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.

The Salish Sea

This last week Nick, Oscar (Nick's son) and I sailed over to Mayne Island to visit Nick's sister, Kathy,  and her partner, John.  We had fabulous weather there, back and in between, sailing across the strait in 15-20 knot winds, making about 7.5 knots on average, and then down Trincomali Channel to Montague Harbour for our first night.  Excellent moorage there tied to mooring buoy, and good swims at the beach.  Genoa sail jammed in the rolling furler the next day taking it in, so went without it for the rest of the trip. Cost us about a knot and a half on our way back across the Salish Sea.  Fabulous trip out and looking forward to lots more this August...

Oscar and Nick with Meg and Rose on Spring Moon

Big Gord, Rose and Meg

Yesterday I visited Big Gord in Long Term Care at UBC.  He's only there for Convalescence, so the Long Term part is misleading.  He's been battling with a wound that went through to the bone since last December, and has been in the hospital with it since January.  The bone got infected and the wound opened up to fist-size.  Long battle to recovery with surgery in the near future (hopefully) to put a 'patch over the opening.  I took the dogs in, Rose and our new dog, Meg, because for the first time in 6 months, he's in a place where dog's can visit.  They loved visiting Big Gord. Took to his bed like it was their own, snuggling up with him, and then falling asleep.  Born therapy dogs.  Love therapy.

Cardboard Kayak Races - Bowen Island Steamship Days

This Weekend Bowen Island Hosted Steamship Days with all of it's fun & festivities.  One of the events is a 'design and execute your own cardboard kayak' using a 4' x 6' sheet of cardboard, a roll of packing tape and an x-acto knife.  Our method was to design as we built... trying to hold onto the idea of origami paper folding and applying it to a boat design.  Lots of cutting and scoring took place with god knows what design in mind... but gradually a vessel slightly resembling a kayak grew out of the mess we had made of the cardboard.  Nick was frantically trying to get it 'structurally sound'  all the while I was cutting and scoring with great abandon.  Then massive amounts of tape were needed to keep the water from pouring through the seams. Midway we looked at the competition and felt sorrily inept, but in the last 5 minutes before Times UP, it came together as if by magic. And when we put in Tyler,  our little brave and skilled paddler, by god, we won!  She shipped no water at all, stayed up-right (others were tipping over and sinking, or folding in the middle and going down, or simply going down). But our little vessel stayed afloat like a water bug, skimming to and fro from start to finish line, back and forth many times, all the while passing sinking and abandoned ships. All this to say, never give up the ship: miracles do happen. 

Captain Tyler Matzen being greeted at the finish line by his sister.

Captain Tyler bravely paddling our cardboard kayak to Victory 

Painting Spring Moon: Bottom & Top Sides

Nick: Long day of sanding and painting..

Alex up the ladder 

Sylva Bay Shipyard and Railway lift for Spring Moon

Nick, sound asleep after long day of work on Spring Moon.

New Work

Tender Series:  Tides & Currents

Living Aboard

E. B. White wrote, "A small craft is not only beautiful; it is seductive and full of strange promise and a hint of trouble. It is without question the most compact and ingenious arrangement for living ever devised by the restless mind of humankind. A home that is stable without being stationary, shaped less like a box than a fish, or a girl, and in which a homeowner can remove her daily affairs as far from shore as she has the nerve to. Close hauled or running free - parlor, bedroom, and bath, suspended and alive."

New Painting - not quite finished

Racing Sloop - Bird Series

detail

Sunday sail in Howe Sound.. 

Two steps forward and one big one back

Started painting this sailboat on wood box board about two weeks ago.. It's been slow going... probably scraped and sanded it back at least 4 times. Tried a pecan stain for the ocean and sky, but it 'stained it in patches, so once again I'm going to sand all the background down again.  The boat is looking OK though, so that's good.  This next time I'll apply a urethane to the freshly sanded wood, then add the pecan to warm up the area around the sailboat.

Rosie's Aura

Took this of Rosie the other day on our walk.  Hard to tell what's making the water ripple with no sound to accompany the pic.  It's her breathing... she just finished a half hour of hard running and every breath created a ripple in the water.  

And this notice at the local gas station

Tender Series: White / work in progre

Wood stain and acrylic on board
12 X 12

I've been working on this off and on for a week.  Lots of detailing left to do.  I'm using these smaller panels to practice for larger 24 X 24 pieces.  Get some of the bugs out on a smaller scale.  Always playing with new wood stains and mixing with wood stain gels.  Cutting back into the board as well to expose the wood, then determining whether just to just use urethane on the natural wood, or add another color of stain.  Can't wait to work on the larger panels!

Tender Series; Wooden Dinghy
stain, varnish, urethane and acrylic on board
8 X 10

I've been working for 3 days on this boat... and was about to give it up a number of times.  The paint is thick and nicked with re-fits.  It still isn't what I would have liked it to be, and there were several occasions when I salvaged it from the depths of the discard bin. Nick thinks it's too heavy looking for a light dinghy, but I like the solidity of her form, it speaks of strength and endurance, not just speed.  I haven't painted in the oar locks, I think it may take away from the sleekness of her shear line.

 It's a small work, 8 X 10, and painted with varnish, wood stain, urethane and acrylics.  I've learned a lot doing this work, mostly about what not to do.  Al in all, it may make for a good image for cards.  I've just sold a batch of cards to the local card and book store, Phoenix, for $100.  I'm going to approach some more shops that sell cards to see if they will go for a similar deal... 42 cards in all of 7 different paintings (mostly my boats) and 6 of each.  She'll sell them for $5.50 and I got $2.75 per card.  It adds up.

Work In Progress : Tender Series