Painting #1 - Tootsie Pop Tribute

12x12 Oil on canvas
August 20, 2007 : Week 1I thought a fitting first painting would be a tribute to Justin Clayton's Red Tootsie Pop... I first spotted his painting on ebay a couple weeks ago and it caught my eye and  I tried to buy it on e-bay, and I ended up losing the bid...Shux - I wanted the painting so badly, that when I lost the bid, I decided to create my own. Not quite the original but...

Here is my attempt at a Blue Tootsie Pop. The name of the game in my mind is to just get started - so whatever inspires me is fair game. Gotta start somewhere!


Here is a snap of the tootsie pop I used to set up my still life. I shone a big lamp over top to get the nice shadows. It took me 4 hours to finish the painting and I still had time to make dinner and get the laundry done. I am a little rusty but with practice I know I will get better...

An Introduction to 52 Paintings

Plein Air Painting Workshop in Lake Louise, Alberta - August 26 to Sept 2, 2007.

The Kenn Backhaus' group: I was kicked into gear to start painting again at an artists workshop in Lake Louise called Plein Air Masters. My mentor was Kenn Backhaus (middle)... an amazing painter. There were 6 of us in our group painting outside rain or shine for 7 days in the Lake Louise area. I learned tons and had a great group to work with and learn from. Above is a picture of us all on our last night (Sept 1st, 2007) at the going away dinner... We would paint all day and then have great dinners and talks in the evenings... I hardly got to spend any time in my beautiful room at the Chateau Lake Lousie - darn! But it was great to be outside in the fresh air - although a couple days I almost froze my butt off! It was a wonderful experience though - cold and all!