more later.

Transition, travails and torture.

The transition painting, beginning it's life as a prairie landscape and slowly becoming a lakescape with Bonaparte gulls seen at Lake Winnipeg.


The next is of a white pelican seen over Lake Winnipeg.

The third, which was an afternoon of work is of a red tiled cockatoo I saw in Port Douglas, Australia.

The first took me months of fiddling, the second about a month and the third was an impression on a decorative background.