Day 3 Kira Residency

Today was my third day at KIRA (Kingsbrae International Residency for the Arts). It was another glorious summer day.

Yesterday I started an 11x14in canvas of the lower pond with a cream coloured rhododendron in full bloom and patches of lupins blooming. I was smitten by the dappled shade and the backlit birch trees.
The canvas texture was pretty rough, so I struggled to achive a soft, faery-like feel. I gave up yesterday due to red ants, struggles with the canvas texture and the light changing. I didn't want to give up so easily! This morning first thing I trecked down to the pond again- yesterday's canvas in tow and gave it another try. I was amazed how much smoother it went today. I moved the easel, so there were hardly any ants, I stood up to so to easier move back and forth from the canvas and I arrived earlier then I did in my first session, so I had extra time to observe values, shade and light.

Here is where the it stands with the lower pond painting. Not quite done, but the overall done. I might simplify a few shapes, tweak some edges and adjust a few value bits (tomorrow, haha).

Dappled Light by the Pond, 11x14in, oil on canvas

As my daily flower portrait I had something different in mind, but couldn't resist to pitch my easel when I saw these dandelion seed heads (is this even the right word for them?).

Anyhow, here it is.

6x6in, oil plein air, dandelion seed heads

Behind the scenes:
I was so frustrated with this rough textured canvas that I decided to prime my other canvasses with oil ground in the hopes of yielding a smooth(er) surface.
This afternoon I prepped these panels with Gamblin oil ground. I put on a first layer, now I'll let them dry and put on a second layer tomorrow. They will have to cure a full week after that! Glad I read the instruction label so to plan for the curing time! Yey me (it's the little things;)
Also, I toned the large canvas a bright red.

preparing canvasses outside my studio

All in all, that was my day. Productive- behind the scenes mostly... but pleased to be chopping away on preparatory chores.

Until tomorrow again! Thanks for stopping by!

Simone

Corona Residency at KIRA

 Today marks my second day of my Corona Residency at KIRA St. Andrews (KIRA= Kingsbrae International Residencies for the Arts).
Usually international artists are juried to stay at the KIRA main house and create in their own little private studio. Due to Covid19 and the restrictions to travel and life, KIRA management has invited
local artists of various disciplines to make their home in one of the five studios.
I got invited and feel so honoured to paint alongside some amazing local heavyweight professional artists such as Geoff Slater, Alanna Baird (Tin Fish), Ann Manuel and Stephanie Robb.

Well, as per usual, I am flying at the seat of my pants (is this a right expression???). Monday morning I rushed home started packing my stuff from my 'home closet studio' only AFTER the official welcome at KIRA.

But, Mathias' school year is finished as of last Friday (happy mom, happy kid), so I am NOW calling myself a full time artist/creator for the next month! YEY!
The kids will happily fend for themselves for the month- eating KD for lunch and likely cookies for breakfast and watching TV all day long (Markus hopefully chases them outside to play in the yard, maybe he has them help him work around the house a bit). They loved the news about mom going to KIRA for a month, coming home to prepare dinner and do the dishes, haha!
Man, my little ones are growing up so fast! I am proud of them and hope Markus and 'da gang' will have a bit of fun while I'm painting.
The good thing about taking time away as a mom is that every time I spend a bit of time away, my 'stocks' are going up, aka: I am appreciated more than when I left. This could be a test 'how life would be if mom would work full time'. We shall see, I'll keep you posted on the feedback;-)

My art studio wall day #2 at KIRA

Anyhow, back to my paintings... as said, today is day #2 for me and you can see my efforts pinned to the wall. I decided to portrait one flower each day and slowly fill my wall with little vignettes of what comes and goes into bloom during my time here.

First day painting was of the last few orange/red poppies I could find,

Painting the last poppies at Kingsbrae Gardens.

Red Poppy, Plein Air, oil, 6x6in on hardboard, available

today was a buttercup-type flower (which I didn't write down its name). The gardener told me they are on their way out and I better paint those soon.

Yellow Buttercup, 6x6 oil on hardboard, available

The afternoon I spend by the lower pond below the wind mill. The pond has a natural look with wildflowers growing around it and in between mature woodland trees. It has a bit of the feel of Monet's pond.
There are beautiful lupins blooming right now, so I decided to park my easel by the pond under a mature oak tree (and on top of a large red ants nest). I didn't finish the painting as the sun moved and the colours of the landscape changed (and the ants drove me crazy). So, will go back tomorrow. Here's a pic of my hangout by the pond:

Studies in White- Eggs

Cracked Egg #1, 6x6in, oil on hardboard panel, available here

Last post I shared with you my white mushroom paintings, today I share with you my white eggs.
Yes, I always had wanted to paint a raw, cracked egg. The translucent white in contrast with the bright yellow yolk fascinates me.
To give it a try was the start to my January theme of painting all yummies that could go into an omelet.
I cracked the egg onto a white plate to forgo the mess of cleaning up, haha. Here's a photo of one of the egg paintings on a tray with some of the other veggie paintings. If you have been following me on my Instagram or Facebook feeds, you have seen my 'in situ' shots and studio shots frequently.

As mentioned before, my Valentine's Outreach:
Each of these 6x6in paintings is available for sale. $100 incl. shipping. Also, $15 from each sale will be donated to 'Backpack Blessings and Beyond' who help local school children that face food insecurity. They have backpacks filled with food waiting by the school entrance each Friday as they head home for the weekend. What a wonderful world it would be if every child would have a belly filled and no worry if there's food in the fridge.

Cracked Egg #2, 6x6in, oil on hardboard panel, available here

Studies in White- Mushrooms

Mushrooms 1 (Three Mushrooms), 6x6in, oil on hardboard panel, available here

Yup, it might sounds really funny when I say I am studying to paint whites, ey!?
The longer I paint, the more I 'look between the lines'. Meaning, I try to train my eye to see more distinct differences between cold/warm, colours, shadows, lights, edges and so on.

One of the more tricky things I find is to see the different shades of white. For example a white house might look really different on a sunshine-y day where the sunlit side looks a warm yellow and the white siding on the shadow side really is a purple-y blue. In contrast, on an overcast day the same house might look more grey-ish overall. Our brain tells us it is a white house, but our eyes (if we really look) tell us different.
Allowing to see things as they really are makes for a treasure hunt and a treat to explore.

In light of my January painting excursion themed 'How to Make an Omelet', I bought white button mushrooms. Please note the various shades on the mushrooms, shadow-light, soft edges, hard edges, shadows underneath the mushrooms... and you can also see the painting I created when they were just fresh from the store shelf, and the second painting where they have been waiting for a few days for me to get back on the easel;-)

Valentine's Outreach:

As mentioned in my former post, from each painting sold, $15 will be donated to charity: 'Backpack Blessings and Beyond'. You can read more about it here or here.
The group of volunteers is filling backpacks with food that school children who face food insecurity take home each weekend.  My kids' school is spearheading this outreach currently helping kids in 4 local schools.

Mushrooms #2, 6x6in, oil on hardboard panel, available here

Fill A Backpack With Simone

Yellow Sweet Pepper, 6x6in, oil on board, $100, available

 Happy winter 2019 everyone!

 I hope you all got a good start into this year and are safe and warm during these frigid winter temps!

As for me and my family, we have enjoyed a few nice and quiet weeks over the holidays and now into January.
Yes, and painting I have been as well- almost daily actually!
I started a fun series of 6x6in oil paintings of food. As per comment on my social feed I called it: Let's Make An Omelet!

Today I want to feature the peppers from the series.
A yellow pepper, a red one, green one and two small red hotties.

I hope to have my website updated over the weekend, listing each painting individually (if you want more info on a specific painting).
Each of these 6x6's is for sale for $100 (incl. shipping to Canada and the Continental US) and in the spirit of St. Valentine's Day I will donate $15 from each sale to 'Backpack Blessings and Beyond' charity.

Green Sweet Pepper, 6x6in, oil on boar, $100, available

Red Spicy Peppers, oil on board, 6x6in, SOLD thank you!

What is 'Backpack Blessings and Beyond'?

'Feed School Kids, No Matter The Cost' is their mission statement.
The program buys food for school children that live in homes that face food insecurity.
Before the kids leave school on Friday, the volunteers have food-filled backpacks lined up by the school entrance. The kids that are in the program know to look for them and grab a bag on their way out. The other kids don't know and so there is no stigmatism.
My kids' school is spear heading the program for St. George, Black's Harbour and Back Bay area schools. The program has been established about 5 years ago is providing weekly bags in 4 schools so far. Cost per backpack is $20 monthly or $240 per year.
This program is run by a handful of volunteers and caters to the very vulnerable of society and so I hope to give them a little plug and encouragement and a cheque on Valentine's Day.
If you want to help directly, here's their contact (Tax Receipts available):

Backpack Blessings and Beyond c/o FWC
PO Box 1092
St. George, NB, E5C3S9
506-754-1819 (Chris Sarchfield)
email: backpackblessingsandbeyond@gmail.com
Facebook: Backpack Blessings & Beyond

Sweet Red Pepper, 6x6in, oil on board, $100, available

Tomorrow I'll showcase more paintings from the series, they were so much fun to paint!

Thanks for reading along and following my painting journey;-)

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!        Simone

2019 Vintage Volkswagen Camper Bus Calendar

It has become a tradition by now. Calendars!

I love creating these fun calendars featuring my art.

A few years back, the whole calendar idea started out as the climax of a month long painting-a-day marathon. Vintage camper owners submitted photos for a chance to have their glamper photo painted and featured on my blog and social feeds. I was painting a vintage camper trailer each day, followed by a public voting. The crowd favs that gathered the most votes were featured in my first camper calendar.

People loved the idea and sent in more photos than there were days in the month! And by the end I had created 30 paintings in one month!

Let's fast forward a few years to 2017. 

Our local VW enthusiasts have been hosting a 'Gathering of Friends' VW meet at the local Kiwanis Oceanfront Campground in St. Andrews, NB, Canada. Jenny and her husband Barry invited me to come down to the campground and paint at my leisure while the group was set up. And I did just that! 

It was so much fun to pitch my easel in the midst of reno-chatter and the sharing of tips and tricks to tackle specific vintage VW issues. I heard phrases of water cooled engines and sealing leaks Kids were running around and the summer weather was perfect. 

I even met some proud Volkswagen owners!

This past summer I went back, just for a few short hours, unfortunately. But over the last year I created enough VW bus paintings to fill this 2019 calendar.

I still have a few available!

So if you are looking for a year-long gift for the VW lover on your list, here's a video. 

You can order through my website www.SimoneRitterArt.com or pick up in person at our restaurant, Europa Inn, downtown St. Andrews.

Thank you for taking time, it surely is a busy time of year for everyone!

Thank you for your continued encouragement and journeying with me. 

I wish each and everyone of you a blessed Advent and a Merry Christmas! 

Creating House Commission Paintings

Augustus Hall Commission 8x10in oil painting, sold

'It's not just a house, it is a home'. Homes are personal cornerstone places in our lives, mark special events, people, family members and loved ones, history important in one way or another. Many people build or lovingly restore homes. Houses hold memories of happy times spent and special people met.
Everyone has places that are special to them in a personal way.
It is a special honour to be invited to capture a keepsake painting featuring a special house in someone's life. This painting is such a commission. I was actually very surprised when the collector contacted me asking if I'd be interested in creating a painting of his beloved historic home. He is designing, building and also renovating custom luxury homes.
As you know, I'm more an impressionist, meaning that I'm more interested in colour than correct angles, haha. So, this one was going to be a challenge and I knew it! As an added level, the collector asked for an oil painting. So, I knew I had to put aside extra time to not feel rushed. Also to give myself sufficient time to tip-toe into this commission piece.

Creating the Painting:

And time it took- this little 8x10in oil was occupying my mind and brush for almost a month!
What proofed a challenge was that white clapboard siding, few shadow areas, working from multiple photos taken at various times of year showing various sunlight at various angles.
My aim was to keep correct the angles of the architecture (well, as good as I could manage that is). Also to keep colours crisp and clean while playing with pushing the white towards different tints such as pinks, yellows, blues, purples and so on. Just the tiniest smidge of yellow warms pure titanium white to look sunny and friendly. On the other hand, just a bit too much makes it appear like yellow siding. Also, if a warmed white is put next to a cold, blueish white, the contrast between both colours shifts the cold colour backwards and lifts the warmer colour to the front.
I went back-and-forth. I adjusted angles, whites- and scraping off again. Yup, and I applied paint again and eventually got a pretty good feeling of the home. Yes, I was glad when I could finally say: yes, this painting is finished, I'm OK with it! I learned so much like applying layers, adjusting temperatures and adding pops of colour and I really have to say it has grown on me and I had fun along the way.

What a surprise when the collector came and not only picked up the commissioned oil painting, but the (below) watercolour as well. I hope both paintings will be a sweet memory of their beautiful home! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to capture your special place!

Augustus Hall Commission 8x10in, watercolour, sold