This old place has lots of history in town. It finally came time to bring her down and now a new home sits on the site. I am glad that I got the chance to see her one last time when the leaves were off the trees. They don’t make then like they used to. https://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/kathy-guenkel-5330/artwork
study of old, open grown cedar tree on a grey day in Grey-Bruce
Kermit the Frog found being green to be a challenge and landscape painters have often complained about the colour as well. I am joining the chorus these days as my interest in landscape painting is taking me into this ‘jungle’ of verdant hues. Tucked away in my studio with the window providing a nicely framed view of the backyard, I’ve been practicing. Cedar trees are plentiful here and are challenging to represent, convincingly. Seeing green spots before my eyes from all this makes me wish for sunlight and the man-made hues of last summer!
Two figures fishing and taking the sign, “Dead Slow” to heart.
study, mixing landscape greens
study on Arches oil paper of Saugeen River
What caught my attention, while out for a walk one day, was the warm glow on the inside of this old stump. In the background, you can see a tree still living and, for me at least, not half as interesting. I know that the glow had to do with reflected light but I imagined it more as a storybook hall for the forest sprites, will-o-wisps or what have you to gather, feast and frolic after midnight. Somebody must have left the lights on.
In an earlier post, I mentioned that I am a fan of the late Alex Colville’s work. This is another painting, inspired by memory, and hopefully suspended in memory and paint, when completed. While working, I spend a lot of time being mindful of all the ways to represent a 3D subject on a flat surface. Colville breaks a lot of the traditional ‘rules’ and yet his images seem to become effortlessly locked into visual memory. Inspired by a few of Colville’s ‘rules’, this work in progress depicts a moment in time when one of the boys of summer eagerly takes a leap off of a cliff It seems to me a fitting metaphor for life–a leap of faith, a work in progress.
oil on canvas, 11×14 in, collection of the artist
