Some New Paintings To Round Out 2019

And what a year it's been. So very happy to see the back of it. My mood has been improving the closer we get to 2020. Not that 2020 will be particularly kind to me...but it will be fair. This is the year of a Very Big Birthday. I'll leave it to you to guess which one. As young as you feel, yes? Well, I felt around 90 for most of 2019. Today I'm back to being my forever-and-ever 38, which is a nice age - youthful enough to still enjoy everything. Wise enough not to try.

These paintings were just little asides. I wanted to paint a floral picture, but I wanted to do a vintage-style folk picture, and I really wanted to do a wild seascape. So I painted them more or less at the same time. I mentioned them to you in my last blog. Don't try this at home unless you're a very patient person.

"Early Bird"

"The Shepherdess"

"Can You See Me?"

I intend to lie low for the next 7 days. No visitors to speak of, just family. And the heat has let up, which is wonderful. Enjoy your holidays. See you in the New Year.

"The Simple Life" Figurative Seascape Window and Woman Acrylic Folk Art Painting

Here is the latest one. I can picture myself living here, probably without the cellphone, or a TV, or the laptop. I don't know how long I could last, but I'd be willing to give it a try.

Have a lovely, relaxing Easter.

Wayne French at Brushspace

As a child, I lived on the South Coast of England, and, later in Australia in both New South Wales and Queensland, I was always near the sea. I tell people it's in my blood - whatever that means. One of the things I miss most, here in Ontario, is the absence of the ocean, substituting lakes as my watery muse. So finding Wayne French at Brushspace was wonderful for me this morning, knowing the North Coast of New South Wales where he lives (in fact, using it in my novel, Hafan Deg), and almost able to smell the brine as I look at his images.







Wayne's canvases are large - very large - and I can imagine how amazing they would be on a wall in my home. It would be like a window to the warmth, something to help me get through some of the more miserable days of a Canadian winter. As I've said before, not all winter days here are bleak, not when the sun shines and the snow is crunchy underfoot. But on those slushy, gray days - that's when I need one of Wayne's evocative paintings.

If you find his colors and images somewhat larger than life (an ocean is an ocean is an ocean, right?), I assure you they're not. Australia has a different light, the colors more vivid, a different drama. Its seascapes (and landscapes) can take your breath away.

You can find Wayne at Brushspace, or check out his web site here.

And don't feel sorry for me near the many lakes of Ontario. Glorious Spring is just a few days away...