20 July 2014

Parc! OmegAAH!

Parc Omega, May 2014

Come on, doesn't it sound like that in your head?

A spring day trip to Montebello, Quebec led to this painting. Parc Omega is a safari park and I loved this tiny island in its lake. If you've never been, the ferry route from Ottawa to the park is more picturesque than the road one, and the kids love the car on a boat thing.

Apart from the lake looking a bit nuclear, this one's alright.

14 July 2014

Paint like draw

Hog's Back, June 2014
I took an an art class this spring and am proud to show off one of my latest paintings! With a busy job until the fall, there isn't much time for all this, but I figured I could get closer to working on the purse painting by taking another landscape course with Blair Paul. Since that painting will mostly be landscape, something I've got little practice with, this course was useful practice.

From talking to Blair about developing my own style, I realised that I already had a style in the media I use a lot - pencils, pens and markers. To discover my own painting style, I had just had to paint the way I drew. As easy as all that. Who knew?

Once September begins, I move to a new, more relaxed assignment and I will prioritise my favourite pastime again. But until then my focus is on the kids and work. They made me a manager earlier this year, something I had some experience in but not much, and there's a lot to learn. It's wonderful, frankly. I'm not one of those people who'll ever moan about managing, but it is hard and I have some miles to go before I will be comfortable.

This painting is of the torrent that is Hog's Back.