End of race IV- final step... back to some form of painting and signaling a new direction!

With this one, as an experiment, I relied solely on the painting knife for textures (albeit awkwardly and in an exaggerated fashion!).... it looks good at 300 yards, this is a close up!

I want to use this painting at my upcoming exhibition to signal a new direction in the area of textures. In my future works, I want to emphasize color and textures. If there is nothing to see in a close up (this is the usual with my paintings), at least people will experience bumps and crevasses. Tighten your seat belts... it's gonna be a bumpy ride!

Note to self: "There is no real impasto painting without the painting knife..."

Hitting an Appalachian trail.... to end up in the Czech Republic!

Yesterday, while my canvases were drying, I decided to take a short break and hit a mountain trail close to the town where I was born. I'm sort of rediscovering this area after many years of absence... sort of lost all those years in prairies of asphalt and forests of electric poles. A close cousin was a helpful guide...

To avoid a case of delirium tremens, we elected to visit a winery close by: "Chapelle Ste Agnès". The estate was built over the course of 15 years using ancient Czech construction techniques. The owner was kind enough to offer us a private wine tasting session outside their usual schedule. If wine is a religion, then I'm a converted...

I couldn't resist buying a bottle of their best Vidal ice wine, which won international acclaim...

Riding the wave of chaos... trying to think big within the confines of small quarters!

This year, I've decided to extend my paintings beyond the picture plane... should I charge more for the side views?

I find it easier than painting the sides of frames blue-black... a good omen!

I took the opportunity to post an ad featuring the details of my upcoming exhibition on the quoifaireaujourdhui.com website...

Meeting my pre-exhibition objectives... getting there!

Close to 30 paintings... a pretty compact group, owing to foam board mounting...

I'm almost finished with pre-varnishing coats and the painting of frame sides. This leaves me 2 weeks for varnishing and completing the paper work (catalog of available works, labels and posters). I don't have too much time for turning my thumbs!

A moment of weakness... I want to sell!

As I'm preparing to sell nothing at my October exhibition (75% of my paintings will be on foam boards), I've been showing signs of weakness...

As the tension builds up... I may even do a Buddha... shame on me!

Note: Now, I need to invite people who have recently vacationed in Cuba or the Dominican Republic... and my chance of finding a few is better "than snow ball in hell"... in Québec, that is!

Sub-note: In actuality, I'm a poor predictor of what can sell!

Using the outside studio... it can be a busy place!

This week, I managed to mount 20 paintings on foam boards and "prep" all necessary frame moldings (these will be assembled at the exhibition site). Owing to the nice weather, I made use of the outside studio which, at times, can be a busy place... in this case, with our grand children!

Next week, I've got 5-6 additional canvases to put on stretcher bars and then, it's varnishing time. I will take the opportunity to make the odd corrections on my paintings wherever necessary.

Over the weekend, I took the opportunity to attend another art festival in the Eastern Townships, the Festiv'Art in Frelighsburg, about 25 km from the place where I was born...

I haven't been in that specific village for ages. It's an area surrounded by hills and mountains, and being there felt so right... as if the land was embracing me! This was another opportunity for me to see what's out there and determine how I can to position myself in the future from an artistic standpoint.

Prep work for my upcoming exhibition... after a day's work, I seem to be ahead of the game!

Things seem to be rolling: I finished cutting all my moldings and have started to mount my paintings on foam boards.

Next steps: painting the moldings black and varnishing the paintings. A number of works will be on stretcher bars and some framed.

While retrieving moldings in the shed, I saw a peregrine falcon in a flash and managed to observe it with binoculars. This is a rare bird in urban areas... could this be a good omen? I dug up this watercolor done by myself in the mid 70's after a painting from James Fenwick Lansdowne (an attempt to test my watercolor technique at the time)...

This brings back good memories... at the time, I was a student in Ecology.

Note: By searching the Web, I found out that Lansdowne died in 2008 at the age of 71. I'm saddened by this...