Author: Doug Rutherford

Just over a week to go until my solo exhibit opens on July 4th. This one, themed Against the Sky, is an homage to the Yukon sky, a constantly changing milieu of light and colour and is dedicated to the Yukon sky, with its subdued pastels in winter, its bright colours in summer, and its limitless array of sunsets and sunrises.

Against the Sky runs until Saturday, July 26thth. Yukon Artists at Work is located on 4th Ave. and Wood St. in Whitehorse. It’s open from Tuesdays to Saturdays, 11 am to 4 pm, with extended hours on the first Friday of every month. The gallery will also be open some Sundays in June and July (June 15th and 22nd, and July 6th, 13th, and 20th).

To make matters more fun, I also have three paintings at Arts Underground gallery on Main Street, Whitehorse, as part of the Emerald exhibit, a celebration of the 55th anniversary of the Yukon Arts Society.

Hope to see you there.

Well, the week is done, and it just seemed to fly by. I finished four more paintings in the last two day, as well as guiding some people through doing their own paintings.

The second part of that was that part of my job, beyond painting demos, was to get people to do small northern lights paintings, so you may see a bit of a theme in some of the works I did this week.

Northern lights. Watercolour on paper, 8×10 inches.
This, by the way, is the scene my students will be painting in a workshop at the end of the month.

Summit Lake. Watercolour on paper, 11×14 inches.

Northern pond. Watercolour on paper, 11×14 inches.

Full moon. Watercolour on paper, 11×14 inches.

This is my second residency at Arts in the Park, the first being 3 years ago. It’s a great combination of performing arts and visual arts held during the early summer in Whitehorse. I get to be the visual artist for the first week of this season, June 2 – 6. During the week, I’ve been doing demo paintings and getting people to do small northern lights paintings.

In the three days so far, I’ve done five paintings. Since the public participation subject is the northern lights, I’ve been stressing that particular subject…

Fall Sunset. Watercolour on paper, 11×14 inches.

Northern lights, Fox Lake. Watercolour on paper, 11×14 inches.

Pilot Mountain. Watercolour on paper, 11×14 inches.

Twilight, Fox Lake. Watercolour on paper, 11×14 inches.

Forest floor. Watercolour on paper, 11×14 inches.

I have two more days, and will post the works from them later.

I was asked to do some slightly larger prints of a few paintings (I, of course, won’t go any larger than the original painting). These are done and currently available at Arts Underground gallery in Whitehorse. The link to the page is here.

The new ones are 8×10 inches, matted to 11×14 inches, and hand signed. They are available for $55 CDN each, plus applicable taxes and shipping.

First buds of spring.

Starry Night, Kathleen Lake

Misty Pond.

I love my sketchbook, even though it’s cheap and has multimedia paper rather than watercolour paper. Sometimes, it’s easier to do a little practice run to see what a finished painting will look like or see if how you want to approach something will actually work.

Mostly, I like the feeling that a sketch doesn’t need to get bogged down in detail. You can paint as loosely as you like and the pressure to do a “good” painting is gone.

I don’t have a lot of time today and decided to do a quick sketch of an unnamed mountain in the Ibex Valley I want to do a full painting of later. It has character, with its sheer, rugged cliff face.

Unnamed mountain, Ibex Valley. Watercolour sketch on paper, 7×10 inches.
Painting of the day 1908.

Well, I hit another milestone today. This morning, I painted number 1900, so I guess I’ll hit 2000 in a few months.

This was not the painting I was going to do today, but, as I looked through my photos, this one called to me. It’s from the beach at the campground at Dezadeash Lake, Yukon. Yes, it’s a bit moody, but I have a tooth bothering me this morning and it seemed appropriate.

It’s also a smaller painting than originally planned for the day. Again, thank my stupid tooth.

Full moon, Dezadeash Lake. Watercolour on paper, 8×10 inches.
Painting of the day #1900.

I don’t know if other artists go through the existential angst I get trying to select paintings for an exhibit. To be honest, pricing them is worse, but, that’s another issue altogether.

I rounded up my frames today and counted what I had it what sizes. Then, I grabbed a plastic container of paintings and locked myself in the camper to start culling. I ended up with two piles, no and maybe.

So far, I have, on the second cull, to drop 14 of the 11×14 inch pile and only 3 to cut from the smaller paintings. My mounting tape is supposed to arrive on Saturday, so I still don’t have to panic completely. Also, I won’t frame until closer to the exhibit because I may still do something I want better between now and then.

Why am I rushing for an exhibit that isn’t opening until July? My June calendar is insane. I have several workshops on the docket, as well as a residency, and will be out of town for a celebration of life ceremony. And, quite frankly, I need to go fishing sooner than later for my mental health’s sake. Pesco, ergo sum.

I do have an exhibit title, and two possible choices for the poster. It’s called Against the Sky. PS. Let me know if you have a preference for the poster choice since I hate picking these.

Fireweed.

Fall sky.

Both are 11×14 inch watercolours.

I love having a chance to experiment with painting, I’ll also admit that the line from Monty Python “I’m sorry, but I have to sell you all for scientific experimentation” does run through my mind when I do.

I have painted waves before, but wanted to try another technique. I’m not sure if I like this method better than my previous one.

I was Artist in the Window at Yukon Artists @ work gallery today, so it was a good time to play.

I had decided that I have done more paintings of a dead calm Dezadeash Lake than times I’ve seen a dead calm Dezadeash Lake. This one is probably a bit more of an honest view of the lake much of the time.

Dezadeash Lake. Watercolour and gouache on paper, 11×14 inches.

I have a variety of 5×7 inch prints available at Arts Underground gallery in Whitehorse. These are matted to 8×10 inches, and for sale for $30 each.

Night Forest.

Night.

The Wire Fence.

Morning.

Raven in the Mist.

Dezadeash Lake.

I wanted to experiment a bit on mounting. I bought a package of 3 8 inch wooden panels for mounting and thought I may do something with them on a theme for my upcoming exhibit in July.

After more than a month of trying to think of what exactly to do for them, I finally settled on a series of northern lights paintings. I did three over three days and have two mounted. I’m not as happy with the third, since I think it’s a little dark. It’s currently being mounted, so I’ll see it with new eyes tomorrow.

Lights 1. Watercolour on paper, mounted on wooden panel, 8 inch diameter.
Painting of the day 1860.

Lights 2. Watercolour on paper, mounted on wooden panel, 8 inch diameter.
Painting of the day 1861.

Lights 3. Watercolour on paper, mounted on wooden panel, 8.5×8.5 inches.
Painting of the day 1862.