Getting Ready for 2015.

Detail from 'Trendy Birches' 

12x36 acrylic on canvas

$750.

Avaiable at Arts on Queen

All is well here in the studio although I haven't had a chance to get to my easel and paint for awhile now. We got back this past Wednesday from a short break. A long weekend in Las Vegas. It was a much needed break and now that I'm back I'm refreshed and inspired. The desert always does that for me. The wide open space, the big sky and the colors. Oh those colors!

I am now in planning mode. Not only planning festivities with friends and family for the coming two weeks, but also planning for the new year. Setting goals both art related and personal. I like this time of year. New beginnings. A fresh start. How about you? Do you start the new year with resolutions or a goals list?

Birches and Birds on Wires.

Birches, Birds, & Wires is a collection of my paintings hanging at Arts on Queen for the month of November. I worked right up until the last minute for this show and a few paintings were varnished and wired for hanging at the very last hour. It's so exciting to see them in the gallery, patiently waiting to be purchased and off to their new homes.

 Arts on Queen. 2198 Queen Street East. Toronto, On

416 699 6127

 In the window

 Pigeons and birds on wires in the gallery

 A selection of my abstracted birches.

 Canadian Beauty

30x40 acrylic on canvas

$2000.

 Urban Still Life

12x36 acrylic on canvas

$750.

 Standing Tall

36x60 acrylic on canvas

Sold. Thank you.

Upward Reaching

36x60 acrylic on canvas

$3000.

A Gorgeous Day

16" round acrylic on canvas

$350.

'A Gorgeous Day' is a 16 inch round, acrylic on canvas painting. It was inspired after I went to see the Alex Colville exhibit at the AGO. Shown here on my easel.

 Portrait No.1-6

6x6 acrylic on canvas/board

$175. each

Pigeons are about as urban a bird can get. You either love them or hate them. I've always been fascinated by them and thought they'd be fun to paint. Painted in acrylic on canvas and board. I custom framed them in black wood frames to keep with the urban feel. They can be purchased separately but would make a nice display with two or three grouped together.

 Urban Landscape No. 1

6x6 acrylic on board

$175. framed

Urban Landscape No. 2

6x6 acrylic on canvas/board

$175. framed

I also included a selection of  'birds on wires' that I've custom framed in distressed silver frames. I think the soft, silver distressed tones of the frames work well with the blues and grays in the painting.  

New paintings at Arts on Queen for November.

Back to Business.

Thank you all for your the wonderful comments, emails and tweets about my Cityline adventure. Last weeks excitement was definitely a fun time, but it was back to business quickly in my little home studio. I painted new cityscapes and finished six new smaller paintings in my 'birds on a wire' series. These were delivered to Arts on Queen this past Sunday. Great news when I returned home, "Birds on Wires" 6x30 had already sold. Thank You!! 

So today I'm out to get more canvas and will be painting a few more birds on wires panels and will get them over to Arts on Queen asap. I really enjoy working on these intimate little paintings. They are a small reminder that spring will actually come one day. Soon........please soon.

 Early Morning Taxi  Acrylic on canvas  36x48x2

Available at Arts on Queen  $2500.

Early Morning Taxi on my wall as it appeared in the segment on Cityline

 Queen Street E.  Acrylic on canvas  18x18x2

$550.

(It's the painting, top left, now available at Arts on Queen)

Dreaming of Spring  Acrylic on canvas  6x12

Available at Arts on Queen  $175.

 Almost Spring  Acrylic on canvas  6x12

Available at Arts on Queen  $175.

Waiting for Spring  Acrylic on canvas  6x12

Available at Arts on Queen  $175.

For the Love of Birches.

Golden Day  18x18  acrylic on canvas

$550.

Available at Arts on Queen

Birches have been one of my favorite subjects to paint over the years. To me they are just so beautiful. My paintings of them have had a few different variations from very realistic to quite textural and abstract. Golden Day is one of my most recent birches paintings completed this past summer. It's available for purchase at Arts on Queen, Toronto.

Be Back Soon.

It's been crazy busy here lately. Not just with this insane ice storm the north east received, but with the usual hectic pace of year's end. We were lucky and never lost power. The rest of my family and a few friends didn't fare so well. In fact my parent's home is still without power and they had some major damage to home and car from falling tree limbs covered in ice. Everyone was safe and sound though and that's what counts. 

There's been much going on in the studio also. Behind the scenes stuff, already planning for next year. Thank you to all that have purchased my art this past year. Thank you to the galleries that include me in their family of artists. Thank you to my publishers, my FB friends and fans, and Twitter followers. Thank you to all that have let me know that my art has inspired them in some way, and has brought them good feelings. For all of you I'm grateful.

Not sure if  I'll get another post up before 2014. I'm thinking I might just take a bit of me time and be totally self indulgent and do nothing for a couple of days.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays.

All the best for the New Year.

Peace on Earth.

Love.

Happy Canada Day.

The View From the Lake Made Her Smile

36x48 acrylic on canvas

$2500.

available at Arts on Queen, Toronto

My Canadian Art.

The View From the Lake Made Her Smile

36x48

Available t Arts on Queen Gallery

With Canada Day fast approaching, I have the Canadian flag on my mind. I was eight years old when the national flag of Canada (the maple leaf) was created and came into use. I remember walking around with my small paper flag on a stick waving it in the air for days. In my family, I'm first generation Canadian so I'm pretty sure this had alot to do with my enthusiasm. It wasn't until later when I learned the actual events that lead up to this special time in Canada's history. 

'The View From the Lake Made her Smile' is one of two paintings I've done with the Canadian flag as subject. I did take inspiration from Charles Pachter (my Canadian idol) but that's entirely another blog post. 

It's available at Arts on Queen in Toronto. I think it would look stunning in a lakefront cottage or a lofty condo.

Put a Bird On It.

 Weekly Tweet Up

Acrylic on canvas 8x24  $350

Available at Arts on Queen

 Meeting Place

Acrylic on canvas  30x40  $2000

Available at Arts on Queen

Sunday Social  

Acrylic on Canvas  24x48  $1900.

Available at Arts on Queen

I'm happy to say I still get plenty of requests for bird themed paintings.  As I wrote about in this earlier post I was very inspired to paint 'birds on wires' especially after our move downtown. I can sit out on the balcony and watch the birds that sit on the wires and fly around collecting for their nests. I always keep my camera with me to snap shots of pigeons when I'm walking about the city. Here are just 3 of the newest birds series that I dropped off to Arts on Queen a short while ago.

A Breath of Spring.

It's beginning to look like spring. I tend to use blues and greens in much of my painting. I find them to be calming and soothing, especially when lightened up with a warm white. Here's a selection of spring themed paintings available at Arts on Queen and Arts on King, Toronto. 

 Breath of Spring  12x36x2

Acrylic on canvas

$750.

Spring Magnolia 20x20

Acrylic on canvas

$700.

 Blossom Melody  20x20

Acrylic on canvas

$700.

 Birds on a Wire Six Views  6x36

Acrylic on canvas

$350.

Untitled  12x36x2

Acrylic on canvas

$750

Affordable, Original Art Makes a Great Gift.

Now that Halloween has come and gone we're getting into the Holiday shopping season. Many retailers have had their Christmas shops set up weeks ago.

I've received quite a few emails about this post I wrote a while back, and due to the many requests for my mini birches, I've painted a limited number of them for this season. They really do make a great gift (yes you can give original art!!) and being so tiny (3"x5") they make great stocking stuffers.

Arts on King Show Comes to an End.

June has been a great month (not only because it's my birthday month) but because I had my work featured at Arts on King. "Potpourri" comes to an end tomorrow.

I am very pleased that I decided to frame my series of pigeons and they've garnered alot of attention. They are more urban in subject matter-pigeons on concrete, yet they still keep the soft romantic feel that I like to create in my paintings.

It's always very thrilling for me to see a large body of my work together. It's a small moment in time when I see all the hard work in front of me and can feel satisfied that I am headed in the right direction. Personally, it's been a tough year but my art has seen me through it.

Not to worry if you missed it, you can see my work regularly at Arts on King and Arts on Queen.

Rainy Days and Mondays.

"Allure" Acrylic on canvas 20x16

Available at Arts on King.

Life has been a whirlwind here in my studio. I've been finishing orders and delivering them, starting on commissioned pieces that I should have started long ago, and making trips to the art store to stock up on supplies. I feel I'm being pulled in all directions these days with paint flying everywhere. Literally. Last night our big black cat Nami knocked over a bag of paints, big plastic jars just purchased, and there was black paint everywhere. I'm still finding tiny spots of black paint today about 6 feet from where they crashed.

Arts on King has a selection of 8 new paintings. Florals and new Birches. These new paintings are darker and a bit more dramatic-fitting to the season. There are also 10 small (6x6) new paintings of my "Birds on a Wire" series at Arts on Queen. Ready for Holiday shopping.

I did manage to take a much needed morning off last week and saw the members preview of the new Maharaja exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario. It is beautiful. Such Opulence!! And when I go to the AGO I always linger awhile on the second floor with the Group of Seven's paintings. It's so quiet and relaxing to sit and view some of my favorite landscapes.

Today has been so dark and rainy I haven't been able to paint. At least I'm getting a lot of other things accomplished and have started planning 4 new large paintings. Whatever you're up to this week, have a great one. :-)

I'm Still Here!!

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I haven't been kidnapped and I haven't packed my bags and moved to another country. I'm still here!! I've sequestered myself into the studio to get some serious painting done. I'll be delivering new works to my various galleries in the next week or so. Then perhaps I can take some time and do some art just for me. I need new work to hang on our walls as they've remained almost empty since we moved in, in June.

The beautiful weather has these two bird watching almost all day. The little sparrows sit on the ledge of the building next to us. I swear, they know that Iggy and Nami are watching them.

So back to my paints and easel. There's no time to waste these days. I miss you all and I miss reading my blogs. I'll share some new work with you next week. see you then.

Monday August 30-Already??

Good Monday morning!!! It's great to be back here at my little blog. It seems like I've been away for ever and here it is almost the end of summer. The past few weeks have been busy busy taking care of personal things, enjoying the HOT summer, still unpacking, making time for painting, a gallery show, and all things art related.

My newest series of cityscapes is well underway. Moving downtown and setting up studio space in our new condo has filled me with lots of new creative energy. I've gotten tons of inspiration walking the streets with my camera and taking shots of all the buildings and I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know my Toronto.

You may remember I mentioned a surprise before I took a break, well now that all the details have been finalized I can spill the beans. I was contacted by an art curator and after meeting with him I'm happy to announce that I will have 30 of my paintings hanging in the offices of Odgers Berndston from January to April 2011. It's exciting and a little overwhelming when I think of it. So far I have 15 that I know for sure will be included in the collection, but I'll have to adhere to a strict painting schedule in the fall to meet the criteria of 30. These are large works too, 36x48 40x40 48x48 and 48x60 .I'm also working on 2 commissions in the coming month. Time to put on a large pot of coffee and get started.

Whatever you're up to today, have a great one!!!

Thoughts for a Monday.

Thanks to all that made it out to my opening at Arts on Queen on Saturday. It was great to see you and chat about my work. Here are a few shots I took before it got too busy. For those those that couldn't join me, my paintings will be up until July 31st.

So here we are, another Monday upon us. The unpacking of boxes is taking much longer than I expected and has me frustrated. Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for the fact that we were able to purchase this beautiful "dream" condo. I'm very fortunate for sure, but the moving and all that comes with it really did a number on my head. All kinds of emotions have been popping up from out of no where it seems. I guess that's why those reality television shows are so popular. You know the ones where people are forced to part with their mountains of stuff and clean and organize their lives. The cameras follow them through the process and you can watch them cry and scream in frustration, issues and emotions buried years before coming to the surface. For me it's more of that feeling you got as a child the day after Christmas. The toys have all been unwrapped and played with and there's an emptiness in the pit of your stomach. Now What???

I feel like that. I've been concentrating on two major events for the last few months and now they're over. The move is over. My show is hung, reception over. Now what??? I suppose I feel like every other "creative" out there and I'll be spending the next little while figuring out what's next with my painting. A new series, the next show, pimping my poor neglegted shop. Embarking on a new adventure is exciting and a little stressful too. For now I'll just continue to unpack. I'm just about done setting up the studio although I'm not sure if I'm ready to share a photo just yet. Soon, I promise.

Birds on a Wire.

Follow Me On Twitter 18x18 Acrylic on Canvas

Contact Arts on Queen to Purchase

I've always liked looking at birds on wires and have been photographing them since I can remember. In the country, along the highways and in the city. I've just always found it a very pleasing and soothing image. And so my "birds on a wire" series of paintings began.

I was thrilled when I noticed on the second day after our move, sitting out on the balcony, that wires run right across my view at our level. The little birds land on the wires regularly. They have nests in the building next to us and I can hear them chirping away. It's a nice addition to the sounds of the street car and city life. Now I just have to step out on my balcony for inspiration. I think I'll be painting many more urban landscapes in the months to come.

To see my newest paintings in the "Birds on a Wire" series be sure to check out my show "Fresh" at Arts on Queen. 2198 Queen St. E. in the Beaches, Toronto. July 3-31. Opening reception Saturday July 3, 1-4 pm.