Vin's Landscapes

[Cyberman]

Good stuff! I like the inks in here as well, been wanting to start adding my pen and inks to my watercolor thread, think I will now. how big are these btw? anyways good luck I hope they sell like hotcakes at the fair.

[vineris]

Good stuff! I like the inks in here as well, been wanting to start adding my pen and inks to my watercolor thread, think I will now.

Yeah, I was just looking at your watercolours earlier today and I'd love to see some pen & ink from you.

how big are these btw? anyways good luck I hope they sell like hotcakes at the fair.

Thanks!

The paintings are usually 8x12" or smaller since I mostly paint plein-air and there's a limit to how much hardboard I can cart around in my backpack. The new pen & ink stuff is 4.5x6.5", the ones from my sketchbook are about 5x8".

[vineris]

These were pen & ink landscapes I've previously posted in my sketchbook:







From photos I took on various trips. The first two were from Banff, the last from the Badlands near Drumheller, Alberta. In a few weeks I'll be off to Waterton National Park and I hope I can get a little bit of painting done while I'm there. Although it's more likely that I'll just bring back some watercolour sketches and photos to work from, to spare my guy from having to sit around for three hours while I paint.

Lately it seems like all I've been doing is preparing for the art fair (only two more days to go!) so all I've done is this watercolour sketch of the buildings on Victoria Hill on Canada Day:



We biked out to the river valley to watch the fireworks and the watercolour kit is light to carry.

[vineris]

So the fair is over and done with. I sold a few things, enough to cover my table fee and then some so I can't complain. Handed out some business cards and did some networking which might result in an exhibition sometime in the next year or two. I paint small and my display was small, but if I do this again next year I think I'll expand my space and have a few larger paintings to catch the eye.

Part of the requirement is that you have to work while you're there, so here's the view of the street:

Acrylics on hardboard, about 9x12":

I was working on this on Friday and Saturday. It was hot and smoky, not the best working conditions for acrylic but whatever.

Watercolour on paper. Slightly larger than the above.

On Saturday evening the skies opened up. I didn't bother to bring the acrylics since I figured I'd pack up early, but I ended up staying nearly the whole day. I had the little watercolour travel kit, Niji water brush and field weasel with me. It's a really nice, light setup. I taped an umbrella to the easel and the whole thing worked so well that I didn't want to leave.

Had to pack the whole display in two layers of plastic. Next year I'm building a tent display out of PVC pipe and some tarps.

I think that the watercolour worked out much better. I see the occasional passage in there that I really like, even if it didn't photograph all that well. It was too difficult to do that detailed a painting on the street in acrylic in 30C weather.

Edit: My spot by the Noodle Shop was really good and I'll probably try to grab it again next year, but man, smelling tempura and noodles all day was tough on the willpower. By the end I was like "if I sell one more thing today I'm blowing the profits on sushi."

[Craig D]

Nice on location work, I recognize the spot. Too bad I missed the art walk this year, be nice to meet a local

In your other thread you mention animal sketching at a shop. Where's that at and is it an open thing? Thanks.

[vineris]

Nice on location work, I recognize the spot. Too bad I missed the art walk this year, be nice to meet a local

Thanks! I didn't realize you're here in town. I'm occasionally at the Wednesday figure drawing classes at Harcourt House, if you ever go to those.

In your other thread you mention animal sketching at a shop. Where's that at and is it an open thing? Thanks.

It was at Happy Harbor Comics downtown. It was $5 to draw and free to gawk, I think. It seemed pretty open, there was a wedding party wandering through at some point. I haven't heard about Jay doing another one so far, but I hope they get that goat in. I usually get the updates through their Facebook page.

[vineris]

What I was working on last week before I went on vacation.

This was a quick watercolour sketch I did on location. I also snapped a photo, but the sketch shows the colours of the sky and some of the detail on the hillside much better.







My working area. I really need to turn the easel to take advantage of the natural light more, but then I'll have all sorts of other issues with trying to fit everything else in.





I need to get this done by about Friday, so there should be a few more progress shots coming up.

[vineris]

So I dunno. It's almost there, but I'm not sure that it's unified enough. I like the composition and the rhythms in the pic, but now it sort of feels like the picture is trying to do too much.

Oh well. I entered it in a local art competition. Wish me luck!

[Craig D]

Good Luck!
What's the competition?

[vineris]

Good Luck!
What's the competition?

Thanks!

The Allied Arts Council of Spruce Grove has an open competition going. Deadline for applications is today, so if you have a painting, $35 and some way to get to Spruce Grove before 17:00, you can still enter. (They don't need the actual art until Sept. 8) Here's their page. The prizes are kinda token but I need to pad out my CV.

Man -- speaking of Spruce Grove -- I went to drop off my stuff yesterday, drove right into the worst of the rain, and then I caught the hailstorm on the way back. I managed to reach the West Ed parkade by following a big white blob that turned out to be a van. What was it like on your side of the city?

BTW, Sherwood Park is doing a little Art-Walk-like thing every Sunday until the end of September that is free to enter. It's called Art in the Plaza. I don't know if you're interested, but you might like to know.

[Craig D]

Well I live South of the mall a little so it was looking like winter for a few minutes! Wouldn't have wanted to be driving right about then.

I'm actually heading out of town in a bit for Europe, to take a landscape course with Marc Dalessio, so no local events for a bit. Not that I'm complaining

[vineris]

I'm actually heading out of town in a bit for Europe, to take a landscape course with Marc Dalessio, so no local events for a bit. Not that I'm complaining

Lucky you! Have a good trip!

[Cyberman]

nice watercolor I like your approach to the competition piece.
Sean.

[vineris]

nice watercolor I like your approach to the competition piece.
Sean.

Thank you! I plan on doing more of that in the winter, when sitting outside with the paints is impractical.

---

So I didn't place in the competition. I expected that there might be four artists in my category with better work than mine, and there were certainly some paintings I'd have picked over mine, but none of them happened to win. The strange thing was that I picked the winners in the other categories with a fair amount of accuracy. It's like my category was being judged by my bizarro-world double. I'm not sure there was anything I could have possibly painted that would have been selected by that (hypothetical) judge.

Oh well. Probably a good intro to art competitions.

Right now I'm starting a lot of landscapes because the weather is so unseasonably good. One is nearly done and two others are a fair bit along so I should have a few new paintings to post this upcoming week.