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!

Recent Art Commissions
November, 2009

Pencil, 8"x11"

This was a live model painting that I did in 2007, and happily sold it to the Chair of the Board of Governors at the University of Alberta. The photo on the right is of it hanging in the Chairman's home; a home that was selected for the prestigious 2007 Alberta House and Garden Tour.

I created this "book" for my brother Nathan, who has Down's Syndrome. I hinged two wooden frames together and completely covered the outside of them with photocopied images, tea-soaked paper and a gloss finish. Inside, I did a charcoal portrait drawing of him to fill the left frame, and for the right, recreated an original drawing that Nathan did, and gel-transferred images of him inside the accordian pages. 2007.

Self Portrait; University drawing class, 2007.
Pencil, vine charcoal, and compressed charcoal.
You may be confused about the abstract drawing on the right! We created an abstract image by printing off a photo, cutting it up, photocopying and distorting, adding a plexiglass self portrait painting on top and photocopying it again, and so on and so on, and when we finally had our abstract image - we had to redraw it as best we could. If you look closely, you can see I even drew where the scotch tape was.

Close-up of a pencil study drawing of my Graf hockey skate.
First art class at the University of Alberta - 2004.

Acrylic painting - 2005.

I did this painting from a photograph I found - unfortunately I don't have the name of the photographer to give credit.

Acrylic painting with respect to Marie Guillemine Benoist (1768-1826) Portrait of a Black Woman.
I was copying from an image 2" x 2", so my proportions are slightly off from the original, which is hanging in the Louvre in Paris.

Stuffed Toy Studies from my first oil painting class at the University of Alberta - (some of my first oil paintings ever) - 2005

Oil and Gold Flake 36" x 48" - "Vegas at Night"
Fall 2009

Oil 18" x 36"
Midnapore Lake in Winter; Calgary, AB

October, 2009

Oil 11"x 18"
Old Alaska Highway near Haines Junction, Yukon

November, 2009

Oil 8" x 11"
Alaska Highway at dusk; just East of Haines Junction, Yukon

October 2009