sketchbook ~ preening pigeon

pencil on cartridge paper

book in progress

I’ve posted a few new installments on the book I’m currently illustrating on my children’s book illustration blog.

Sketchbook ~ Capilano Canyon

Capilano Canyon 1 | watercolour on arches cold pressed 7″x10″

Capilano Canyon Rocks | watercolour on arches hot pressed 7″x10″

I did a little bit of work on these back at home without the distraction of the scenery. I darkened the water a little in both pieces, and did a couple of additions to foliage in the background of the rocks painting. I find I fall in love too much with some of the things in the actual scenery and they don’t alway add to the painting. So to come home and do a bit of touching up in the studio is sometimes helpful – I can concentrate on eliminating things that don’t serve a purpose and accentuating nice little paint accidents. But things can sometimes go the other way and get overworked. And there’s a danger of losing the essence of a sketch done in the field. These are just sketches, in the end. Not meant to be anything but exercises. If I have to paint 200 bad paintings to finally get a good one, I’ve got about 180 of these to go.

The canyon was about the coolest place to be yesterday. While I painted an odd mist would drift down the river, covering up the reflections, and bring cool air with it. Then it would disappear again and the temperature would rise slightly. People came down to the water to jump off the rocks and play with their dogs in the freezing water. And then they’d leave and the surface of the water would get glassy once again.

Sketchbook ~ Salt Spring Island

From my vacation last weekend.

Three Friends on Grandma’s Beach, Ruckle Park, Salt Spring Island | watercolour on arches cold pressed 140lb 7″x10″

Ruckle Park, Salt Spring Island | watercolour on arches cold pressed 140lb 7″x10″

Sketchbook ~ Calgary road trip sketches

Sketches from a trip back in June.

Yellow House, Nelson, BC | watercolour on arches hot pressed 140lb 7″x10″

Calgary, AB | watercolour on arches cold pressed 140lb 7″x10″

Nose Hill, Calgary, AB | watercolour on arches hot pressed 140lb 7″x10″

Nose Hill, Calgary, AB | watercolour on arches cold pressed 140lb 7″x10″

Adapted Berry Pie

It’s berry season and we’ve got 10lbs of blueberries to deal with and limited freezer space as well as a whole pile of on-the-verge-of-fermentation lemons and limes. Pie time!

This is the from the Canyon Ranch Cooks cookbook – it’s the recipe for Lemon Blackberry Pie. But I used mostly limes, no zest (because the limes were on the old side and the skins were a little yuck), and blueberries and a few raspberries instead of blackberries. Also, I went with 4 whole eggs instead of 3 whole eggs + 2 egg whites because I hate the idea of throwing out egg yolks. The crust is store bought because pastry and I don’t see eye to eye. Without the pastry prep, this is a super easy pie for me to make (extra points!). And it’s delish.

It’s got 3/4c of sugar and 1/4 c of butter in it. The idea behind including recipes like this in a cookbook about healthy eating is portion control; the serving size is supposed to be 1/16 of the pie. But I, um,  just seem to be able to cut them that small…

I’ve also made the lime pot de crème from the same book – which is also super.

Food Vacation

This post has little or nothing to do with art. It is manly about food. It is, in fact, pretty much completely an ode to food.

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A few friends and I took a much needed vacation to Salt Spring Island. We spent much of the weekend enjoying fresh, local, organic, seasonal food (from our own gardens and from the island) at a lovely farm where we had rented an old house. The rest of the time was spent wandering the island to chase down other foods at their source – namely fresh goat cheese from Salt Spring Island Cheese Company.

sketchbook ~ Killarney Lake, Bowen Island

A watercolour sketch from today, painted on location at one of my favourite painting spots at Killarney Lake.

Yellow Water Lily in Killarney Lake | watercolour