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.
————————-
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.
——————–
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.
_____________________
Experience how paintings reach out, http://www.jimpescott.com/gallery-canada/
_____________________
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.

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.

____________________________________________________

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

Living With Art

For most of us, sleep consumes a large portion of life.

When we sleep, most of us dream much like we are at the movies but without the popcorn.

When we awake, the show ends and life resumes. There may be day dreams at times, but the awake time is often filled with functions and pragmatics. The theatre of our awake life seldom performs as when we wish ourselves a “good night”.

Can we introduce things to make our day something more? For example: the work of an artist who blends “her classical artistic training with spirituality and healing energy merged into paintings” could be an option. Basically, this is about owning original art: a painting that speaks deeply to you. But not just a painting as there are so many options involving art and what touches you personally. What YOU feel is what really matters in looking at art that provides you nourishment in the spaces where you live and where you work.

Live with art that nourishes you always. The nourishment can be “sprituality and healing” but it can be anything else that matters to you.

Another artist writes , “When thinking of Art one should not exclusively think of museums or art galleries, art should be a integral part of our LIVING SPACE, OFFICE SPACE and inspire our daily lives with colorful and original objects. Living with Art is in itself an Art”.  Include original art in the spaces where we live and where we work.

Don’t walk away from art you love, bring it into your life.

If you’ve been “living with art”, what are your experiences. Please, please share with us.

______________________________________________

Jim Pescott is an international contemporary artist who lives and works in Calgary, Alberta. To connect with Jim about his original paintings, or a project you have in mind, call 403-870-0591, or email hime at paintwithdots@shaw.ca. His website is http://www.jimpescott.com

Painting On The Fly

I’m now home from about six weeks of travel. The journey took me to Toronto, Ontario, Vancouver, British Columbia, Ferrara, Italy, and a wonderful ten days in Arkansas. Most of the journey involved exhibitions with my paintings but I painted lots while travelling as well.

Painting on the fly makes for some fun logistics. Finding art supplies is often an adventure. And managing canvases on a journey back to my studio is a primary need. Painting like this also means working in varying climatic conditions: the impact of humidity on the impact on drying time of water based paint is interesting.

Being in new locations brings insights and experiences that inevitably transcribe to the canvas. Sunlight, and shadows, vary so much from place to place. And the trees are different: where I live the trees are mostly poplars and their variations. In Arkansas I never saw an aspen. And what would Italy be without the cypress. Here’s an interesting link to images of many, many trees of the world to share just a little of what exists when one travels.

While I paint lots of trees, there are often other subjects within the theme. So reflect on how buildings differ in places like Toronto, Vancouver, Italy and Arkansas. In Italy I was especially drawn to people.

To paint when I travel means I may not see two dozen tourist highlights over seven days: it does mean I’ve engaged the places I’ve seen in very intimate ways.

_________________________________

Jim Pescott is an international contemporary artist who lives and creates in Calgary, Alberta. His studio-gallery is available to view by appointment: please call 403-870-0591 or email paintwithdots@shaw.ca. Jim’s website is http://www.jimpescott.com

 

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.

 

Upside Down Buildings

What if all buildings were upside-down? What would we call them?

So let’s do it. Let’s imagine all buildings are in fact upside-down and you just discovered this has happened. How would you feel about this: upset, amused, annoyed, interested, concerned, jazzed?

The choice is yours to accept upside-down buildings or to reject them. If you accept them there may be benefits you didn’t expect. It you reject upside-down buildings you’ve kept the status quo which is fine as rightside-up buildings seem to work pretty well.

Alright, now let’s say that actual buildings are all upside down: this is our “normal”.  And then someone constructs a downside-up building. Will you be upset, amused, annoyed, interested, concerned, jazzed? Will you want to keep the status quo?

Art can be like this.

__________________________________________

Jim Pescott is an international contemporary artist living and creating 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 Jim’s website is http://www.jimpescott.com