This is a commissioned piece I did this month for a family in Calgary. It was a favourite family photo of theirs - I hope I did it justice! 24 x 30" Oil on canvas.

Usually I am at home for Christmas where my brother Nathan helps me bake and decorate cookies. Because I won't be going home this year, I made some bear cookies, special, for him.

Every year I make my own Christmas cards to mail away to friends and family. This year I pieced together some of my own photographs for each of the greetings. Here are four out of the seven.

 I started this painting about ten months ago, and have been working on it here and there ever since. It was time to get it done. I think I am very close, but will keep it up in the apartment for awhile before I spray fix it, as I'm sure I'll spot a few more areas to touch up! I put in the picture above to get a better sense of the scale. 

Haines Harbour; Oil on canvas - 36 x 48".

The window mural that I painted for the Northeast News. During the holidays they print a newspaper called the North Pole News.

After doing my Midnapore Lake painting, I wanted to do another with a few changes. I tried to use less variation of blues to tie the painting together better, and left off the big spruce trees framing the subject so that the smaller canvas would feel brighter.


$250 Oil 11x14" unframed, stretched canvas

I did this neutral version of Willow Acres Road before I did the monochromatic blue one that you can see here on my blog.

For this still-life I tried to focus on using complimentary colours; not only surrounding the fruit, but using it for the shadows as well. Cezanne is a master at this. Oil 8x11"

I love Halloween and was feeling in the spirit this afternoon. The contrast created by the candlelight makes for a great subject! Oil 8x11"

Back to painting my "bottles" again; maybe I should do a series? Anyways, it's an easy and fun still-life to put together. Oil 8x11"

Winter has arrived in Fort St John. I can't believe Juneau (my dog) stayed put long enough for me to get a quick sketch of him!
Watercolour 10x14"

Edible art?! Mmm mm!
These definitely aren't the best looking cookies you'll ever see, but I love seeing what other people come up with. Below is a link to a fellow teacher's site showcasing her amazing cakes.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Whitehorse-YT/Cake-On-The-Side/152746779855?v=wall

"Boys in the Garden" 24x30" Oil on Canvas
This is a donation painting for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. It will be sold by silent auction next month at their annual gala in Calgary.

Lee and I went to his family's cabin over the long weekend. I had good intentions of painting outdoors, but in my opinion it was too cold so instead I chose to do a still-life.
And in case you are having trouble figuring out the beer on the left, that is Yukon Brewing Company's "Ice Fog" India Pale Ale - artwork by fantastic Yukon artist Emma Barr.

The wedding paintings are finally up! I was commissioned to do these by friends and family of the bride and groom who married July 10. Congratulations Justine and Tyler!

Hey Everyone!

I'm down in Vancouver this week taking a course at UBC called Picture Books: A Marriage of Text and Illustration. The instructor is actually a publisher for Tradewind Books. I am learning a lot about the art (and business) of getting a children's book published. Don't expect one any time soon though as it will most likely take years! At least taking this course is one step up and in the right direction...or so I hope!

I'll be showing some art to published authors and illustrators tomorrow - wish me luck!

Alida

http://www.tradewindbooks.com/new/news.html

A watercolour painting I did using a photograph by Scott Donker. He takes amazing pictures and I couldn't help but be inspired by them. This one is the Kimberly Meadows area (for those that are familiar with the Kluane region of the Yukon), and I believe it is my friend Aven that is the hiker you see!

Here are some photos from the art program I did last week involving over 250 students.

The students were each to create their own Earth Day image which we carved and made into "stamps" as a form of printmaking.

It was a huge success and students were very happy with their finished product.

How time flies!
I apologize to anyone that checks my blog regularly. I have been teaching almost everyday for the past two months and it's amazing how little time is leftover to do art.

Tomorrow I am starting a three-day whole school art program at an Elementary School here in Fort St John: Wish me luck! I will hopefully post pics from this on the weekend.

Be back soon! :)
Alida

Thank you to Amy McKinnon and the St. Elias Echo staff for posting my artwork on the cover of the February/March issue! I am so appreciative and grateful to have my work seen around the community.

I found this photo of Millie from her wedding day in one of Mom's albums last summer. I was captivated by the expression in her face and have wanted to paint it for a while now. The obvious part about her expression is that she's happy because it's her wedding day, but something about the gaze in her eyes says even more... true love and affection? Pride? Maybe she's looking at her new husband? What do you think?

This one was just for fun. I tried to keep it loose and not worry too much about the detail. The great thing about painting inanimate objects is that no one will notice if the proportions are correct or not!

I felt like getting away from painting from photographs, so grabbed a couple of wine bottles from our wine rack (not that we drink a lot of wine)! The colours work really well to compliment each other. I can't say I'm totally satisfied as I think I over-painted it and my bottles feel somewhat like they are "floating". Nonetheless I'm not going to work on it anymore!

Here are a few pictures of me getting an early start in life as an artist.
My cousin Tara is such a good sport!

All that brain power of trying to colour within the lines makes you sleepy...

Here is me, my Auntie Celia and Grandpa Mackinnon.

"The Lookout"
View of the Peace River near Fort St. John, BC


12" x 12" oil painting

These were my first batiks - ever! Last year I taught full time in the Yukon's largest high school as the art instructor, where I brought in Yukon artists such as batik artist Karen Rhebergen, so I learned from the best! I did these for my cousin Emily, who got married last May. Instead of a guest book, everyone signed the matte frame around one of the batiks.

Oil Painting - Willow Acres Road
Who could ever tire of looking at those mountains?! I tried to capture the crispness of that day. Those of us familiar with this view might notice I left out the telephone poles to keep it solely landscape. I used the exact three colours as in the painting below: cobalt blue, raw umber and titanium white.

I took this photo (now an oil painting) along the Alaska Highway between Haines Junction and Whitehorse, Yukon; near Champagne. I loved the moodiness of the clouds and the way they played with the light over the snow-covered hills.

Paintings I did this December for my Christmas cards. The one on the left is of my brother; he has Down's Syndrome and loves Christmas!