Skimmerhorns – The Beauty of My Backyard – New Painting!

Posted on March 25, 2016 by Micheline Ryckman

Skimmerhorns_acrylic on canvas_ 30%22x14%22

Skimmerhorns – acrylic on canvas – 30″x14″

I look at these peaks outside my living room window everyday and count myself one of the luckiest people on earth! To the best of local knowledge the Skimmerhorn mountains were named for a fellow called Schimmerhorn, who operated a tie camp (making wooden ties for the railways) in the Creston Valley area. Apparently he flumed the logs down from the mountain to the camp and hired 50 some odd men to help. There are no other details about who Mr. Schimmerhorn was or where he’d come from, or when he’d had this camp… But the mountains bear his incorrectly spelled name. I love history and couldn’t help looking it up. 😉

They say Rome wasn’t built in a day and well, neither was this painting – it was a loooooong process and I laboured hard through it. I’m kinda relieved it’s over – ha ha! But I do hope you enjoy the seeing the process –>
In case you are interested this painting is available and featured at the Break in Time Cafe downtown Creston, BC.

First Painting of 2015!

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Micheline Ryckman

Bringing you some springtime cheer on these chilly mid- winter days!
This commission is very dear to my heart… it is going to live with a family that I am super grateful for. I worked hard to pour my admiration and appreciation for these folks into this piece.

The painting was inspired by the family’s property on Duck Lake. This picture above shows their view in the fall and below you can see the abundant lupins that grace their property in the spring.

My client wanted to include the prominent trees, the mountain/lake view and the lupins all into one composition.

To get my bearings and decide how to incorporate the important elements I did the small sketch above and then started in on my canvas.

This is a big 30″ x 40″ canvas! I love large canvases but they progress slowly… I didn’t take as many progressive shots as I usually do but I hope you enjoy seeing a little of how it came together –>

‘Untitled’, acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 40″

For now the title is a bit elusive but I’m sure it will surface soon!

A Place You Belong – New Painting

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Micheline Ryckman

I just realized that it’s been a little while since I posted here – a whole month in fact! EEK! Well that’s what happens with the onset of school, extracurriculars, fall programs and life in general! (Yes, I miss summer already…)

This new painting was slow in the making… but I’m SO excited to finally share it with you!
It was inspired by the photograph pictured below. This shot was taken by my friend Becky McArthur while she was hiking at Welsh Lakes – far back in the mountains behind the Invermere area (BC, Canada). I titled the painting in honour of my friend by calling it, ‘A Place You Belong’. This is most certainly where Becky’s heart belongs – in the mountains.

I always try to set myself up for some kind of challenge while I paint and this time I opted to steer away from my rainbow brights and try a keep my colour palette simple. (You’d think this would be easy… Less colours right? Oh no, trust me, it was SOOOOOOO hard!) I wrestled like crazy to keep myself from adding red, orange and everything else under the sun but in the end I’m happy that I did! I do hope you enjoy seeing my progress!