Tag Archives: acrylic

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 8

January 8, 2014 Donna Grandin 2 Comments

Nature Walk, 11"x14", acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold — Nature Walk, 11″x14″, acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold

A tropical landscape this time. I’ve been holding on to a few photos I took of flowering Royal Poinciana trees at Pigeon Island National Park in St. Lucia for some time now, so I was excited to finally get a chance to work on one. I have of course painted the flowers before en masse (see some at www.bluerootsartstudio.com/portfolio), but this is the first landscape which features the trees.

I was trying to listen to some meditation sounds & music while painting, but for some reason the kids were just so loud last night, I kept getting interrupted. Still, I think I’m on to something… that zen feeling was so close I could taste it! When my little guy came by to ask for his 12th snack of the day (he’s part hobbit), I put the headphones on him & he tried to run off with them, he didn’t want to give them back!

I enjoyed taking a much looser, painterly approach to this painting, though I did get caught up in the trap of noodling around with it too much, and only really stopped because it was 1:30am! That could be due to the size (another 11″x14″), or because my flow was disrupted so often. I really do need to start earlier in the day for this to really work for me, but it’s tricky because I prefer to photograph the painting by natural light in the morning, then I write the blog post, and put the link in several places, answer some e-mails etc. Have lunch, do errands, get started on a new painting, get kids from school … madness ensues … paint some more … dinner, activities … paint some more … what the kids are still up?

Then I either put them to bed & go to bed myself, or in the case of a larger painting, I try to get back to noodle a little more. One thing that I hoped to get out of this challenge of daily painting … of finishing a small painting every day … was that I could paint while the kids were at school. Usually I spend a couple weeks on a painting, and I can get obsessive, painting an area over & over (noodling), until I’m relatively happy with it. I’m hoping to find more balance, not be such a perfectionist. Not that it isn’t a valuable trait for a painter, and not that great paintings don’t need time to evolve, but I want to be more decisive with my strokes. Economical but effective brushstrokes … that’s something to aim for.

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 7

January 7, 2014 Donna Grandin Leave a comment

The way home, 11"x14", acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. $250. + tax & shipping — The way home, 11″x14″, acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. $250. + tax & shipping

My first snow painting … I think I did ok. Though I did noodle away at it a little longer than I wanted to for a daily painting & I’m tired this morning. We’ve been having a lot of snow lately, and it’s very cold … I wish I could stay in & hibernate & paint the winter away!

The painting is also larger than I’d planned for a daily, but I felt it needed to be a little bigger. The location is very close to the swing set in “Five more minutes” from day 3, and the palette is very similar, but that was taken later in the day, in the summer.

Thank you to those of you who have left comments, liked and shared my posts through your social networks. This is one of the reasons I’m doing this challenge, to increase the eyeballs on my art! If you haven’t yet, please like my Fb page, and sign up for my mailing list!

30 in 30 challenge, Small paintings

Daily Painting challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days!

January 1, 2014 Donna Grandin Leave a comment

Hibiscus & snow, 8"x8", acrylic on panel, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold — Hibiscus & snow, 8″x8″, acrylic on panel, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you’re all on track with your new year’s resolutions, if you made any. I’m making a slower start this year than I’d planned, but for the best of reasons … time spent with family.

I’m taking a flying leap at 2014 by accepting a daily painting challenge … I’m one of the 370 artists who have already signed up to do Leslie Saeta’s 30 paintings in 30 days. I will of course also be posting my painting on here each day, so if you’d like to follow along, click the RSS button to subscribe to my blog.

The painting above is my first one, which I started yesterday, but finished today because I stopped first to catch up with a good friend, and then to spend time with my boys. It involved air-popped popcorn & an impromptu New Year’s eve “Justice League” cartoon marathon on Netflicks, so you know it was a decision made out of love & it wasn’t easy!

I still have to start the painting I’m going to post tomorrow … every now & then a little head pops up to check on me “Mom, you haven’t started yet? What if you FAIL the challenge?”.

The next painting will be of the same subject, the flower just died but luckily I took several photos I could work from.

My word for 2014 is intuition, and as it applies to this challenge, I’m going to follow my intuition as to what to paint next …. I haven’t planned out the 30 days, and I’m not setting rules, except that I work on something new each day. I actually have loads of ideas that I’d like to try out … so expect a variety of subjects to show up. And I would love it if you’d share this with your friends, and make comments … I look forward to hearing from you!

Also, I will be writing the long “Louvre” blog post I promised soon, once I’ve settled into a comfortable pace … I have sorted through the thousands of photos (the good, the bad & the ugly) already, but still need to whittle my selection down.

Meanwhile, enjoy this video snippet I uploaded to my new youtube channel last night of the Eiffel tower lights blinking.

Available Paintings, Exhibitions

Dragonfly Miniatures, 337 Sketch Gallery, Hamilton

October 3, 2012 Donna Grandin Leave a comment

The following is a post that I’ve brought over from my original blog where I wrote about exhibitions, career highlights etc. in the 3rd person.

Dragonfly Days, 4″x5″ acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2012. SOLD

Waiting, 4″x5″ acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2012. SOLD

Watching, 4″x5″ acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2012.

Available $170. E-mail: donna@bluerootsartstudio.com

This summer, I camped at Long Point Provincial Park, Ontario with my family, and one morning while everyone else was fishing off a dock, I roamed along the banks of the inlet with my camera. The area was teaming with life, in between the lily pads and moss, there were frogs, dragonflies and here and there a snapping turtle would raise its head, or swim away if startled.

I’ve always wanted to paint dragonflies, there’s something so attractive about their body proportions, the double set of wings counterbalancing the long narrow body. They’re like miniature aeroplanes, zooming around on some crazy flight plan. After a while of observing, and taking photographs, it occurred to me how much more I see, understand, and appreciate about Nature because of my art.

Miniature show, 337 Sketch Gallery, 337 Ottawa St., Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Opening Night is Oct. 11 from 7-9 pm. The Show dates are Oct 12-29th.” Regular gallery hours are Thurs – Sat 11-6pm, Sun 12-5pm.

“56 artist’s are participating in the Miniature Show. 150 paintings are being hung on the walls.” Anne Becker 337sketch@gmail.com

Exhibitions, Small paintings

Miniature Show, 337 Sketch Gallery, Hamilton

November 8, 2011 Donna Grandin Leave a comment

The following is a post that I’ve brought over from my original blog where I wrote about exhibitions, career highlights etc. in the 3rd person.

Opening night of Miniature Show, 337 Sketch Gallery in Hamilton, Fri Oct 25th, 2011.

Almost 130 miniature paintings are on display in the gallery, located at 337 Ottawa St. N, Hamilton, ON. The show has been extended till Nov 13th, regular gallery hours are 11-6pm Thurs-Sun, but it will be open a little later on Fri Nov 11th because the Art Bus will be making a stop there as part of the Art Crawl.

Fireworks, 4"x5", acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2011. Sold — Fireworks, 4″x5″, acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2011. Sold

Friendship. 4"x5", acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2011. Sold — Friendship. 4″x5″, acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2011. Sold

Frenzy, 4"x5", acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2011. Sold — Frenzy, 4″x5″, acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2011. Sold

The trio of 4″x5″ miniatures I painted for this exhibition were inspired by photos I took of some bees buzzing around a patch of flowers outside a store in Midland Ontario this summer. That night while I sat on the couch at my friend’s cottage, sorting through the pics on my laptop, zooming in and cropping the centers of the flowers where the bees were doing their thing … an amazing and unexpected fireworks display began on the other side of the lake. So “Fireworks” was my way of commemorating that wonderful weekend retreat with my fellow artist. And the other paintings just fell in to place.

For more info on the show, and the gallery, take a look at the FB page: 337 Sketch Gallery.

Exhibitions, Frangipani, Small paintings

Square Foot Show, AWOL Gallery at Twist, Toronto

August 9, 2011 Donna Grandin Leave a comment

The following is a post that I’ve brought over from my original blog where I wrote about exhibitions, career highlights etc. in the 3rd person.

Gala Opening of the 9th Annual Square Foot Show, 5th Aug ’11, Twist Gallery.

AWOL’s Square foot show is being held at the Twist Gallery in Toronto this year. Twist is located at 1100 Queen St. W. The exhibition and sale continues till Sun Aug 21st. Hours are Wed-Sat 12-7pm, Sun 12-5pm.

Each artist (500 max) submitted up to 3 pieces, each had to be 12″x12″, but could be in any media, any subject. It’s wall-to-wall paintings, each time you return to a wall, you’ll see things you missed the last time you looked! With such a wide variety of styles etc, there’s sure to be something for everyone!

Donna has 2 new Frangipani paintings in this exhibition … let us know if you’ve spotted them!

Frangipani sisters, 12"x12", acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2011. Sold — Frangipani sisters, 12″x12″, acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2011. Sold

Frangipani, 12"x12", acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2011. Sold — Frangipani, 12″x12″, acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2011. Sold

Frangipani beauty, 12″x12″, acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2011

Exhibitions, Hibiscus

"St.Lucian ART 2011" at The Inner Gallery, St. Lucia

January 21, 2011 Donna Grandin Leave a comment

The following is a post that I’ve brought over from my original blog where I wrote about exhibitions, career highlights etc. in the 3rd person.

From the core, acrylics on canvas, 2009, 16×13 inch, Donna Grandin. Sold

This painting, and two others by Donna, will be part of “St. Lucian ART 2011: a selection of new and recent work by established, unknown and emerging artists from St. Lucia”. The group show opens Tues 25 January and runs till 5 February, 2011 at The Inner Gallery, Bois d’orange, St. Lucia.

Available Paintings, Exhibitions, Hibiscus

Art Gallery of Hamilton Fall Art Sale

November 7, 2010 Donna Grandin Leave a comment

The following is a post that I’ve brought over from my original blog where I wrote about exhibitions, career highlights etc. in the 3rd person.

“Just Peachy”, acrylics on canvas, 24″x30″, © Donna Grandin 2010.
Available $1200. E-mail donna@bluerootsartstudio.com

Donna has 5 paintings available at the AGH fall art sale, Style & Space.

For more information on the exhibition, visit Art Gallery of Hamilton Fall Art Sale.

Also, Donna’s magnolia painting “Change is in the air”, acrylics on canvas, 13″x16″ is featured in this video clip promoting the event on CH Morning Live.

Donna attended the preview on Wed night and was proud to have been chosen as part of the group of 65 area artists, because it was a very strong show with quality work in a variety of media, styles & subjects. The show closes Sun evening.

Mural

400 McCowan Mural, Scarborough

May 22, 2010 Donna Grandin 1 Comment

The following is a post that I’ve brought over from my original blog where I wrote about exhibitions, career highlights etc. in the 3rd person.

On Thurs, there was an unveiling ceremony at 400 McCowan, for the mural Donna was commissioned to paint by the City of Toronto. The rope was pulled by Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker and some of the tenants. The community had held a contest, and the winning images were incorporated into the mural, so that it would portray the spirit of the community.

This painting was created in my studio, on 4 panels, 4″x8″ each. It was my first mural, and my first “commercial” painting job, usually when I do paintings they are for individuals who enjoy my work but have something specific in mind they’d like me to paint for them. So, I pretty much painted exactly what was on the digital file they e-mailed me, but in retrospect – and especially if I was involved from the beginning, instead of being asked to step in and help complete the project – I should have taken more artistic license with the image. And by that I mean, the hard edged clouds on the left are just not “me”, whereas the soft colourful clouds on the bottom right are much more so. Still, this project was a great experience in many ways!

DONNA GRANDIN

Tag Archives: acrylic

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 8

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 7

Daily Painting challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days!

400 McCowan Mural, Scarborough

BLUE ROOTS ART STUDIO – acrylic paintings of Caribbean & Canadian landscape, flowers & foliage. Burlington, ON, Canada. 905-639-3419