Trees Always Catch The Moment

Trees wait quietly all night for the show. And seldom are they disappointed as each morning new sunlight brings colours for the clouds to wear as spectacular fashion.

It begins with a whisper of light spreading loudly over the sky while the sun lifts from the horizon and the clouds swarm through the colours. And then it all fades away.

You miss it if you sleep late but the trees always catch the moment.
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Considered a pointillism master, Jim Pescott paints landscapes of Alberta real estate (and other places). In Jim’s own words, “I paint the land because it touches everyone.” Visit his website http://www.jimpescott.com To contact Jim about a painting or a project call 403-870-0591 or email him at info@jimpescott.com

Standing Ajar

Glimmers melt softly into the darkness: each morning holds breathless possibilities.

Then a slight stain appears as a drop of red in a barrel of water would be.

A visual whisper.

From this, sunrise fuels the day with reflections on the possibilities of our heart.

Emily Dickinson may have been sensing a sunrise when she wrote, “The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience”.

A magnificent sunrise begins slowly. A radiant process defined by nothing seen before and welcomed as an old friend. And we watch as our souls stand ajar amidst the possibilities.
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A landscape painter, considered a pointillism master, Jim creates in Calgary, Alberta. For more, see his facebook page http://www.jimpescott.com/JimPescottPaintingsinDots

Movie From My Window

Sunrise.

The first light touching the earth where I live following the darkness of night. A vivid blessing of illumination. A breathless experience of splendour.

My home is well situated for this: each day a large kitchen window shares a sunrise as I sip on coffee. Open the curtains and through this window, like on a large movie screen, an amazing episode presents light, energies and colours as only Nature creates. Visual ecstacy with, or without, the caffeine.

How to express this artistically is my current wonder. Large canvas, small canvas, does it really matter?

And as the canvas tells me what it wants, will Nature allow access to the precious colours as I mix the paints.

Energies are the catalyst: thank-you Nature for this wisdom. Yes, the energies of each sunrise touch my heart deeply.

So I will paint the sunrise in many ways: many versions. Wild expressions of energy. Vibrant abstractions of heavenly colours. Delicate calm spiritual moments. All meditations.

The journey begins.
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A landscape painter, considered a pointillism master, Jim creates in Calgary, Alberta. For more, see his facebook page http://www.jimpescott.com/JimPescottPaintingsinDots

Paris On the Horizon

Paris, France, is now on my horizon.

My painting was shipped to Paris today and will arrive early next week. A few days from now I will follow. Our destination in Paris is the Salon 2012 held by the historic Societe Nationale des Beaux-arts in Le Carrousel du Louvre, December 13 to 16, 2012.

Did this last year too. I participated in Salon 2011 with a painting of a glacier shoreline location in Antarctica: the colours were blues and white. The painting was selected through the SNBA jury process.

This year, the SNBA jury selected a canvas predominantly in reds with whites and a splash of green. Very excited for this to be in Paris at Salon 2012: in creation, the image sourced from a place I’ve been but haven’t seen. Want to guess the title from the photo?

A good friend, artist Denise Buisman Pilger, in Montreal, filmed a super video of Salon 2011: includes great views outside the Louvre building, the Pyramid, the Carrousel du Louve and an excellent tour along some of the aisles in the exhibition hall. My painting makes an appearance in the video too. See if you can spot it “http://img.youtube.com/vi/odDmItwpw7Q/default.jpg” alt=””>

Paris in December is windy, damp and chilly. This didn’t hamper my spirits at Salon 2011 and I know my spirits will be running warm and high for Salon 2012. Just pack for the weather and enjoy every minute.

Watch for updates from Paris and Salon 2012!

Forever Friends

Many ‘forever friends’ wait at local animal shelters. Simply respond to the love reaching out from the kennel spaces and a forever friend is yours. A feel good experience if ever there was one.

My first take on ‘forever friend’, not being fully aware of the rescue shelter context, was the words described so warmly how art is in our lives. How many times have we looked at a painting and said, “I love it” with no concern for reasons why?

The choice of a painting, much as happens at a rescue shelter, involves unlimited emotion. We respond and then we carry the painting home: it becomes a friend forever simply because we love how it reaches out to us. All paintings reach out to people.

Something I know, as an artist creating images with paint on canvas for many years, is that each new painting begins a journey into friendship once it leaves the studio easel. I’ve watched this happen endlessly: some paintings connect immediately while others take their time, and a few simply can’t find their way. Sadly, such unlimited friendship, when offered, is not always accepted.

Much like accepting the love of pets at the rescue shelter, friendships with paintings are as different as the people they choose. Forever friends are diverse and enduring.

My hope is the rescue shelter fills your heart with loving response and that paintings do the same.
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Experience how paintings reach out, http://www.jimpescott.com/gallery-canada/
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Also, a big, big ‘thank-you’ to Peter who sent a note in response to my previous post about mountains in the Rogers Pass. Peter did some marvellous online research to share that the mountain in the photograph is known as “The Camels”: if you look again at the photo, the reason for the name seems obvious.

The Mountain Won’t Know My Name

Yesterday, I drove across the Province of British Columbia. A trip literally from the shoreline of Georgia Straight to the Great Divide at the Alberta border, and then I continued to Calgary. It took 13+ hours for the journey including stops for fuel, road coffee and a bowl of chilli.

Darkness at the beginning and darkness at the end brought definition to full grey tones of a day filled with slush, compact snow and clouds of dirty road spray on the windshield. Only once did the sky open, allowing sunshine to touch the earth as a breathless whisper of light at the summit of Rogers Pass.

The moment seems so very paintable. But painting isn’t possible. There is nowhere to park: nowhere to open the paint box. Not enough time either.

The alternative is to stop to take a photo. A quick shot with my phone camera as I stand beside the car. “Click”, and at once the moment spoils: I get back into my car just as a large truck passes spraying a monsoon over everything.

The grandeur, simply the grandeur, makes the camera image: snow white brilliance with blue sky showcasing magnificence. Dazzling.
Don’t know if the mountain has a name. Certainly, the mountain won’t know my name. Simply a connection during a flash of sunshine.

Blue Coffee

Blue coffee tastes much like regular coffee. The same for red coffee. Yellow too.

I’ve tried them all and, while colours haven’t caught on with boutique coffee haunts, I wonder if someday the experience will be available to everyone. If so, the colours will hopefully have a source other than acrylic paint from tubes as my coffee spectrum involves.

Coffee is my companion in the studio: not sure of its role in the creative process but it seems to have opinions. Acrylic paint is water soluble and in this there no preference on water source. If the mug is too close to the palate, a paint brush inevitably will be swished in caffeine for cleaning rather than the clear water close by.

Creativity moves my thoughts to places unknown and a clean brush, when you need one, is a clean brush. The solution is to cover the mug.

Imbibing rainbow coffee happens often at a cafe I enjoy. People go to cafes for lunch: I go to this cafe to paint, make new friends, and joy the coffee as I’ve done for many years.

The small round cafe table means a paintbox is essential for supplies and as an easel. All this in a confined space seems so unavoidably aligned for coffee colouring. A go-cup with a lid is essential.

Given the options available, my favourite coffee is black.

If Not, That’s Cool . . .

Many weeks have passed since my last blog post. I’m back to sharing again.

There are reasons for this: none of which involve me being overworked or far, too far, from a keyboard. Simply, I needed to think about the whole experience with blogs.

I realize now that technical issues took the fun out of things.

Not sure where my head was but, in trying to make the blogging experience more effective, I asked some experts for help. While their intentions were very sincere, what I got was a list of “must always do things”, as well “you will never do this” instructions as the quest to be #1 on Google slowly drained all creativity from my being.

Somehow professional help left me out of the equation. It all felt so contrived and my blogging came to a grinding halt. I lost inspiration amidst an experience lamely mired in technical need lists.

Rather than write from my heart, I focused on finding links to hyper. And then, I must have words that are key and very, very searchable. Where’s the art in this. Did Shakespeare have such confinement?

Here’s the thing. I’m an artist, a landscape painter, and I love flowing with each moment into the unknown. Give me colours, a canvas, a brush, and blessings happen: there are no hidden links in the image nor are there “key” colours for scanners somewhere to find in a search. I have endless conversations with a canvas and we literally party.

Examples of my conversations with canvas are on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/JimPescottPaintingsinDots

More information and examples, especially if you don’t have Facebook, are on my website http://www.jimpescott.com

It has taken a while and happily, I’m here to blog again. I will blog as I paint: from my heart, just as I do in conversation. If a search scanner somewhere happens to find something, bonus. If not, cool, I’ve released thoughts to the air currents.

Gimli is East of Here, Right?

Tomorrow, at 4am, I leave Calgary for a drive across the Canadian Prairies to Manitoba. Done this many times over the years and each time I can’t wait to start heading toward the sunrise. The time I spend in Saskatchewan will be stage lights bright. And the sun will be low in the western when I arrive in Winnipeg. Lots of road coffee on this journey.

Driving across the prairies brings place names that in themselves seem adventures. Moose Jaw, Portage la Praire, Medicine Hat, Indian Head, Swift Current and many, many more places like this chart the journey. When I’m in Brandon it always feels to me I’m mid-point between the west coast and the east coast of Canada. One things is for sure, arriving at Brandon, Manitoba, means two hours remain to Winnipeg after a long day on the highway.

On the prairies it seems you can see off to the edge of the earth as you drive. The hush of the vastness is compelling. Spirit seems everywhere.
I’m going to Manitoba to seek out some paintings, so canvas and paints are my travelling companions. A couple cameras will do the trip too. Will also meet up with some gallery friends in Winnipeg and Gimli.
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Let’s meet up on FaceBook http://wwwmfacebook.com/JimPescottPaintingsinDots

Jim Pescott is an international contemporary artist: he lives and creates in Calgary, Alberta. Email is info@jimpescott.com Phone 403-870-0591. Website http://www.jimpescott.com

Busy Energy

A busy street?

Do you feel “busy” in this scene? Well, maybe not so much as the space seems rather tranquil by urban standards: a solitary taxi is waiting for a traffic signal to change. Bicyclists are waiting too. It is a Sunday morning perhaps with an opportunity to read a newspaper with a coffee in a cafe around the corner.

In suggesting “busy”  my reference is more about energies to explore. It isn’t simply crossing the street as a taxi waits: I watch how the street moves toward me as the buildings endure what has transpired for decades. I touch the trees to connect with life that compels growth from the concrete. I wonder what the windows have seen.  There are very busy energies here and the canvas will want a story told. I sense what this will be but I’m open and will listen with my heart.

We are each different in how we see and how we connect with things. Another artist will approach this location in a different way. It is so cool how this happens.

To be the artist of this scene, what would your focus be?

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Jim Pescott is a contemporary artist who lives and creates in Calgary, Alberta, Canada: his work exhibits internationally.

Let’s meet up with Jim on Facebook