Presenting a Sayward Rose

"Sayward Rose"  oil on canvas  4-"x16"

detail, "Sayward Rose"

    Another long while since I posted. The winter found me working slowly on a couple of things, including the above painting, currently in a show at the Campbell River Art Gallery. 

   This model is a lady I first noticed working at the gas station/convenience store at the junction where the island hwy. meets our road into Sayward. She has incredible eyes and I knew instantly that I needed to paint her eventually. That was a few years ago but I finally got to know her, and we ended up in the local book club together so I was able to present the idea of posing for me to her. She was, as people generally are, surprised, flattered, and wholly agreeable. There really is no need to be nervous about approaching someone to pose but I always am.

   I am now trying to work through a new idea for using her in an upcoming painting but for the life of me I am unable to sort through the debris in my mind over how to do this. Numerous sketches are taking me nowhere. In my frustration I have turned to some other things, including working in clay! I never thought I would like that medium so when invited by a local artist to come "play in the mud" I decided to try it. I have a piece completed that I am pretty happy with for a first attempt and the final firing will probably be this week. I will wait before posting the image...if it doesn't take me months again to get back here!