Garden View, by Canadian Artist Kim Blair

Iris are gorgeous flowers.  This garden view is from a fabulous front garden along Ada Blvd. here in Edmonton.  Undulating groupings of  iris, poppies, roses... beckon you to stop and stare. That garden is an inspiration... I make a point of walking past it numerous times over the growing season (with my camera of course).

This painting is LARGE.   I will be posting larger paintings periodically.  They are for sale.  I thought that it would be fun to offer them to you this way instead of waiting to have a 'live' art show here in Edmonton.  This way (on-line), everyone has a chance to see and purchase a larger painting.  Please note that because of the size shipping costs will be more than for my small paintings.

SOLD
15x30 inches, oil on narrow profile canvas, ready to hang.

China Red

 Thank You to everyone for being such huge fans of my poppies!  (Tomorrow I will be posting a different flower; no more poppies for a little while.)
 
Oriental poppies are such show-offs.  They really like to stretch and twist in the breeze, curling back their ample soft silky petals here and there as if they were wearing an evening gown... the 'china red' silk fabric falling loosely, revealing their many charms...

SOLD
8x10 oil on canvas, ready to hang.

Imperial Red

Oriental poppies add old-fashioned charm to a garden and do well in higher, cooler altitudes.  During the hot summer months the foliage dies back and can look a bit drab... but the wonderful display of colour they add should be compensation enough to keep their place in a garden... and let's not forget the interesting seed pods that remain when the petals drop.

SOLD
8x10 oil on canvas, ready to hang. 

Oriental Red

It looks like I am on a poppy series...  This painting is from a photograph I took a number of years ago.  Once upon a time I had an Oriental Red poppy growing in my garden... the flowers were huge... each crinkled 'petal' was almost the size of the palm of my hand.  Add all those petals together and you have one gigantic flower!  The only problem was that if it rained soon after the blossoms opened it often spelled the end for these gorgeous red heads.   Luckily, I took photos for painting and posterity.

This Red Hot little number is ready to ship...

SOLD
8x10 oil paining,  ready to hang.

Parade

As I mentioned on Friday with my post of 'Night View', my garden is home to an wide assortment of poppies... a virtual parade of hues.  Little clowns with big black noses... hanging out with large green bulbous balloon buds.  (say that with crackers in your mouth!)

SOLD
8x10 pen & ink with loose watercolour wash, on 300 lb.  watercolour paper ready to be matted and framed.

Night View

Delicate, silky, crinkled or smooth... the petals of a poppy flower float and sway in the breeze.  The buds resemble a creature from a science fiction movie, ready to pounce.  Each year I see a rainbow of colours when my poppies flower.  I have discovered almost every poppy colour imaginable in my garden.  They often just 'show up' unannounced or invited (seeded by the wind or a passing bird)... but once you get to know them and appreciate their beauty you hope they will come back next year... like good friends.

SOLD
8x10 pen and ink on 300 lb watercolour paper, with some  watercolour wash in the flowers and leaves, and black ink wash in the background. (ready to be matted and framed)

Alabaster, by Canadian Artist Kim Blair

Alabaster is one of the softest minerals know to nature, used for ornamental decoration indoors as it weathers easily...  usually white or a delicately tinted colour.   Fitting description of a white iris.

SOLD
10x8 oil on canvas, 

Amethyst, by Canadian Artist Kim Blair

Amethyst is the jewel assigned to the month of February.  When I painted this purple Iris at the beginning of the month there was no other choice for the title because... as I studied the photo of this flower the light hit sections of the petals and created numerous shades and tints of purple similar to the way the facets of a cut amethyst reflect light.  Sometimes you just have to go with what is presented to you...

Speaking of presents... go to my blog  to view the GUITAR painting I did for my husband's birthday yesterday...

SOLD
10x8 oil painting, almost ready to hang.

Saturn

This is a painting I did of my husband's electric guitar for his birthday today, February 16th.  The guitar brand is a Saturn and so now the title makes sense to anyone (like myself) who does not know much about guitars.  It was fun to try my hand at something totally different from my usual subject matter of  flowers and fruit...  taking numerous photos of his guitar from interesting angles really inspired me to paint this piece and I am looking forward to exploring the world of musical instruments in a painterly fashion in the future.  (Maybe even doing some requests if anyone has a special ocassion coming up...  email me and we can discuss it.)

NFS (12x16), oil on canvas

Radiant


A bit of 'sunflower sunshine' to add some warmth to a cold day.

Happy Valentine's a day early.

SOLD
8x10 oil on canvas (almost dry enough to hang, email me and we can arrange the delivery time for when it is a bit drier)

Peach Parrots II

Here is the second pen & ink with a watercolour wash of the same 'flock' of parrot tulips as yesterday.  As you can see some of the tulips were starting to droop.

Did you know that a tulip is the only flower that continues to grow after it is cut?  Every couple of days you need to recut the stems to help them stand up straighter... for painting purposes I like some of them to be a bit droopy... it adds some character to the bouquet and painting.

This painting and the one from yesterday would make a nice statement hung together.

SOLD
10x8, pen and ink with watercolour wash on 300 lb. watercolour paper.

Peach Parrots I

Parrot tulips... all the little wrinkles, curves, twists and puckers in the petals add up to one magical flower.  I put a loose watercolour wash over the paper and then used pen and ink over top of this to create my peach parrots.

Tomorrow I will post another view of the same 'flock.'

SOLD
8x10 pen & ink with watercolour wash on 300 lb. watercolour paper, ready to be matted and framed.

Black Night

More Iris... I love Iris and from the emails I have been receiving it seems a number of you enjoy them too.  This little darling would make a nice Valentine's gift...

Enjoy!

SOLD
8x10 pen & ink, ready to mat and frame (remember that all my 8x10 pen & ink pieces can be popped into a ready made frame and matting, or have it professionally done)

Single Blue, Baby Blue, Blue & Yellow Iris



I wanted to start interspersing a few posting of some paintings that I have sold or given as gifts and have not been featured on my blog.  Todays pen and ink Irises with watercolour washes are from the early summer of 2008.  They are very small pieces and the person who has them will be framing them and hanging them as a grouping on her 'blue' toned living room wall.  She is going to let me know when she gets them framed and perhaps I will post a photo of them hanging in their new home...

A lovely woman I met while taking an art course last fall has linked me to her blog and I have now linked her to my blog.  Her name is Deltra and she is a talented painter who also teaches art courses in and around Edmonton. 

On my blog page, on the right hand side, under the heading 'Blogs' I will have some links to some blogs you may like to check out.

Have a wonderful weekend...

SOLD
Till the next posting...
Kim


Harvest

The Old Strathcona Farmers Market here in Edmonton is the place to go for a visual feast.  The variety of produce appears to be almost unlimited, depending on the time of year.  I purchased these turban squash there last fall and kept them around as long as possible calling them my 'painting squash'.  I must admit that I never had a chance to taste them ( I kept them too long and they went mushy.)  Yet it felt as though I receive almost as much nourishment via osmosis during the time that I studied their shape, colour and texture while painting them...

NFS
$55.00, 6x8 oil on canvas, ready to hang (not eat).

Red Jewels

I painted this one over the holiday season when pomegranates appeared at the grocery store.

The tiny seeds are covered in a luscious ruby (with a hint of amber) coloured flesh that glistens like tiny jewels.  The juice supposedly has numerous beneficial health properties... wonder if just viewing a painting of it could work too ?  Let me know...

I would love to hear from you regarding what type of paintings you would like to see me try.  I will keep a list of your ideas for inspiration... Perhaps they will match things already on my list, but I am always open to creative ideas.

SOLD
10x8 oil painting, ready to hang

Voluptuous

The curves and rounded petals add up to a 'voluptuous' stargazer lily... She could catch the eye of anyone who walks into a room and sees her hanging on your wall.  Fun and extroverted she just might be the life of the party...

SOLD
10x8 pen & ink on 300 lb. watercolour paper, ready to be matted and framed in a 'ready made' frame or professionally framed.


Curvaceous

I can't help myself... stargazer lily petals are so shapely, with little creases and lines here and there creating a 'curvaceous' subject for pen and ink and brush.  I have not been able to attend the drop-in figure drawing class I have signed up to take for a while now,  so doing these pen and ink pieces helps to keep up my drawing skills.

SOLD
10x8 pen & ink and ink wash on  300 lb. watercolour paper, ready to be matted and frame with either a 'ready made' frame or professionally framed

A Piece of Paradise

My posting on friday was of a 'Bird of Paradise' flower and today my posting is a close up of a section of the petals.  Watercolour paints have a wonderful way of blending and bleeding... I took full advantage of this characteristic of the medium to paint this piece.

$150.00, 10 x 11 watercolour on 140 lb. watercolour paper, ready to mat and frame.