‘The Way Home’
January 24, 2018
In the spirit of watercolour experimentation, it was interesting to take ordinary white mat board and coat it with a thin layer of clear acrylic medium. The board then had to dry for a good 24 hours. The experience when painting is one of finding it acts as a kind of resist while providing a rather intriguing texturing quality.
It is a bit tricky because there’s no wet-in-wet opportunity, or much reworking/touching up or the acrylic medium will moisten and lift from the surface and become gummy. So getting one crack at it is pretty much all one gets, making every brushstroke really count.
Robber Baron
January 20, 2018
From the Cornel Lab of Ornithology:
“. . . A large, dark jay of evergreen forests in the mountainous West. Steller’s Jays are common in forest wildernesses but are also fixtures of campgrounds, parklands, and backyards, where they are quick to spy bird feeders as well as unattended picnic items. . . ”
‘Steller’s Jay’, watercolour on Saunders Waterford Hot Press 90 lb., 4″ x 6″, Sold.
When we moved from Quebec to British Columbia and went camping, it was startling to hear this loud, rasping, strident taunting from high in the trees. Startling, because it was so like a Blue Jay, yet not–like a Blue Jay with the flu. And then this amazingly blue-black jay bounded down to the ground, looking up at us as though wondering why we were occupying its picnic table.
After returning from swimming, we found three of them pulling at the packaging of wrapped food and helping themselves to whatever they managed to expose. These are Blue Jays on steroids.
“. . . Steller’s Jays are habitual nest-robbers, like many other jay species. They’ve occasionally been seen attacking and killing small adult birds including a Pygmy Nuthatch and a Dark-eyed Junco. . . ” [Cornel Ornithology Lab]
But wow–how beautiful, how handsome, yes?
The Least Chipmunk
January 17, 2018
When taking our Jeep in for servicing, the attendant came to me with what had been an air filter and was now a chipmunk house. I instantly knew which one–the one which seemed to be everywhere as late Summer progressed and Autumn loomed.
The Least Chipmunk is so named because it is the smallest in our continent and can easily turn an air filter into a roomy apartment. It, like all its kind, eats just about anything, including insects, nuts, berries, mushrooms, and tree buds.
The Least is so small a full grown adult weighs only two ounces. There are plenty of predators in our area, including many hawks, coyotes, owls and rattlesnakes. There are also a variety of potential homes, including Jeep air filters.
‘Least Chipmunk’ watercolour on Arches Hot Press 140 lb., 4″ x 4″, sold
‘A Play of Jays’
January 13, 2018
We know the fun which comes from discovering how groups of birds are labelled and identified:
- a convocation of eagles
- a wake of buzzards
- a parliament of owls
- an exaltation of larks
- an ostentation of peacocks
Jays have two possibles–a ‘scold’, or a ‘play’–and given their feisty nature, both can be true at once. Here in Western Canada we have the Steller Jay, as well as the Whisky Jack or Grey Jay. Eastern Canada is home to the more familiar Blue Jay.
“A Play of Jays”, watercolour by Lance Weisser, 8″ x 30″, 140 lb. Saunders Waterford Hot Press Paper. Sold.
“Love In The Shadows”
January 10, 2018
Ravens and moonlight make both a fascinating and popular subject, with this rendition selling almost as quickly as it was displayed on our small gallery walls….
Commissioned Winter Landscape
January 7, 2018
A friend was redoing her home’s interior and wanted a painting which depicted her love of the kind of silence which is found after a fresh snowfall in a wintry wood. Since she and I both live in the same area which features the beautiful Jamieson Creek, there was an immediate and familiar subject at hand to draw on…..
Today we have dense fog (it’s like something out of Sherlock Holmes out there–I can barely see across the street) with a forecast of sleet and wet snow — a nightmare for drivers, but a delight for painters, lol. Few of my friends love Winter, yet it is just so beautifully atmospheric, with its mystery and visual drama.
Winter Sun
January 3, 2018
“Dusk” watercolour on card, 8″ x 12″
The inspiration for this experimental piece is the dynamic visual work of Maxfield Parrish (1870 – 1966) who used the juxtapositioning of complimentary colours like orange and blue, purple and yellow, red and green in order to create a great sense of drama and theatricality. However, as we’re all aware, nature itself is better than any artist in creating such effects. I personally love nothing more than the orange shimmer of a setting sun against deep blue snow in the shadows.
$200US, contact weisserlance@gmail.com
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