Rocky Mountains Plein Air Series: Aspens and Fernie Art Station

To Win a Watercolour Sketch painted in the Rocky Mountain Foothills: comment on my blog or Facebook posts during Sept 2015.  I will make the draw the first week in October. Good luck!

 Completing a Painting on Location:

Yesterday I finally completed a watercolour painting on location. Well... okay it was 99% completed on location. I glazed back a few white trunks in the studio to draw attention to the aspens in the front.

 Monday's Plein Air Painting:

After visiting the Fernie Art Station on Monday, I decided to try a change of location and plein air paint in Fernie. Here is my set up: a folding chair and a TV tray. I was near a well used biking trail and had many bikers and dog walkers going by. Lovely to experience such an active community. 

 

 

This is as far as I got before the rain started. When beginning I thought I would sit for an hour and see how far I could get. Two hours went by before I could even consider it done enough to finish in the studio. I completed the painting in the studio this afternoon.



Title ? (I am open to ideas)
11" X 15" (fits a 16 X 20" frame with mat)
Watercolour by Eileen Gidman

Week 1: Painting in the Rocky Mtns

Watercolour by Eileen Gidman painted on location in the Rocky Mtn foothills
Any title ideas?

 Day six today! The days, of the month retreat, are taking on a routine. Out painting by 9 for about 3 hours. Home for a warm lunch as the days have been very cold and some were rainy. Do you see the snow on the top of the mountain in my painting. That happened this week and there were even a few snow flakes in the valley! The afternoons include a rest period and finishing that morning's painting in the studio. The weather is supposed to be better this week, so the other artist and I plan on getting out a second time in the afternoons.  I might end up with a stack of paintings that need finishing!!!

 

 

This is a photo of the view I was working on today. The watercolour painting is so far from being finished I won't post it. I like the way the tops of the trees show so much movement. I would like to capture that but don't think I have thus far. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

To Win a Watercolour Sketch painted in the Rocky Mountain Foothills: comment on my blog or Facebook posts during Sept 2015.  I will make the draw the first week in October. Good luck!

Dye Painting: Lights, Mediums and Darks

PAINTING WITH DYES ONTO MERCERIZED COTTON FABRIC

10 Painted Fabric Pieces Ready for Quilters

CONSIDERING VALUES WHEN PAINTING

Considering the value of colours is as important when creating fabric for quilting, as it is when painting a picture. Here is one approach.

I have laid in the lightest yellow. Remember when painting with dyes your colours will be slightly lighter when washed so put the colour down a little stronger than you want the finished piece to be. In the lightest yellow, I have also left so speckles of white (areas without dyes)

Next I put in the darkest shade of yellow. I put it towards a green. I might also have painted with a colour created from yellow and it's complement purple but in this instance I didn't want to chance greying the piece.

For contrast with the cool yellows, I decided to add a little warm yellow (Lemon Yellow Procion MX dye with a small amount of  Fuschia) to the flower.

The medium value of yellow was added to complete the flowers.



  

Now for the cactus itself. I mixed up three values of green. I find for mixing the darkest value, I have to add a lot more black than one would think.



Completed piece. After this step, the piece is placed onto a sheet of plastic. I allow it to dry a little before closing it up in plastic. Then the piece is cured at 70 degrees for 24 hours and then washed.

A similar process was used with the red blooms.

If you are interested in having a piece of fabric created for you, email me at egidman@kootenay.com These fabric pieces are easy to mail and make great reasonably priced gifts.

Motoring in the Maritimes

I could show you lots of pictures of lighthouses, seascapes, autumn coloured trees because believe me I took a lot of them but instead I have included a few of the artisan places we visited and a few other special things.

Fox: seen near Cape George on the way to Antigonish, NS

It puzzles me how this fox can look so groomed. My dog needs to be brushed to look this good.

Quilt Store at Port Hawksbury, NS

After crossing the Canso Causeway from the peninsula of Nova Scotia to Cape Breton Island, this quilt store is right there.

Sketching on Cape Breton at Baddeck

I didn't get as much sketching time as I would have liked on this road trip so I treasured the time I did get here at Baddeck, on Cape Breton Island.

Cape Breton, Cheticamp.

This Acadian area of Cape Breton is famous for it's hooked rugs. I purchased a piece created by a 91 year old that specialized in depicting chickadees and pussy willows. Who could resist that.

Rug Hooking

I was able to get a little demonstration right at the store. Either wool or strips of woolen material are used to create the art work.

Fabric Dyer near Mabou, Cape Breton.

Ann has a studio and store in her own home and it was busy when I was there with people from New York and Pennsylvania.  Click here to see Ann Schroeder's website. http://www.annschroederstudio.com/visit-cape-breton/

Fiddle by the Sea Bed and Breakfast, Port Hood, Cape Breton

Click here for information about this wonderful B&B we stayed at in Cape Hood on Cape Breton Island http://www.thefiddleandthesea.com/ .Alain entertained us with fiddle music after a wonderful crepe breakfast prepared by Denise. If you are planning a trip to Cape Breton, and you are interested in the autumn colours and Celtic Music, be sure to check out the Island wide festival Celtic Colours. http://www.celtic-colours.com/future-dates/

 

Farm on PEI

The soil on PEI was red! When we were there it was harvest time and we saw large trucks full of the famous PEI potatoes. The scenery was so idyllic with their picture perfect farms.

Confederation Bridge joining PEI with NB. It was a 12.8 km bridge

You couldn't help but feel just a little prouder of Canadians after seeing this engineering feat. If you want to read more about this bridge, click here .

Quilt Shop, Digby, NS
Shop owner Darlene D'Eon and myself. I am holding some NS tartan I purchased here. I have loved that tartan ever since I saw it a few years ago at Quilt Canada, Halifax.

 To check out Darlene's 'A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop' in Digby click here. here


 

The fall colours that greeted us on our own garage when we got home!

Hopefully we can go back and spend more time someday.







Clotheslines of the Maritimes

Thrilling to see clothes hanging on the clotheslines seemed to be a way of life in the Maritimes. I have painted clotheslines in watercolour for sometime and for an explanation of why I do, click here .

 

As you can see in the photos below stick props are common in keeping the clothes up off the ground. This is not something I have really seen here in the western provinces of Canada. Who knew there would be regional differences to clothesline usage in Canada. Oh yes, I would love to paint my way across Canada and other countries, painting clotheslines and discovering the cultural differences of their usage.

For the post about my newest watercolour painting in my 'Clothesline Series' click here .

How could a hanging clothes not look beautiful in a setting like that!

Love  that stick prop.

Wonderful to see all laundry hung to dry. This was not in a back yard, but right on the edge of the road. Beautiful I thought.

 

My studio shelves are bare...

 

and the boxes are full ready for a move.

 

Everything is topsy-turvy in my studio and house right now so my posts might not be on their regular days for awhile. When we are unpacked I will post a photo of the new studio. Looking forward to setting up my dye pots.



Visiting a Quilt Store in Cape Breton

Anne (right) and I throwing autumn leaves

What a colourful day we had finding Anne Morrell Robinson's Quilts and Fiber Art Store on Cape Breton Island. http://www.kingrossquilts.com/ I was told by a friend, before I left home in BC, that it would be a road trip into see Anne's Store but that it was well worth it. Isn't 'word of mouth' from quilters wonderful. Without the quilter's recommendation, would I have ventured so far a field to find this little gem of a store in the highlands of Cape Breton? On our map, Kingross, the region the store is located in, looks to be the end of the road into the Margaree Valley but our drive was well worth it. Click here for more information about the area.

I called stop at this stretch of the road. Can you see that each tree lined up along the side of the road was a different colour?

The drive in the Margaree Valley of Cape Breton had some of the most colourful autumn scenery we encountered on our visit to the Maritimes.

This photo was taken twice as the colourful maples grabbed my attention both driving into the store and on the way out.

It felt like we were going through a tunnel of yellow and orange just before turning into Anne's driveway.

Anne designed this quilt for a block of the month challenge for her quilt group. It will be made into a veteran's quilt for donation. When I said I always have trouble drawing maple leaves, Anne replied "I just ran out and picked up a maple leaf to draw from. I like that it is so representational of the area.

 

Visiting Anne (on the right) in her shop was that a treat. Not only were there quilts she had designed and created herself but I was surprised to find she had many other talents from creating original pieces of textile clothing, to felting brooches, to hooking traditional rugs with strips of wool fabric, to fabricating dolls.

 

Look for more photos of quilt shop visits, waterccolour sketches, and colourful landscapes of the Maritimes in upcoming posts. Thanks for stopping by.

 

Do You Ever Do Something Just For Yourself?

Have you ever done something just for yourself? Recently I went to the Rocky Mountains to plein air paint for 5 days. Wow, the whole experience was enriching, from:

• meeting a very generous couple who hosted us,
• meeting the farm couple who invited us to their ranch to paint,
• witnessing the changing autumn colours throughout the week,
• being in the company of dedicated plein air painter friends,
• to experiencing the vast views of the foothill area of the Rocky Mountains.

This will be a week to remember for life. If you can organize something like this for yourself, I would highly recommend it.

One of several watercolour paintings that were 90 percent completed on location

The view that was my inspiration

Thread & Fabric. A textile person couldn't resist that sign! Although I didn't have time to paint this on location, I still might paint it.

Blue and yellow, big sky prairie sunrise.

Yes, this is a REAL photo. Those wind-tortured tree trunks made intricate patterns. I did two paintings at this location which will need some details added in the studio before showing you.
Textile Art: Can't wait to paint this image on textile with dyes. Can you imagine it?

Check later for the rest of the paintings from the trip or you can follow my Eileen Gidman, Watercolour and Textile Artist, Facebook page by going here and clicking on 'follow'. If you prefer email notification of new posts, enter your email on the upper left near the top of this blog. Thanks for stopping by.

Baby Book with Textile Art

Baby Book:  I looked to see what I had for hand painted textiles that a toddler might like. These brightly coloured fruit might work. I've edged them in some fun commercial textile and I am in the process of free motion quilting the layers together. I am a bit puzzled as to how to quilt the front and back layers together as they both contain pictures. Next post I'll let you know what I have come up with.

Low immersion dyed baby 'onesies' are cute! You'll have to wait for the next post as they are in the washer rinsing. 

This is as far as I've gotten on the baby book.

Cotton natural batting for between the pages.

  

Adding fun fabrics for edgings

 

Free motion stitching details.

Free motion stitching: I've sewn 1000 meters this summer!

'Creston Valley Fruit and Berry Series'
Core Matters: Farm and Food Art Show
9 artists
 Creston Chamber of Commerce, Sept 4 - Oct 3, Mon - Fri 9-5.
Opening reception Tuesday Sept 9th from 7 - 8:30pm

Yesterday looking at the paintings of the other artists, I was astounded at the fine quality of the art work. Also the subject matter is a tribute to the finest of living in the Creston Valley and I am very proud to be in this art show. Please come to the opening reception if you are able to.

Hiking with friends in the mountains. Life can't get much better than that!

A hidden gem of a lake in the mountains of the Kootenays

10 min sketch at the lake. A sketch brings back so many more memories than a photo for me. I will have to add colour in the studio.