Heather Horton – Painter and Explorer
I would like to draw your attention to one of my favorite contemporary Canadian painters. Her name is Heather Horton and she paints compelling (and mainly) figurative works, in a realistic and emotional style . Her rendering of faces and fabrics is truly breathtaking.
Not only do I admire her painting talent but I am also envious of how she lives life, her travels and adventures. As she describes it:
“I have traveled a lot over the past two years. A LOT. I believe travel is the best education certainly, yet there is a time and place for it. As a painter, I need a quiet studio, without frenetic energy, in which to create.”
That quiet studio is at her home base in Burlington, Ontario. She is not exaggerating about a lot of travel – just from what I can recall, in the last year she has traveled to Turkey, southern France and Paris, a few points across the central U.S., New Orleans, Alaska, and the Yukon (and I’ve probably missed a few).
On top of all this travel in the last year, Heather has been very involved in a major project on the life and travels of Christopher McCandless. – a fascinating and tragic story that you can find out about in the Wikipedia synopsis of Into the Wild, the Sean Penn-directed film from 2007. This project involves a series of paintings that Horton has produced. Paintings from the McCandless project will be exhibited June 3-18 (2011) at the Abbozzo gallery in Oakville.
A great talent with great and inspiring energy. If you are not following her already please do by visiting her website, subscribing to her blog , liking her on Facebook or following her on Twitter @Heather_Horton. On Twitter, she often shares inspiring photos from here travels or some of the great quotes that she has collected. Here is one inspiring recent example:
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”~Mary Oliver
Original works by Horton are available from the Abbozzo gallery and prints of a number of her works are available on-line from DeviantArt. ( from where I purchased a small framed print of one of my favorite Horton paintings: “The Red Toque” )
William Wray – Urban Landscape Painter
With this, I am starting a new series of blog posts to point my readers to artists I know and respect. Many of the artist’s I currently follow are part of the twitter community and may well be known to each other and to you. There are a few artists that I came to know from before twitter (yes there was a time) – particularly from the WetCanvas on-line community and this artist is one of those.
The artist to introduce you to is California painter William Wray. He often paints what I would describe as gritty, urban landscapes. It is not uncommon to see industrial factories, gas stations or downtown canyons. He has also made compelling works with car, trains and shopping carts as the subjects. Wray’s unique style is also applied to some still life and figure painting.
His subject matter often makes his work distinctive but so is masterful use of color, light and shadow. Words can’t really do justice so please visit his website and his blog to see his works and to learn more about him.
Be sure to also look for the links to a couple of books he has of his paintings.
Broken but Standing
In an earlier post I described the steps I took in going from a photo to a painting. I saw things in that first “study” that I wanted to improve and this is the result of a second attempt:
Broken but Standing, oil on canvas, 41 by 51 cm (16"x20") by Randall Talbot
My original intent was to do at least a couple of these smaller studies before painting a larger final version. I still may do that but first I want to study this one for awhile to decide what I like and what I would want to improve.
Incidentally, for those who might be interested, this is what my palette looked like by the time I finished this painting:
the palette
My palette is a sheet of glass under which I’ve placed a sheet of neutral gray paper and on the right I’ve placed a 9-point value scale as a reference.
Steps in Developing a Painting
Some people may wonder how I go about creating a painting. In this post I will share my steps in the development of a recent canvas.
This painting started off from a photo. The photo was one I took while out for a walk with our dog in Edmonton’s river valley. When walking I am usually carrying my Nikon D80 equipped with either a 18-55 or 55-200 lens. I took over 100 photos over the course of a couple of hours. This is the photo that inspired me for the painting:
original photograph
The broken tree trunk was the obvious central object that attracted me but I also liked the snow, some of the other tree forms and also the sky with the contrast between sky and clouds. I don’t like my paintings to be too much like a photo, especially with respect to color. Therefore I will often convert my color reference photo to black and white. I will want to get the values right but not be a slave to the natural colors. In the process of converting to black and white I will also take the opportunity to apply color filters and adjust the contrast/brightness. I use Nikon’s Capture NX2 software for the processing. This is my black and white reference photo:
enhanced black and white photo
I really liked the way the “red” filter turned the sky dark. What I didn’t like about the photo was how busy the mid-ground looked with all of the brush. Here I was able to apply my artistic license to clear out the million little lines and emphasize a few key tree elements. I may have done a few small thumbnail sketches to test out my idea , then I transferred my design to the canvas (12 by 16 inches/30×41 cm), drawing it in with charcoal:
charcoal sketch on canvas
You can see how much I have simplified the scene, taking liberties with the sky and the trees. From there it was time to start applying color. I did not refer to the color photo for the “real” colors. At this point I went with my gut to realize the colors that I somehow envisioned. In this case, I started by painting in the sky. You can see even at this stage I made some alterations to the design as I had drawn in with charcoal:
half-painted
The painting continued as I moved to the tree and foreground. Especially for these key elements I choose to apply the paint think and juicy.
"finished" painting
I call this work “finished” (in quotes) because it may not be. I see a number of things that I wonder if I could improve upon. I could continue to rework this painting but I generally I do not like to re-work, especially after the paint has started to dry. Instead I would prefer to live with this painting for awhile, thinking about what I like and noting what I think can be improved – and then I will paint another version. In fact with this one, I am thinking of a couple of small studies and then I will paint a larger version.
Link to more of my abstracted landscape paintings (often developed in similar fashion from photos)
Snow Paintings
Living in a northern climate with a healthy dose of winter (usually with snow on the ground for 4 or 5 months, each year), I have to ask myself why I have so few landscape paintings with snow. I do like to take photos of snowy landscapes, often with the good intent of using them for painting references but so far there are not a lot of paintings.
Last night I was reading Deviant Spirits by Ross King and ran across this passage (on page 166) that got me thinking:
Although Quebec painters such as Gagnon, Cullen and Suzor-Coté had tackled snow and ice before, landscapists in English Canada generally steered clear. They recognized , as one critic observed, that to paint a Canadian landscape under snow was “unpatriotic, untactful and unwise.” Canada’s cold climate and deep snow had been a sore point at least since Voltaire mocked the country as “a few acres of snow.” As Jefferys put it “Our climate, winter especially, was regarded as sort of a family skeleton.”
So that’s the story I’ll stick with for now – to paint snow would be to perpetuate an embarrassing Canadian stereotype. Seriously though, I love snowy landscapes and have spent some time studying the more successful ones. Particularly, I have paid attention to the value range of successful paintings – how the values of snow in shadows compares to that in sunlight. I will no doubt be tackling the Canadian landscape in snow in the months and years to come.
One of my few successful snowy landscapes to date was my 2009 oil painting Winter Sunrise on the Rails . This painting was inspired by a photo I took in December of 2008 as I traveled by train from Toronto, home to Edmonton. The scene was from the back of The Canadian somewhere around the Ontario-Manitoba border, probably about an our east of Winnipeg. The sun was just breaking over the horizon and glimmering along the rails behind us.
Winter Sunrise on the Rails, oil painting by Randall Talbot, 2009
I recently had a print of this painting made at RedBubble and I’m pretty thrilled by the way it looks framed up with a black mat.
Prints of this image, Winter Sunrise on the Rails are available for purchase at RedBubble as cards and prints of various sizes, matted or framed, if desired. The original painting is also still available for purchase.
Here is one of my earlier winter landscapes done back in 1993. This scene depicts the Moose River in Northern Ontario
Bank of the Moose River, acrylic painting by Randall Talbot, 1993
There is a bit of a story behind this painting, but I’ll leave that for another day.
A Salt Spring Painting Excursion (Day 4) – Close to Perfect
November 13th (2007) – this very well may have been the best day of my trip. The morning was magical and the day was one of joyful discovery. I awoke around 6, just as it started to get light outside. As there was no storm this morning I decided to head down to the beach to catch the sunrise. I was out the door by 7 and at the beach 10 or 15 minutes later. The beach is, not surprisingly, deserted and it is much wider (perhaps 5 meters now) than when I visited the day before. I watch the eastern horizon glow and brighten for about 15 minutes before the intense sunlight slides above the distant mountains and clouds. The scene is beautiful and peaceful and I just close my yes and let the sun bathe me – ahhh.
Sunrise from Beddis Beach, Salt Spring Island (7:20 AM November 13, 2007)
Still considerable run-off from the storm crossing Beddis Beach
Calm waters at Beddis Beach
With the sun shining on me I am warm – so warm that I take off my boots and wade into the water – just to say I did (the water was indeed breathtakingly cold).
My sensible boots wait for my return
I could have stayed there on the beach much longer but I had things I wanted to do, so just after 8, I headed back up to the Villa and had some breakfast (croissants with butter and strawberry jam and some hot chocolate).
Steps up through the garden to Fridas Villa (yes, Nov. 13th)
As pleasant as my morning was, that was just the start. Tracy and Carl (owners of Fridas Villa) had mentioned that there was a nice rain forest not far away and paying a visit was my plan for the rest of the morning. Access to the Cusheon Creek rain forest is gained by following Beddis Road south to where it intersects with Creekside Drive. a little way along on the left (south) side of the road is an access trail.When planning out this trip I was aware of a little beach near by but had no knowledge of this little gem of a lush green wilderness area just a 15 minute walk away.
I started down the little trail from the road and was soon blown away by the beauty – lush green trees, moss and ferns and a vibrant orange carpet of fallen leaves; a charming little creek and wooden bridges crossing it. I started snapping photos and kept going until I had completely exhausted my camera batteries – over 200 photos in an hour and a half!
A Bridge over Cusheon Creek
- Ferns of the rain forest
- Spirirt Guardian of the Rain Forest
I had taken a number of decent photos and with many that could be used for painting references but for now I was done and headed back home for a bite to eat before my next adventure.
It was finally time to get to the whole point of this excursion – PAINTING! I loaded my plein air gear into my backpack and returned to Beddis Beach. I set up at the south end of the beach looking north at a scene that included beach, ocean distant land. I was working on an 8 by 10 inch (20×25 cm) panel using oil paints and a fairly natural palette of colors.
painting sketch, north from Beddis Beach (SSI)
It was a nice sunny afternoon but I was disappointed that I was unable to capture that in my painting – it seemed very flat, in terms of values. Partly discouraged, I did not start another painting that afternoon – besides, I had another mission to complete before darkness.
The day before, on my walk to Ganges I had noticed a cheese farm just a short way up Beddis Road. After dropping off my paintings supplies I walked up to Moonstruck Cheese Farm where I bought a Camembert and a chunk of Tomme d’Or. I grated some of the Tomme d’Or on the pasta that I made for dinner and enjoyed the cheeses though the week.
In the evening, I did a bit of thinking about my painting, what worked and especially what didn’t. I thought a lot about value scales and the limitation of recreating the full scale of nature with paint pigments. I reminded myself that the absolute values on my painting will necessarily be different form the value of something exposed to direct sunlight. I also spent some time thinking about my use of white paint in my paintings – for a long time I had shunned it but now it was back in my palette (for better or worse?).
I had started my day catching the sunrise on Beddis Beach and dipping my feet in the ocean. Now, I ended off the day taking advantage of another of the great amenities at Fridas Villa – a hot tub in the back yard. A luxurious half hour soak under a wonderfully starry sky was a perfect ending to a great day!
Rolling Through the Night
This is a painting I produced in November of 2008, inspired by a journey that I took a year before that:
Rolling Through The Night, 41x51 cm (16x20") oil on canvas
This painting is one of a number of paintings in a series I call my Night Train series. Seven works in the series have been completed to date – in oil and oil pastels. Click on this link to see the other works in this series on my website.
The series was inspired by a VIA Rail train trip that I took in November 2007 from Edmonton to Vancouver (this was the first leg of the journey that took me to Salt Spring Island for a week of exploring, photography and painting – but that is another story for another time). The VIA Canadian traveled across the province of British Columbia through the long night, arriving in Vancouver at dawn. I spent a lot of time through the evening and night staring out the window, often taking some long exposure, hand-held photos which served as the inspiration for the paintings.
This series was a bit of a departure for me both in the degree to which I abstracted the landscape and also the darkness of the color palette. Overall I was very pleased with the outcome.
This painting was donated to (and sold at) a fund raising auction for the Visual Arts Alberta Association (VAAA) in November of 2009. I find the idea of capturing the mysterious self-abstracting night landscape as seen from a train, very compelling. I fully expect to return to this theme and series again in the future.
*This painting was reproduced on my latest art card and I would be happy to mail one of these postcards to anyone requesting one (while supplies last).
Long Shadows on Tunnel Mountain
I am really liking the new background image on my iPhone – this one:
"Long Shadows on Tunnel Mountain", oil on hardboard, 30x41 cm
This is a painting I did about a year ago, in August 2009, while at a painting retreat an The Banff Centre. The event, organized by the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Extension was an exciting week of thinking about painting and the landscape. It was of course also a very productive week of painting thanks to the conducive setting, facilities and like-minded artists.
The Banff Centre is located on the side of Tunnel Mountain, overlooking the town of Banff. Right next to the campus is abundant natural terrain which served as inspiration for a number of paintings. I loved the way the afternoon sun shone through the trees on the slope providing wonderfully contrasting shadow patterns.
More of my paintings from that retreat (and other mountain scenes) can be seen starting at this page on my website.
Prairie Exit, a landscape painting
In the first part of 2010 I painted a series of landscapes inspired by the Alberta Prairies. Here is one of this group:
"Prairie Exit" by Randall Talbot, 2010 (oil on canvas, 51 x 41 cm)
To see more paintings from this series, please visit my web site: www.randalltalbot.com
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