"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.

"Fluffy Love" watercolor and acrylic with pen 5x7

Love, a fine art rendering of two birds in love. I chose to paint them in watercolor then added pen and acrylic, much of my approach is instinctive, the painting kind of suggests what it needs as I go along. There's a conscious and a subconscious mix at play here.

"Sunny Abbey, Bath" oil on canvas laid down on Baltic ply 8x10

Just around the corner from the ancient Roman baths in Bath is the Abbey.

Tom Thomson TV documentary - December 7th, 2015

Tonight on the Knowledge network they showed a moving documentary on Tom Thomson. Like many, I have always admired his work, and as you'll see by the attached ticket, I visited the AGO in 2013 where I sketched this famous "Dead Pine" while standing in front of the original Thomson (we weren't allowed to use paint to copy something, only pencil). 'Sad that Tom died in 1917 at the age of 39, his death a mystery although the consensus is that he drowned in Canoe Lake. Here is the Thomson original in the AGO:

What WOULD he have painted if only he had lived longer.....

"In Blue in Bath" 6x8 oil

In June 2015 we visited the Roman Baths in Bath when this young lass obligingly stood in front of the building like so many other tourists.

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"Teenage Tusker, pastel, watercolour

I began with watercolour and over this I used soft pastel and a Conté pencil.

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"Lion, Lioness" watercolour on Arches 5x7

Pen and pencil hatching over watercolour paint. This adds an element of art to the otherwise photographic rendering of the male and female lions.

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Ron goes ABSTRACT!

Watercolour crayons (yes really, a product by Mungyo) plus Conté pencil and Sharpie. This way up reveals the female figure. Turn the image upside down to see the faces. I'm not really an abstract painter - I got this design from the wallpaper in my bathroom!

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