Tag Archives: daily painting

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Painting in a day, Small paintings

Coubaril – 30 paintings in 30 days, #5

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Coubaril, 11"x14", acrylic on canvas, ©2014 Donna Grandin. $200.
Coubaril, 11″x14″, acrylic on canvas, ©2014 Donna Grandin. Sold

It has been a busy “back-to-school” week, every day the kids brought home more homework for ME – an endless stream of forms to fill out, checks to write, shopping to do and appointments to make. So, I am no longer “ahead” when it comes to the challenge.

Today I attended a meeting at Burlington City Hall, to discuss the Culture Days event that I will be participating in on Sept 26, 12-9pm. They are providing me with a canopy, table & chairs, and I will be painting my heart out in public, in front of City Hall! Of course I have painted with people around many times before, but this is the first time I’m going to attempt to start and finish an actual painting with people coming and going (and filming and photographing). And, it’s outside!

It will be a very full and fun day, “featuring activites and performances from musicans, dancers, filmmakers, poets, fine artists, photographers and more!” The Burlington Fine Artists Association plein air group will also be setting up wherever they find interesting spots, to paint the goings on. If you’re in the area, add this date to your calender, I look forward to seeing you there!

Today’s painting is from a photograph I took of the view from my Godmother’s house a few years ago. Coubaril is an interesting neighbourhood in St. Lucia, as a child I always felt as if we were going somewhere special and magical when we entered the area. The trees form a canopy overhead and the road is narrow, so it is like you are going through a tunnel.

Anyway, many of the houses are on sloped properties, and there are also a lot of these black rocks in the gardens. I’m glad I don’t have to cut their lawns, it must be quite the workout. On the other hand, as a kid, it is great for playing hide and seek!

 

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Painting in a day, Small paintings

Torch Ginger Trio – 30 in 30, day 3

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Torch Ginger Trio 3, 6"x6", acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. $100.
Torch Ginger Trio 3, 6″x6″, acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. $100.

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!

Torch Ginger Trio, a view of all three paintings
Torch Ginger Trio, a view of all three paintings

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!

 

 

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Painting in a day, Small paintings

Return of the 30 paintings in 30 days – day 1

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Torch Ginger Trio 1, 6"x6", acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. $100.
Torch Ginger Trio 1, 6″x6″, acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. $100.

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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Available Paintings, Hibiscus, Painting in a day, Small paintings

“Painting in a day” Thurs – Valentine Hibiscus

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Valentine hibiscus, 6"x6", acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold
Valentine hibiscus, 6″x6″, acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold

Love is in the air this month. I’m stretching it out from one day to one month. Last year my son wanted to know why he had school on Valentine’s day, because what is more important than love?

This is not exactly what I had in mind when I started the painting… initially I was going to use the red hibiscus for the colour and then a black & white Zentangle heart behind. However, while I have decades of acrylic painting behind me, I have zero experience doing Zentangles. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s a sort of doodle, take a look here. You just might fall in love.

If you have been following along, you may have noticed that last week I incorporated some doodling into my “Flights of fancy” painting. I am still at the stage where I can visualize something cool – using this new technique – but not quite manifest it. Right now I’m preoccupied with a couple of upcoming exhibitions (the St. Lucia Toronto Association Arts Showcase is in 2 days) and applications that are due soon, but hopefully by next week I’ll have some further progress to report.

There is also an idea for a more serious body of work brewing, or maybe stewing, in the back of my mind. It revolves around my experience as a Third Culture Kid, so it is very personal to me, however each year our numbers increase and I like the idea of using my art to connect with others. I’ve been in flux for some time now, and I’m curious to see the effect of taking my creative process public. I enjoy painting foliage, and I have no intention of abandoning it, but this onion has many more layers.

It is time to embrace the internet and push back at the old-fashioned “the butcher, the baker OR the candle-stick maker” mentality. It’s like I tell my kids, now you can be the butcher, the baker AND the candle-stick maker! In fact, we’re probably a generation behind the times, at this point it feels like you HAVE to be butcher, baker & candlestick maker (have you read or written a bio lately?). Artists have long had to wear several caps, but these days with the rise of Entrepreneurs, it is becoming the new “norm”.

Ok, back to the painting, I actually painted my way through several variations which were equally interesting. I might go back & do a few more later. Or it might just be a stepping stone to the next plateau. Time will tell.

 

Update: Someone bought this painting as a wedding gift, which I think is just perfect!

 

 

 

 

30 in 30 challenge, Small paintings

Thirty paintings in 30 days – challenge completed!

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30 paintings in 30 days, Jan '14
30 paintings in 30 days, Jan ’14

This challenge was a great way to start out the new year! I really enjoyed making my painting a priority this month, because the last couple months had been about building this new website, preparing for the studio tour, then for the exhibition in Paris, then Christmas with my family and so I was craving time at the easel.

Doing the challenge in the public eye was a wonderful way to hold myself accountable, but also it made it easy to carve out the time because friends and family knew this was my priority this month. There are a lot of loose ends to tie up now, and things to catch up on, so February is promising to be just as busy as January. However, I’ve decided to build on this experience by posting a “painting in a day” once a week on this blog. Starting on Thurs February 6th.

Leslie Saeta, the artist who initiated this challenge, asked for feedback from the 400 artists taking part. She did a podcast on it yesterday, on her internet radio show Artists helping Artists and she read my response – it’s at the 18:31 mark. If you’re an artist and you haven’t come across this resource before, I recommend the AHA show as something to listen to while you paint – second to music of course.

It was funny to hear Leslie remark that I “should be a writer”, because I’ve found that one of the things that came out of this was I gave in to blogging. Each day I’d write my thoughts at the time of posting, with no preconceived plan, and no time to edit beyond a quick read through or two. Normally I do this type of writing as part of my creative process, and no-one else sees it. However, I’ve received some great responses to the writing, and I think in the long run blogging does enrich my work by allowing me to present a wider view of my artistic production.

So thank you everyone for following, for taking the time to keep me company on this journey and giving encouragement by way of commenting, sharing and best of all, investing in my art!

See a slideshow of all of the paintings here.

 

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Small paintings

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 24

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Intrigue, 8"x8", acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. $100.
Intrigue, 8″x8″, acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. $100.

Before I began this challenge I wrote a list of 30 different things I wanted to do this month – monochromatic, figurative, portrait, abstract, oils etc. – and even though I haven’t looked back at the list, I think I’ve been hitting them all.

Yesterday turned out to be the day for the abstract, and like most abstracts I do it came about because I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to paint. I’m not thrilled with the photo I took, I can’t seem to avoid the glare today. That’s probably because it’s snowing outside, it has been the coldest winter in a long time, and if it weren’t for the challenge keeping me busy, I’d probably be a little depressed.

I started painting late yesterday because I had to take care of some other art business tasks, one of which is to do some prep for an exhibition I have coming up next month – The SLTA Arts Showcase. I’ve been asked to be the artistic director for the Showcase, and I have been involved thus far, but this month I’ve been too busy to give it any attention, so it’ll be one of my priorities next month.

The event is on Feb 22nd in Toronto, presented by the St. Lucia Toronto Association at the Brockton Collective Gallery.  It is part of the celebrations commemorating the 35th Independence Anniversary of St. Lucia – the Caribbean island where I was born and raised till I came to Canada at age seventeen to continue my education.

 

 

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Small paintings

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 23

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Gemma & the rose, 10"x8", acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. $150.
Gemma & the rose, 10″x8″, acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. $150.  

One day as I was coming upstairs, our cat was sitting at the top watching me, and my 4’x4′ painting of a rose was leaning against a wall behind her. I was intrigued by the juxtaposition of the cat & the painting, and the idea of doing a painting of a painting. Though as it worked out I didn’t even try to paint the rose as if it were a flat object. I just had fun with it. Even the colour is emotive rather than realistic. Which is often the case in my paintings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Small paintings

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 22

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The Sunday hike, 10"x8", acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin
The Sunday hike, 10″x8″, acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold

This is a view from Fort Rodney at Pigeon Island National Park in St. Lucia. I grew up very close to this location, and I often do this hike when I go back to visit my parents. Long before it became a National Park it was a popular place to go for a “beach picnic” with family and friends.

We would hang out all day at the beach, in and out of the water (and in my case, reading under a coconut tree).  While the adults sat around drinking rum and playing cards or dominos, the kids would go exploring. The look-out point at the highest part of the island just had an old, shaky ladder in those days and it was quite scary climbing up or down, but the reward at the top was a fantastic view. Which is why there are also a couple of old cannons up there.

I encourage you to read this article about Pigeon island, it has some very exciting history of the place which includes pirates, battles (St. Lucia changed hands between the French and English 14 times) and even a period when the island was owned by an English actress (my Mom and her friends remember having to row a boat out there to go to parties). That was before they dredged up the sand and created the causeway joining the island to the main land.

The more I think of it, the more stories I have about this place. I even went there to take pictures on my wedding day. The red roofs you see in the painting are those of Sandals Grande St. Lucian Spa & Beach Resort, which attests to the beauty of the location as well as to its popularity.

If you’re ever visiting St. Lucia, I recommend Pigeon Island National Park as a great place to spend the day, or even a couple of hours.

 

 

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Small paintings

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 21

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Before the rain, 6"x6", acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold
Before the rain, 6″x6″, acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold

Intense I know. I might paint the pair to this, from photos I took while the rain was falling. On a mountainous island, when you’re up high, you can see the rain coming. When you have no-where to go, and can just look out at the rain, it’s quite beautiful.

My favourite thing as a child was to read on a rainy day. Actually, I read every spare moment I got, but my idea of bliss was to curl up in bed and read my weekend away. I loved to sit up and look out the window next to my bed at the water falling on the croton leaves. Or down the hill where the rain made puddles in the dirt road. And who doesn’t like the soothing sound of rain? Especially on a galvanized rooftop.

The rain can come on suddenly in the Caribbean, big fat drops that soak through your clothes and cool you down. Then just as suddenly it stops, and the sun shines down and dries you up. I never wore a raincoat as a child, very seldom used an umbrella. We weren’t worried about things like “acid rain”, it was just a part of nature, a fact of life.

If you were in town when the rain fell, you’d huddle under the nearest storefront with a bunch of strangers and exchange smiles and maybe some conversation. It never lasted long. And maybe we welcomed it too, after the long dry season … the same way North Americans welcome the spring after a long winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Small paintings

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 20

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Nature's bounty, 6"x6", acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin
Nature’s bounty, 6″x6″, acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin

This is the painting I did yesterday, it was too dark to photograph in natural light by the time I was done, so I decided just to go ahead & get a head start on today’s painting & photograph & post them both today.

I had some set-backs yesterday, starting with having to wait an hour for roadside assistance – I had a flat tire. It was a very cold day, so I was glad it happened just outside my kids’ school so that I could wait inside. The tow truck guy who did come said that the reason I had to wait so long, and why he would have not taken the call if he knew … was because of the kind of vehicle I drive. It’s a Grand Caravan, and the spare tire is not in the trunk, it’s under the van. A poor design in his opinion because you have to stick a pole thing (not the official name I’m sure) in a spot in between the driver’s seat & the passenger seat to unscrew & release the mechanism that holds it in place. And that gets trickier if you have a console in that spot, or if you have a big fancy radio put in (there is a piece that goes on the top of the pole to help you turn it & it’s a very tight spot. “Scratch that, and it’s $4000” he shook his head). Luckily, I don’t go in for bells and whistles – as long as my vehicle can get my kids and paintings from point A to point B and isn’t always breaking down, I’m happy!

Anyway, my original plans for painting on location were scuttled and it was already afternoon before I settled at my easel to begin this painting. Coconut trees are of course a common sight in St. Lucia – like most tropical locations. And the image that comes to mind when you hear the words “castaway”, “shipwreck” or “island” is of a little island/big rock with one or more coconut trees. I called the painting Nature’s bounty because I was thinking of ways you could use coconuts, or coconut trees to survive if you were shipwrecked on an island … you could drink the water and eat the jelly, use the fronds to build some shelter and the husks for kindling. And there’s more. But first, you’d have to figure out how to climb the trees to get fresh coconuts. Survival of the fittest.

 

 

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