As an admirer and companion to many adog, I have come to realize that they show their true self when in the environment that they love most.  For these 2 formidable yet friendly beasts, that would clearly be out in the woods behind there home on a crisp winter day with lots of deep fresh snow to revel in.  My focus with the painting was to try and communicate some of that obvious joy these two shared with us while hiking and exploring the winter wonderland.

With one more coat of varnish to come on the frame, this substantial commissioned work is finally reaching the time where it will be hung in the client's home.  With the painting I utilized an unusual arrangement of the horse and riders within the format, a landscape style, which was deemed most suitable to the wall spaced the painting would ultimately reside on.  The balance of the piece is resolved by having the trunk of the great white pine leaning out to the edge of the frame opposite the riders.  Lots of complimentary colours also at play here to keep the eye moving around the image and make the colours and shapes 'pop'.  Looking forward to hanging this in its new home and hearing the comments to follow

My painting workspace can at times be quite become quite cluttered, with paints, brushes, sample pieces, sketches and books competing for the best locations.  One of the books most frequently open for study and inspiration is a big hard cover book about the Group of Seven painters, which includes Tom Thomson.  Within that treasure of wonderous beauty are a number of paintings that feature a stark young red maple sapling against a northern backdrop.  While working away at this painting, I studied those works intensely and decided that this piece was to be 'my red maple painting', hence the name.  
Complimentary colours are lend a striking vibrancy to any work and they play a significant role in causing the work to 'pop'.
Framed painting is available for purchase at the Kilby Gallery in Clarksburg Ontario.

It is not unusual for me to take a painting so far, then put it aside for an undetermined period of time.  This pause may be caused by a concern for the direction a piece is moving in, or not moving in, or perhaps something new(er) has pushed its way to the main stage of my focus, or many other reasons and excuses really.
With this work, which was started but not completed almost a year ago, I was caught between 2 different styles of finish and attention to detail and decided it best to leave it alone for a time.  Jump forward to this winter, and there was this half finished painting that still held lots of promise in my eyes, but needed to be brought to some form of completion.  And here it is.
An early snow while the fall colours are still strong in the woods, on a bright sunny day, is a rare and miraculous visual treat as seen here, lots of different colours from the palette played a role.  Painting is 60' x 30' and is currently available for purchase at the Kilby Gallery.  For further details contact the Kilby Gallery at 519 372 7971 or donk@rogers.com