"Pecking Order" Test

Who goes first? Hopefully they took it in turns. Anyways, my son Tim treated the chickens exceptionally well before he gave them to his neighbours.

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"Chicken a la Impasto" 6x8 oil

Very often I paint something really small and then later I intentionally paint a larger version of it. This was the case of my son's free range chickens. He has the miniature painting on a tiny easel in his kitchen. This time I really ladled on the thick impasto and let loose. Voila - chicken a la impasto!

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Raptor Two - conté pencil on pastel paper 10 x 12

I had drawn this image before but it disappeared - so I'm doing it again. Conté pencil on Canson pastel paper. I like the wildness of the bird AND the gesture drawing. Wild, but a good bird.

"Cook-a-look" line and wash, felt-tip pen and w/c 4x6 inches

Based on a ceramic chicken I saw at a friend's house - it made a good sketch in line and wash. Small hey - 4 x 6 inches.

"Lynn's Barn" oil 11x14

My friend Lynn is developing this newly-acquired property on Vancouver Island - yippee it's red. I left out some stuff like excess trees and other texture but they say less is MORE!

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"Richmond Road to the Jubilee" oil

I am going to be self-indulgent here. This is the last day for the Sidney Fine Art Show in Sidney, BC. My fellow artist Glen Melville surprised me by telling me that he recognized my STYLE. I thought that I don't have a STYLE - I think that my works are devoid of STYLE, that my painting is very seldom recognizable as being a "Wilson." Just shows you.

Anyhoo - this scene is of Richmond Road in Victoria BC. My spot was at the corner of Lansdowne and Richmond, looking towards the Jubilee Hospital. It's an Urban Sketch, slightly compressed. The road means something to me, the show ended October 16, 2016.

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"Western Vineyard" w/c 4x6

Painting small w/cs can be very rewarding.

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Red Tulip, Yellow Tulip 4x6 w/c

Hic, burp, cha cha cha...

Gotta have fun

Many a slip between the water bowl and my whisky glass.

Yes, it does happen when I'm painting at drinky-poos time!

Absent-minded w/c painters sometimes dip their brushes into their whisky glasses - I am one of them. Go to Canadian Whisky Painters a new site under construction, started by Ken Faulks.

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NEW video: Ron paints roses loosely

Click on this three-and-a-half minutes demo of how I paint Three roses from a JPG

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I'm making a video how I paint 3 roses

My video of how I paint three roses is in production now, will post later. As per my usual impressionist style it'll be loosey goosey, allowing the onlooker to form reality in his/her mind's eye!

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My memory test = 1-2 seconds "The visible cyclist" 5x6

My eye caught this guy because of what was on top of his helmut. If I want to do a better rendering I would get Jay or some other serious cyclist to pose for a longer pose. Meantime this is a memory test - something I saw out of the corner of my eye yesterday, nobody could miss the plastic bird or the streaming ribbons. Safety first, eh?

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"Cecil the Lion" tribute acrylic 6x8

Cecil the Lion - Wildlife slaughter continues unabated. This is my acrylic tribute to the lion who made sad headlines recently.

My wonderful reception at the 2016 Moss Street Paint-in and on Facebook has encouraged prompted me so much.

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2x2-inch Cook-a-Look

My thanks to the buyers of my tiny wee works at Moss Street on July 16th, 2016. We eat again!

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Mini acrylics 2.5 inches square each

Our annual Moss Street is coming up this month so I've been painting up some smallies for the Show. 35-thousand people are expected to stroll down Moss Street in Victoria BC on July 16, 2016. I'm ready!

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Watercolour Crayons are great!

Dinghy and Rocks, Vancouver Island in Victoria BC Having been woken at 6am by a police siren outside my condo I stumbled into the studio and did these two watercolour crayon sketches. Both 4 x 6 inches,

Mt.Baker and Rows, Vancouver at Tsawwassen

These w/c crayons are dry sticks which look a lot like those wax Crayola crayons that kids use. The brand I bought is called "Gallery" from www.MUNGYO.co.kr made in Korea. Admittedly they produce a crude result. You draw with them on watercolour paper and then brush with plain water, but I think it adds a childlike charm to your work. I don't always use them, I sometimes use trad watercolour instead.

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"Flag Guy" w/c 6x8

"Flag Guy" I have respect for construction people who build our homes and tend our roads. Besides, they're colourful.

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"Cedar rail Cattle Point" w/c 6x8

An overcast JUNE day so I toned down my watercolours and concentrated on the composition. The cedar rail fence gave me a good lead in to the bush on the bank. It's fine to dispense with vibrant colour on a grey day. Grey sky = grey scene = mood.

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"A good turnout" oil by Wilson

My sister Carole has a ballet school in Nanaimo and years ago she spoke about the turnout, a way of posing one's feet. Degas made sure that his Little Dancer also had 'a good turnout.'

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This is what the piece looks like in the museum I visited.

"Cadboro Bay" w/c sketch 4x5

Ten minutes, that's all. Painted en plein air with my new Arches w/c pad. I love this paper.

"Buskers" urban sketch 8x10.5

Dave Lang & the Insolent Rabble play at the Inner Harbour in Victoria BC. This is my URBAN SKETCH which is traditionally loose and sketchy by definition.

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"Your coffee's on the sill" w/c 6x8

An outing deserves a flask - this is at Heritage Acres on Vancouver Island where we sat for a day with our Morgan sportscar on display. It didn't sell but a tiny bird pooped on the car so at least we got a small deposit on our Morgan.

I like my watercolours juicy and loose.

"Light Rain, UK" w/c and tricks, 6x9

OK I bent the w/c using an oil effects trick with the computer...giving me the look one gets when you're skimming by a landscape and your mind retains it only for a second or three... Throwing paint around in a sketchy sorta way. Fun. The above image was enhanced - the one below is how the watercolour really looks like - lighter.

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"The Hay Wain" after Constable w/c 6x8

We visited the actual spot where John Constable painted the Hay Wain all those years ago - this is what it looks like today.

Below is the Constable painting. My watercolour sketch is a little different, no wagon, no dog but the house is still there.

He lived 1776-1837, the son of a successful mill owner. Although John Constable is so very well known he sold more art in France rather than in Britain.

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The Pie maker - w/c portrait 6x9

"The Pie Maker" Colin is my neighbour who loves old cars and bakes pies to keep occupied. He has owned a Rolls, possibly a Bentley, a Thunderbird - and I believe he was a butcher in Oak Bay before he retired. Anyway, I am giving him this watercolour sketch and he and his wife Pat seem to like it.

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"Rowboats UK" sketchy rapid watercolour 6x9

Now and then it's good to switch off one's neat side and to let the big brush just do its own thing, like in this rapid watercolour.

I felt liberated, not being slavish to perfection. Maybe I'm just a sloppy ol' Joe at heart. Anyways, I had much fun doing this.

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Hightide Macauley Point - oil 6x8

An artist's secret weapon - the sketchbook. I used my b&w sketch to paint an oil version in colour:

Hightide- Macauley Point, oil 6x8 using thick juicy impasto.

Edward Seago used to sketch in b&w then paint a scene in colour later, in his studio. He didn't always do this, but this way of working is well documented. It's a refreshing way of tackling a landscape, using the colours of one's mind.

Another "secret" - this time my own. Yes I lay the paint down but it is hardly ever left alone, I bother it ruthlessly until it brushes into shape, and if I see a "happy accident" appearing only then do I leave it alone. This way I work back and forth over the entire canvas - re-stating, re-working until a section looks spontaneous (which it isn't), I am a paint botherer.

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"Field of Green" oil 8x10

A trip out to the country brings soothing expanse, the world is conscious of green - food, politics, you name it. As an artist I relate to this pastoral scene and my oils covered the canvas willingly. A field of Green. Press the image for a bigger view

Urban Sketching "1900 Store"

This is from a little while ago when I was sketching en plein air and wasn't even aware of the Urban Sketching movement. All I know is that this informal and personal way of recording something gives me relief from the burden of having to produce something which SELLS.

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Urban Sketch "Victoria Harbour from the Bay Centre"

Watercolour and Pen 10 x 12 inches.

From the restaurant window at the the top of the Bay Centre in Government Street, Victoria BC. The harbour is a busy place with boats, float planes and kayakers. Urban sketching is the new Plein Air and I'm loving it - quick and enjoyable.

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"Spirit Island 2" oil on canvas laid on ply

My friends Robin and Margaret in Tasmania are the new collectors who own this recent painting. It's about 15 x 18 inches. Press the image for a bigger view.