Red Table

Limes on a white cloth look so fresh and spring like. It's been a while since I painted fruit and wanted to do a simple still life set using one of the side tables I antiqued with red and black paint a few years ago. Since green and red are complementary colours on the traditional colour wheel it all works. You will notice that the focal lime has some blemishes. As I mentioned on some previous postings, I enjoy painting fruits and veggies with imperfections as they are often more interesting and beautiful because of their unique features, than the ones we consider perfect... Even the specimens that we think are perfect often have some hidden flaw... Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

SOLD
14 x14 inches, oil on canvas (just painted yesterday, needs some drying times)


Ivory White

This 14x14 inch painting of 2 echinacea flowers sold the day after I painted it.   It has numerous impasto areas of white paint on the petals which will take a good month or a bit more, to dry enough for shipping/handling.  It will hang in my gallery until it is ready to go.  The thick textured paint gives the painting a two dimensional quality... each petal looks like it might dance in the breeze at any moment...

Thank You again to Van Gogh for inspiring me with his thick paint techniques and brush work.  It may take longer for these areas of a painting to dry, but it is worth the wait. 

SOLD

Aubergine

If you remember my posting from Dec 16, 2008 called Cinderella, you will recall I mentioned that a friend of mine loves to collect shoes. She graciously loans me a pair now and then to use as props in my paintings.  I wanted to use a veggie with these shoes and it was her suggestion to try an eggplant.  So off I went to the Strathcona Farmers Market here in Edmonton to buy one.

This shapely little aubergine was up for the challenge as she posed on her toes like a ballerina next to these sage green Arnold Churgin shoes (a fabulous shoe store in Calgary).  Fabulous design can be found in nature as well as man made objects...

NFS
$80.00 10x8 oil on canvas, ready to hang (not dry enough to ship, but contact me and we can arrange the shipping date)

Birch III & IV


Birch III (top painting)
 Birch IV(bottom painting)


A wider (and larger) format is well suited to birch trees. These are 11x24 inches and I posted them together because they would make a nice set to group side by side on a wall.  I could not post them that way, so here they are stacked, but that is not how I would hang them.

On a moonlight evening birch trees can appear to be etherial...  Ghostly beings huddled together shaking hands, leaning in to hear a good story, hugging, patting each other on the back in a friendly gesture, whispering together as you walk by...  Each tree is unique. Some are large and robust, others slender and delicate.  A few look frail with frost cracks looming large on their tiny frames, while others have a bit more peeling bark... and scared limbs. Each unique from the rest.

How boring it would be if they all looked alike. Who would bother to paint them?
11x24 inches each, pen and ink with ink wash on 140 lb arches watercolour paper.  (Ready to be matted and framed)

Birch IV is sold


*Birch III is available ($150.00 + 20.00 S/H anywhere in North America)



  

Spring Fever

Hurray! Today is the official first day of spring. In honour of this special day I painted this larger canvas... vibrant red tulips that my husband gave me. Yesterday I had a photo session with them... they posed like real pros and we spent some quality time together.

Spring Fever is in the air...

SOLD
16x20 inches, oil on canvas (hot off the easel, needs some drying time. Let me know if you would like this one and we will work out the details)

Pink Glow

My backyard garden has numerous varieties of poppies popping up everywhere. Pastel tones like lavender and dusty pink are especially enchanting... Cute, pinky white ruffled tops like a head full of adorable curls nestled inside a fringe of billowy silk petals.
Don't get me started about the soft sage green poppy pods surrounding her...

SOLD
10x8 oil on canvas, (give her a bit longer to dry, her thick impasto curls are not quite dry...)

Pearl White, by Canadian Artist Kim Blair

A white iris is usually many shades of white... sometimes you can see some lavender in the shadows, sometimes you see reflected tones from other plants and sometimes there are hints of other colours washed into each petal from the moment the flower opens...   Like a pearl, an iris is a thing of simple, natural beauty...

There is an impasto technique (texture and thickness) on the petals in this painting that may be difficult to see in this photo... very Van Goghish.
SOLD
10x8 oil on canvas, (the thick impasto is not dry enough to ship, but email me if you would like to have this one and we can discuss the delivery date)

Fiesta






Hot pink and orange spell Party time!  One more gerbera painting...  While I was painting this one I was thinking Mexico... Hot weather... Festivals... Pinyadas filled with candy and party favours... (ok, ok, I was also thinking margaritas by the pool)...

Add some heat to your life on these cold days. Go to Mexico! (or buy a hot painting and mix yourself (and me) a margarita... )

Adios!

SOLD
8x10, oil on canvas, (still needs some drying time before shipping so contact me and we can work out the time line etc)
  

Redhead



(Ongoing delay issues with google... if you, (be positive Kim)... When you receive this email posting please have a quick look on my blog to view any paintings you may have missed in the past few days.)

So far I have tried growing the pinky purple echinacea flower (a.k.a. cone flower) in my garden, but the creamy white variety is quite stunning and may be my choice this summer.  Both varieties have large bulbous red seed heads that look top heavy... swaying back and forth in the breeze.  Looking extra large and whimsical, the seed head (cone) of this flower appears to be balanced by the long, delicate, ivory white arm-like-petals... synergy in motion.
SOLD
10x8 oil on canvas, (just painted yesterday, so let me know if you want her and we can work out the shipping date details)


Tangerine Too




More google,feedburner issues.  Yesterday's feed called Royal Flag was not delivered.  We will see if it doubles up with this one (if this one is sent out today).  Such is life in the techno world. ( I have noticed on the google, feedburner help forum that I am not the only one with this issue...)

Meanwhile back at the post...

I enjoyed painting the March 5  posting so much that I wanted to do another  gerbera in the little blue pottery vase... slightly different view and format.  I love oranges, rusts, orchres and all the other earthy tones that ooze a rich warm vitality... they are colours that tend make people feel secure and happy... something we can all benefit from at this time.

SOLD
8x10 oil on canvas, (not dry enough to ship yet, but like the other painting called Tangerine, you can purchase it now and I will ship it in a few weeks when it is dry enough to leave the nest)

Royal Flag, by Canadian Artist Kim Blair

The rich colours of this variety of garden iris look regal to me... yellow and burgundy with rusty golden beards.  Old world charm... regal flags blowing in a New World garden... so romantic.

SOLD
10x8 oil on canvas, ready to hang.

Wedgewood Blue

I have been having some problems with my postings being delivered to subscribers. Yesterday's post called Tangerine (of a gerbera daisy in a small vase) was not delivered. So please have a look below. I have a feeling that this post may not get delivered either so I am sending the image out to my original email list from when I set up my blog, in order to get it out to at least some of my subscribers. As the saying goes... I am working on the issue. Thanks for your patience.

Wedgewood blue is a Larger painting of a lovely little blue iris from a garden down the street from me. This garden is so beautiful... it feels like you have stepped into a quaint European garden, gated from view... a hidden treasure of colour, texture and fragrance. The person who owns the garden told me that I could pop by anytime to take some photos for painting. Now where is my camera... oh ya, it's -24c this morning... guess I have to wait for a few weeks (or more)!

SOLD
16x20 inches, oil on canvas, ready to hang,


Tangerine

This little number is hot off the press!  I just painted it yesterday and felt compelled to post it today.
This tangerine coloured gerbera daisy is displayed in a very tiny dusty blue pottery vase placed on tin-foil to achieve the interesting blurry reflection of the vase and flower.  Gerbera daisies are vibrant flowers, even the creamy white ones often have black centers which create drama.  Showy and colourful they make quite the statement no matter how they are displayed... they seem to grin from ear to ear like a cheshire cat.

SOLD
10x8 oil on canvas, not dry enough to ship, but if you would like this one email me and we can work out the details of when she is ready to leave the litter...

Orange Velvet


Velvet conjures up visions of opulence... Rich fabric with a smooth textured finish, warm and inviting.   Swirling velvet petals slowly opening, revealing the enchanting beauty of a rose.  A rose speaks volumes without saying a word...

SOLD
8x10 oil on canvas, ready to hang.

Iridescent

If you scroll back through my blog to Feb 7 posting,  you will see this Iris done in a quick little pen & ink with watercolour wash... I have no idea what variety of Iris this is but it has an unusual colour combination ( at least when I compare it to other iris I have seen over the years).   It is from a garden in St Albert, here in Alberta.  This is my painterly interpretation of the iridescent quality that the petals took on in the evening light.   I almost expected a 'wee fairy' to peer out from the center of the blossom...

SOLD
10x8 oil on canvas, (almost ready to hang, just the more impasto creamy pink areas of the top petals are a bit damp still)

Character Study

This character study of a sunflower was produced from a photo I took, and 'improved upon' with a little artist license to produce this pen & ink version.  Sometimes you can see the sun peeking from behind the edge of a cloud... and this gave me the idea to draw this sunflower peeking at the viewer from the edge of the paper.  A few curled petals are falling over the 'face' of the flower like bangs, accentuating the uneven texture of the plump seed head.

I read that the province of Manitoba here in Canada,  is a large producer of sunflowers for the food industry.   Someone told me that it is worth a trip to that province near harvest time, to view the breathtaking beauty of the sunflower fields.  I wonder if Manitoba tourism has thought to cash in on this cash crop?

NFS
10x8 pen & ink with ink wash on 300 lb  watercolour paper.    (*check out the side bar on my blog under FRAMING to see a special offer I have arranged with a local framing shop for my clients)