Gallery One

Island House

This painting was created from memory, I spent many vacation days as a child 'down the islands' these little old wooden houses built directly over the water, often perched on the rock edge of the tiny islands, provided us children with many hours swimming under the watchful eyes of the adults. The little old boats were tied up to the 'jetty' waiting to transport someone to the main island to purchase ice for the old ice box. The old building could tell a tale or two.

Perspective

During the Renaissance and the Florentine periods, the science of perspective was discovered. This was a one of the greatest innovations used in representational painting. The artist soon learned to think in terms of three dimension to achieve depth within a painting. They were able to take a flat two dimensional painting and turn it into a three dimensional surface. The great Masters of the Renaissance period thought that by using a measuring point system it was easier to train the eye of the artist.

There are several facets of perspective which come into play in every painting.

	Spatial
	Lineal
	Atmospheric

Modern painters have become so used to working with perspective because of the popular use of a camera, that it is not realized what a difficult study this was for artists of antiquity. Prior to the invention of the camera, many artists struggled with an understanding of this concept.

Concord Grapes

The historical 'symbolic' meaning of using grapes as a motif in a painting is to represent the Eucharist. This alludes to future redemption. Strength and power also comes from using a semi -'complimentary' colour scheme. There is a hidden energy that results from complimentary colours - these ripe grapes are bursting at the seams, plump, ripe and ready for the picking.

Pastoral Whisper

This painting was created from a photograph given to me by a student after her vacation to Greece. Nothing quite sets the mood for 'peace & quiet' more than a flock of sheep. The scale of the great trees is enhanced by the height of the shepherdess and the spatial distance between the sheep and the figure.

Barrier Mist

In this painting I wanted to show the three distinct plains of a simple landscape. The soft details of the near foreground against the smoky distance. I wanted the viewer to be aware of the light breaking through the mist. This painting was created during the summer forest fires at Barrier lake. I took several photographs before we were evacuated from the cabin. Instead of smoke, I treated the haze as early morning mist, creating a more romantically appealing mood than a smoke filled environment.

Country Dawn

As you can tell country scenes are some of my favorite subjects to paint. Dappled or broken light and contrasting shadow teamed with breaking dawn help to advance the softness of this painting. I have often been fascinated by the 'paradise landscapes' of old, and just like a flock of sheep, grazing cows can evoke another element of softness to any painting. It is always fun for me to watch cows, I have hundreds of photographs of them and sometimes just enjoy studying their slow and gentle movements. You will see them show up in my paintings quite often.

Valley Orchard

This is a very small painting - 5"x5" In this painting I wanted to show the three distinct plains of a simple landscape.

The whole painting was created from my memories of several different views in our valley. The buildings were influenced by the small villas of Tuscany.

Costa Rica

This painting was created after a photograph that my husband took on a trip through Central America. I wanted the viewer to be lead into the the painting in the typical 'romantic' style of that style of landscape painting.

With no human figures in the painting there is, once again a peaceful and quiet mood that is enhanced by the choice of palette. The colour of the water against the cool greens of the riverbanks create a contrast that is inviting.

Going Home

Once again my interest in painting a peaceful and soft landscape, with a warmer golden palette. The introduction of the 'bovine' theme is used again to reinforce the tranquil mood of a hilly country scene. I wasn't too concerned with the design element, but rather the quiet relationship between each of the elements and how they supported the 'story' Going Home was simply a statement made at the end of a great and happy day! here the mood is enhanced by the colour of the light and the soft cool contrast of the sky and the distant hills.

Helping Nana

The setting for this design comes from an old Catholic Mission here in Kelowna, British Columbia. I combined several photographs to come up with this composition. One Spring day I was at the local garden center buying bedding plants, there in front of me was the cutest little boy with flaming red hair. I love red hair. The sunlight on his hair was screaming at me to paint him. After asking for his dad's permission to take the child's photograph, I was able to incorporate this child's figure into my composition to complete the story. Here is a little boy helping his grandma and grandpa with the gardening chores.

Okanagan cottage

This painting was inspired by an old log house that has been changed into a tiny wine shop near the neighborhood where we live, of course I took artistic license to expand on the lush foliage and built up the colour to add more interest to the foreground.

Neadeen Masters CDA - Country Carousel Art©

Gallery One

Landscapes, Little Buildings & More

The Old Island House©

Objective: The emphasis in this painting is to learn 'wet in wet' blending methods and glazing using JansenArt Traditions acrylics. Students will study the effects of light as it plays on moving water. The techniques of 'Scumbling' and Glazing' are emphasized. The lesson objectives are to study the perspective of reflections and shadows.

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Okanagan Vineyards©

Objective: The emphasis in this landscape painting is to learn 'wet in wet' blending methods. Scumbling is used in the background to help create depth and reduce contrast in the rolling hills. Perspective, both linear and atmospheric are stressed. Working with a limited palette and toning colour for harmony is the colour lesson for this painting, and is stressed at every opportunity. This is a looser style painting which allows the student to 'play' with brush strokes to create texture and added movement.

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Golden Jars©

Objective: The emphasis in this still life design is to learn 'wet in wet' blending methods, understand form, perspective, ellipses, and control intensity and value.

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Wine Country©

Objective: The emphasis in this simple still life design is to learn simple 'wet in wet' blending methods using JansenArt Traditions acrylics. Students will learn to create transparent leaves. 'Scumbling' and 'Rouging' a multi-coloured background is emphasized. There are several 'technical inaccuracies' in this painting, I use this design to show how and what to 'look' for, or how to trouble shoot and correct prior to painting. This is a lesson on what 'not to do' as well as.....

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Misty Orchards©

Objective: The emphasis in this painting was to learn 'wet in wet' blending methods using JansenArt Traditions acrylics. Students will study the effects of light and how to control it using intensity and value to create contrast in three separate 'planes' of a painting. This is a beginner design to teach a very simple landscape. Blending techniques are implemented to create a multi-coloured background and carry colour. This is a loosely handled small painting.

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Concord Grapes©

Objective: : The emphasis in this painting is to learn 'wet in wet' refined blending methods using JansenArt Traditions acrylics. 'Scumbling and glazing techniques are emphasized. Create a multi-coloured background and work with a backlit light-source as well as soft frontal light. Building 'form' with the use of value control. Reflected light and is also emphasized. Drybrushing, glazing & washes are some of the techniques used to create form and details are added with the use liner work.

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An Okanagan Fence©

Objective: This is a simple landscape for beginners. It is designed to teach 'wet in wet' blending methods using JansenArt Traditions acrylics. Create form through shape following strokes. Students learn that texture and 'shape following strokes' create the contour or the surface plane of the painting. Perspective is emphasized to create dimension. Students will study the effects of reduced light. Learn the creation of simple trees structures and an old fence to teach the basics of perspective.

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Pastoral Whisper©

Objective: The emphasis in this pastoral landscape is to learn 'wet in wet' blending methods, puddling and stippling using JansenArt Traditions acrylics. This is a 'direct painting' method where the student develops the form and tonal relationships at the start of the painting. Working with a limited palette and harmonizing with one common toner is explained and emphasized. This is an intermediate skill level, greater form and tree structure is stressed. Compare the trees in this design with the trees from the painting above, 'Okanagan fence' and one can see the climbing skill level.

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Barrier Mist©

Objective: The emphasis in this painting is to learn the theory and methods necessary to create atmospheric perspective. Using washes and scrumbling a soft semi opaque layer over the background creates the effect. Students will study the effects of diffused light to create a specific atmosphere. Shape following strokes are used to create the movement of the eye through the painting and to establish the contrast of the level planes of the painting with the tall structure of the evergreens.

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Grandma's Helper©

Objective: The emphasis in this design is to learn to work with a limited palette and to customize or personalize a painting. Working with a subject that is suited to the composition is part of the design process. Choosing colour to enhance mood, toning and harmonizing a limited palette. A loosely painted design that teaches more about the use of mixed texture for interest in a landscape setting. Students will study the effects of directional light. Stippling, puddling, wet in wet brush techniques are applied to create the lush garden foliage.

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Country Dawn©

Objective: In this painting we study the effects of controlled light, and the effects of it on the edges of the foliage on the tree-tops, the grassy pasture and the 'rutted' dirt road. Deep shadow mirrors the curvature of the dirt road and all eyes lead off into the distance and the dawn of a new day. Intensity and value is used to move the viewer through the painting to the rear.

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Fields of Lavender©

Objective: This is a quick study in texture using brushwork. Using a single brush, the filbert is used to create the details and the lush background foliage. This painting places the emphasis on brush control and working with a simple complimentary palette of colours. Washes and glazes are applied for interest and colour harmony. The chisel and the edge of the brush is controlled for either blending or detail.

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Valley Orchard©

Objective: This painting again used few brushes, being a very small surface, it is not possible to place too much detail. Using a direct painting technique, wet in wet methods and a looser or more painterly style. The intensity of colour is controlled to create flow and to carry colour to the background areas. Warm and cool greens are used for interest and contrast.

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Blue Reflections©

Objective: This painting is a very small study. Students learned the effects of light and reflections, by first creating a suggestion of the subject in a foundational sketch with paint. Working with a limited palette, toning with a common colour for harmony and the contrast established with this softer overall cool palette. Wet in wet brushwork and shape following strokes are again used to establish the form, planes and shape of the elements.

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Costa Rica©

Objective: The emphasis in this painting is to learn loose, painterly blending methods using JansenArt Traditions acrylics. Students will learn to create soft reflections, a simple flowering tree. This lesson is a beginner skill level teaching the basics of landscape painting including still water. Framed with foliage, it establishes the foreground, mid and central areas of the design. Atmospheric and lineal perspective is stressed and the student is introduced to the beginnings of this concept.

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The River©

Objective: Beginner skill level, students study textural painting with a palette knife. Using texture medium added to the paint to create an 'impasto effect', weight is given to the water. The Composition is very simple, but the colour palette is strong. Perspective is developed through the use on intensity and value control. This painting style is absolutely impressionistic and after studying the work of the impressionists, I couldn't help but be influenced by their 'painterly' style.

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Going Home©

Objective: The textures of this painting are created with the use of different techniques, from soft wet in wet blending, to loose textural effects for foliage, grasses, trees, clouds and distant hills. painting this composition gave me a great sense of being an artist! I used technique, brush mechanics and my understanding of light to tell the 'story' The distant atmosphere is slightly heavy, after a late afternoon rain. With the sun going down, I still wanted the air to feel cool. Did I succeed?

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Evening Supper©

Objective: The goal is to learn 'wet in wet' blending methods using JansenArt Traditions acrylics. Perspective is emphasized, the creation of trees, buildings & cast shadows. 'Scumbling' and 'Rouging' to carry colour through the design is explained. The treatment of light brings strong contrast to the sheep in the foreground. Cast and contact shadows are stressed.

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Objective: The goal is to learn blending methods both loose and controlled to create the surface texture of the different elements of the composition. From the rough ground cover, to the foliage, the smooth logs and the texture of the flowers and greenery.

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Objective: Beginner skill level, students study textural painting with a palette knife as well as a brush. Using texture medium added to the paint to create an 'impasto effect' bright sunny colours are used in this intense palette. Shape following brush and knife movement helps establish the surface contour of the composition.

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Objective: Beginner to intermediate skill level, students study textural painting with brushstrokes. The emphasis of this painting is to learn tonal control of colour for harmony. Create atmosphere and depth. Working from the background to the foreground, I use one colour to tone the next, creating flow through the painting from back to front. Almost all of this painting was created with the filbert brush.

'The Painter in his Studio' by Francois Boucher (French)

Galleries 1 - 4

Each 'Gallery' offers an overview of several different topics and compositions. The lesson objectives are listed and some description of the painting, where the idea came from, the topic or some history of how it came about.

order..

The paintings on these pages are not listed in any order, nor the order that they were painted in. They reflect a body of work over several years. I am curious, and always wanting to try - Recently I have found my artistic voice and now know where I wish to go. There had been times when it concerned me that I did not have a particular style or 'look', until one day, my husband remarked that it was that fact that allowed me to explore everything and to learn from it. I had never looked at it from that point of view until then.

Ok. Vineyards

One day during the Fall season, my husband and I were out for a drive. We live in a fruit and wine valley and are surrounded by vineyards and orchards. Seeing these rows of grapes in full bloom just waiting for the harvest was too much to resist. The horizontal plains of the landscape are broken by the vertical movement of the trees. I have always loved the tidy 'order' of the rows, neatly lined up pointing you in a particular direction.

Wine Country

A simple still life, once again displaying the theme of the valley where we live. This is an older painting, here my goal was to merge a combination of shapes, to create harmony and balance. The vertical wine bottle, the spherical shapes of the grapes and the base of the wine bottle. It is important to 'marry' the components of a painting between movement, weight, rhythm and colour which all contribute to the overall balance of the finished painting. The 'nubby' bark of the grape vine and the irregular shapes of the leaves add weight to the base of the design. Note the way the heaviest area of the painting is concentrated at the base of the bottle - into the focal area.

Misty Orchards

In this painting I wanted to show the three distinct plains of a simple landscape. The details of the near foreground against the muted misty distance. I wanted the viewer to be aware of the space and the remoteness of the rolling hills in the distance. With no human figures in the painting there is a peace and quiet. Note the contrast between the warm foreground and the cool distant hills and sky. This contrast pulls the two areas apart creating distance.

Okanagan Fence

Take me away to another time and place - After a 'Romantic' mood, following the road into the painting brings the viewer to life of the distant farm house and the orchard. Romantic landscapes often create a surreal mood, again this one is quite peaceful, enhanced by the soft blue green palette. A simple landscape for the beginner. This painting was created from the 'memory' of a particular place we often visit here in the Okanagan Valley.

Grandma's Helper

The details of the near foreground against the misty distance helps to create the overall softness of the mood. The figure, a toddler helping with the gardening, his tiny steps and handhold onto the wagon of flowers. I wanted the viewer to be aware of the light in contrast to the shade on both sides of the figure. The colour of the light playing off the dominant colour of the garden flowers. Overall a soft composition for a soft and gentle story. This painting was composed from material from three different sources.

Flds. of lavender

This painting was created after a design class one night. I was away travel teaching and was playing with the 'leftover' paint on my palette. I picked up a brush and began to 'doodle' with the single brush and I drew a few lines. The rest is history. I painted the entire painting with a single brush and thought that this would be a good little exercise to teach students about brush-control to create texture.

Blue Reflections

I painted this little painting on a whim. Just a little study to show some basic reflections on still reflective water. A very simple composition, created with no line drawing, just with a few basic lines for structure. The students were asked to load a liner with thinned paint and sketch in the basic outlines of the dominant shapes and planes.

The River

I wanted to create fast moving water on this river. The use of the heavy impasto texture allowed for this effect. The little old building and simple trees added a quieter 'life' to balance the powerful movement of the water. This painting was inspired by my childhood memory of a river I was always afraid to cross. I can remember the fast moving water emptying into the ocean, even though the river was shallow, the water came well over my knees, and I was never able to overcome the feeling of being swept away by it.

Evening Supper

The camera records all the details. In this painting, so I was forced to edit my reference photographs as there was so much going on.

Again you can see there is a common theme that interests me when I paint country landscapes. The idealistic, or romantic influence is strongly present, I guess landscapes just speak to me this way, there is a relationship between the land and the life which lives there. Old barns and buildings seem to bring a stability and security to the country landscape.

Tuscan Tribute

Inspiration for paintings come from all areas. This happy little painting was inspired from the movie, 'Under the Tuscan Sky' I love intense colours and here I was able to play with colour on a small canvas, using the mottled sunlight to add extra interest by preserving strong colour with intensity.

I love looking at simple design elements like directional contrast between the pointed and vertical Lombardy trees and the horizontal and gently rolling pastures and fields. even though it can stop the viewer's eye moving into the painting, the large bulk of flowers in the foreground does not present a problem in this painting. The viewer can still enter the painting on the lower left corner.

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