This variety of heliconia … the “sexy pink” is very exotic looking. I only recently came across it in St. Lucia. We do have a wide range of heliconias … my other favorite is the yellow and red “lobster claw”.
Originally, this was a realistic painting, but I decided it was too busy and I wanted to experiment with carving out the negative space. From there I decided to contrast the realism of the flower with colour blocks. The turquoise is from Paris … Sennelier acrylic … my kind of souvenir.
Here is the third canvas in the Torch Ginger Trio. As I mentioned before, the paintings can be hung/purchased individually or as a group.
They are inspired by my recent trip to the Caribbean, where exotic flowers & foliage abound!
I enjoyed painting these in a very loose, flowing style, I’m looking forward to doing it on a larger scale, where I stand & use my whole body – painting from the shoulder, instead of the wrist.
Meanwhile, with the painting I will post tomorrow, I went in the opposite direction.
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And if you’re in the Burlington area, I will be offering art classes from October.
Thanks for the great feedback everyone, I’m happy to hear how many of you are excited that I’m doing the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge again. Thanks for following along, and please share with your friends!
This was the first painting I did in this set of 3, but all are inspired by the same photograph that I took of some torch ginger lilies on my recent trip to the Caribbean. They can be purchased and/or hung individually, or as a grouping.
My collection of reference photos has probably grown too large … it takes a long time to choose something to paint!
I’m thinking of heliconia next though … what do you think?
Yes. I am that crazy. They say if you need something done, give it to a busy person to do … and I know that to be true. So, at a time when I am completely overwhelmed by how much I have on my plate, I’ve signed up to do Leslie Saeta’s 30 paintings in 30 days challenge again this year – along with over 800 other artists from all over the world.
Admittedly, it is a form of escapism. Self-medicating with art therapy, meditation, however you think of it, there is something about the act of painting that centers a person. It forces you to be in the moment, and the more you give in to your instincts, trust your intuition, the easier the work flows out of you. And you are changed by the process. Art is my mood-altering drug of choice.
After a fantastic 5 week working vacation to the Caribbean, my return home has not been an easy transition. It felt as if a giant baby picked up my house, shook it like a rattle & then put it back down. It seemed everything was in the wrong place, and it’s taken me almost 2 weeks to get a handle on it.
Some of this is our own doing – a make-over for my son’s bedroom – and some of it is due to a freak flood that happened in our area (2 months worth of rain in 3hrs), which seeped into our basement. We have to replace the flooring, and I’ve had to empty my office/storage room and slowly but surely I’m purging through paperwork etc. that has accumulated over the years. Two of the items I unearthed were a calender from 1993 – the year I started University – and a vinyl sign (Aquavisions by Donna Gomez) from my first solo exhibition in 1996.
It will take time to go through, there is a large portfolio of older drawings that got partially wet & has some mildew. I’d like to photograph the drawings before getting rid of them, and each one is charged with nostalgia. I am considering turning this into a little art project.
As I look forward to other things coming up this month, I realize it would be easy for the weeks & months to zip by before I get back to a more consistent painting routine. So, instead of waiting till the chaos is over, I’m going to accept this as the new normal. And I’m going to balance the chaos with creativity.
This painting of torch ginger lilies is one of a trio of small paintings I just completed. They may be purchased individually or as a group. I will post one a day, I just wanted to get a couple days ahead of the challenge so that there isn’t too much pressure to produce. And this may be the longest blog post for some time, most days I will probably just post the image & details.
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Yesterday I taught my first art class in St. Lucia, and it was lots of fun. It almost wasn’t though. I woke up in the morning to the sound of wind & rain (a tropical system coming through), and an e-mail that had me calling around to change the venue a few hours before the start time.
As I expected, a few people weren’t able to make it after all, but those who did seemed to have a good time. We started out on the porch – at a private residence in Cap Estate. I had asked everyone to bring in a drawing, that way I could see where they were at, and what they were interested in. We transferred the drawings to canvas & then went inside for me to demonstrate some techniques, and talk about the characteristics of acrylic paints.
While we were inside, the rain began again, so we decided to clear the table I was demonstrating at so that everyone could just sit there to paint.
Everyone came to the class with a different level of art experience, but that didn’t matter. Some were surprised at what they were able to produce. We didn’t have time to finish the paintings, even though we went over-time, but I wasn’t aiming for that. I was more interested in them learning some techniques in class, that they can use later.
At the next class we will address these paintings again – some of the artists plan on working on them further at home – then we will be starting something new.
I will be sending out an e-mail, to let them know what to bring in for the next class.
IF you would like to join us, Or if you would like to get on my e-mail list for Art Classes in St. Lucia with Donna for updates about other classes that may be added now or in the future, please e-mail donna@bluerootsartstudio.com
Thanks to Maria, Leathon, Courtney, & Nancy for a great first class. I look forward to our next adventure!
ACRYLIC TECHNIQUES – beginners & intermediate (adult)
St. Lucia Yacht Club
Wed July 23, 30, Aug 6 …. EC$180. for all, or EC$65. for drop-in class
Optional fee – EC$20. for Golden acrylic paints to use in class
For the first class … just bring what you have, brushes etc., materials will be supplied, and you’ll be told what to bring for the next class.
There is Homework! e-mail donna@bluerootsartstudio.com
so you can be ready for the first class.
Please register ASAP as there is limited room!
More classes may be added soon … possibly a Sat morning? Let me know what will work for you.
Greetings from St. Lucia! I am here for a month with my sons, visiting family & gathering inspiration for my paintings. I will also be teaching a few art classes at the St. Lucia Yacht Club while I’m here – scroll to the end of this post for the *link.
It truly was a spectacular first day back home. A beautiful sunny day at the beach. The dry season has been a particularly rough one here & is lingering, so we have to be careful not to waste water, and when it rains … we’re all happy! There was no rain while we were at the beach though, the scenery was breathtaking, a true tropical paradise.
I brought some Golden Open acrylics to try out on this trip, I thought it might be useful when painting in such a sunny climate. So far I like them … just when you think the paint has dried on the palette, you wet your brush and mix the colour you want and the paint is reconstituted.
The down side is that it’s easy to get really messy, because the paint is wet for longer than I’m used to … if I get paint on my hands, I have to wipe it off immediately before I then get it on everything else. With my regular acrylics, the paint dries so fast I only realize when I’m washing up later – it peels off my skin very easily.
I also tried out a 6″x9″ Grey Matters Paper Palette by Jack Richeson & Co. for the first time. In theory, the neutral colour should be helpful in mixing colour, instead of a white palette which will reflect the light even more when painting outside in the sun. The slippery surface was nice with the Open acrylics, I’m not sure if they would work very well with my staywet palette, but I will give that a try at some point. The down side was when the wind blew the page off of the pad & it flew away with wet paint.
I will have to tape the page down next time. I am generally a studio painter, although I often pack my gear & paint in various locations (eg. a friend’s studio), I usually paint indoors. So, I have to make some adjustments to my set-up so that I can paint on location this summer.
I was caught up in the last stages of my painting – realizing that I committed the rookie mistake of trying to get too much detail in too early & then running out of time before the light changed – when I heard my son’s voice. “Mom, you might want to paint this instead”… and I looked up & saw the beautiful sunset!
If you would like to see more photos of my trip, I will probably post at least one a day on Instagram, I don’t want to spend my whole vacation (even if it’s a working vacation) on my computer!
*Art Classes in St.Lucia Flyer
If you would like to take art classes with me, e-mail donna@bluerootsartstudio.com and let me know what you are looking for. I might be able to open up another time/day/location etc.
This painting is inspired by a photo shoot I did at The Pink Plantation House Restaurant in St. Lucia. The family that owns the property have both cooking & gardening in their blood it seems. They also know that maintaining the gorgeous gardens brings value to their business just by adding to the atmosphere. You can’t help but have a positive experience surrounded by all that nature. And, as with their other businesses, the artwork of one sister Michelle Elliot can be found all over. This is just one of the places I visit when I go home to St. Lucia, to gather inspiration and reference photos for my paintings.
This is actually another view from the grounds of The Pink Plantation House. There is just something nostalgic about a tire swing. What memories or feelings does it bring up for you?
This view is looking out of the original stone archway to the King Louis XVI mineral baths at the Diamond Falls & Botanical Gardens in St. Lucia. I love these old stone buildings, especially the ruins, covered in tropical foliage. Not for what it stands for … the turbulent history of man on the island … but for the reminder that Nature overcomes by outliving us all.
If I’m looking at the same landscape that my ancestors did hundreds of years ago (I belong to the 5th generation of my family born in the Caribbean) … then it puts all the fuss & worry over everyday modern life into perspective.
We are but flowers blooming for a short time on this planet.
Let me know what you think of the recent landscapes, I think of them as moody or magical, someone said “dreamy”. I am enjoying this expressive way of painting, compared to my more realistic paintings of hibiscus etc. It is nice for me as an artist to be able to go in either direction, depending on my subject and my mood.
It has been a long time since I have posted a new painting, but I do have a bunch to share with you, it’s just going to take a little while to get to them all.
This painting was inspired by a photo shoot I did in my late grandfather’s garden. The tree with the ladder was actually in the overgrown lot next to his. I love the contrast of the man-made object with the wildness of the foliage. An attempt was obviously made to tame it at some point, but Nature always wins, because time is on her side.
I enjoyed painting this, and the more I look at it, the more layers of meaning I discover. The beauty of art is often in what is implied.
I welcome your comments. This painting is currently in my studio & so available directly through me. If it speaks to you, drop me a line … I offer very flexible payment terms, so that you can get the art you want.
Tomorrow, I turn 40 years old. To celebrate that milestone, I have been taking a look back at some of my early work and posting them as the cover image on my Facebook page. Most of the paintings in the collage above are from 1998, and were inspired by a trip to St. Lucia where my husband & I had our second wedding in as many years.
I painted most of them sitting cross-legged on the couch in our one-bedroom apartment. Others I painted in my friend’s apartment in Toronto when I went to hang out sometimes during the week. The smaller size of the paintings (compared to the 36″x48″ paintings in the Caribbean Imagery series) made it easy to work anywhere, even when I had to lug it all on the Go train.
I first showed these in a solo exhibition at the Atrium Gallery in the Henderson Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario. It was a successful series in every way.
The Diamond Falls Botanical Gardens in St. Lucia was a big inspiration here, I love exploring that place with a camera. There are trees hundreds of years old, tall & covered in vines, creating a canopy. A huge assortment of exotic plants, flowers & leaves … my favourite things. I wanted to share the exhileration I feel in this type of environment.
If I didn’t have young kids, I would love to do a residency there, every day I would set my easel up in front of another plant or view to paint.
Actually, that reminds me of my big news – I am going to be in St. Lucia this summer, and I plan on doing some small paintings on location!
I will post them here first and then share the link on Facebook. So, if you’d like to see them first, don’t forget to subscribe to blog updates via e-mail!
