It's Starting to Smell Green...

"Regalia" ACEO can be purchased by contacting me at:
rita @ ritawoodburne.com
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Well, it's that time of year again. Time to start thinking about the upcoming garden season and, if the weather is permitting in your neck of the woods, it's also time to start some veggie seeds.

Much like last year the majority of my gardening posts are going to cover vegetable gardening with the occasional foray into flowers. My green thumb is mainly reserved for growing veggies of epic proportion and my flower thumb... well, it's not entirely green, let's just put it that way.

Today's post is the official kick-off and I'll keep it as "Reader's Digest" as possible 'cause there's going to be oodles to cover in the coming weeks. So, with that in mind here's a list of what I'll be growing this year:

• carrots
• cherry tomatoes
• parsnips
• cucmbers
• onions
• garlic
• peas
• zucchini
• corn
• eggplant
• lettuce
• buttercup squash
• potatoes
• pumpkins
  

In addition, I've also decided to throw in basil and oregano because I use them a lot in my cooking. On top of those things there's the standards I already have in the garden that come back year after year like chives, dill, parsley, rhubarb and the raspberries that have taken on a life of their own.

That's right. Those are some daffodils and tulips that are poking
their sleepy little heads out.

Just to put this into perspective, on Monday of this week there was still a little
over a foot of snow covering these guys.

So there's the list of goodies for this year. I may also throw some beets and beans in there as well but we'll see as we get closer to planting time.This has been a long, snowy winter so the sooner I can get back to playing in the dirt, the better. Wouldn't you agree?

It's Not Gaudy!

Well howdy there, dear reader.

Glad you came back to find out what I'm up to with my Van Gogh project. As I mentioned in my previous VG post I've been working on a new approach to doing art in my (seemingly) never-ending quest to incorporate more colour into my work.

Last year over on WetCanvas! I posted a piece that I had been working on in which I had used some colours that wouldn't have been part of my palette at the time. You know, colours like Periwinkle, Pale Vermillion, Raspberry and Yellow Chartreuse. I love work that features bright, bold colour but at the time the thought of using them in my own work scared the bejeezus out of me.
I posted my work (and to be honest I can't even recall which one it was) in the hopes of getting some feedback and critiquing. People were more than happy to offer up their thoughts and opinions and it was one comment in particular that prompted me to think that perhaps I was on the right track. The commenter wrote that they liked my use of colour (as in colour not typically considered for the subject matter) because it worked well with the piece and that I had used it in a way that didn't look gaudy.

Sure, some folks may think that sounds kind of blunt or perhaps wouldn't have even given the comment a second thought but I was quite pleased with myself for having received this particular comment. As I mentioned before, I like work that features bright, bold colour but I've also seen some works where I have to ask myself whether the artist wasn't quite in a proper state of mind... if ya know what I mean.

In the big book of Van Gogh that I've been reading (and yes, I've been reading other articles and books on VG) there was a particular letter he wrote to Theo describing the colour and people of Arles in which he states:

"...Although the people here are grossly ignorant about painting in general, in themselves and their way of being they are far more artistic than in the North.
... They know how to add a touch of pink to a black outfit, and have a knack of putting outfits together in white, yellow, pink, or even green and pink, or indeed blue and yellow, so that nothing needs to be changed from an artistic point of view."**

That particular passage, combined with the comment I received last year gave me such a clear idea of what I'm trying to do with this project. I'm trying to attain that knack that VG is speaking of in regards to the people of Southern France but in a way that I can apply said "knack" to my art.


Now I know I said I was working on a daisy picture as my experiment but it's not the piece I have to show you today. Instead I finished up my "snow day" work of the horse and with the above thoughts in mind I figured colour-wise I'd just go for it and see what happens. First is the beginning stages, the second is a close-up of the forelock and the third is the completed piece:

"Mystic", WIP
8x10, coloured pencil on Colourfix
Copyright Rita Woodburne

"Mystic", close- up of forelock and head.

Copyright Rita Woodburne

"Mystic"
8x10, coloured pencil on Colourfix
(With my apologies as the colour is slightly washed out in this pic)
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Now I must admit, I'm quite tickled as to how this came out. I managed to keep the softness that's part of my style and I got to use Henna, Lavendar, Limepeel and a slew of other colours that I wouldn't normally have picked up when working on a piece like this... without it looking gaudy!

I pat myself on the back.


Now don't go thinking that I've forgotten about my daisy piece. Far from it, in fact while I was finishing this one up I was working out the daisy piece in my mind and figuring out ways to apply the same ideas and methods to that one. At the moment I can see two main issues that I'm going to encounter in completing the daisies: 1- Aside from the lilac piece, it's been a good long while since I've done a floral. Flowers have lots more fiddly bits than horses and I've chosen an image with a rather different perspective so I've double whammied myself in that regard and 2- I'm working on Mi-Teintes which isn't as forgiving as Colourfix because it doesn't allow for as much layering. With that in mind I'm going to have to be very deliberate in my application of colour and how heavily it's applied.

With those obstacles laid out on the table I'm hoping I can finish it up this week-end and have it posted to you for next week. I do love a challenge.

Until Friday, keep on art-ing! :D


** "Vincent Van Gogh: A Self-portrait in Art and Letters" Edited by H. Anna Suh and published by Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, New York

It's March 24th, and do you know what that means?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!


Wow. That was a bit self-indulgent, wasn’t it?

Who cares!? It’s my birthday and, if you’ll humour me dear reader, I’m taking this day to enjoy myself, eat decadent food and just unwind in general as I celebrate the last birthday I’ll have before I exit my twenties.

On that note, I sign off with the promise of an art post on Wednesday. There’s an orange chocolate mousse cake that’s calling me...

It's Finally Here!!

Hi there, dear reader. That's right, Spring is finally here!

Yesterday I packed myself up and headed into town to get groceries and, more importantly, some supplies I needed for seed starting. Since I've picked up those supplies you know what that means? Starting late next week or the week after I'll be starting my gardening posts again for the upcoming planting season. This year should be interesting (especially since I've vowed to thwart those potato beetles even if it kills me) and I promise I'll try to find more recipies that involve chocolate and vegetables.

"3 Sunbathers" WIP- Part 1
5x7, coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Also, with the end of March approaching I'd like to exercise my right to "wiggle room" as outlined in my plan for 2008.

The Van Gogh project was supposed to be wrapped up at the end of this month and, much to my surprise and delight, it's taken me in directions that I wasn't quite expecting and as a result I've decided to turn this into a year long project. I'd hate to feel like I have to force myself to wrap this project up, as well as posts sharing my progress and learning, and with that in mind I intend to keep posting on the subject and continuing with my study/ research. Who knows where it'll take me....


You'll also notice the picture above. It's a WIP I started from my own reference pic that I took last summer. I've always loved daisies and I like works with unusual perspectives. I took this ref, and several others, as I was lying on the ground looking up.

I'm also doing this one to test out a new approach I'd like to take to working in conjunction with the VG project. I won't go into too much detail right now since I'd like to do another VG post this week-end and would like to save the details for that post.

So here's where I'm leaving it. Stay tuned for more, won't you?

"3 Sunbathers" WIP- Part 2
5x7, coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

PS- Have a fantastic Easter long week-end!!

Irish Eyes Are Smiling...because more artwork is done!

Lilac Tea WIP- Part 3

5x7, coloured pencil on pastel board
Copyright Rita Woodburne


Lilac Tea WIP
5x7, coloured pencil on pastel board
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Not a big post today. I just wanted to stop in and wish you, dear reader, a Happy St.Patrick's Day! May it be filled with much corned beef, potatoes, soda bread and beer!

To my brother, Happy Birthday!! Don't do anything I wouldn't do... like take a pie in the face.

Oh, and the Lilac Tea piece? It's done:

"Sure Sign of Spring"
5x7, coloured pencil on pastel board
Will be available to win the the raffle at the Lilac Tea Art Show,
tickets can be obtained from the Tyendinaga Township Public Library
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Have a wonderful day and keep on art-ing!

Lilac Tea piece, WIP Part 1
5x7, coloured pencil on pastel board
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Lilac Tea piece WIP Part 2
5x7, coloured pencil on pastel board
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Today I was going to do a post on Van Gogh but instead would like to share something that is both funny and sad at the same time.

In the town closest to me, which happens to be Belleville, the current mayor has been working very hard to improve the healthcare facilities as well as get more doctors into our region since most folks out this way don’t have a family doctor, including myself. For all his hard work we thank him immensely as he’s already got 17 doctors signed onto the Doctor Recruitment Program (the first one will be opening his practice in October of this year I believe) and has helped re-work the current budget for the region to get more advanced equipment into the local hospital. One of the pieces of medical equipment the Quinte region has recently received is a new MRI machine.

The acquisition of the new MRI machine was big news because 1- I would think that regardless of where you live if your hospital received medical equipment of that size and price tag it would be news and 2- this is largely a farming and light industry community that is growing by leaps and bounds so anything that makes front page news is worth talking about... including the crowning of the Queen of the Furrow, but that story is for another day.

They talked about it on the radio for weeks. They wrote articles about it in the weeks leading up to its delivery. Then finally the big day came, the day the MRI machine was delivered. I believe the city closed off a portion of the road in front of the hospital specifically so this thing could be delivered and placed into the hospital in a timely manner (it is a monsterously large machine). When this happened you better believe the local papers were there to get pictures and talk to the hospital big-wigs. Myself, being a curious critter, waited until my local paper was delivered to see the pics and read the associated article.


Here’s where things get a little ironic.


Imagine my surprise when I saw the picture and realized just how big a machine this was. Then imagine my surprise when in the picture I saw just how many men it took to unload it. Then imagine my surprise when I saw one of the helpful workers smoking a cigarette while unloading the MRI machine.


And the quest for improved quality of health continues...


PS- The Lilac Tea piece is actually done. I'm just posting these WIP pics to coax you, dear reader, into coming back. ;)

Just Another Day in Paradise...

On the weekend we were hit with a Winter storm, lots of snow, freezing rain, more snow, ice pellets, wind and as such it was the perfect day to stay inside . . . and watch the Other Half snow-blower (that’s gooder English, right?) the driveways.

For me it meant working on art because my only other option was to do laundry and, really, who wants to do laundry? Not me, that’s for sure.

Working on art and waiting for the snow to melt...
both being tasks that require the the highest level of patience one can muster.

I have a few projects on the go right now: a handful of commissions, some personal work that I’d like to have done for the upcoming show season and I’ve volunteered to do the artwork this year for the Lilac Tea Art Show that will be used for advertising and nitty-gritties like name-tags and place-cards for the show. So even with the daily chores and such that come with living on a farm it’s quite fair to say I’ve got a few things on my plate and on top of all that now I’m getting geared up for gardening season.

Did I mention we had a snowstorm here?

I tell ya, there’s nothing quite like two feet of snow, the end of Winter and cusp of Spring to get one thinking about planting zucchini and lobelia (not in the same plot, of course!) This past weekend I pulled out my seed supply from last year and the seed catalogue I was sent back in October and started mentally planning how my veggie garden and planters would look for this year. I also looked over floral ref pics I have stored on my computer because in the vast expanse of white that covers my front lawn and garden I was wont to recall the colours that were there back in the Spring. And Spring is coming...mark my words.



I do love the ever-changing variety that weather in Canada provides but to be honest, I’m quite sick of Winter now. The snow can melt. The Spring flowers can come out. The solar-loading can begin. In fact, if my nostrils freeze together one more time I’m just going to throw myself in the snow and have a temper-tantrum simply because I can. So there.

What was it I said not too long ago? Life gets in the way of having fun? Yeah, that was it, and last week there was a whole s#!^-load of life that happened... and not the pleasant stuff either. So today I’m resuming having fun, even if it kills me by golly!


So today isn't going to be a big post but let’s talk about Van Gogh, shall we?

I’ve been reading a lot more of the book that my brother got me, “Vincent Van Gogh: A Self-Portrait in Art and Letters” edited by H. Anna Suh** with great interest. With so much interest, in fact, that I’ve been marking off pages that have letters that I found particularly striking as they pertain to my own project, meaning those that discuss colour, drawings and emotion/ expression.

It’s no big secret that once VG discovered how much fun he could have expressing himself with bright, bold, rich colour could be he went right to town with it. The letters I’ve been re-reading are those that were written just before VG was introduced to the Impressionists and from those letters it seems as though he was very much on the cusp of realizing just what an important impact the appropriate selection of colour could have on the viewer (and how his own feelings are conveyed to the viewer) and it's just this facet of art that I'm quite interested in at this point in my project.


One of the letters that struck me most (so far) was written to Theo in October of 1883 and it was this portion of the letter that I found most intriguing:

"...the sky was an indescribably delicate lavender-white, no fleecy clouds, as they all tended to run together and covered the whole of the sky, but patches more or less toning lilac, gray and white, with odd gaps where the blue shone through. Then on the horizon a brilliant stripe of red, with under it the surprisingly dark expanse of brown heather, and against the luminous, red strip and number of low roofs and small cottages."


I mean really, can the man verbally paint a picture or what?

Something that also struck me with the letters from this time period was the extent that Van Gogh went to to decribe things. In some of his earlier letters he comes across as verbose (to me) but the letters from this period, and those thereafter, seem descriptive in a way that doesn't come across as excessive... and I love it. :D

He's describing an increased passion for not only his subjects but how he presents them to the viewer so they can share in that passion, and if it happens to involve some lemon yellow and pale vermillion so much the better.


So right now I'm thinking more on how I can use colour in my work to "get the point across" as it were without deviating much from my style. Regular readers will know that colour has always been a point of frustration/ angst for me when creating my art but as I progess with this project (and thanks to the VG project from last year) I'm feeling more and more comfortable with using it.


I'm gettin' there, I'm gettin' there...



** Published by Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, New York

- both ACEO's, "White Wonder" and "Contemplative" are available for purchase. Please contact me if interested.

All images copyright Rita Woodburne