 Good day in the studio again today. It started with not liking the base colour that I had used on the canvas. It looked dark enough and the right tone yesterday but, once dry, it turned out too light and too flat of a grey. The corrections adjusted the overall totem to more warm and 'older' tones. So I have another totem with the base colours and shaping set and can continue developing it this week, along with the other two in the works. I have to stand on a stool for this one given that it is 48" high. Layering the light coat of pale moss will take take numerous stages.
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 I received my specially ordered canvas today, which needed to be a custom size of 18" x 48" for a specific totem image that I had and really wanted to tackle; one of those wonderful aging totems with a thin layer of yellow-green moss starting to grow of it. So when I got the canvas, I just had to proceed by plotting the totem onto it and committing to it.
So! while I was plotting and blocking in this other canvas, I was thinking that I now have 3 canvas in the works. At first I was thinking that I was just procrastinating and not finishing one painting before proceeding to the next. The reality is that the totem images/ideas are cueing up to be done, and besides these 3 which are started, I also have 2 more in my mind after that. But my wee studio can't handle more then 3 works in progress. Now if I had one of those 'respectable' studios which have adequate space, I could have as many going as I pleased. :-) The other thing that I am pleased about is that I haven't started repeating myself yet. Each totem painting remains unique to itself. Even though I now have 3 exhibitions in 2015, my priority is to avoid the idea of cranking out paintings for the sake of numbers but staying true to the original goal of letting each totem image guide the journey. Another announcement!
I just received a call for another exhibition in Port Moody for the mid-August/mid-September 2015 period; dates to be confirmed. It falls in an excellent time of year. Really looking forward to it.  Been under the weather the last few days (other then the rain) but the next totem painting (Human with Bear - 18" x 36") is taking shape. I wanted to at least get its form in place before continuing with the Cormorant Totem painting.
I was able to get a better picture of the Killer Whale painting this morning, but I will need to try again in the attempt of getting a shot that is perfectly square! Neither of the cameras have a grid that you can superimpose on the screen to help out. So I work with the technology that I have. I hope the other tenants don't mind my being in the front foyer as they enter or exit. :-)  I haven't been able to get a picture of the Killer Whale Totem painting yet, due to the heavy rains and poor lighting. There is suppose to be a wee break in the weather in the morning for a short while and will try then. In the meantime, I've been busy looking through my jpeg files and have another 5 - 6 on standby to work on next. I ordered a special sized 18"x48" canvas for one that I been wanting to do but didn't want to crop the image. It is long and narrow. Been also working on the current Cormorant Totem and plotted out the next totem today. I love the composition of this next image as, given the Indigenous issues in our country, it presents the Human flanked by the one raised arm of the Bear. And besides all of this, I've been taking some time to prepare a poster and handouts for the exhibitions.
I finally completed the Killer Whale Totem painting today. It's been a long process. I just need to varnish it now.
I plan to take a photograph of it on Friday so that I can post it. I sure hope that the technology gremlins are done with me!!! I've lost so much time this month with the dying computer and now an operating glitch on my iPhone that was wiping out the battery. Come tomorrow morning, the crunch will be to catch up on to the arts grant jury duties and get back in the studio the next day! The clock just goes faster and faster.
I managed to get better pics of the last two completed totem paintings, which I've also added to the Journeying With Totems photo page. Glad to have found a solution to the light problem for the winter, given that my condo faces north. And the occasional passer through through the front foyer, and seeing the paintings, doesn't hurt either. :-) 
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