Hidden View

Hidden View - 16x20", acrlyic on canvas ...

Here is the finished painting that I was working on as a demo for the Moss Street Paint-In. I started on a black canvas and then painted in the sky, mountains and water, and finally the green of the tree boughs and the foreground salal. All of the black left showing is the original starting base colour.

This view is from Tofino, with Cox Bay in the background. There is a rocky point of land on the north end of the beach, with a boardwalk running through the forested bit - this is the "hidden view" of the water from here. I am fascinated by the shapes of the trees and the little snippets of view you get between them.

If you are interested in this painting, please send me an email at info@lisariehl.com

Sooke Fine Art Show

"Sunlit Stream" - 30x30", acrylic ...

Accepted into the Sooke Fine Art Show

I just came back from the first sneak peak at the Sooke Fine Art Show. Tonight was the "Purchasers Preview" evening - I volunteered on security duty (Don't touch that painting!). All I can say is WOW! The art is fantastic and this show is so incredibly well put together. The organizers have taken a boring old ice skating arena and converted it into a fantastic and classy looking art show! And in addition to the wonderful art, there is a little bistro area, live music stage, and a great gift shop selling smaller items from the artists who made it into the show.

I am pleased to have had one of my paintings accepted into this juried art show: "Sunlit Stream", 30x30" ... Tomorrow night is the reception for all the artists who made it in, so I get to have another look at the show. Good thing, there is a lot of great art to take in.

The Sooke Fine Art Show is open to the public starting on Saturday July 24 - Monday August 2. I hope you can make it out to see it, it's well worth the drive to Sooke!

Woman of the Week!

I am excited to be the feature "Woman of the Week" on the website of Vancouver's own Dolly Hopkins. I recently have had a chance to get to know Dolly - she is one amazing woman! She is a leading-edge designer and conceptualist working locally and internationally for over 25 years to support community building through her unique vision of celebrations. Her list of accomplishments is quite impressive, and just spending time with her was so inspiring.

Have a click on the link HERE to see the post! And while you are there please take the time to read about some other amazing creative women, and of course about Dolly herself ...

Moss Street Paint-In ... a success!

What a fabulous day it was yesterday at the Moss Street Paint-In. First of all, it was a gorgeous day - sunny but not too hot, and not windy at all (unlike last year, where the wind wreaked havoc with some people's displays). Second of all, people were actually spending their money this year! I think the recession is almost over ... A big Thank You to all who stopped by my display.

I was so happy to have had 4 of my paintings find new homes, along with a ton of hand-made art cards and the Mural Mosaic "Kunamokst" books! I had so many great comments and feedback about my work (a few even said my display was their favourite!). I hope that a few pet portrait commissions might be coming my way because of this. It had been a slower start to the year ...

I haven't quite finished the painting I was working on there, here it is about 1/2 done...

My boyfriend Pete helped me out this year. He also keeps bees, and the day before had extracted quite a few jars of fresh raw honey! He had a great day as well and sold a ton of his honey. I'll post some of his honey extraction photos sometime soon.

Moss Street Paint-In

Here is the reference photo that I recently

took in Tofino. This is what I will be painting ...

Saturday July 17th is Victoria's annual Moss Street Paint-In, from 11:00 to 4:30pm ! Over 140 artists will be set up all along Moss St, starting at Fort St where the art gallery is, all the way down to Dallas Rd (about 20 blocks). The street will be closed off to cars so everyone can freely walk up and down and see all the artists do their thing - paint, sculpt, or draw. This is a fantastic opportunity to actually meet some of your favourite local artists in person! It typically draws 30,000 to 40,000 people. There will be a food and beverage garden up by the art gallery, and music to enjoy.

I have been accepted into the Paint-In again this year. I am going to have my display tent/table set up at Station #75, which is at the south end of Moss St just before Dallas Road. Look for my banner saying "West Coast Landscapes & Pet Portraits"! I will be doing a painting demonstration and will have art cards and various paintings available. Also, I will have a few posters and books of the Mural Mosaic project I was involved in

Bring your friends and family (and your dog too) out to this fantastic and unique event! It looks like the sun will be shining that day, so wear lots of sunscreen. I am looking forward to seeing you there ...

Reaching

Reaching, 18x24", acrylic ...

I love arbutus trees! They are such an interesting tree, with beautiful orange/red, peeling papery bark (which makes it seem like sunburnt skin), evergreen leaves, beautiful flowers in the spring. They have lovely twisty curves too. This one I painted from a vantage point looking up ...

If you are interested in this painting, please send me an email at info@lisariehl.com

Misty

Misty, 24x24", acrylic on canvas ... SOLD

I finished this painting of Misty last week. What a lovely dog! She's part lab and part spaniel, small but so cute. This was commissioned as a birthday gift and I'm delivering it to Vancouver on Saturday (I just happen to be going there this weekend and that's where the owners of Misty live). It was a bit of a tricky reference photo to work from, as it was from a low quality photo taken with a cell phone, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. I can't wait to hear the reaction to the gift...!

Broomhill Forest

Broomhill Forest, 18x36" - acrylic ...

This is one of my favourite paintings. It's currently part of my art show at the Sooke Harbour House, which is coming down on Wednesday to make way for the new July art show. There is a great hike not too far from my house, on Broomhill here in Sooke. This is one of the trees in the denser part of the forest. Decided to make it a bit more purple, and I really like the finished effect.

If you are interested in this painting, please send me an email at info@lisariehl.com

Beach Solitude

Beach Solitude, 16x20", acrylic ...

Another Tofino painting, from one of my many photos of our trip there last month. I will be going there again to camp and surf in just a few weeks - which I'm very excited about!

If you are interested in this painting, please send me an email at info@lisariehl.com

Sunlit Stream

Sunlit Stream - 30 x 30", acrylic ...

I finished this painting last week. I rather like working on larger paintings (note to self: do this more often). I started this one with black gesso covering the whole canvas, then started painting the rocks on the left, the water and distant rocks, and finally the trees. It's a rather high contrast painting ...

If you are interested in this painting, please send me an email at info@lisariehl.com

Workshop Weekend in Vancouver

Janice's painting, day 1

Blue, Janice's studio dog (he was awesome!)

Janice's painting, day 2

my painting - day 1 (Arbutus Ridge, 16x20") ... SOLD

my painting - day 2 (Peaceful Afternoon 16x20")

I had a great time at the 2 day workshop with Janice Robertson this past weekend in Vancouver! I learned a ton, and now have a new technique with which to paint with. Janice was a great teacher and shared a ton of great information. She demo'd a different painting each day, stopping in between each step so we could work on our own paintings. Most people in the class did the same scene she did, but I had brought my own reference photos that were similar in scene and colour, so I used those instead. I usually do not come back from workshops with paintings I am happy with, but these ones I rather like!

Looking Up

Looking Up - 24x30", acrylic ...

Here is another one of my paintings that is part of my Sooke Harbour House art show until the end of June. I just love this painting. It is the view that I see all the time, on every walk or hike. I suppose it's a bit of an unoriginal title, but that's what I'm always doing - looking up at the beauty of the giants around me. It's on a 3" deep canvas, which gives it a nice sense of "biggness".

I'm excited: I'm heading over to Vancouver tomorrow - I have a 2-day art workshop with Janice Robertson. I've met her before - she was one of the signature FCA members who took part in the art workshop on Gabriola Island last year. The plein air paintings she produced there were just stunning! I know I'm going to learn so much!

And of course I get to see some great friends of mine! I used to live in Vancouver until 7 years ago when my boyfriend and I moved to Vancouver Island. I love it over here (being away from it all is rather nice), but my friends and family still manage to draw me back to the big city on a regular basis.

I promise to post some workshop photos early next week...

Quiet Waters

Quiet Waters - 14x18", acrylic ...

This is a painting that I was stuck with for ages! It started as a plein air painting way back in September, when I attended a week long art workshop on Gabriola Island (which was amazing!!! I learned tons and loved every minute). I was fairly happy this painting overall, except the colour - it was all cool colours. I brought it home with the intention of working on it, but just couldn't decide how to warm it up and with what. I did glaze it with a unifying phthalo blue, but then it just sat there for months. Finally I just took the plunge, added some warmer yellow-greens and the golden yellow water. I'm happy with it again ... (except for the photo, sorry about the glare).

If you are interested in this painting, please send me an email at info@lisariehl.com

Regal

Regal - 24 x 36", acrylic ... SOLD

I have finally finished the eagle painting that I posted a few in progress photos of before. I was debating on whether to put in a blue sky, or something warmer. I finally decided to go with the pale orange-yellow. Since it was a big expanse of background, I added a bit more interest with some slight outlining, as well as horizontal brushstrokes to balance the vertical eagle. He's a 'Regal' eagle! This painting is a bit more representational that I usually do, even compared to my pet portraits. But it was such a fantastic photo showing some great detail that I just had to paint it that way. It was a fun one to work on.

Tofino Sunset

Tofino Sunset - 14 x 18", acrylic

It was great to be back in the studio again this past weekend, after a few weeks of no painting at all (can you say "withdrawal"?). Of course I had to do a Tofino painting since I was just there soaking in it's gloriousness. This one is done on a cradled board textured first with an acrylic medium, then painted overtop. It's based on the sunset view from our campsite at Green Point (the provincial campground). There's no better place to camp!

If you are interested in this painting, please send me an email at info@lisariehl.com

Sooke Harbour House art show

I am excited to announce a show I'm in for the month of June! It's at the Sooke Harbour House, which is a luxury boutique hotel on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, and features spa, fine dining, and of course an amazing selection of art throughout the hotel hallways and rooms. Myself and another artist, Desiree Bond, will be the feature artists here for the next month.

The show is already up - we dropped off our paintings this past week and they were hung right away. Our paintings are in the room just off to the left as you come through the main entrance. Although we both have a passion to paint the westcoast, our styles are vastly different. I paint in a bold and impressionistic style, while Desiree's paintings are softer with a strong drawing element to them. It makes a great show having both together.

The opening reception is Sunday June 6th, 1- 4 pm (refreshments will be available). It’s West Coast art in a stunning West Coast Setting...

Tofino

Just came back from another amazing trip to Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver island. Love love love this place! We camped, surfed and ate way too much. It was overcast mostly, but pretty dry - we only had full-on rain the last day (which does make the tear-down of the tarps a bit messy). Saturday night was our Seafood Extravaganza! We don't skimp on the quality of food when we camp, if anything it's more gourmet than what we eat at home!!!

We did a free day trip to a private island - Clayoquot or Stubbs Island - that is only open for two days a year to the public. What a GORGEOUS place that is! The early Tofino settlers from 90 years ago planted tons of rhodo gardens there - now they are huge! Beautiful house, gardens, greenhouse (fully self sufficient in terms of food), beaches and forests. I'm so glad we got the chance to see it.

I'm sure I'll be painting some of these scenes. There's no end to my inspiration in Tofino!

Thank you!

Thank you to all of you who voted for my painting "The Nose Knows" in the dog art wine label contest. However, I just found out that I did NOT make the final 10 ... Sigh! It would have been pretty darn awesome to have a chance to have a wine label made out of Lucy's painting. I can't say that I'm not disappointed. But it was so fantastic to see all the cool paintings that people entered (77 in all!). What an amazing group of artists, with so many different styles.

Best of luck to the remaining 10 finalists in the

Mutt Lynch Winery label contest!!!

I need your vote!!!

I NEED YOUR VOTE!!!

I have entered this painting of my dog Lucy into a Dog Art Wine Label contest, and I need your vote to help me get to the final 10! It's based on popular vote, so the 10 paintings with the most votes go on to the final round - from then on it's up to the judges. Last year I didn't quite make it. With your help, I'm hoping I'm a bit more popular this year.

Click *** HERE *** and vote for entry #2!!!

There are 7 days of voting.

Vote May 19 - 25.

If you are on facebook, go to my Art Page and share the voting link with your friends.

Get them to vote too!

(I don't sound too desperate, do I?)

The contest is for Mutt Lynch winery in California. The winner gets a case of this wine with the winning label on it (Lucy's?). If I win, maybe I can share it with all of my fans ... a wine party in Sooke!

Eagles and Robins

Well, didn't get as much done on the eagle painting as I was hoping I would yesterday (got a little distracted by some gardening). But it's getting close! Just have to work on the leaves and touch up the branches, then the background. The background will be a bit of a challenge - it's pretty big. I do want to vary the colour a bit but not too much (brighter behind the eagle), but also keep it interesting with brush strokes. Not yet sure of my strategy. I could do it in one of three ways - horizontal strokes, vertical strokes, or random. What do you think? Suggestions are welcome ...

We have a robin's nest in the rafters just above my studio door! For the past few weeks I've been carefully and quietly going in and out of the studio, not wanting to disturb momma robin too much. She still flew away every time the door opened, no matter how slowly, but she didn't berate me for it - just flew into a nearby tree and watched. My boyfriend had a look a while ago - three babies and one egg. The past few days I have only seen momma in there to feed the chick(s). Only one baby appears to be left, and it's pretty big! Yesterday it was perched on the edge of the nest all day, waiting for food. No tail feathers yet, probably can't fly. I was extra quiet, not wanting to startle it out of the nest into the waiting claws of the neighbourhood cats...

Eagle painting in progress

Eagle painting in progress - 24x36"

I have had this painting drawn out for ages but haven't had time work on it. I am always eager to work on a new painting, but as I've mentioned before the last few months have been very busy with me having taken on a part time job that was taking up more than part time (now settling into a better schedule). And I had three commissions to work on first, so this one took a bit of a back seat.

But I'm happy to report that most of the progress on this painting has been done this past week, and I'm going to work on it more today. It's not from one of my photos. The actual photographer is someone who my boyfriend is working for (as a painting contractor - yes we are both painters, but in a different way!). I asked his permission to use this photo for a painting - it's such a fantastic shot with the eagle in a great pose and it really spoke to me. Also, as I don't have great camera gear it's not often that I get a chance to paint an eagle that shows such detail! I'm excited to see how this painting progresses...

Reuben

Reuben - 16x16", acrylic

Another pet portrait commission finished. I am delivering it today and can't wait to see the reaction to the finished painting. Sadly, Reuben passed away last year and is greatly missed by his human family. What a wonderful way for them to remember him ...

When I get a pet's photo to work from, I sample many different colours for the background and fur, and send these to the owner for them to choose from. Sometimes the choice can be hard to make! When Reuben's owner told me what colours she was thinking of for the painting (reds and pinks) I sampled these but also included others such as blues, purples and greens. She told that the blue and green version really fit his personality best - that's what we went with. I think he looks great with these colours!

See my pet portrait website for the before and after photos... www.lisariehlpetportraits.com

Trail in the Woods

Trail in the Woods - 8x10", acrylic

Here is the third plein air painting from Sunday...

If you are interested in this painting, please send me an email at info@lisariehl.com

Final paintings ...

I have done a bit of tweaking, as I said I was going to in my last post. I did 3 plein air paintings in total on Sunday, although I only posted two of them last time. Here are the "after" shots of the ones that I already posted. I added a bit more colour and upped the highlights. You will have to wait until tomorrow to see the third painting ...

after ... Royal Roads Cedar, 9x12"

after ... Afternoon Light, 10x10"

If you are interested in these paintings, please send me an email at info@lisariehl.com

Paintings from the Mother's Day Paint-In ...

Afternoon Light - 10x10", acrylic

Royal Roads Cedar - 9x12", acrylic

Had a blast today! Finally got out into the sunshine (although it was a bit hazy and cool with the breeze) and did some plein air painting. There were a lot of painters out there. I was painting by two other fantastic painters who have loads of plein air experience: Jim McFarland and Keith Levang. Their work is great, check out their sites by clicking on their names. They were a lot of fun to paint with!

I mentioned before that painting outside without a reference photo really wasn't my thing, but I quite enjoyed myself today. My previous attempts last year weren't all that successful, but towards the end of those sessions I realized that I was trying to paint in a different style than how I paint in the studio. Why? I have no idea. But once I stopped trying to do that, the paintings started to turn out a bit better. I know these aren't masterpieces, but they are better than I expected. I'm sure I'll tweak them up a bit in the studio...

Royal Roads Mother's Day Paint-In

I'm going to be at the Royal Roads Mother's Day Paint-In tomorrow, 12-4pm. It will be a gorgeous day, so come out and walk around and see the different artists and artisans. I will be set up with my easel doing some plein air painting, as will many other artists. There is a gorgeous forest walk you can do from the grounds of Royal Roads University to the Coast Collective, which is the arts collective I'm part of. Artists will be set up along that walk. Many of them (including me) will have paintings for sale in a room set up at the Coast Collective, and there is a gallery show and gift shop there too. Well worth the walk!!!!

Painting outside is not really my forte. I've done it a few times with mediocre results. I do realize that it takes a lot of practice to get good at interpreting light/shadows/colours without the help of a camera and printer, and I really do need to give it more attention and time. But I quite like the controlled environment of my studio. Tomorrow I will attempt painting what I see, but just in case I get discouraged, I have a few back-up reference photos printed out that are on my to-paint list!