Welcome to the Fredericks Art Blog

Welcome to my world of art. Painting is my joy of life.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Peanut Rock


Do you see the subtle change in my style?  I simplified the trees and gave them an element of impressionistic simplicity.  This work has a lot of interesting things happening, from reflective light along the wet shore, to the power of wind and an interesting 3 colour background.

Acrylics
12x14
$400

Morning Drama


This scene can be traced back to my drive across the North Shore of Lake Superior. First a walk, then a photograph, then a sketch and then a painting in my studio.

Its fun to take a scene which was relatively flat with medium tonal values, and to give it colour, life and drama. Take a look into the foreground trees to see the variety of colours.  The reflections of light and colour into the water give it a lot of beauty.

Acrylics
12x14
$400


Sunday, October 28, 2012

Surprised by Colour - A Painting from the Kicking Horse Flats

This painting took a while to paint. It began with me painting on location along the Kicking Horse River.  There is a playful dynamics of colour in my interpretation of this scene.

Acrylics
12x14
$400


Saturday, October 27, 2012

Abandoned



This work began with a blank canvas. Nothing more - nothing less.  There was no photograph, no sketch, no advance planning.

I stood in front of the canvas a painted a line and let it unfold from within.


Before the Storm


I love metaphorical paintings.  This work is representative of the human condition, and we can each find a time when there is a place of peace within ourselves while the storm rages and blows around us.

The approaching storm can be seen in the sky and trees to the left of the pine tree. The centre of the pine clear, the sky is blue and there is hope.

This work was painted with three concentric circles in the upper half and there is a big circular path around the rocks. The rocks are aligned like an arrowhead, pointing towards the focal area in the centre of the wind blown pine tree.

This work began after as sketching trip to the Bowen Farm, north of the lake where I live.

Acrylics
11x14
$500

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Revielle

Reveille
The awakening of the soul
An epiphany like the blowing of a trumpet.

I strived for movement and height and vitality in the forest above the beaver dam.

Kicking Horse Flats

This work evolved from a plein air study of the Kicking Horse Flats, east of town.  It has lots of color and power and movement in the sky and upper mountains.

Drama above and serenity below.


Creek Behind our Home





This little creek runs behind our mountain home.  The reality is.......everything in the stream is a blending of hues between black and white. I painted colour into it. After all, isn't the job of the artist to improve nature?

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Dinner Dance


I sought to capture that rare moment when the osprey rises from the water, with a large, writhing fish in its talons.  It flies towards the foreground post where it will have its dinner.

12x16
acrylics

Nature's Roundabout



I finally got around to finishing this work. Funny how it goes. A work often seems to be complete but when it isn't seen for six months, you look at it with new eyes.

This work, as indicated by title began about a year ago (or maybe more) when Lynda and I took a trip out to a small campground along the Bluewater. I knew when I saw it that a painting was about to happen.

This work is an interesting mountain scene. I used long vertical brushstrokes to get the feeling of height. See where the rapids race by the bottom of the cliff? I painted the cliff in reddish hues to add vitality to the forest greens. This is a painters trick. Its a back and forth trade off between relatively complimentary colours. This helps build the power of both colours.

Finally to emphasize the drama of the scene, I painted the sky with parallel  movement and drama as you find in the river below. Lots of fun.



18x24
acrylics

Friday, March 16, 2012

The Mount


This joyful painting could be from any of a dozen or more Caribbean islands. The evening sun strikes the Mount, and bathes it in golden light and a solitary palm blows in the breezes along the shore.
Its a watercolour and I painted it a couple of years ago.  A dear friend suggested that if the viewer looks carefully behind a rock, you might find the lovely head of a little dog looking out at you.
An excellent Canadian artist, who looked at my paintings, said..."Let me tell  you what I like about your works....they make me feel happy."  That's a comment which "I have heard a few times now.

9x12
watercolour

Sunday, February 12, 2012

St. Albans Church. Reed's Beach. Barbados, 2012.





This painting is of a local church along the beach where my wife and I hang out.  We met some Canadians on the beach and one thing led to another, and before the Canadians flew back home to Thunder Bay, one of them purchased this work - unfinished.  (Brave soul that she is).

I wanted to get the picture 'right', so I worked on the sky. Mamma (my resident art critiquer), and I had a few conversations about where it was heading.  So, I suggested that she take it to the beach with her after the prospective purchaser went home, and to discuss it with another friend.

A couple of American tourists saw my wife and her friend looking at the painting and they were drawn to take a look at it.  My wife said that one of them said that she would have bought it on the spot......if it were not for the fact that they had spent all their money on the vacation and were heading home the next day.

Strange how it goes. Its either feast or famine when you're a painter.

Free Spirit Barbados 2012


Free Spirit, exemplifies my style of Caribbean painting. Since most Caribbean islands are small, they are deeply influenced by the sea. Land and sea, interact and this means that people interact with the land and sea. Follow the movement from the sky on the left, into the trees, above the boat, into the shadow on the trunk of the tree on the right, down the trunk to the shade. The big circle, ends with the sea.
I have circled the boat and all the action takes place in the centre.

What is the little boy doing on top of the boat? Are the men talking as they work or are they talking to the boy? Go ahead, create your own story.

24x30
$900
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Sunday, February 5, 2012

Cane to Morgan Mills Completed in 2012


This scene was taken from the road which leads from Farley Hill down to Morgan Mills Windmill, and to the Atlantic coast below. I worked on it over the span of two visits to Barbados.

Its about 30x36 in size and it looks pretty good hanging on the wall behind our sofa.

$2,000 cd

Thursday, January 19, 2012

'Hurry Home Baby' Barbados 2012 no. 1.


This is the first of my 2012 paintings from Barbados.

Hurry Home Baby catches the spirit of love which exists between a Bajan washerwoman and her man.
Love somehow bridges the age old struggle between land and sea.

10x14 inches

Sorry, but this one is gone.
I could have sold it 10 times.

But,the good news is, a bigger painting of this scene will soon be posted. It will be available for purchase.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Ladies Tea, St. James Parish, Speightstown


This small watercolour (9"x12") is one of my favourite works. It is possibly the most frequently requested painting from my collection, by prospective purchasers.  I was invited it to show it in the New York Art Expo.  They say that everything has a price.  Everything, except this painting. Its one of my favourites.

The Mount: Atlantic Coast, Barbados 2012


We arrived in Barbados two days ago, and I had no sooner entered our beautiful home away from home and I looked at the wall and thought: "This must be changed."

Strange how it works. Its too easy to fall in love with a work before it's finished. How do you know when its done?  That's easy. Hang it on the wall, lock the door, get on an airplane and return home to Canada and forget about it.  Then when you walk in the room a  year later, it looks like a painting that someone else painted. The first thing I did was pull it down from the wall and complete the job.
Well......its not completely done, for I did it on stretched canvas and still haven't painted its sides, and if you look carefully, you will see that I haven't signed it off.

Let me tell you what I like about this work. Its a scene from the Atlantic coast of Barbados, and I got caught up in the sweep of things. The wind blowing off the ocean, and sweeping up the hill and around the magnificent mount. The picture, like so many of my works, has lots of motion. You can almost imagine the bite of sand and the spray striking your skin.  Notice too how I circled the mount with clouds, and I completed the circle by making rolling hills leading up its side.

I have only been here a couple of days and my imagination is excited with the prospect of another good winter of painting.

24x30 inches
$900