Every once in a while...

...I take a look at my paintings to see where I've been, and where I might be going.  As always, I'm fascinated by the threads that tie them together.

Patterns, (whether organic

or man-made,

in paper or paint,)

texture, (three dimensional

 or implied,)

and saturated colour are the three elements that are invariable hallmarks in my work.

While they may not be immediately visible on a larger scale, the closer inspections above certainly tell the tale.

Fish Fancy 

Golden Anniversary

Playing with Oranges

Islands in the Sun

Garden Patterns II

Eye of Ra

What are the attributes of your work that tell the world they are yours?  All comments are welcome and merit a response!

S t r e t c h i n g it a bit....

One of my favourite tools in the studio came from the kitchen.  A roll of stretch wrap is invaluable in my opinion!

All this technique takes is a paintbrush, water, support, paint and plastic wrap.

 A thin wash of diox purple paint over your support,

 and a layer of plastic wrap squished over top and left to dry,

will yield you this lovely pattern when the wrap is lifted.

 It's been repeated here with a light layer of quinacridone violet,

and again with a layer of ultramarine blue.

It's important to note this can be done with thicker paint, although you will need to lift the plastic wrap before it's completely dry to avoid having the wrap become a permanent part of your painting!

The background of Garden Patterns II was done using this method - it's a lively way to start a painting!

The studio cat strikes...

and nearly dies.

I've been remiss in blogging, no doubt due to trauma created by Opal, the studio cat.  In September, I mixed a large glob (very technical term) of a dark colour with a luscious phathalo green and cadmium red, preparatory to creating a grey for a background.

 I painted a 3' x 4' wooden panel with the resulting grey, affixed plastic wrap, and waited for it to dry.  Alice Saltiel-Marshall was visiting at the time and took this photo of the process, thanks!

During the night, Opal the studio cat happily pounced on a wet painting of Alice's, a lovely piece which was predominantly peach/tangerine, and then into a wet start of mine, a very bright phathlo blue, and then meandered over my wood panel...

 and the floor, and up the stairs on to the laminate, and, and, and.

You have to know that Opal was grounded for a week as a result of this, which is just as simple to accomplish as the proverbial herding of cats.  

© Garden Patterns II  mixed media by Win Dinn  3' x 4' on wood panel

Some judicious sanding, three more layers of plastic wrap technique, some under-the-breath cursing, and I finally finished a piece this week that was as traumatic as any I'd ever done.  And there were no thanks going to Opal the studio cat for her help with this one.

And while I'm at it, I just want to let you the know the major news in town here over the past month.  Two of my favourite people here in town are Susan and Gary Snow,  owners of Tabletree.  Tabletree produces exceptional black cherry juice, and has recently won the FoodNews World Juice 12 award in Barcelona, Spain for Best Pure Juice Product, an award that is VERY well-deserved.  If you're somewhere near an available distributor, you're very lucky.  If not, make sure you lobby to have it brought into your area.  Your taste buds will do a happy dance in delight if you do!