Watercolour Landscapes of the Yukon
I was sick last week and still lacking a bit of stamina. To make matters more fun, I curated and installed a new group exhibit at Yukon Artists @ Work gallery this week, along with its opening, so I have largely been doing watercolour sketches for the past while. Some will become paintings, and some…
However, today, I did feel like doing a full painting. This is probably headed to YAAW in the next few weeks.
Night. Watercolour on paper, 11×14 inches.
I’ve been dying of a cold for the last three days, and was just going to do a small painting today. However, when I picked the image I was going to do, I had a change of heart and did it as an 11×14 painting on Fabriano paper.
Morning on the marge of Lake Laberge, watercolour on paper, 11×14 inches., painting of the day number 1695.
After two solo exhibits and five group shows this year, I’ll admit to being tired. So, for the painting of the day lately, I’ve been playing a bit. So for today, I decided to do one of my Facebook painting groups’ challenge. I’m getting into the Halloween spirit with this one. Here’s a flock of ravens flying home to their roost for the night.
Flight of the ravens, watercolour on paper, 8×10 inches.
It seems I start a lot of posts with “I’ve been a bit remiss lately.” However, with the new year, I figured I should get around to posting more often.
First, Happy New Year, all.
I’ve had a busy year. I have a play almost finished, although I did want to submit it to a one-act play competition but did not get around to finishing it before the submission deadline. I did finish 379 paintings this year, and only missed three days: February 21, July 23, and December 25.
I have to get a little busy since I have a solo exhibit in April, It will be paintings of the Kluane Ranges in Winter.
I tried to pick my 10 favourite paintings of the year, but I settled for 10 I liked more than others.
And, here is the first painting of 2024.
I currently have paintings for sale at two galleries: Yukon Artists at Work and Arts Underground, in Whitehorse. Arts Underground does do online sales, although this is not true at YAAW.
Arts Underground
Yukon Artists at Work
I’ve been a bit remiss in posting here. I have been busy and having been laid up for a while with a broken foot most of last year didn’t help. A few things have happened since last time.
1. I have passed the 1000th painting of the day. This was a painting of the northern lights over Kluane Lake. Today’s painting was number 1155.
2. I have a number of paintings for sale at the Arts Undergound gallery in Whitehorse. The link for these is https://arts-underground.myshopify.com/collections/members-gallery/doug-rutherford.
3. I have currently joined Yukon Artists at Work, a professional artists’ co-op here in Whitehorse. More news on that will be coming up in a bit of time.
Here’s a few more paintings I’ve done recently.
I have had some off days with my foot. But, I still did time to get some paintings done.
I broke down and painted an 8×10 today in a single sitting, other than a short stretch of waiting for paint to dry. This is an accomplishment, since I fell last week and needed surgery to repair a badly broken foot. Sitting with my foot down for any length of time is not easy.
I also had to put a call out for photos. Unfortunately, I was heading out the next day on a photo run for paintings. Whoops. So much for timing.
Today is the first time since I’ve done it that I didn’t need to take a few breaks in between. I guess it’s a sign I’m on the mend. Another week and the staples come out and I get an air cast that will be considerably more comfortable. I’m still facing 5 to 7 more weeks of no load bearing, though.
Here is today’s painting that I could do in a single sitting.
Okay, who could refuse a headline like that?
I have a strategy for when you just can’t seem to put together a painting. You lose, for example, the sky and nothing seems to follow. Or, you make a colour selection that’s too dark, and with watercolour, there is no real way to recover. These are not the only problems that make you throw a painting in the recycling bin, or start a new one on the back. They are, however, two of my favourites.
When I started painting a few years ago, I started with the sensible approach of working small. I found a 5×7 inch painting a day quite easy to handle and represented a rather small investment of time and resources if things didn’t work out. In the beginning, that happened a lot.
When I get into a rut where you can seem to muster any painting skills whatsoever, I fall back on the approach of working small. I usually paint 8×10 or 11×15 paintings, but when I get stuck on a painting or two in a row, I go back to doing smaller paintings. For some reason, a 5×7 gets me back on track.
Maybe it’s the necessity to remove detail because the painting is smaller or maybe it’s because I’ve painted more pictures that size, but it just seems to do the trick.
I’ve gotten into a rut of not being able to do a good job, so I decided to go back to doing a few smaller paintings. These have been fun to do and one was a complete experiment, which, of course, is even more fun (when it works, of course.) So, here are a few of the smaller paintings I’ve done this week.
Now that we’re into the third year of the painting a day, here’s a few of the ones I’ve done so far.
Doug Rutherford 