2007 Top 10 Studio Tunes

POSTED DECEMBER 12, 2007 AT 9:00AM

It's that time of year when everyone is compiling their top ten lists for 2007 so I thought I'd join in the fun. My studio, high in the oaks of downtown Guelph, is always filled with music. My Mac keeps track of the most played songs so I give you the TOP 10 MOST POPULAR SONGS IN THE KAPITAIN STUDIO IN 2007:

1. Help Me by Harry Manx from his CD 'West Eats Meet'
2. Ain't Nobody Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone by Tony Rice, from his CD 'Tony Rice Plays & Sings Bluegrass'
3. Down In The Hole by Rob Ickes, from his CD 'Hard Times'
4. Take This Hammer by Harry Manx & Kevin Breit, from their CD 'Jubilee'
5. Little Maggie by Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, from their CD 'Bluegrass Rules!'
6. Gonna Get On My Feet After A While by Colin Linden from his CD 'South At Eight North At Nine'
7. Ride And Roll by Colin James, from his CD 'National Steel'
8. Gather 'Round The Stone by Ben Harper, from his CD 'Both Sides Of The Gun'
9. That's Alright by Kelly Joe Phelps, from his CD 'Roll Away The Stone'
10.Nowhere To Go by Colin Linden, from his CD 'Easin' Back To Tennessee'

Harry Manx, Colin Linden and Kelly Joe Phelps (L to R).

Sketching - The New Technology

POSTED NOVEMBER 29, 2007 AT 12:00PM

I never comprehend what I see more thoroughly than when I sketch it. The visual analysis required for depicting composition, texture, line, color, light, and contrast demands a closer look than the pace of everyday life allows. As the sketch develops, I see and hear things I hadn't noticed at the start and my mood is lifted as the sketch and my immersion into the landscape increases. I have an almost photographic memory of everything I sketch - the result of stopping and really looking.

Chip Sullivan, Professor of Landscape Architecture at UC Berkley, in his book 'Drawing The Landscape' states that drawing is a visual technology that can be used to better understand the natural and built environment. I suspect many people in this digitally-obsessed edge view sketching as an ancient skill employed by Michelangelo. When I look back at a sketch, I feel the temperature and wind, hear the blue jays and crickets, smell the white pine and rich mud and see the chipmunk that came close for a peak. Do you get all that from your flat screen?

Recent sketch soon to be a large-scale oil painting. click to enlarge

Biophilia

POSTED OCTOBER 26, 2007 AT 10:30PM

'Biophilia' refers to our inherent affinity for the natural world and there have been some very interesting studies illustrating this hypothesis. In a fascinating book, 'Building For Life - Designing and Understanding The Human-Nature Connection' by Yale social ecology professor Stephen Kellert, a study is described where patients recovering from heart surgery were assigned to a room with either a landscape painting or an abstract painting or blank walls. Patients in the rooms containing landscape paintings showed less anxiety and demanded less strong pain medication. Interestingly, the patients in rooms with abstract art showed the highest stress levels. Images of nature make us feel good - it's a biophilic response. I've seen it first hand when people see my paintings and claim that they feel calm and peaceful. The conclusion here is that everyone should have landscape paintings hanging in their home, cottage and at the office! I'm just putting the idea out there to help you.

Building For Life - Designing and Understanding The Human-Nature Connection by Stephen R. Kellert, Island Press, 2005.

A Great Concert

POSTED OCTOBER 3, 2007 AT 9:30AM

The 'I Love The Escarpment Too' concert was a memorable event. The setting was perfect - a farm in the autumn colour of the escarpment - and the music of Sarah Harmer and the Barenaked Ladies in the intimate setting of the big white tent was great entertainment. The live auction appeared to be a big success and I was very happy that my print sold for over $1000!

For information about PERL, go to www.perlofburlington.org.
To see the print go to the PRINTS page.

JUNO Award Winner Sarah Harmer (far right) auctioning off my print 'Winter Birch, Mt. Nemo'.

'I Love The Escarpment Too' Concert

POSTED SEPTEMBER 27, 2007 AT 9:30AM

Three important things to me are painting, music, and the landscape. They are interwined everyday in my studio as I create paintings depicting the 'natural' landscape while music - acoustic blues, roots music, bluegrass - fills my studio. I understand and appreciate the value of a place like Mount Nemo on the Niagara Escarpment in part thanks to my university studies in ecology and landscape architecture. I have created multiple paintings from hikes on Mount Nemo - I was there last week in fact - so I have a close connection to that area in particular.

When I heard about the 'I Love The Escarpment Too' concert and auction event on September 29th featuring Sarah Harmer and the Barenaked Ladies, I wanted to get involved. The event is going to raise funds for PERL (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land), a not-for-profit lobby group, who works to preserve Burlington's Niagara Escarpment biodiversity. I contacted Sarah Harmer and she really liked the print and I have donated it for the auction. I'm very exicted to be involved with an event combining my three passions - painting, music, landscape - for a very important cause. I hope that you will attend the concert which is taking place on a farm on Mount Nemo. It's going to be great fun!

For concert event information, go to www.sarahharmer.com.
For information about PERL, go to www.perlofburlington.org.
To see the print go to the PRINTS page.

Some of the beauty I found at Mount Nemo last week.

Business Trip

POSTED SEPTEMBER 17, 2007 AT 10:30AM

7:00am on the water in my kayak watching the mist swirl in the sunlight. That describes my 'business trip' last week to gather photographs on Salmon Lake. I will now take these photographs back to my studio and paint from them throughout the autumn and winter. As soon as new paintings are completed, I'll post them on the website.

Working on Salmon Lake in September.

Illustration Is Fun

POSTED AUGUST 23, 2007 AT 10:00AM

When I'm not painting, which is rare, I create editorial illustrations for a variety of magazines. It serves as a nice change from painting Ontario's landscapes and affords me the opportunity to draw people, dogs, popsicles, guitars and anything else that captures my interest. I sketch the image in graphite and add color digitally - a technique very different from the classical oil paint on canvas. Illustration is a lot of fun with its tight deadlines and varied subject matter and definately sharpens my ability to capture the landscape in my paintings.

Part of the fun of cottaging is the food.

Wildlife Painting?

POSTED JULY 23, 2007 AT 1:00PM

Spending time in cottage country is always restorative and never dull. I paddled by these loons and seriously contemplated becoming a wildlife painter until a branch from an over-hanging shoreline cedar knocked my hat right off my head as if to say, "Don't forget about us Mr. Landscape Painter." I took it as a gentle nudge from Mother Nature herself and immediately turned towards land to scout out some new landscape painting ideas.

A memorable wildlife sighting in the Kawarthas.

TOAE Roundup

POSTED JULY 10, 2007 AT 11:00AM

The dust has settled from the 46th Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and it was a successful and enjoyable weekend. One painting was purchased by a man visiting from Italy - we had fun trying to communicate in a combination of limited French, Italian and English. Another painting was purchase by one of my highschool art teachers. The temperatures were high and it rained on Sunday but the art crowds were huge as always. The 'people watching' was very interesting and thanks to everyone who dropped by my booth to say hello. Now I'm off to the cottage to take photos for a new batch of paintings.

The booth ready for viewing on Friday morning at Nathan Phillips Square.