Welcome to my special Art Priority group! I’m excited to share my work with people who are interested in art and nature: beaches, sunsets, clouds, wildlife and more. I also do portraits from time to time — a lot of JM (my hubby) for some reason! I especially like to do portraits with white chalk or chalk pastels on black paper — gives a dramatic look, I think, and doing white (or colour) on black is a good workout for the brain, as you’re drawing in the light areas instead of the shadows!
This is one of my favourites, done with chalk pastels from a photo I took of him on the balcony reading his phone with the sun reflecting off the windows onto his sunglasses… Often successful art is all about getting a good quality (and interesting) reference photo!
“Welcome Back” Series
The past few of weeks I’ve been working on a series of paintings I’m calling “Welcome Back”… Although we had a wonderful three months in Spain, it’s always welcoming to be back home. And each spring, I enjoy watching the marsh and dunes in front of our home gradually turn green again, and love to see the birds arriving back, so I’m saying “welcome back” to them too!
JM is my spotter — he’s much more observant than I am, and tells me when he sees something unusual out front. I grab my camera and zoom in as close as I can to get maximum detail! That’s how I got the reference photo for this painting of a bald eagle on our beach. We haven’t seen one for a while, so it was exciting to see! He stood on the beach for quite a while… here he is all framed, as he looked from our balcony.
I think you can see a little of me reflected in there too… 🙂
And here’s another painting — we have two birdhouses for swallows (supplied by an organization interested in preserving marsh wildlife, that unfortunately I can’t remember the name of…). Both are occupied this year, and it’s fun to watch them coming and going, often perching on top of our flag pole for a good view, standing guard over the nest. They’re very protective, going after much larger birds (like crows) to drive them away from their nests. And they eat mosquitoes… did you know that?
Last, but not least, I love to watch the geese return to the marsh. I don’t think they’ve made their nest right in front of our house this year, but they’re nearby, as I often see them in the ponds out front. They like to bee-line from there to the field behind the houses on our road, and often fly past our second-floor living area at eye level. Wouldn’t I love to catch a photo of that for a painting! However, I’m never quick enough with my camera… but they do swim in the ponds long enough for me to get a good reference photo!
Enjoy… and I’ll have more art to show you soon!!
Jeannie
PS: These images are shared for your enjoyment but, of course, the originals are for sale. Please contact me directly if you are interested in purchasing.
All art is copyrighted: All rights reserved. No images may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means — graphic, electronic or mechanical without the prior written permission of the artist.
My Mission as an Artist:
To create art that captures life’s meaningful moments, important people, favourite places and dreams of where you’d love to be… providing a way to revisit the things that matter most to you and re-experience the warm emotions they create.
Jeannie Beaudin, Artist and Author 