Painting – Doug Rutherford

January 19, 2026

Framing

I have a solo exhibit at Yukon Artists at Work gallery in Whitehorse in April, and I’ve been somewhat busy painting for it. There will be approximately 25 new works for this show, entitled Serenity.

But with an exhibit comes the fun of framing. Framing paintings can be a monumental pain in the posterior, and there are limited places I can do it. Because many of my paintings end up being carried or shipped out of town, I often use acrylic panels rather than glass. While convenient, there are two key reasons why they aren’t my fondest choice.

The first is scratching. Sadly, some panels are rather susceptible to damage and most of the bulk frames I’ve seen can scratch too easily. They are also rather expensive and I really need a better source of frames. Amazon used to carry a brand of frame named Aueur, and they were really nice basic frames with tempered glass. However, they are made in China and, I assume, with the tariffs on them coming into the US, became too expensive to carry. Now, their bulk frames come with a 1 mm panel that is simply too flimsy.

I did luck out in one regard. I was given a number of frames by Carcross Tagish First Nation archives because they were gifting a photo collection to the Council of Yukon First Nations. The frames are not of archival importance, and take up valuable storage space, so I gratefully accepted when I was asked if I could use them. However, they needed backers, mats and glass. However, Arts Underground had some framing materials up for grabs, and I grabbed. Thanks to both institutions for their kindness.

The second issue with acrylic panels, and why there are only a few places I can work in the house, is that they come with a protective coating. This is held, on both sides, by static electricity. When you have three cats, one weighing 24 lbs and shedding a brother daily, static is not your friend. I think my record for reframing a painting to remove cat hair is 6 times.

Anyway, I have 14 paintings framed and there a few more finished to frame up. And, of course, I really still have two months to paint more…

January 1, 2024January 1, 2024

A new year

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.

February 9, 2022

More winter paintings

I did a little count and my streak of painting winter scenes is now at 31 days. Here are a few more of my winter scenes.

Auriol Range, watercolour on paper, 8×10

January 23, 2022February 9, 2022

Embracing winter

When painting, I have made it a point to avoid doing winter scenes. I didn’t get a handle on painting the winter at first. And, while I don’t hate the season, per se, it harder to deal with the pandemic a bit more than it is in the mid-summer and who doesn’t want to think more of summer.

But, I have decided to jump into the winter scene, so to speak, in the last while. I have made an effort concentrate on winter scenes lately and am trying to put together a small show of winter paintings. Here are some of the winter scenes from the last two months.

Three of these are not Yukon/BC/Alaska scenes. One is loosely based on a tutorial from my Facebook painting group (Art by Paul Clark ) and two others are based on photos posted as challenges from the same group and I don’t know exactly where in the UK they’re from.

Carcross Desert (8×10, watercolour on paper)

November 11, 2020

More paintings of the day

I have to admit that the idea of doing a small painting a day during the COVID lock down has lasted longer than I imagined. I asked myself how much longer I’d be able to do it at about the twentieth. A while ago, I did the 100th and thought that was a milestone. Now, I’m currently at 221.

So here are a few more of the paintings of the day.