​Boy, where to begin.... Kindrie is one of my inspirations, for sure.  We met when were both attending the Alberta College of Art and Design back in 1989.  Now called the Alberta University of the Arts.

I was taken by Kindrie's work immediately.  Attending one of her first shows in Calgary, her large African Animal paintings took my breath away. The scale and the likeness brought such energy to the paintings.... I was amazed. 

Over the years Kindrie's style has evolved and expanded. Her early work had her painting a stone frieze behind a realistically rendered animal. 

In the early days, the inspiration for these backgrounds came from her sculptures.  Kindrie is so multi-talented. Here is an example. ​

Unfortunately, when she did come to fire this particular piece he broke apart.  She admits "I haven't ceramic clay sculptures like these in quite a long time."

My style has gotten a lot more impressionistic for my animal subjects, with a lot more paint, and a lot more colour. I think that is very natural. You get to a point where you've done the most you can in a specific style of painting or working, and it no longer inspires you.  

Shifting a creative style takes some courage. 
I shifted from the super fine detail, which was created with thinly applied layers of oil paint, to build up surface texture and create the illusion of fur, etc.  I began to feel uninspired by that style.  It was not doing it for me anymore.  I sensed there was something else I needed to be doing, but I wasn't sure what it was. I embarked on almost a full year of just experimenting. This was about the same time I had my son, Kellen.

I started to push the envelope, working with huge brushes, lots of paint, and brighter colors. There was a time when I moved the animals down in scale so that there was more space around them. The work became more narrative visual storytelling, as opposed to a big portrait or a close-cropped image of a subject.

It was hard because you're trying to find what it is that you want to do. You can visualize it, getting glimpses as you're working, but each piece you do does not capture it.  And you're driven to just keep going. 

A lot of the work that I did during that period, I hated or painted over. It was about experimenting and forcing myself out of my comfort zone, because I was so used to working in a certain way. You get to a point where you're not capable anymore of continuing in the old style, in the old patterns and you need to shift. 

It happens across all areas of our lives. It's pretty normal to go through those evolutionary expansions where you just can no longer go back. What served you one, no longer serves you now. It just gets in the way.

Ciel: Tackling a new style can be very scary. 
I love that you have the awareness about that because I think that can be what they call writer's block or artist's block where people hit that wall. And they're not able to make that shift into a new genre, a new medium, a new style, or expanding their composition structures.

I find that refreshing. I also feel like you've built this base of technique and understanding your materials well enough that you had the freedom to then start to play. That can be a challenge when you don't have enough confidence in your materials and you're confronted with a significant change that you don't quite understand. It can be a bit overwhelming. I love watching that evolution in your work and understanding that you're just building on these skills,  expanding, and stretching yourself into a new palette, a new style, and a new brush size, that's very exciting.

Kindrie: Yeah, very, very exciting. It's important to mention that at the same time that this was happening, I was also starting to teach, which made a huge difference.

Ciel: Why do you think that teaching made a difference? Is it because of the challenge of showing people what you have inherently been doing all along?  That it is so second nature it's hard to articulate what exactly you are doing.

Kindrie: You've probably heard people say that teaching is like the last stage of mastery or one of the stages.  To really fully and truly understand what it is that you know, you have to find a way to teach it to others.

As a very right brain-dominant person, who doesn't analyze, I had no idea how I did what I did. I just did it. Embarking on teaching felt like a calling, I was drawn to it and knew I couldn't turn away from it. At that point, I wasn't necessarily interested in teaching because I was shy and very introverted, and frankly, I didn't want to deal with lots of people. But I felt a very clear call that said, you need to teach. You need to go and open a little school in your studio and just start teaching classes.

All the things that had tied me down and attached me to a specific way of working fell away. I felt free to reintegrate everything that I knew differently. Teaching others gave me a way to distill down what I knew intuitively into a form I could reabsorb on a deeper level. It was a relearning, like I brought it all forward from my subconscious into my conscious awareness to be able to express it and share it.

Sculpture showed up about this same time. 
A little while before I began to teach, I started to sculpt. I had reached a level in studio practice where I did not need the same amount of time, effort, and concentration to produce the work because of a level of proficiency. This was back when I was working on the horse painting series – the detailed pieces. I felt as if space had opened up within my studio practice that was available for me to start sculpting, which is something I had wanted to do for a long time.

I had dabbled in sculpture and played with it on and off throughout my artistic career, but I was very set on the bronze casting. That was what I wanted to do – cast the work into bronze. Yet I  had no idea where to start or how to do it.

A the time, I was doing the Southeastern Wildlife Expo, in Charleston, South Carolina, which showcased a lot of bronze artists, and that allowed me to get to know them. Honestly, most of the sculptors were incredibly generous, with advice and telling me where they cast and how they cast.

Being inspired by other artists can catapult a creative direction. 
Ciel: Who's one of those mentors? Do you want to drop names and make reference to who inspired you?

Kindrie: There's a British artist, Mark Coreth. He probably would never remember me, but I met him on a couple of occasions at the Southeastern Expo. Then there was a father-son duo: William and David Turner. The son, was just so generous. He gave me so much advice that was really helpful. Each of the five years I attended, I would see the sculpture that people were creating, and it inspired me to try to do something of my own. I got in contact with a foundry in Canada, and ultimately this is where I learned the most about the casting process.

Kindrie: This is the first I've seen his work. The size and scale are impressive – to be casting bronze in that size. It's wonderful. Yeah, that's a whole other level. I aspire to be able to do some bigger things like that. That's definitely on my bucket list as an artist. I've had some discussions with collectors who are interested in having bigger pieces created but haven't had anything land completely yet.

Ciel: Tell me a little bit about your teaching.
Where are you teaching? How many students do you teach? What does the structure look like?
I taught a lot, almost full-time out of my studio back before we moved to the Martin Street Gallery location. I taught a little less there, but we did workshops, and we also did some trips to Europe, which were lovely, a lot of fun, but also thoroughly, exhausting.

I don't know that I would want to do those again unless I had a team of people to help with the logistics. Then I could limit my exposure. Every day, all day long with students is a lot. That's where it exhausts me. I need time alone by myself to recover. I love teaching, and I love people. I just need that balance because of how introverted I am.

With the closures around COVID, and changes in the studio space we had downtown, I moved my studio home. It felt so good to be out of the public environment and to create a private, nurturing space at home. I said no to any kind of teaching for about two years. I just was done.

When I walked away from the gallery and studio space in town, I was certain I would never teach again. I was just so burnt out.

But last winter, after taking time to rest, I was ready to get back to it. My studio is at home, and I'm always home, which I adore, but I was ready to get out into the world again. I started to do some limited classes, and currently, I do four-week sessions, about two hours long, once a week. I do maybe 4 sessions a year and some critiques.

I teach painting and sculpture now, mostly mentoring, which I love. It is for people who have started painting or sculpting and want some one-on-one time and advice. I do a demo and a bit of a lesson, something that inspires me or is based on questions from students. And then everybody goes and works on their projects, while I mentor.

Ciel: What's happening with your work? Where are you at as far as your sculpture and your fantasy series/books?

Fantasy book collection

Kindrie: I am currently writing book Four of The Stone Guardians and working on the 3rd Companion Sketchbook.
​
In the studio, on the art side, I have several pieces on the easels at the moment. There's a painting of The Wilds from Book One that's just started. There is a piece from the embassy battle in Book Two. These are intended as artwork for the illustrated versions of the novels.
Oh, and there's a really big sculpture that I bring along to display at conventions. She is an ongoing piece that I work on each time I have a show. She's one of those slow-burn pieces where I don't work on her very often. But when I do, it's very high voltage, for me at least.

I've also got a Pegasus piece that's been on hold for a while. There's always a pile of works in progress that haven't been finished yet. But that's part and parcel of the artistic journey. You feel inspired for a period of time and you really dive in, and then it has to cure or, you've reached a point where you're not sure how to finish that particular piece. So, you leave it for a bit. That often happens with fantasy work because people aren't necessarily my first subject matter. I'm still learning a lot. If I had it all in a photograph, no problem. I could copy my source and paint it. 

But so much of this work is coming from my imagination and I have to create the armour,  the styles, the weaponry, and all that goes into the world and characters.  It takes time to gradually figure out those things. 

Sometimes bouncing around is the only way to move forward.
Quite a long time ago, I began to understand that really truly share the vision clearly, I had to just follow the inspiration. Not forcing it, not sticking with a painting because I felt like I should. Certainly, some of that kind of stuff comes into play when you're working on commissions. But for the studio work that's starting and ending with me, ultimately, I have to honour that. 

Some of the pieces will sit for a year or more and all of a sudden, in a flash, I'll see it finished, I'll see what needs to happen for it to be done and then I'll go and work on it until it's finished.

The bronzes are a bit different.
In creating a bronze, there is a pre-casting offer, in which pieces will be mostly finished, like 80% to 90% but they won't necessarily get completed and put into casting until I get a first order. Which allows me to fund the creation of the mold and the expensive, up-front costs of casting. Often pieces will wait until the right collector discovers them.

But that's great because you can have the model done and it can sit however long it needs to sit. It's not like it has a shelf life that will expire.

The illustration work for the books is a bit like that too. Most of them haven't been created yet, but I can feel them all. They're all linked up there somewhere, and every once in a while, one will crowd forward. I'll see it clearly, and feel it is time to begin it. Often they'll flash by and be quite vague, but I'll have a starting point for a piece.

This illustrated fantasy book series has mushroomed. In the writing of the first book, when it was ready, finally, to be released,(I think we've talked about this before), the artwork started to come through, which I hadn't expected. Ever since then, it has grown exponentially, more and more.

Upcoming events.
I'm hoping to go to the Calgary Fan Expo in April. It is one of the biggest Fan Expo shows, second to Florida, and similar to the Comic Cons. June is the Kelowna Comic Con again. They're both two-and-a-half, three-day events.

My husband, Michael, and son, Kellen, have been coming to these shows, which has been  lovely. For the Kelowna Yule event in November, we created some beautiful book boxes. It was quite fun figuring out how and what to include, what would make the most sense, and assembling them.
​
The book boxes were delightful. They were quite popular. We created a basic one, and a more upscale version. The basic one just has a volume of Book One with a postcard, a sticker, and a nice bookmark. Very simple, but we did a beautiful job.

https://www.kindriegrove.com/fantasybookillustrations

Also included is a card that explains the box contents with a beautiful wax seal.

The upscale Book Box is presented in a glossy black box, and includes Book One and its Companion Sketchbook, along with more swag, and lots more goodies – all nestled in gold tissue paper with the contents card. I find that kind of attention to detail and considered presentation for my work very inspiring and fulfilling.

Moving forward with those shows, there'll be the artwork, the books, and the cast bronze sculptures to showcase. The large sculptures and paintings are for the wow factor, to draw people in to learn out about the books, then there are prints and postcards available as well.

Ciel: When did you even discover that you were an artist?

Kindrie: I remember, as a five-year-old, drawing horses and pastures and barns, because we were in rural Alberta and had Morgan horses. They were just kids' drawings, but I recall being completely absorbed in that. In junior high, I attempted a drawing that was a copy of a Robert Bateman painting. You know how, when he released a print, they would do up these promotional sheets for the various pieces that were available. I remember it was a bald eagle.

I brought that home, and I decided I was going to draw it. While I was drawing.... have you ever had an experience where you feel like you're remembering something? I was awestruck at what was emerging on the page while I endeavoured to copy it. I don't even know what happened to that first drawing. It probably was lost a long, time ago. But it lit that fire. Because I suddenly understood what I wanted to do. I was a bit of an odd duck. I was super tall, and skinny like a pole. I was a tomboy. I loved horses and being outside, and I just hated school. And I also hated all the stuff that other girls my age did or wanted or liked. I had zero interest in any of that. This was the first time I realized I was good at art. That I could do it and enjoy it for the rest of my life.

From that point on you couldn't get my sketchbook away from me. I got in so much trouble in grade six and then in junior high because all I wanted to do was draw. I would disappear into the art room, in high school, and spend all my lunchtime there because the teachers would let me be in there on my own.

Ciel: I can't help but wonder if your childhood in rural Alberta and now in your country home provides the space and time to support this artist's exploration. 

It's like I have this beautiful space that I get to explore, that isn't crowded with people and noise and activity. And there's this beautiful, spiritual, wide open space of quiet. You can hear those drawings coming from behind rushing forward to be complete on the page.

I think the crafting of your environment has done a lot to support your creative habits. If you had been stuck in downtown New York or downtown San Francisco or downtown wherever, where there's so much energy and things going on, probably your artwork would not have evolved in the same way.  It would have been a different expression.

I'm really glad you were an 'odd duck' and snuck away to the art room. 

You'd have to carve out space for yourself. Not just time, which is often difficult.
But a tranquil space. You'd have to carve that out literally. And you'd have to figure out some way of doing that so you're not being interrupted by sounds and noise. All that kind of stuff. Bombarded with distractions.

I think it's a beautiful thing when you can understand what your particular human-ness needs. To thrive and create and be available for the muse to kind of show up and help me with this process. I think too often there's so much pressure.

There was a woman the other day on Instagram. She said, to be completely honest, I don't get up before 8. And I don't start my art journey until around noon. I create whatever I want.  Sometimes I paint until 3 in the morning. I love this sense of full permission to create the way you need to create.

Being an artist doesn't always fit into a conventional time frame. 
If we try to pigeonhole it into, okay, from 10 till 12, I'm going to do... It just doesn't work like that. It's not a conventional time frame. To be creative and to be inspired and to explore.

When artists are wise enough to listen to those things. And allow themselves the freedom to work within those inspirations, without those woulda, coulda, shoulda pressures, it's a beautiful thing. It's very liberating.

Kindrie: Knowing when to stop and take a break is super important too.  It can get addicting, to creating art, and if you run the creative energy down from overuse, then you are up for a problem. 

It's like an engine. You can't be running the engine constantly, without a breakdown. It wears out. And creative energy that flows through us is no different. I remember talking with a really good friend of mine, who was an energy healer. Heather is her name, and she equated creative expression and output with the same amount of physical energy that athletes expend. Except that, it's on an energetic level instead of a physical.

Instead of your muscles and your joints having that physical output to deal with, it's everything else. It's your entire nervous system. Because it's all energy coming through you, flowing through you. You have to rest your engine. If you keep doing things that are energetically driven, you are going to burn out. 

Ciel: That makes total sense because I know when I come to the end of a project and who knows, maybe I've spent 75 hours, 100 hours, something like that on a project. There's this real lull when it's over that I just can't get going again. It's like I can't dive into the next project. I need the two or three days to go for a walk, to go to the coffee shop, just like you say, change it up because that energy output can't be consistent like that. It's too much. You can't sustain it.

Kindrie: That's right. There are bursts of really focused, really like powerful energy, and then you have to replenish that. You have to think of it like an ebb and a flow. It comes in waves and you have massive output times, and then you have times of really just incubating, and allowing space for that new inspiration to come.  

​Here are some other examples of Kindrie's work. 

I know this is a longer blog post than usual.  I hope you have enjoyed this conversation with Kindrie.  Be sure to check out her website.  Here is the link again.  https://www.kindriegrove.com/

​Leave your comments below.  

For many years, I heard the act of painting outdoors is beneficial to a studio practice and I've really been on the fence about it.  I was not convinced that lugging all my heavy portable equipment outside to paint would be 1) any fun, 2) have any affect on my painting skills. 

Last year, I decided to give it a whirl and went out in the neighbourhood with a small set of watercolour paints, some watercolour paper and a bottle of water.  I started in February, which was, maybe, a little eager.  It got cold, windy and rainy some days.  I did get some lovely little sketches if not completed pieces onsite, I certainly finished them pretty easily back home with a warm cup of tea. 

Here is just one example of the small watercolours. 

As the spring progressed I got busy in the studio with my regular large oil paintings and lost the rhythm of painting out doors.  

Opus had Michael King (Click on his name to go to his website) come in and do a presentation of his plein air practice, his gear that he took and the surfaces that he painted on.  It was really fascinating.  He shared a resource for a small, lightweight pochade box, which is an palette/easel set up that you can easily transport on location for an outdoor painting session. Here is the link for it: Daybreak Easel

Earlier this year I purchased the box that Michael recommended.  I'm so pleased with it.  It has a 9x12 palette area for mixing paint and two wings that fold out to hold your brushes, paper towel and palette knife.  It also has a hook on the front for a small jar of linseed oil. 

There are two levers on the back that swing out and they slip over the legs of a tripod, holding the palette tray in place.  On my adventure to the thrift store for a small jar, I though of checking on a tripod as well.  Wow!  they had a professional photographers tripod for $20.00 amazing.  I was skipping out of the thrift that day. 

Down to the beach I go. 

By the time I got set up, I had about 30 minutes before I had to head back home.  I basically blocked in the painting and got a feel for being outdoors.  I find it so interesting how my brain works.  This was my first time with oil paints outdoors and of course, the marks I was making were not like my studio pieces, and my brain was telling me "give up, you are not good at this, look at this rubbish". Yikes. I quickly told it to shhhhsh and kept going. 

On day two I had a better idea how to set everything up and got right down to business.  I was at the beach for 2 hours.  Come on, sunshine, seagulls, lapping waves and a t-shirt = awesome.

​One piece of equipment I added was a little viewfinder.  This is a plastic tool that you can open to the same dimensions as your canvas and use it to orient yourself to the image you are trying to paint.  

Oh boy, did that give me a new perspective.  I was trying to cram too much information into my little painting on day one.  Once I realized that, I totally revamped the composition, simplifying what I was focusing on, so much better. 
​

P.S. The mark on my nose.... my rose bush bit me as I was pruning the canes ready for the spring growth.  The dangers of working around roses. 

​Day three should see me finishing this gorgeous little painting. Stay tuned.  

I don't have a clear plan just yet for selling these little beauties, however, if you are interested in a small piece of art I will be listing them on my website, for now.  I may have these as a small art project for my upcoming display at the Landmark Pop up Gallery in May.  

Here is the link to see the pieces I've listed so far.  Small Art 

I hope you have enjoyed my little adventure with plein air painting.  More to come.  

Have a great rest of your week. 

Let me give you a bit of back story.  I've been following Devon Rodriguez for awhile now on Instagram.  He is amazing.  I love his energy, his kindness and genuine curiosity for his subjects.  You can check him out here. Devon Rodriguez

My drawing experiences have been a bit hit or miss.  In my third year drawing class at The Alberta College of Art and Design, now the Alberta University of the Arts, I was waltzed out of class when the instructor looked at my drawing.  He proclaimed "Sweetheart, this clearly isn't for you."  Yikes.  

I've drawn since then in a utilitarian way, but not to create art.  Frankly I didn't enjoy it.  I found it frustrating and not very rewarding.  

I recently renewed my membership to the Oil Painters of America and in their show submission guidelines they clearly state that no outside tools can be used to transfer your image to the canvas.  Using a projector, which I often do, is out.  It's time to brush up on my drawing skills. 

I saw Devon's course advertised and thought, let's do it.  I was ready to challenge my ideas that I had about drawing.  However, when he sent the source photo that we would be drawing from.... I thought "no way, I can draw this guy."  

Last Sunday, I logged into the course and thought what's the worst that could happen, really.  I could make a crappy drawing.  I'm okay with that.  

What I noticed early on is that Devon's technique is not that much different from how I approach my paintings.  It's about capturing the shapes and narrowing down to the details.  I can do that, no problem.  

After a few hours of watching Devon, I went through all his video's before I started on my own drawing.  The second time through I started to lay down some marks. 
​

Here I am, all ready to begin.  Sketchbook in hand, new 2.0mm thick pencil lead in a fancy pencil holder, kneadable eraser, small round eraser, and a new sketchbook.  

The first marks, establishing the shapes.  These marks may not be exactly correct, and that is okay.  It's all about adjusting as the information comes together. 

Not bad, it's coming together.  Not correct, yet, but getting closer. 

Oh boy!!! I did it.  Maybe my drawing skills aren't that rusty after all.  I'm so very pleased with this drawing.  It's the best portrait I've done, ever.  

I'm excited to explore this further and keep practicing.  It surprises me sometimes how easy it is to change our minds about things.  What once was a limitation, becomes an opportunity.  

I want to say a big thank you to @devonrodriguez for his masterful, kind guidance through this process.  

If you are curious about his drawing course for yourself here is the link to the course.  

Portrait drawing the easy way. 

Happy drawing everyone.  

Since ancient times the golden mean has been used as a reference point for designing buildings, sculpture, and two dimensional art. The value of the golden mean is just as relevant today as back then.
Unlike conventional composition guidelines of using thirds to divide up your canvas, the golden mean relies on a .618 ratio. What does this actually mean? The way you place your focal point using the golden mean is different than the simple rule of thirds.

Let me enlighten you on how to use the golden mean when you are designing your compositions, what difference it means for your viewer and how to lean into this tool to developing exciting/dynamic paintings.
​
I will share some real world examples of paintings that I used the rule of thirds and those that I used the golden mean. It is truly fascinating. Watch the Youtube video to see the entire presentation. (Link at the bottom.)

If you are new to my space let me share a few details about me. 

- Senior Signature Member with the Federation of Canadian Artists
- Member with the Oil Painters of America and The South Surrey/White Rock Art society.

I have a visual art degree from UBC and attended the Alberta College of Art and Design in
Calgary. I’m also a Certified Professional Life Coach and a Certified Goldsmith. Education has been a bit part of my life for some time.  

1 March 2019 I committed to my art full time. I soon realized that there was a lot a didn’t know. Despite having had a few years art education, it had been a long time since I’d been immersed in art and frankly, I wasn’t taught what I now needed to know. In fact I had very little support in developing my skills while at art school. I was even waltzed out of class by a third year art instructor with the comment “Sweetheart, this is clearly not for you.”

Over these past few years, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time with my nose in books, 54 different art related books, so far, and hours on the internet/YouTube/and in mentors online classes.

What is very clear aside from mastering the material is that the preplanning of a painting is super important. You can be very skilled with your materials but if you have designed a bad painting it doesn’t matter about those skills. (I’ll show you a failed painting in a bit, or rather a painting that could use some tweaking)

That’s the trouble, as you progress and learn you look back on older pieces and see what you could correct. 

As artists we have some significant limitations, namely the two dimensional surface we have chosen to work on, and some really great opportunities. With the use of Notan- the relationship between dark and light objects in the image, colour, framing, leading lines, focal point, values, hues etc. we have a broad range of tools to draw from.

To clarify, I’m not here to tell you that your methods, up to this point, are wrong, however, I’d love to share what I’m leaning into, my enthusiasm and if your are curious about it, perhaps you’d like to explore it for yourself.

The Golden Ration or Golden Mean was first spoken about by Euclid and Pythagoras back in about 300 BCE. That’s a long time ago. You may have also heard of the fibonacci sequence. It was first spoken about in India between 200-300 BC and brought to the Western world around 1200 AD with the writing of Leonardo Pisano Bonacci, later known as Leonardo Fibonacci.

The sequence is: 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21 etc.

In the 1500’s Leonardo Da Vinci used the sequence in his writing “De Dinvina Proportione.”The golden ratio in art creates a balanced relationship that the mind’s eye loves. More precisely, it is about obtaining a precise ratio between the different parts of a work, an image, or an object. The value of this number is 1.618. It is said to create harmonious works as it has been observed in nature.

Let me show you some examples.

I recently presented my findings to the Central Okanagan Chapter of the Federation of Canadian Artists.  Here is the Youtube recording of that presentation. 

You tube: Click here. 


Here are the resources that I speak about in the presentation. 

Golden Ration Downloadable overlays.
http://parksphotos.com/goldenoverlays/

Photoshop Elements. One time purchase, no subscription.
https://www.adobe.com/ca/products/photoshop-elements.html

Ansel Adams and how his images and the golden ratio align.
https://www.boredpanda.com/golden-ratio-photography-ansel-adams-elliot-mcgucken/
#:~:text=Ansel Adams is one of, human brain as inherently beautiful.

The old masters and the golden ratio
https://www.artandobject.com/slideshows/golden-ratio-revealed-7-masterpieces https://

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