Monday

New Mixed Media/Collage Workshop!



"Floral Reflections" 12x16 image, mixed media

The exciting and dynamic workshop in Calgary with Sharon Lynn Williams on March 15-18, called Creative Mixed Media/Collage is for artists of all levels of experience.  Each student will be challenged at their own level.

You can register for this workshop through Leading Edge Art Workshops and the web

The focus of this workshop will be to create and use papers  and found papers in collage, to create texture, adding acrylic paint and other media as needed.  We will work in two ways:  from "chaos: - an unplanned painting; and also start other work beginning with good compositional designs.  The subject matter will be the student's choice and we can work in many expressions, from realism right through to non-objective work.  The emphasis will be on having fun, developing creativity, with plenty of time to paint and play.  Includes several demos, a slide show and lots of one-on-one assistance with Sharon.

"Here Comes The Sun" mixed media, 13 x 14" beautifully framed
DPW auction here, starting bid $150

  Sharon Lynn Williams, AFCA, ASA is a signature
   member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, and
   the Alberta Society of Artists.  An award-winning
   artist (including an Award of Excellence with the FCA)
   her work has been featured widely in printed
   publictions. 

   A multi-media artist, she has been happily
   exploring mixed media for over 15 years and
   her mantra is "What would happen if..."  The excit-
   ment of working from chaos to order is invigorating
   and she is known for her use of bold color, line and
   texture.

   To see more of Sharon's contemporary work see her
    website at www.sharonlynnwilliams.com.


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Saturday

"Traces", new plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Traces", 8 x 10" plein air oil on board
$200 unframed plus shipping and handling -click here to purchase

This painting was destined to be scraped off as I couldn't figure out how to get the effect of bare branches that I wanted. So I figured it was safe to experiment -love that when it works out! So I began to remove the paint from the thin branches with my brush. This allowed some of my red underpainting to show through and gave me the transparent look that I was seeking. I love the subtle colour  harmonies (split complement -not planned, just what turned out) in this painting, and I really think it captured the feel of the day. I am always pleased and consider a painting to be successful if it meets that criteria.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.
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Thursday

New Plein Air Oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

 "January Blues", 8 x 10" plein air oil on board
$200 unframed plus shipping and handling, click here to purchase

Yesterday I was thrilled to get out to do some car painting. It was 5 C, but the Chinook winds were howling, so the comfort of the car was much appreciated! I just love the colours that the low winter sun brings out on the landscape.
Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.
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Monday

Plein Air Oil Painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

 "Sun Spots", 12 x 12" plein air oil on board
SOLD

This was one of the last plein air paintings while the leaves were still on the trees. The day was overcast but every once and awhile, the sun would peak out and illuminate an area, and boy did that ever grab my attention. So I thought I would give it a whirl and see if I could recreate what it felt like. Tricky as I had to remember a lot of information on what happened to the colour with the sunlight hitting it, and how much degree of value change occured. Challenging, but very fun!

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.
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Saturday

New Plein Air Painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

 ""Winter Willows", 8 x 10" plein air oil on board
click here to bid -starting price $80

This is the third car painting I did on my recent paint out.  It has been around -30C with the windchill since, so no more car painting! I don't know what kind of trees these are, some type of willow, but the bare branches get quite orange in the winter. I have included the shot of the place where I painted this, in case one of you can educate me on tree names.

The sun hitting the orange branches intensified their colour which made for a nice play against the blue violet shadows.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.
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Wednesday

New Plein Air Oil and Good News!

"Winter's Colours", 8 x 10" plein air oil on board
$200 unframed plus shipping and handling, click here to purchase

This is one of the 'car paintings' I did recently (the first one was SO ugly I had to scrape it off -now THAT felt good! -the scraping, not the original mess I made -so much for not painting for 1.5 months!). I have always struggled with how to depict all those leafless trees with all the billions of tiny branches. I decided in this one to go for design and shape, and I REALLY like it. What do you think?
 This is the scene that I painted from -see all that texture???? Way too finicky for this girl. Kind of spruced up the colour a bit also : P (those colours WERE there, just much more subtly)

The good news is that one of my demonstration articles has been published by the Opus newsletter. Go here to see the article (if you want to see more photos and further directions, go  here, here and here on this blog!) The bad news is that they titled it as an oil demonstration, which it definitely is not!

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.
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Tuesday

New Oil painting

 "Winter's Remnants" 6x6" oil on gallery canvas (2" thick & painted around edges so no frame needed)
SOLD

I did this at Ingrid's house using a birds nest that fell out of her apple tree. It was fun to try and capture the contained wildness of the nest. Warms me up to look at it during this -30 C cold snap!
Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.

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Friday

New Oil Painting

 "Rosyln Relick", 6 x 6" oil on gallery canvas
 SOLD

Now that the very cold weather is back, here is one done in the studio from a photo I took this fall in Washington. Painted on gallery canvas with image wrapped around the sides, ready to hang.

Enjoy!
To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.
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Tuesday

New Oil Painting Method

 "Dry docked in Pittenweem", 12 x 12", oil on board
$300 unframed plus shipping and handling, click here to purchase

I did this painting in a workshop with Rick Berg. He has an unusual technique that I found was perfect for this complicated subject. You take your photo into Photoshop, go to image -adjust- threshold and it becomes a solid black and solid while image (only 2 values that is), linking the darks and lights. Then you scale up your photo to the size of your support, paint all the dark stuff with black gesso, and leave all the white stuff white gessoed support (or GAC'd panel). Then you take acrylic red iron oxide and cover the entire support with that. It provides a very nice roadmap to the painting, simplifying it along the way. You then put in your own colour and allow some of the black and red to peek through here and there. Charging in the juicy opaque lights is a bit of hoot. This method really worked for this subject. Avoid it when a large portion of your painting is mid value though as you will have to redraw the subject on top of the black.
By the way, if you ever get a chance to take a workshop with Rick, jump at it! He is a wonderful man and a very giving instructor.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.
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Sunday

New Watermedia Landscape Workshop Coming Up

 "Coastal Colour", 12 x 16" fluid acrylic on wc paper
SOLD


This excerpt is from the course description: “Love the fluid look of gloriously puddled colour that only watermedia can give? Want to add opaque media (gouache or opaque acrylic) to enhance a transparent approach? Come and experience the various elements of watermedia painting using a structured learning style with lots of demonstrations and individual one-in-one time. The class will have an emphasis on brush handling, paint application techniques, edge control and colour theory. We will also be working towards helping you to define your individual painting style.”
The workshop runs from 10am to 3:30pm each day on January 25, 26, 27, 30 & 31 –that is a Wed through Friday, then Monday and Tuesday. We have a large, very bright classroom at the Erlton Campus of Chinook Learning Services here in Calgary, which is off MacLeod Trail S and 25 St SW. If you need a ‘kick’ to get back to your painting, I hope you will join me! There are lots of places to stay here right near the venue, so if you are from out of town, I hope you will consider coming here for the workshop. And on the weekend you can visit beautiful Banff National Park as a bonus!
You can register online at http://www.chinooklearningservices.com/ContEd/AdultCourses/WatermediaLandscapes.html or call Chinook Learning Services at 777-7224. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you think may be interested. 

Best wishes for an artful New Year!

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Saturday

Back to Posting!

 "When Life Gives You Lemons...", oil on board, 11 x14"

It feels good to get back at posting again, and I apologize for the long absence. I just haven't had the energy or enthusiasm to get back at my art since Mom died and Christmas happened. But I went out painting with Ingrid yesterday, and that was the very best medicine (stay tuned for the results of that trip). The painting above is the last one I did before Mom took so sick -it seems to be quite ironic actually. So I am taking its advice and will indeed make 'lemonade'. Good to be back!

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.



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