Here is a video tutorial showing how to make a watercolour monoprint. It is so much fun to do …… give it a try!

Pink and Orange. Monoprint by Flora Doehler, 2011

Two of my pieces will be in a printmaking show that opens tomorrow (Saturday) at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia – Yarmouth branch!

I just finished them last week and framed them a few of days ago. The show includes work from printmakers at two South West Nova Scotia studios. One is in Yarmouth and the studio I use, Le Manivelle, is in the basement of Saint Anne’s University in Church Point.

Iris. Monoprint by Flora Doehler, 2011

By Heather Killen
The Annapolis County
SPECTATOR
December 22, 2011

Sumachs in the 'front yard'.

To any painter who feels glum about that cramped studio space at a corner of the dining room table, or in the back bedroom – take heart. Flora Doehler has a perfectly good studio and most of the time she doesn’t use it.

This Bear River-based painter is now living her long-time dream. Her life is filled with art and flowers. Best of all, she has a beautiful art studio that she shares with her life partner and silversmith Larry Knox. Green Willow Studio is a nice space with lots of good light, yet Flora’s best paintings seem to happen in the yard.

Knox said he loves to watch her work because it’s seeing art in motion. Almost like a bellet of brushstrokes.

“It just happens”, he said “She’ll be walking and suddenly stop. Then the paints, the canvas, and the brushes disappear outside where she first saw the painting.”

Painting a still life in winter in the studio.

Studied in Toronto

Doehler studied fine arts and fine crafts at the Art Centre at Central Technical School in Toronto where she was introduced to painting, printmaking, and weaving. From there she went on to study painting in Berlin and found the German Expressionists. She became mesmerized by printmaking techniques of artists like Kathe Kollwitz and Wassily Kandinsky.

Until three years ago she lived mostly in Toronto where she worked as a librarian in the school system. An avid gardener, she dreamed of a time when she and Larry were able to pursue their art and life in the country.

These days she can paint whenever she likes with her oils, acrylic, and watercolour using whatever feels right to the time. Pften she works wet on wet, on a flat surface rather than an easel so the paint won’t run. Layer by layer she builds the form up, using sgraffito technique to scratch beyond the surface into the previous layers.

“I love colour and texture”, she said. “And being in the elements makes the whole process thrilling. I’m interacting with what I’m painting. I hear the birds around me and feel the moment.”

Inspired by one of many flower gardens.

Paints From Life

She will work from photographs, but says she prefers to paint from life. Completing a painting therefore can become a race against time and the elements. In some cases the paintings take years to complete as she waits until the scene emerges the following season.

“It is a great feeling to be present with a living flower and to sense the life force of it,” she writes in her blog. “When a painting is working for me, I get lost in it and I feel like I am channeling the essence of the object of my gaze.”

Green Willow Studio is part of the Bear River Working Artists’ Studio Tour. For more information visit http://greenwillow.ca or see them at 967 Riverview Road, Bear River. (902) 467-0553.

A 4' x 6' canvas in the sumachs.

Each pendant has a different look on each side.

Sometimes even a different colour!

Copper enamelled pendant

The back of the pendant above.

On December 3rd, we’ll be at the Annapolis Royal Farmer’s and Trader’s Christmas Craft Market on December 3, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Annapolis West Education Centre.

Scenes from the Garden. Showing September 24 – October 12, 2011.

I am showing a selection of paintings of my garden at the ARTsPlace Gallery in Annapolis Royal starting today. It’s a great feeling to see my work on display in such a sun-filled space.

That Day in the Garden. 30″ x 36″ The Gallery is open from Tuesday to Friday, 9 – 4 pm., and on weekends from 1 – 4 pm I will be at the Gallery on Saturday, October 8th from 1 – 4 pm, after the last outdoor Annapolis Market of the season. Please drop by! Here is a video of the work in situ! And here are photos of all the paintings. Clicking on the images will enlarge them. Crocosmia. 7″ x 9″   Blue Horizons. 10″ x 12″   The Dancers. 10″ x 12″  Dahlia and Nicotiana. 9″ x 12″ I added black and white photos of my flowers to the display to give the viewer a sense of the setting I’m in.   The Studio. 9″ x 9″   Flowers in a Blue Jug. 11″ x 14″   Red Gladiolas. 9″ x 9″   The Blue Jug. 9″ x 9″   Iris Seed Pods and Zinnia. 11″ x 14″   Gladiolas. 9″ x 12″   Joe & Tansy. 9″ x 9″   Cordelia’s House. 22″ x 22″   Nasturtium. 9″ x 12″ The price list for the paintings is here.  Paintings can be purchased through the Gallery or you can contact me at flora.doehler@gmail.com.

Zinnias, marigold and golden rod replaced the iris and bergamot.

 The paintings are small, for the room is tiny. I am painting each scene twice using first watercolours and then acrylic because I think it will be interesting for viewers to see the same scene using two different mediums and approaches.

 These photos show the watercolour steps I went through in painting the zinnias.

acrylic painting 11″ x 14″ by Flora Doehler.

 I am so enjoying spending this time with the beautiful colour and blooms in the garden and listening to the birds while I paint. And being under a bit of pressure about it is a good way to keep on task!

 I believe that the fewer the colours in a painting, the better. Still, it’s tough to limit them when you love colour as I do. Now I want to use these 5 colours in a new painting that I can spend more time developing.

This past weekend I painted up a storm in the Historic Gardens in Annapolis Royal. The event, Paint the Town, is an annual fundraiser for the Annapolis Regional Community Arts Council (ARCAC). The resulting silent auction of the hundreds of paintings, sculpture and blacksmithing that is created also benefits the 75 participating artists.

Last year was my first time at the event and I blogged about it here.  It’s a wonderful chance to paint in heavenly surroundings and to meet artists from all over Nova Scotia.

My set-up at the Gardens.

Like last year, I spent the first day in the colourful Begonia labyrinth garden and the second day at the lower pond listening to the tiny waterfall and the wind in the trees. As relaxing as that sounds, I focused intensely on my task of painting many little canvases to be taken back to the gallery at the Legion for the auction.

Paintings from day 1: the begonias. (The iris were painted beforehand at home)

Floral Fusion by Flora Mary Doehler. (sold)