Early Stage of Kayak Painting
pencil on raw wood panel, nails, hammer, bendable yard stick, clear ruler, carpenter's pencil, and an eraser

This afternoon I began a project that is diverting my attention from a commission I have been asked to paint.  I'm not ready for the commission...they're always unnerving to do, because you can't just 'go with it'.. you need to end up with something that looks like whatever it is they've requested.  I'm keen to paint the commissioned work.. it's a beautiful boat, a colourful double-ended rowboat, but I'm a bit chicken to begin.  So I'm painting this instead.. a warm up practice perhaps.. or at least a good diversion.

So this is my process..

I start with a raw (not primed) wood panel..(this one's 12" x 36"..) sometimes I sand it down, sometimes I don't.  I didn't. It was pretty smooth to begin with, and I was being a tad lazy.
Then I get my aluminium (bendy) yard stick, a carpenter's pencil, eraser, a clear ruler and hammer and nails.. and begin to map out the boat.  I use the nails to anchor the yardstick in place for the sheer line of the boat.. Pic coming if I can download it. Hard to explain.  Then I measure centre of panel, vertical and horizontal, then centre of the boat.. placed within the confines of the panel... centred and in perspective... bow to stern.  Bow down, stern up.  At that point I decide on scale.. how do I transfer the scale of the pic of the boat to the scale of the panel?  With the clear ruler... I measure the dimensions of the boat in the pic and scale it up for the painting.  I don't do grids, I do 'guess-imations'.  Good enough.  Does it look right?  Good. Or, erase it and get it right.

At this point I'm ready for the hammer and nails... I nail 3 x two inch, thinnish nails with a head into the top of the panel- about 1/8th inch apart in the centre, and left and right of centre... both top and bottom. (See pic... you can see the holes)
At this point I also determine the centre line of the boat side-to-side, and in perspective... and put a nail on each side of the panel at that centre line. (See holes in pic) Using the bendy yard-stick I place it top to bottom between the nails, and curve it out to the side, anchored behind the side nails.  This forms the shear line. I pencil in the sheer line using the ruler as a guide.. and repeat on the other side.. Voila! The shape of the boat is visible!
Did I mention all the vertical lines running from bow to stern spaced evenly? No? That's because they're a pain in the ass to do, and take forever, and it would take a long time to explain how I did them, so let's just pass on that part. Suffice it to say they are the floor boards and thevertical struts.. they run stem to stern, evenly spaced.

I haven't drawn in the kayak ribs... that's for tomorrow. Too tired today for such finicky work that involves perspective, intuition and a ruler. It's tedious.  And I can get it way out of whack easily and have to do it all over again (like the last boat)... so I need to start fresh.

After I get it all mapped out, I can start staining... that's the exciting part. It becomes a real-live boat (almost)...

SO... stay tuned.

'Double-Ended Rowboat'
Wood Stain on Wood Panel
12" X 36" X 2"
$500

Im thinking of painting another boat.. this one will be similar to one the above, wood stain on wood, but it will be a kayak, as depicted below.

Tim Schumm with his hand built kayak

I've never met Tim, but he was brought to my attention through his postings on Facebook.  He became my Facebook friend, because for at least a year I googled over his absolutely spectacular paintings, and would make admiring comments about each.  Recently he posted this pic of himself with a kayak he built while care-taking a lighthouse somewhere on the Coast.  The Coast of where I don't remember.  I haven't asked Tim yet, but I think he will agree to let me use this kayak for one of my paintings.  It's perfect!  I'll use the same format as the one above that I painted of my sister Pinky's double-ended rowboat,  similarly using wood stains instead of traditional 'painting' materials.  I'll write to Tim now and see if it's ok, then I'll get back to you with his answer.

I'm Back!! New Art Work April 2020

So much has transpired since I last posted 4 years ago.  I now show my paintings with a cooperative gallery, Arts Pacific, on Bowen Island. It's been a long period of artistic growth, and a wonderful period of exploration in many mediums. I think the best thing to do is post a couple of pieces a day that I have produced in the last few months... as well as the odd posting of a piece that I may have created as far back as a year ago.  The rest of the work over the last year has sold... Yippee!

I'm going to make an attempt to write about the processes involved in creating the pieces I feature in this Blog.. or some other insight I may have gained in my artistic practice that  feel is relevant for the time being. In other words, I'm going to start writing again as well as painting. There! I've said it. Now I just have to do it.

'Ethereal'

My newest work from this last weekend.  Oil pastel on salvaged wood plank. 9' X 20"

This was a battle from the start.... layering oil pastel on top of wood stain and trying to let the wood grain show through without dominating the piece.  Scraped back many times and began again.  Final after about 4 hours it begin to appear.. Sometimes the art has a stronger will than the artist... you go where the work takes you, not the other way around.  But the journey is exciting (and exhausting) and if it results in something you never expected but are satisfied with... well, that's success.

These are our dogs, Meg, Tully, Rose and Tess.
What would be a good caption for this pic?

Back at Muskrat Ranch, at Ta Ta Creek

Nick and I are looking after Muskrat Ranch in the East Kootenays for the month of February.  Not as many animals as there were two years ago when I was last here.. the sheep are gone (in the freezer?) and she's down to two horses, three chickens and three border collies, which added to our two, make five. It's beautiful here; sunny most of the time, cold and snow on the ground. Had to get away from the constant rain on Bowen and The Coast.  Luckily, Margie wanted to go to Ecuador to visit with friends, so everyone's happy. Sadly we have to leave on the 24th for Vancouver for Nick's surgery on the 25th.  Still lots of time between now and then though, for great walks with the dogs, brushing the horses and generally enjoying ranch life.

Nick with 4 of the 5 dogs at Muskrat Ranch,
Margie's horse trailer parked beside the garage

Chance and Gamble ready for breakfast

Nick starting the fire for heat before we do anything else!

Lovely walk on a cold sunny February day

the wood & kayak shed across form the ranch house

New Work

Tender Series: Wood

Wood stains on Wood panel

20" X 20"

Tender Series: White
Acrylic and wood stain on wood panel
24" X 24"

West Breeze Sunday Afternoon, Salish Sea
Oil and wood stains on wood panel
48" X 30"

New Work 2016

Charcoal on wood panel with oil.

I'm still working on this.. Of all the work I've done this fall, this feels the most successful.