In a January Fog
While not unheard of, foggy days in Edmonton are also not very common. This last weekend in Edmonton was however one of those times – a fog just heavy enough to hide the far side of the river valley and flatten out depth. The high humidly and sub-zero temperature resulted in a delightful, frosty coating on the trees.
Combining the fog, frost and late afternoon/early-evening light lead to these moody, black and white images:
Frosty Thorns
Poles in a Frosty Landscape
The Five
Three, with Frosty Wires
Rowland Bend
The “2012-08” Series
In August of 2012 I started a small series of large canvases. This series of abstract paintings were all done on 91 by 121 cm (3 x 4 feet) canvasses. I used generous amounts of gel with the acrylic paints for think, juicy textures. The color palette was restricted to the primaries, plus black and white.
“2012-08-01” acrylic on canvas, 91 by 121 cm, 2012
“2012-08-02” acrylic on canvas, 91 by 121 cm, 2012
“2012-08-03” acrylic on canvas, 91 by 121 cm, 2012
“2012-08-04” acrylic on canvas, 91 by 121 cm, 2012
“2012-08-05” acrylic on canvas, 91 by 121 cm, 2012
“2012-08-06” acrylic on canvas, 91 by 121 cm, 2012
Mountains (a Series – Part 2)
In this part 2, I share more mountain paintings, a few more from the Banff region with a couple more based on reference photos from when I cycled the “Golden Triangle” in May of 2010.
“Sun Play II”, oil on hardboard, 41 by 30 cm, 2009
“Mountains Over Vermilion River”, oil on hardboard, 30 by 41 cm, 2010
“Mountain’s Edge”, oil on hardboard, 51 by 61 cm, 2009
“On the Ridge”, oil on canvas, 46 by 46 cm, 2010
“Rocky Mountain Serene” oil on canvas, 23 x 30 cm, 2009
untitled, oil on hardboard, 20 by 30 cm, 2009
Mountains (a Series – Part 1)
Living in the Canadian province of Alberta, the Rocky mountains have always been nearby and not an infrequent subject for my art (although not nearly as much as I would like). In this 2-part blog post I will share my take on mountains as subjects for landscape paintings.
All of the works in this “Part 1” were painted in August 2009 when I spent a week at the Banff Centre.
“Twisted Stone”, Oil on hardboard, 30 by 41 cm, 2009
“Mountain Mystery”, oil on canvas, 61 by 41 cm, 2009
“Long Shadows on Tunnel Mountain”, oil on hardboard, 30 by 41 cm, 2009
“Bow Valley from Tunnel Mountain”, oil on hardboard, 41 by 30 cm, 2009
“Sun Play (Banff)”, oil on hardboard, 61 by 51 cm, 2009
“Banff Evening Solitude”, oil on canvas, 51 by 76 cm, 2009
Lines (an Abstract Painting Series)
This small series from the autumn of 2012 was an exploration of mark making into the wet surface of an oil-painted canvas:
“Marks”, oil on hardboard, 30 by 30 cm, 2012
“Fall”, Oil on canvas, 46 by 46 cm, 2012
“Lines in a Field”, oil on hardboard, 30 by 30 cm, 2012
“Spirals”, Oil on canvas, 46 by 46 cm, 2012
“Maxwell”, Oil on hardboard, 61 by 61 cm, 2012
West Coast Trees (Painting Series)
In my previous blog post I shared a series of my landscape paintings of scenes from Canada’s west coast. Again, these were painted around 1992, in fact these paintings were intermingled with the more open coastal scenes done during the same period.
“Candles in the Rain”, acrylic on hardboard, 51 by 61 cm, 1992
“Red Trees”, acrylic on hardboard, 36 by 38 cm, 1992
“Red Path and Trees (study)”, acrylic on hardboard, 51 by 61 cm, 1992
“In the Darkness Grows”, acrylic on hardboard, 36 by 38 cm, 1992
“Together”, acrylic on canvas, 51 by 61 cm, 1992
West Coast (a Painting Series)
In around 1992 after visits to Canada’s west coast (particularly the Gulf Islands), I produced, perhaps my favorite series of paintings. This collection featured trees(and/or driftwood), shorelines and often active skies. My works at this time may show signs of influence from the paintings of Emily Carr.
“Bending to the Sky”, acrylic on hardboard, 61 by 61 cm, 1992
“Windswept”, acrylic on hardboard, 51 by 61 cm, 1992
“Red Leaning”, acrylic on hardboard, 12 by 15 cm, 1992
“Waiting on Island View Beach”, acrylic on canvas, 61 by 76 cm, 1992
“Turning Sky”, acrylic on canvas, 61 by 61 cm, 1992
Night Train (a Series)
This painting series was a bit unique for me. It had a common theme in terms of the subject matter – all of the images were drawn from what I saw (and captured with photos) during the night while on a train between Edmonton and Vancouver in November of 2007. What was unique for me was the use of oil pastel on a number of the works, and oil paint on a couple of larger ones.
“Rolling Through the Night”, oil on canvas, 41 by 51 cm, Nov 2008
“November Rockies Dusk”, oil pastel on paper, 23 x 30 cm, 2009
“Passing in the Night”, oil pastel on paper, 23 x 30 cm, 2008
“Night Siding”, oil pastel on paper, 23 x 30 cm, 2009
“Dawn Arrival”, oil pastel on paper, 23 x 30 cm, 2009
“Supporting the Dawn”, oil pastel on paper, 30 x 23 cm, 2008
“Morning Train into Vancouver “, oil on hardboard, 61 x 71 cm, 2008
Riverdale (a painting Series)
In the early 1990’s I did a series of paintings of the Riverdale community, in Edmonton’s river valley.
“Tree Frog Press”, acrylic on hardboard, 30 by 41 cm, 1991
“Bird Bath”, acrylic on canvas, 61 by 51 cm, 1992
One of the most distinguishing features of the community at the time was the large, undeveloped tract of land that belonged to the historic Little Brick factory, By the end of the decade those fields would be redeveloped to look like suburbia, but at the time it lent a rural charm to this area, just a kilometer from downtown.
“Old Brickyard Field”, acrylic on canvas, 51 by 61 cm, 1992
“Old Brickyard Road” acrylic on canvas, 51 by 61 cm, 1992
“The Little Brick House”, acrylic on hardboard, 28 by 36 cm, 1991
“The Rink Shack”, acrylic on canvas, 51 by 61 cm, 1992
“Sun on 92nd Street”, acrylic on hardboard, 36 by 38 cm, c. 1992
A decade and half later I would revisit this series with a few more paintings of the community:
“Summer Morning on 91st Street”, oil on hardboard, 51 by 61 cm, 2008
“Riverdale Garage (winter sunlight)”, oil on canvas, 41 by 51 cm, 2008
Earth Light Tapestries Series (part 3)
This blog post shares the last eight works of my 24-piece Earth Light Tapestries series of paintings. The first 16 pieces were shared in Parts 1 and 2 of this blog post.
“Earth Light Tapestry XVII”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XVIII”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XIX”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XX”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XXI”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XXII”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XXIII”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
The 24th (final) piece in this series was completed in July 2007, about 8 months after the start. About half of the series formed a solo exhibition at the Gallery at Milner (Library in Edmonton) in November of 2009.
“Earth Light Tapestry XXIV”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
Earth Light Tapestries Series (part 2)
In this blog post, I present the middle third (pieces 9 – 16) of my 2006/7 Earth Light Tapestries series of abstract paintings. (The first 8 pieces are shown in Part 1 of this blog post)
“Earth Light Tapestry IX”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry X”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XI”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XII”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XIII”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XIV (The Sun King)”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XV”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry XVI”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
The final group of paintings from this series can be seen in part 3 of this blog post.
The Earth Light Tapestries Series (Part 1)
The non-representational (abstract) painting series which I called “Earth Light Tapestries was my largest and most deliberate series. I began the series in late 2006 and finished in early 2007. A dozen pieces from this series were exhibited in a solo show at the Milner Library in Edmonton in November of 2009.
From the start, I set out with the goal to paint 24 pieces, each which would be 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm) in size. I used acrylic paints with the intent to be experimental with textures and additives. The “earth” in the series title refers to the “earth” pigments (ochres, umbers, sienna, etc.) that dominated the colors through this series.
The pieces were just given numerical titles (in roman numerals) corresponding to the order in which they were created.
“Earth Light Tapestry I”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry II”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry III”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry IV (Windy City Sand Storm)”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
The “sand” reference in “IV” comes from the texture which was created by the mixing a fine sand into the paint and gel media.
“Earth Light Tapestry V”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry VI”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry VII”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
“Earth Light Tapestry VIII”, acrylic on hardboard, 24 by 24 inches (61 x 61 cm)
The rest of the pieces in this painting series are presented in Parts 2 and 3 of this blog post series.
Randall Talbot - Artist 