Thursday, March 4, 2010

Guess,Yonge and Dundas, Toronto

30x40 Oil on wrapped canvas
I must say this again. Painting large is difficult for several reasons. There is so much paint to use and mistakes, when they happen, are large. Photographing is almost impossible. But I like to paint large. I am getting ready to submit to some galleries for representation, and I want to have about 10 to 15 paintings that I am really happy with.
This painting is of a nice busy corner in Toronto Ontario. I was attracted to the "Guess" signs and the reflected light in the street. When painting Toronto downtown, there will always be street car tracks somewhere. Here they dissect the picture, but I tried to make them less obvious. I stopped before I started adding too much detail. I like to let it sit around for a couple of days, and then decide if it needs more work.
(I did a little more work, and re photographed the painting, but the photo is still less than perfect. sigh....)

12 comments:

myra anderson said...

This is fantastic! I can't wait to see all of them! Your work in the gallery will be great. I'm looking forward to all of the details! Your paintings will be like historial modern day scenes of Canada. (Do you know what I mean?)Wonderful!

Carol Schiff Daily Painting said...

Catherine, I have said it several times, but it never fails to amaze me that you can take a typical urban scene, even in dark stormy weather and make it look inviting. Not just inviting, but, exciting and full of motion with rain swirling and people moving about and all your glorious reflections.

Good luck with the galleries.

Marie Theron said...

I agree that Catherine is noting down history! Many years from now they will know what Ontario looked like at this specific moment in time. As usual: my admiration for this busy wet scene!

Kim Rempel said...

Again, your atmosphere rocks! Beautiful lost edges, nice reflections...lovely!

magicmyst said...

This is gorgeous. Rich an vibrant. I am glad you arelooking for an art gallery to represent you as your work is fabulous. I can imagine it would sell well. People will be able to recognise their favourite parts of Canada and hang them on their walls. Good luck.

Edward Burton said...

This is absolutely wonderful, Catherine! I love the mood and the reflections. I agree with you, painting large can be tricky - especially if you don't do it terribly often --- and getting a good photo is hard! You should have no problem getting in to a gallery (or more). Great work!

Janelle Goodwin said...

Your paintings have magic and mystery. You'll do well with gallery representation, for sure! I agree that painting large is a whole different undertaking. When I paint large, I wish my arms were 10 feet long so I could paint from a distance!

Tammy Hext said...

This one rocks Catherine - you should be patting yourself on the back for this one. I find it hard to photo the big ones too.

Molly said...

OMFG, S;
Number 1: reading your blog is like watching your paintings come to life and transform over time (sounds crazy but you know what I mean)
Number 2: I wish I could be there to crack a bottle of champagne and say
Well Done Darling- You are freaking amazing!
lots and lots of love
M

myra anderson said...

This painting is just sooooo beautiful!!

Sarah said...

This is wonderful Catherine! You have some really spectacular urban paintings of Toronto & Hamilton so it should be a great show. I know how hard it is to amass enough larger work so good luck! I am sorry that I have been neglecting my friends over the past few weeks, I have been back from my travels for a week but am still catching up.

Gwen Bell said...

This one has that special mysterious "something". Everyt bit of it looks relevant to the whole. Love that big area of reflection before getting to the action. Just great!