Finally finished!!

After an obscene amount of time, I finally finished the painting… Calling it “Floating On Trees”… It's 24x30 inches.

Progress picture

So this is how a complicated image emerges. As I work my way around, I adjust for colour harmony and value, level of detail…

Starting a new one!!!

When I start a new piece, I begin with my image being drawn on paper, and a slog through making sure I can find what I want to see in the piece. But until I wrap my brain around how to paint it, the magic hasn't started for me… Then, once I get to a certain point, I get excited about what is happening. I'm excited about this one, now…

Finishing a painting...

So I finished the last piece… It’s called, “ Memories of Front Beach”. I actually felt sad to finish it! It’s like when you finish reading a good book, and wish there were a few more chapters! And…. it sold, while I was painting my signature on it! This one is reflective of what the beach was like both during the time of Covid, and before… It is layered to show the beach looking both east and west simultaneously.

I took a day off, then chose a new image to paint. The first stages aren’t anywhere as much fun as the last ones… so, the work has begun again! Maybe I will post more along the way…

Memories of Front Beach

Next in the series about memory and my happy place

In case you thought I wasn't making any art... this is my current studio space... I take over the dining table! Next in the series about memory and my happy place...well under way!

So this is about the beach that you see when you first arrive on the island. We call it “Front Beach". The people who have cabins here leave their chairs and umbrellas parked in the sand in front of their cabins. I will repost when it's either further along, or done…

Isolation Art

So, in the “new world order” I was thinking that there are loads of artists doing work and posting about the pandemic. Personally, I find focussing on it 24/7 to be remarkably stressful.

Then I thought that, truly, my art is about memories and happier times; It is totally appropriate and possibly essential for right now! As I paint, I immerse myself in the internal monologue about techniques and artistic challenges ( It tends to escape from the internal, to me having complete conversations with myself as I paint! Thankfully, my family accepts my peccadillos! ) I also become immersed in the memories that inspire my work. And, wow! those are much happier thoughts!!! And so, I hope that you also can escape to happier thoughts through the work. We all need this right now!

I call my latest piece about memories of Savary Island "Waiting". It's a familiar image for anyone who has travelled to magical places on the coast, and experienced the anticipation of beach time, or the sadness when leaving the adventures behind to return to the "real world"... Consider it a happy thought!

Finished number four of my series! This one is , as yet, unnamed. It's about the mornings when the work crews arrive at the wharf...

About my new series...

My new work is about the fractured, layered  moments in time that create memory; it is about the images that are on the fringes of our consciousness, and that remain with us because they are how we experience the everyday moments of our lives. I am layering and combining multiple images and looking at them all at the same time!  I want to capture the emotional experiences of the moments included in my imagery.

My new series contains the key elements of my previous work, in that my watercolours are still high contrast, with saturated colours, but the images now have a fractured quality, that, to me, represents how memory is broken and contains pieces of realism. At first glance, the images appear quite abstract, but as one approaches, parts of images come together to tell the “story”.

New Ventures!!!

This fall, I was contacted by a company from Montreal, called “Le Galeriste”. They make clothing and housewares using Canadian art… so, the upshot is that now I have a clothing/ housewares line with my paintings as fabric! The online address is art-a-porter.com/kathy.baker

My Tuscan Painting Adventure

This June, I was fortunate to be able to go on a fantastic painting workshop in Tuscany, run by a company called, “Walk The Arts”. ( The website is at: https://www.walkthearts.com/ ) Unlike most other workshops, our amazing instructor, Yves M. Larocque (Ph.D.) — Art Instructor, Art Theoretician, Art Historian, and Artist did no traditional demonstrations. His focus was on creativity and the search for new visions and challenges. It was, indeed, a transformative experience for me. This was my first experience painting “plein aire”. Unlike my studio work, which is rather detailed, layered work, done from my own photography, I decided that this work would be about how to capture the essence of what I saw, and say more with less. Let’s say that it was truly a challenge for me!

In the beginning, I included everything I saw… with less than successful results. We painted a scene of the fields near the farm where we were staying. When my first attempt was less than stellar, I did it over. Then, in the afternoon, we were to paint from our paintings we had done in the morning, using the color techniques of the Impressionists. One must begin somewhere!

First ever “plein-aire” painting. Note the nasty blob in the foreground!

The repeat without the big boo-boo…

And in the afternoon, a bit more fun…

The next day, we were once more painting by the farm, at a view of the Tuscan hillsides. Again, when I first started painting, I tried to include everything… It was too much! So, I did what we did the last day, and I painted off my painting, and tried to edit. It became my “ah ha!” moment!

A bit too much…

The essence of the scene!!!

And so, I found my method, and my goal for the workshop. Every time that we went somewhere to paint, my first attempt was overworked, so… if at first I didn’t succeed, I did another painting. Or three!

A view of the Val D’Orcia, from the roadside. Here I was trying to capture the bowl in the scene. So, I painted again! And again, and again.

And the next day, another view, but here’s the second painting!

Val D’Orcia

Painted from a painting

And then we went abstract…

From flowers in the yard, we were to paint the “essence of “ the flowers, with no petals, stamen, etc. There was a 20 Euro fine!!!

The Eight Percent Door

Essence of flowers led to essence of doors. Here’s one of mine!

Painting in Cortona

We painted in one of the amazing Tuscan hill towns for one morning, and the images I di of Cortona really illustrate how my process worked for me. One painting, with too much…..

Cortona

Version 2, painted from the painting.

Cortona Version 3

This was painted off the second painting, a couple of weeks later. It’s my personal favourite of the three…

On the last day in the workshop, I decided to paint the essence of the beautiful stone and brick walls of La Fratta…

Yves suggested that I sign my work that is plein aire and simplified, with a different name. I signed the ones that I like, as “CM” for Cynthia Markus. Another artist suggested that I should own the changes and evolution of my work, and announce it. So… here it is! Thoughts?