~ Marie Flynn Fine Art ~
Future Art Exhibitions
Show Dates :
Passionate Painters Art Group
Spring Show & Sale
May 13th, 2023 at
St. Peter's Anglican Church
From 10am-4pm
Fall Show & Sale
October 28th, 2023 at
St. Peter's Anglican Church
From 10am-4pm
903-75 Ave. S.W., Calgary, Ab.
Next Show and Sale:
Solo Wall Exhibition at Apik Art Gallery in
Eau Claire Market. From April 1st-30th, 2023
From 11am-6pm daily.
200 Barclay Parade SW, Calgary, Ab.
PPG Art Show & Sale, Country Hills Golf & Country Club ~ 2021
PPG Art Show & Sale, Killarney Community Hall ~ 2022
PPG Art Show & Sale, St. Peter's Church, Calgary ~ 2022
The Joys of painting in an RV while on vacation...
Our 32 foot Travel Trailer and Truck
The comfort of being inside if and when the weather turns bad. And it always does...
Bringing lots of painting supplies. (but I always forget something, Oh well..)
Relaxation and Privacy when painting. (Unless your neighbor invites you to tea or wine!)
Listening to music while painting. (Do the dance of joy during a break!)
Making coffee and lunch, or a nice glass of wine will do too.
Able to take bathroom breaks without leaving the RV. (Yes, very important!)
Taking your time at it. (Also Important!)
Enjoying the scenery and the subject while on location.
My tools to create my art...
I use the best quality professional paints. Two that I use are Golden and Liquitex and most recently, Holbein. They offer the highest pigment, have the widest of color choices and color shifts are limited. Price range varies. Of course everyone has their preference in paints.
The canvases I use can vary according to availability. My favorite canvas brand is Gotrick, specifically, Apollon-Gotrick Delux stretched and Delux Gallery. They are high quality double and triple primed with enough tooth to hold paint well, and are Canadian made. My other most recent favorite is West Coast canvases. They are excellent sturdy supports and are made of high quality materials and workmanship. I love them as well.
My brushes are primarily Ruby Satins by Silver Brush. ( I have other brands but these are my favorite). Short handle and long. I have both. They are the only ones I will use most and the reason is the quality. These are exceptional synthetic brushes with exceptional snap and color control which is why I love them, but they are a little hard to find in my area and the only store that I have managed to find them is at Mona Lisa's art supply. They carry a small range of them. Other supply stores in Calgary don't carry them, not sure why, but you can find them on Amazon. However, Amazon sells them individually and are pricey. Silver brush also have a website where you can buy them. They can be used for oil, acrylic and watercolor. I highly recommend these brushes.
I also use a variety of mediums to add to my acrylic paint to incorporate into their properties. I will often use a retarder medium for instance to lengthen the drying time of my acrylics. I often use a glazing medium as well. For example, you can see that on a few of my paintings where rocks are featured. Gels are also used when I want to apply thicker paint on my canvas and enhance the appearance of brush strokes. There's so much that can be done with mediums and fun to try some of them. Lastly, I varnish my paintings using two or three coats thinly applied as a way to protect them.
My painting method.....sometimes it varies
I thought it might be interesting to show just how I go about creating a painting in my studio. Just like everyone else, I start off in search of a good subject, but before I do, it starts with an idea. I go through many of my own reference photographs. I sit down and do some planning. This is often how I get inspired to start something. In Alberta, winter is long and hard and often difficult to paint on location.
The first thing I look for is a good composition and at times I have seen through my camera lens. Having good color in the image is important too. I adjust settings on my camera to allow for this. Once I have a good image, I can do the necessary adjustments on my computer. I print off two photos. One in color, the other in black and white to see the values. Depending on how close I am to my subject as I am taking the photo, I usually will print off a 4x6, 5x7 or an 8x10 to see the details. To actually start my painting from a photograph, I make sure the dimensions are right in accordance to the size of the canvas I'm using. My computer comes in handy to view the colors from the image.
A simple color wash over the canvas...
I always draw my image in pencil or a fine paint marker on the the canvas first and I always give my canvas a background color as a base. I find by doing this, I can see the color values more clearly and it seems to help minimize colors going too dark or too light. It also seals the canvas so colors don't bleed through I'm told, although I've never had this happen.
My favorite colors to tone are Yellow Ochre (opposite), Raw Umber, Neutral Grey N6, and Ultramarine Blue. Lately, I've been using Quinacridone Burnt orange and it works well. I use Titanium white mixed in to make the paint lighter if needed and mix a little water to thin it all out if it's too thick. With a large 2" flat brush, I cover the whole canvas.
After I've completed all the prep work, I begin by choosing what area to paint first on the canvas. I then choose a color and start painting. I don't squeeze out all the paint colors I need on my pallet like some artists do. You see them spread around the perimeter of the pallet. Probably this is more for oil painting. I prefer to squeeze out one or two colors at a time rather than possibly waste paint that I may end up not using and watching a blob of paint dry out. It's a waste. What I do is arrange my paint tubes in a row beside my pallet, that I know I will use. That way I can see the colors indicated on each tube. I have my retarder fluid handy and I use a large ice cream bucket to use for water, to clean brushes. My painting techniques vary. I use a combination of short and long strokes to apply paint and in different directions. No rhyme or reason here, just working to get the color down is my intension. I do a lot of mixing too because I love to play with color and see what I end up with. That's about it.
Some interesting facts about Artists.....
Artists are Introverts and are more inclined to artistic expression.
A Master Artist was also a beginner.
All Artists are self-taught to a degree.
Artists have structurally different brains than non-artists.
A true artist focuses on their art and not selling themselves.
Artists are both born and taught.
Artists are 20 times more likely to suffer from Bipolar disorder and 10 times more likely from Depression.
Artists love what they do and don't care what the world thinks.
Artists are free-spirited, confident about their art, generous at heart and free of ego. They do not compete.
What it means to an artist when they sell their art.
In case your wondering, I'm part of an artist collective in my city. What's that? An artist collective is a group of like minded individuals that work together towards a common goal. That goal is to support one another in our artistic endeavors. It also means to help promote our group and each other by helping to increase sales and our exposure in the art world. It's important that we as artists spread the word about each other as well. It's not just about who we are but more so about what we do artistically.
What is art after all...
Art is an expression of the individual which has both an emotional and psychological effect on humans. When we create in any medium, it brings a deep sense of joy to our hearts. So when a patron buys an artists work, the feeling of accomplishment and happiness translates in the knowledge that we brought joy to someone else. It makes us feel validated and appreciated. So don't hesitate to buy a beautiful art piece. Support the artists that makes them and you'll be supporting the local economy as well.
My Studio
Thinking back in time, my first studio space was in my kitchen dining nook. I would set up my painting supplies on my kitchen table, push the chairs away and move the table closer to a wall to make room for my stand up easel. The table would hold a cluttered mess of paint tubes, brushes, water containers (I had several going in those days). I don't think there was one inch of table space available. The convenience part of it was being in close proximity to the coffee machine and snacks. That was a necessity. As I was painting though out the day, I was concentrating hard to get things right on my canvas but to my dismay dinner time would roll around which would signal the end of my painting session. I think we've all been there and remember a time when all you could wish for was to have you're own studio and all the time in the world to spend in it. Enjoy what you have until something better comes along is what I say.
Many years have passed since my kitchen table. This is my studio now. I like a clean well organized studio. I get messed up in my head if it's in disarray. Lots of white and for a good reason. It helps to illuminate and distribute the light more evenly since it's in my basement. Something to consider is keeping it light and bright.
A favorite paint color
Earlier last year, I discovered a paint color that I fell in love with and absolutely recommend. If you like to paint your background color in black as I do for some of my floral paintings, try heavy body "Muted Green" by Liquitex. I use it straight from the tube. No mixing with any other color.. It's so dark that it looks almost black. I found it looks softer and richer than using Mars Black and gives the background more depth. Give it a try.
Where I get reference photos
I often get asked where I get my inspiration for my paintings. I'm asked where the flowers come from when I paint my florals. I try to grow my own flowers in flower beds and in pots in my back yard but also I have taken photographs while visiting botanical gardens, garden center's, flower beds in local parks and even from my friends yards. Sometimes local businesses have done wonderful landscapes on their properties that include planted flowers. If I take a trip to the Mountains outside the city, I often include wild flowers. There are also free to download and use as you like images from free websites that allow artists to create art.
Here's a list of Botanical Gardens in Calgary. Devonian Gardens, Botanical Gardens of Silver Springs, Beaulieu Gardens, Reader Rock Gardens, Dorothy Harvie Gardens, Senator Burns Memorial Garden.
The Coutts Centre for Western Heritage in Nanton, Alberta has beautiful peonies, roses and poppies and check out Olds Botanical Garden in Olds, Alberta. Last but not least, one of my most favorite is The Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC.
Using Paints safely
In researching the health hazards associated with water-based paints and non water-based paints, I came across an interesting safety data sheet from Princeton University Environmental Health and Safety. In reading the hazards of both paints, using oils seem to pose more of a physical health hazard because of solvents used for thinning and cleaning brushes. Even mineral spirits can be harmful. The health hazards include, brain damage, kidney failure, respiratory illnesses, narcosis and even coma. WOW!
Whereas, acrylics contain small amounts of ammonia. Some acrylics contain formaldehyde in small amounts as a preservative but it also depends on the manufacturer as they are not all the same. The physical hazards for some sensitive people are eye, nose and throat irritation, a far cry from what can be done physically to you using solvents for oil long term if not careful. Wear gloves and good ventilation is always recommended but many artists don't do this because they don't want to open a window (especially in winter) or buy some kind of ventilation system for their studios. Since traditional oils must have a solvent to thin and clean brushes and if you may not be able to use the nasty solvents, a good alternative is using Water Mixable Oil Paints which uses water, no solvents. And yes, water mixable oils are real oils. I have Royal Cobra Water Mixable Oils and they are very nice to use without a lot of the toxic smell to them. Just use water to clean the brushes. As an acrylic painter, I'm very sensitive to solvents used for oils and that is the main reason I chose acrylics.
7 tips on How to care for your acrylic painting(s)
1. Do not hang your painting in full sun or in a brightly lit room to prevent fading.
2. Do not use water and chemicals to clean your painting. Use only a dry cloth and gently wipe the surface and edges of your painting.
3. You may use a soft clean make-up brush to gently remove dust.
4. Do not hang your painting where it can be exposed to elevated temperatures. Heat can soften the paint. Cold can crack the paint. Keep rooms at reasonable temperatures for your painting. 20-27 degrees Celcius is fine.
5. Do not use abrasive tools on your painting.
6. Keep your painting away from high humidity. Kitchens and bathrooms are really not suitable to hang paintings. Mold may occur.
7. Do not handle your painting directly. Always handle your painting from the edges when moving or mounting them. Smears and smudges can occur with fingers.