When I create a custom painting for a client, the package includes a coffee table style storybook, telling how the painting came to be. Having this permanent art journal allows the client to revisit the creative journey at any time. I am pleased to share with you the story of my latest commission.

Last spring, a new client asked me to create a portrait of their home, as a surprise for her husband's 50th birthday. She came to my studio to discuss size, season, time frame and budget. Then she and I visited her home and decided on this view for the painting. 

She asked me to do a summer scene, when her garden would be in bloom, and to include certain elements in the painting, such as their three pets, and her husband's favourite truck. I took photos then and agreed to return for more photos in August.

In September, I drew a small concept sketch on graph paper to make sure the verticals were straight.

Once the client approved this concept, I made a full size layout drawing showing more details, such as the cats in the window and the dog on the front porch.

After approval, I traced the sketch onto watercolour paper, using a sheet of graphite paper to make the transfer. I used a ruler to make all the straight lines.

Masking fluid was applied temporarily to all areas that needed to stay white during the painting process.

I painted practice skies on scraps of watercolour paper, so I could choose the right combination of blues for the painting. Then I chose the other paints I thought would work and made colour tests to ensure I could mix all the colours I needed for the painting.

The sky wash was applied and allowed to dry overnight, and then I added the first layer of greenery.

I added window interiors, roof colours and a warm yellow wash on the front face of the home.

Using two mixtures, I painted the brick surfaces to look mottled. When dry, I added shadows under the eaves and porch.

After that layer dried overnight, I removed the masking fluid with a crepe eraser.

Below is the completed painting '180 Roseborough', watercolour 13 x 16.5".

With the storybook designed and ordered, I met the client at the framing gallery to select mats and molding. The framed painting and accompanying storybook were delivered to the client in time for the big birthday in November.  I do love a happy ending...

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While we were traveling around the Great Lakes in our RV last month, I created this painting based on a photo I took while visiting my Mom in B.C. on an earlier trip.

In the photo below, I have started with a pencil sketch on 300 lb watercolour paper and masked out the flower and leaves with Pebeo Masking Gum. I like the fact that it is dark enough to show up against the paper, allowing for better application accuracy.

Once the mask was fully dry, I used Indigo paint on the shadowed crevices between the stones. When dry, I spattered a fine spray of masking gum over the whole painting (using a tooth brush and a pot scraper), to preserve fine white dots in the stones. Then I spattered on a fine spray of Indigo paint and let everything dry overnight.

The next day, I gently wet the entire painting with clear water using a soft, natural hair brush, to disturb the Indigo spatter as little as possible. I gently dropped in muted mixtures of Indigo, Burnt Sienna, Primary Red and Aureolin (yellow). I waited about a minute for absorption and evaporation to reduce the wetness of the wash, then sprinkled table salt sparingly over the entire painting. I let the painting dry overnight.

After brushing off the dry, dirty salt, with my pot scraper and fingers, I erased the masking fluid with a crepe eraser, revealing white paper underneath. Some of my pencil lines disappeared in the erasure process, so I redrew them where necessary.

On dry paper, I painted each leaf and the stem, using mixtures of Indigo, Sap Green and Aureolin.

I completed painting the leaves, then defined the petals using Primary Red, Burnt Sienna and a touch of Indigo. A few shadowed areas and white dots were darkened where needed, to complete 'Hyacinth and Drystone', watercolour, 12 x 9". Let me know what you think, or if you have any questions about this demo. I would love to hear from you.

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I subscribe to Artsy Shark, an art marketing blog that often has excellent posts. Here is one for artists who show their art at summer festivals.

When I'm at the Buckhorn Fine Art Festival this August I will be sure to put this advice to good use. I hope you find it helpful as well.

Selling Art With Confidence

We spent a month camping at the excellent KOA Campground on the outskirts of Owen Sound this spring. Several groups of our friends joined us from time to time and all of us were very impressed with both the beauty of the region and the vast number of interesting things to do there.

Aside from a few hours spent relaxing, we were busy every day touring the area. Having done that, I would like to recommend that anyone interested in visiting  Owen Sound should experience the following highlights.

VIEW GEORGIAN BAY

Owen Sound is situated on the shore of Georgian Bay, which is part of Lake Huron. The water in the Bay is very deep, pure and clear and at times we thought some shorelines looked like the Caribbean. I never got tired of looking at the gorgeous blue water and all the fabulous rock formations and stones on the shore.

Highlights were a cruise out of Tobermory to Fathom Five National Marine Park (home of Flower Pot Island) and hiking in nearby Bruce Peninsula National Park. It was hard to pick just these few photos of the hundreds I took:

REVISIT THE PAST

We spent many lovely afternoons and evenings strolling through the residential areas of Owen Sound. At one time, this city had the largest number of millionaires per capita of any city in Canada. Imagine the lifestyles of the families who built these lovely homes.

HIKE TO WATERFALLS

Since Owen Sound is on the Niagara Escarpment (a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve), there are lots of accessible waterfalls nearby. Pick up the handy brochure Waterfalls of Grey County  which provides a map, photo and description for each of nine waterfalls.

We visited most of them and found Inglis Falls and Indian Falls (pictured below) to be the most impressive. Many can be accessed via the Bruce Trail and all are fairly easy to get to (no cliff climbing!).

DINE AT TED'S RANGE ROAD DINER

This unusual restaurant is out in the middle of nowhere, east of Owen Sound, and offers an incredible array of dining choices, from kangaroo to caribou to sea bass.

It is housed in a Quonset hut that surely does not meet fire code, and the extensive menu is written on chalk boards around the room.

The food was so tasty and beautifully presented that we went twice with groups of friends. Check out their menu and location here.

ENJOY GLORIOUS GARDENS & WILD FLOWERS

Many private gardens in Grey and Bruce Counties are open to the public year round. Pick up the brochure or visit RuralGardens.ca. Our favouite was Morland Place home and garden (shown in four photos below) - a huge labour of love.

The Bruce Trail runs very near Owen Sound and offers easy access for hiking and photography. Since I love flowers, I took hundreds of floral photos during our month stay in this area and it was difficult to select just a few to show you here.

RELIVE YOUR CHILDHOOD

We chanced upon an unusual museum east of Owen Sound called Vintage Riding Toy Collection. It showcased 300+ antique bicycles, wagons, scooters, pedal cars, sleds and many more ride-on vehicles.

Call 519-538-3200 for a private tour and a trip down memory lane (for us baby boomers that is).

More interesting places to visit:

Munshaw's Bistro, Flesherton

Bird Sanctuary at Harrison Park, Owen Sound

Artists' Co-op (40 local artists), Downtown Owen Sound

Sunday Flea Market, Rockford

Saturday Farmers' Market, Owen Sound

Factory Outlet, Meaford

Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound

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When I heard California artist Birgit O'Connor was teaching a watercolour class at Studio Six in Markham recently, I jumped at the chance to attend the three day flower painting workshop. Last year I learned how to varnish my watercolours from her excellent DVD Framing Without Glass, and have admired her style of painting enormous dramatic florals.

There were about twenty students in the workshop and the first day we learned her technique of making large, glowing washes by painting these half sheet warm ups. We used large brushes (size 20 and 30 rounds) and wet each area with lots of water so the washes would run together when the paper was tilted. Learning that technique alone was worth the price of admission! In the photo below, Birgit is pointing to my painting in the top row.

On the next two days of the class we had the option of painting along with Birgit on a second sample piece, or using our own reference photo to make a painting using her techniques. I opted for the latter and started a full sheet painting of blue Rose of Sharon from a photo I took in my friend Patti's garden. Below are the layers I finished during two days of painting.

I used MaimeriBlu pigments Cobalt Blue Deep, Sap Green and Indigo, and Winsor & Newton pigments Quinacridone Magenta and Crimson Lake for this painting. These combinations were new to me but I definitely will use them again as the mixtures were rich, somewhat liftable (so details could be softened) and non-granulating.

At the end of class Birgit posed with me beside my half finished painting (below). She was a very good teacher and the whole experience makes me want to paint more large florals.

The class was about a month ago and today I finished Blue Rose of Sharon (30 x 22"), pictured below. Let me know what you think.

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I'm almost finished teaching watercolour classes this spring. I have one last pebble class tomorrow, and then I teach 'Georgian Bay Moonlight' at the Lindsay Gallery for the next two Saturdays.

Here are some photos of the smiling graduates of my classes. We had fun, worked hard and made some very good friends (and paintings).

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I wrote this article for the local newspapers recently and thought you might find it interesting.

THE ACCIDENTAL AUTHOR

Artist, painting instructor and author Karen Richardson is happiest when working on a new watercolour and never intended to teach art classes. That happened by a fluke. And she never meant to write a book either, but she did.

Karen had been painting professionally for two decades when a gallery in Whitby asked her to fill in for an art instructor who had to back out. Karen agreed, and taught the perspective drawing and watercolour course. Not only did she find great fulfillment in helping aspiring artists; she also revealed a knack for explaining painting techniques in an easy-to-follow format.

Since then, she has taught hundreds of adult students in galleries in Port Perry, Lindsay, and Peterborough, and at workshops in her Port Perry studio. During these classes, Karen noticed a pattern: almost all students had difficulty with the same issues – such as choosing the right paper, mixing richer colours, controlling the behaviour of paint, and staying motivated when a painting wasn't cooperating.

She found herself explaining over and over how to avoid challenges like these, and how to fix problems when they did occur. A few years ago, she joked to her students "I sound like a broken record - I should write a book!" And her students heartily agreed.

Finally, last fall, Karen started to record all the nuggets of watercolour wisdom she could recall. Two months later, she had a finished manuscript titled 'Watercolour Toolbox', illustrated with 70 photos of her realistic paintings of stones, flowers, landscapes and buildings. She hired a publisher in BC to produce the full colour book, which is due off the presses early this summer.

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While we were near the south shore of Nova Scotia we made a quick trip to Lunenburg in what the local radio station called 'biblical rain'. That means pouring buckets. But we just had to see Bluenose II before the new launch later this summer. I took these photos of her in drydock.

Bluenose II in Drydock at Lunenburg Harbour, NS

I had to take the photos from the open doorway of a portable toilet so my camera wouldn't get soaked!

Bluenose II Almost Ready to Launch, Lunenburg, NS

We saw a fabulous, informative film in the visitor centre about the original Bluenose, which was a wooden-hulled commercial fishing schooner built in 1921. She was 181 feet long and her main mast had a height of 126 feet above the deck. Her displacement was 285 tons and total sail area was over 11,000 square feet. The film showed footage of her sailing and I was blown away by her massive size and graceful strength.

While the lifespan of most schooners was just 10 or 12 years, for 17 consecutive years Bluenose won the annual International Fishermans' Trophy (racing 40 miles against schooners from Maine). Her highest average speed was 16 knots, which made her the fastest sailing ship in the world. In 1938 when the racing series ended, she was named Queen of the North Atlantic Fishing Fleet. Bluenose has been pictured on the back of the Canadian dime (10 cent piece) from 1937 to this day.

Canadian Dime (photo from Wikipedia)

Every year, Bluenose earned her keep by fishing on the Grand Banks, surviving many storms, gales and the wear and tear of commercial use, but World War II marked the end of the great fishing schooners with the advent of diesel-powered steel trawlers. In 1942, Bluenose was sold to the West Indian Trading Company who removed her masts, added engines and used her to haul freight in the Caribbean. Four years later she struck a Haitian reef and sank. (There is a commemorative plaque on the ocean floor at the site of the wreck.)

Once Bluenose was lost, everyone realized what a tragedy it was that this world-famous, hard-working ship had not been preserved. Eventually in 1963, an identical schooner, Bluenose II, was built from the original plans, in the same shipyard and by some of the same men who built the first one. It was used as a showpiece and was sold to the government of Nova Scotia for $1 in 1971.

Bluenose II is now almost 50 years old and has been repaired many times, but this latest visit to drydock to replace the entire wooden hull and keel is costing $16 million.

If you would like to see photos of the restoration or read more history of Bluenose, they have a great web site http://bluenose.novascotia.ca/

As we near Canada Day later this week, it is very fitting that I pay tribute in my blog to this symbol of Canadian excellence in ship design, shipbuilding and seamanship. Happy Canada Day, Bluenose II. You're a grand lady and I'm proud to have met you.

We spent a week at the KOA campground near Sackville, NS, which is about a half hour north of Halifax. The campground is right on the Sackville River, so on our only sunny day there we finally had a chance to use the kayaks we hauled from Ontario. It was so great to get out into Nature. Here are some photos of us and some waterfowl.

John Kayaking on Sackville River

Karen Kayaking on Sackville River

Families of Canada Geese, Sackville River

Five Black Ducks on the Sackville River
(One upright and four bums-up)

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