SOLD, by Kim Blair

 Jewel Tones
8x10
sold
Semi-Precious
9x12
sold

A Collector dropped by for a visit last week... she said she had her eye on these two paintings for a while now and wanted to see them in person.  She thought they would look good in her sister's entrance way, and left with them tucked under her arm.

She sent a note the other day to say they look good in their new home, and her sister is very pleased.

Isn't it nice to have a thoughtful sister?


Lake Louise Study, by Kim Blair


Lake Louise Study
9x12 oil on canvas

Lake Louise is one of those gorgeous mountain lakes that almost takes your breathe away when you view it for the first time, and the second time, and the third time... 

It certainly was intimidating to pick up my brush and try my hand at painting a study from one of my reference photos, but it was important for me to push myself through the fear of trying to capture this million dollar view that has become such an icon of Rocky Mountains in Alberta.  I am going to create a few more versions of this particular view and see how far I can push the colors, brush work and mark making... perhaps even an abstraction will appear.

SOLD
9x12 oil on canvas (needs some drying time)

Impressionist Tree/Landscape, Pine Orange, by Kim Blair

Pine Orange
12x9 oil on canvas

It's funny how our mind works.  Our left brain tells us a subject matter must look a certain way, while our creative right brain sits back, quietly waiting for the left brain to exhaust itself with all the ridiculous arguments it believes to be true.
Once exhausted the left brain surrenders, allowing a magical creative flow to take over the neural pathways between the brain, eye and hand... 
Some of my favorite landscape paintings were created by the Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and The Group of Seven, therefore I am not surprised that this recent painting is showing influences from my intensive, on-going research.

Pine Orange is from a reference photo taken on our recent holiday.   The rusty orange tones in the forest landscape caught my eye... the pine beetle trail of devastation zig-zagging its way through the lodgepole pines in Western Canada and into the States.  The unfortunate death of such a vast number of trees has given rise to some new industry here in Canada (and the States).

By looking at the pine beetle  problem from a different angle, creative solutions and uses for the blue/grey figured wood have developed. Numerous furniture companies and builders are reclaiming the wood and putting its unusual beauty to good use, thereby finding a silver lining in the cloud that hangs over many of our forests.  While at the same time creating 'green' (or is that blue/grey) building products which ironically can be considered environmentally friendly.
Talk about turning lemons into lemonade!

12x9 oil on canvas *(needs some time to dry)
NFS





Landscapes coming soon...

Brookings, Oregon Coast

Time to get off my butt and change into my painting clothes!

Just finished downloading all the reference photos I snapped during our drive to the Oregon Coast and into the Redwood Forests in California... not to mention the inspiring mountain shots from our own Canadian Rockies on the route home to Edmonton.

Did I mention it is time to do some landscape paintings?

Of course you will see some artistic license used... don't we all like to embellish the truth now and then... at least when we have a paint brush in our hand?