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

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!

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.

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

Springtime Filled With Autumn

Summer always leads to autumn.

That’s true isn’t it? I can count on this.

In every year there will always be a summer and there will always be an autumn. Besides the other two seasons, winter and spring, is there anything else that always happens?

Oh sure: daytime and night and with these on average we get 365 such experiences in a given year. That’s always the way it happens.

The cool thing about painting, being an artist, is the opportunity to create an autumn experience anytime: my spring can be filled with autumn if I feel a need for a walk in a yellow wood. Time of the year really doesn’t matter in my studio. Nor does the time of day.

Note: this painting, “In A Yellow Wood” will be seen at “Limitless Expressions”, an international exhibition presented by VividArts Network at the Vogue Studio Gallery in Toronto, Ontario: July 19 to 29, 2012.

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Jim Pescott is an international contemporary artist who lives and creates in Calgary, Alberta. To contact Jim about his paintings, or a project you have in mind, please phone 403-870-0591 or email him at info@jimpescott.com. Jim’s website is http://www.jimpescott.com

Trees With Ideas

Trees with ideas.Trees that express themselves. They test the limits with trunks and branches and leaves: we can only guess at what happens underground. And sunlight becomes a partner as the day proceeds: bouncing light and splashing shadows over the ground.

Trees with ideas share loudly in the quiet of spaces. They love to surprise. And they touch me with teasing.

 

 

 

Windows In The Trees

Looking through trees it seems there are windows allowing me a view. And there are tiny eyes looking out from the trees as though windows allow them a view as well. On both sides, we simply watch.

Is a big part of life about watching through windows?

We “people watch” as though people are on the other side of the glass: perhaps they too watch us. And please don’t tell me you resist the opportunity, at dusk while walking in the dusk light of the evening, to look through the windows of homes where the lights are on and the curtains are open. Facebook seems a window place. Weather, too, seems a window moment: we watch the weather from our kitchen window. Television augments the window experience with an entire weather providing a window on meteorology anywhere in the world.

Perhaps the most interesting window of all: when we frame a work of art.

 

Colour Spectrum

Do colours reach out to you?

During the past week at the Toronto Art Expo, watching people and paintings suggested to me that at least some colours may touch us with feelings and emotions. This is fun to think about and there’s lots of information sources for possible insight to what might be going on for you.

Colour for me is about expressing light, shadows and shapes. Sometimes a painting involves a spectrum of colours and sometimes mostly one colour satisfies. It’s especially fun when a canvas wants me to shift gears in the middle of interpretations to move into places not previously seen.

Not everyone sees the same colours: this link demonstrates . Do these colours reach out too?

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Jim Pescott is an internationalcontemorary artist who lives and creates in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. To contact Jim directly about his paintings, or a project you think about, please phone 403-870-0591 or email Jim at paintwithdots@shaw.ca. Enjoy his Facebook page at http://facebook.com/jimpescottpaintingsindots

Step Inside

Step in?

Sure. Of course.

No, not into the studio. This is an invitation to step into the painting. That’s right, to explore from the inside as in a dream whilst colours flow and the image evolves. Then walk away when the painting is done. This is my experience everyday.

The painting now waits for someone else to step in. Someone who stops, looks, feels compelled to explore, and they step inside. Exploration becomes captivating.

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Jim Pescott lives and creates in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is an international contemporary artist: recently Jim’s work exhibited in the Salon 2011 held by the Societe Nationale des Beaux-art,  in France, at the Carrousel du Louvre, Paris. http://www.jimpescott.com   http://facebook.com/jimpescottpaintingsindots

 

Not Ever Been There

I’ve been somewhere recently but I’ve not ever been there.

You’ve done this, right? Places in your thoughts like a vacation spot you dream about or maybe a new place to live that sounds wonderful. You have an image based on something but it isn’t based you having been there. Where have you been but you’ve not ever been there?

For me, as I work on a canvas, I’m often taken to see a place but I’ve never been there. I paint lots from real sources, real places, but there are options and eventually there is interpretation. It is something like looking at a black and white picture in a book and not knowing what the real colours are or what exisits beyond any edge of the image: with this, creativity awakens.

So I’ve been there but not ever been there. Every new canvas is so exciting.

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Jim Pescott lives and creates in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is an international contemporary artist: he recently exhibited in the Salon 2011 held by the Societe Nationale des Beaux-art in Paris at the Carrousel du Louvre. http://www.jimpescott.com   http://facebook.com/jimpescottpaintingsindots