"Gyro Beach" prep sketch

I gave a talk at the AGM of the Oak Bay Art Club on painting en plein air, and I've been scoping likely spots here in Victoria BC for the actual paint-out which will follow the talk May 4th.

Here's Gyro Park Beach....Press the image for a bigger view.

Clover Point - "Olympic Mountains, Windlines & Rocks"

Clover Point in Victoria BC. Original oil (painted en plein air) canvas mounted on board...10" x 12" $200 email me ronjbw@gmail.com

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"Rhino and Calf" watercolour

Throwback Thursday. Nothing seems to prevent the poachers from their grisly task. I painted this wayyy back when I lived in South Africa and was actually charged by a rhino once, no harm though.

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"Ferry Tale" oil 8x10

Passengers on the Washington State Ferries look at the passing scenes between the islands here in the Pacific Northwest, or, if they are regulars and have seen it all, they may pass the time by reading.
I keep this painting very near to me so that I can study every single day. Each time I learn something.
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"Finnerty Gardens Hole" oil 9x12

The 'hole' is the center of interest and it was the first thing that stopped me when looking for a scene in the Finnerty Gardens of UVic this morning. Heavily overcast. Believe me - heavily.....I used lot of paint and got the big areas done first, with a big brush. I cannot tell you how much this helps to nail a plein air painting in a short time.

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Devastation of Rhinos in South Afrca

Last night CBC presented a video report on the endangered Rhinos in South Africa, a rhino being slaughtered every 8 hours in the Kruger National Park. The horn can fetch up to $100,000.00

 Recently in Victoria BC an ancient rhino horn went on auction legally and sold for fourteen thousand dollars. Here's my monochrome of a rhino emerging from the bush in South Africa where I was born. Horns that pre-date the ban apart, I too am saddened by the reported incidents of current poaching there. Voice of America reports that poison is being used to protect the rhinos - Game farm owners have been hiring armed security guards to patrol their reserves, which can be a dangerous job. Now, they are trying a new tactic: they poison the rhinos' horns or ship the animals to a "safe House" at $40, 000 a time.

"Rhino Emerging" by Ron Wilson (oil painting framed 6 x 8). Click the image for a bigger picture. Your COMMENT is encouraged.

"Lavender Farm Harvest" oil 9x12

See the video how I finished this already DONE painting.....the wonder of painting. Press the image for a bigger view.

"Barn & Crops" oil 9x12

Yes it's a bit tight for a Wilson. I had to use a knife and a ga-zillion brushes to get this effect, and I don't mind telling you that it took me MONTHS of painting - not your flash-Harry stuff! But I'm quite pleased with it - it reflects the peri-urban life just outside of the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island. Click the image for a bigger view. Comments and offers to me at kyknoord@outlook.com

"Cattle Point Morn" oil 11x14 plein air

Plein air painting is wonderful. At Cattle Point on Vancouver Island this week the sky was grey and warm. I studied the changes over an hour and used juicy thick paint to capture the scene as I saw it...interpretation is truth when you're painting. Click the image for a bigger view.

Minis on easels

Minis on easels. I have been giving these smallies to friends and family - then I thought that others may want to purchase these babies for gifts and the like. Write kyknoord@outlook.com

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"Albert Head Lagoon" oil 11x14

"Albert Head Lagoon" oil

This is my very quick Conté sketch - so quick that I couldn't wait to start painting. The sketch is my secret weapon, it helps me determine my compo.

Fellow artist Frank Mitchell teased me at the Show 'n Tell, "it looks like the Hobbit's house," he said. That's because I simplified the building - one wall, one window, whereas it was a lot complicated than that. To me it's impact - a house on the edge of the lagoon.

I could have added the swans and the ducks but I let the home be the star this time. The scene is in Metchosin some 20km from my Victoria condo on Vancouver Island. The willows are just starting to leaf.....

Click it for a bigger view. Comments encouraged kyknoord@outlook.com

"Mount Baker from Cattle Point 2" oil 6x8

After a week of overcast skies the sun shone brightly today, so we went down to my favourite plein air spot, Cattle Point where the view of Mt.Baker was spectacular - pure alabaster.

45-minutes and this 6x8 oil was done! Your response to kyknoord@outlook.com please folks!

Vancouver Island.

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"Craigdarroch Castle" 11x14 acrylic

I painted there this morning -- instead I used the evening colours because they're more dramatic than plain daylight - artist's choice. SOLD through the Internet to Nikki and Gordon, friends in the UK.

Hit the image for a fuller view. Comments to kyknoord(at)outlook.com

"Teenage Tusker" oil 6x6

I love painting wildlife. Even though this elephant is beyond his baby years he still has the cuteness of proportion.

It's a small painting but it can be seen in a larger form if you click on the image.

A method used by Edward Seago

"The Road to Costco" oil by Ron Wilson.
My artist buddy Mike Leavy lent me the new Seago book by James Russell. Edward Seago liked to paint "on the spot" as he called it. Not only that, he could paint from memory too. Sometimes he made very brief sketches.

I followed this Seago method - while Colleen was driving I memorized a bend in the road to Costco and made a brief sketch at home:

Then without the scene in front of me and no photo reference I painted this oil (much like Seago would have done in the 6o's and 7o's). Fun. It gives the artist a lot of freedom to create and express - and we got some shopping in at the two-hundred dollar store too!

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"Gillian" portrait 11x14

So fresh that there's shine-back on Gillian's hat. She sat so very well for the Goward House Portrait Painters today.

I was happy with the brush work and the colours even though the likeness turned out a wee bit cartoonish for my taste. Often a painting paints itself - I knew it was turning out like this but I didn't seem to have much control - just shows that a lot of painting gets done using the hidden recesses of the brain. It's not a bad painting, it's brushy and the paint is applied like colour tiles --- I'm sort of pleased with it.

"Red Barn" oil 8x10

How I start a Plein Air painting

When you arrive at the paint-out you are faced with a wide shot. Although we live in a 360-degree world, our intake is roughly 45-degrees, the average TV camera sees only 7-degrees of this world. Mentally you start choosing your own angle of visual acceptance:

You choose your own degree of "narrowness" according to your experience and taste.

You

are

not

a camera

nor a reporter of fact - no, you adjust your rendering of the scene so that it has a center of interest and some color surprise. You rule.

Start with a large brush, paint the main shapes of the scene - in this case simply paint the sky, the trees and the water. You're almost done in a matter of a few minutes this way. Change to smaller brushes, add the farm buildings and the yellow trees, include some water reeds...in other words, add TEXTURE to the large shapes.

Narrow your scene with your eyes (just zoom in mentally)

Now paint what works, change color if you like, delete clutter (water reeds), make that grey barn "saleable red," add a window, a doorway. That's YOUR center of interest.

This 8x10 took about an hour to paint. It's not what you paint, it's HOW you paint. The HOW leads to your own unique STYLE. Your brush work and color choices determine how tasteful and experienced you are as an artist. The HOW is what you should aim for. The WHY, the WHEN, and the WHERE are subordinate to your HOW.

That's how I do plein air, yet it's like golf or tennis - occasionally you play well but you CAN have an off day. Donna worree, then come back another day. Every new start teaches the artist something. Its the only game in town.

Three Bike Quiz

Name these three bikes. No prizes, only my praise for being right!

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"Gentle rain on Government House" oil 8x10

See more art at www.alfrescoes.com

And while you're here - press the collage for a bigger view

Goward House Portrait Painters "Stacee" acrylic

Stacee sat for the Portrait painters today. I chose acrylics cos' I need to challenge myself to paint in a medium that isn't my strongest suit. You heard me say before that working in another medium visits kindly on one's home medium.

Hit the image of Stacee or a bigger view.