alida's art

January 27, 2010

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.

January 23, 2010

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

12" x 12" oil painting

January 20, 2010

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.

January 7, 2010

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.

January 4, 2010

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!

November 25, 2009

Recent Art Commissions
November, 2009

Pencil, 8"x11"

November 10, 2009

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.