Hello everyone! I hope your summer has been going well and that you have managed to find some quiet time to recharge your batteries. It has definitely been on the wet side of things in Canada's capital area with the most recent rain of upwards to 100mm falling in 1 day.
At the start of the month I managed to make more room in my studio by moving my husband's desk out to another area of the house. This has allowed me to make room for 2 large canvases of 4ft x 3ft for 2 new pieces. These pieces will be included as part of an application for a juried exposition at the end of August (https://arteastottawa.com/mosaic-trinity-art-gallery-shenkman/).
A lot of June and July was dedicated to trying to decide on what my subject matter will be for this juried event. To make a long story short, I am influenced by recreating 2 historical pieces representing the National Capital Region when Ottawa was first founded around the logging industry. The first will be a painting of the lumberjacks (historically called River Pigs) on the beautiful Ottawa River, and the settlement along the west shores before the Great Fire of April 1990 destroyed the businesses and homes on both shores of Ottawa's Lebreton Flats and downtown Hull (now called Gatineau).
As part of my process, I spent a lot of time reviewing historical photos of the logging industry along the Ottawa River and creating thumbnail sketches of lumberjacks breaking up log jams along the river. I then created small painting(s) of the lumberjacks breaking up a log jam to determine the best composition, value study, and colors to use in the final piece. The next step consisted of preparing the gesso stretched canvas including painting the edges in black paint so the final painting would be ready for handing. I then sketched the composition and sealed the sketch followed by adding a glazed undercoating over the sketch. I have decided to use an acrylic glazing technique as my preferred medium due to the short time left before the juried event and the necessity to ensure that the painting would be dry in time. My initial glazes have been added and I am slowly starting to see the luminosity starting to form in the painting. I am fully into the "ugly stage" of the painting process but I am seeing parts of my vision slowly starting to develop into something amazing.
I am looking forward to sharing more on this journey and I hope you enjoy sharing this experience as much as I do creating it.
Thank you - Jennifer.
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