The Small Studio, The Small Business, Local People Helping The Economy

As I was driving to work earlier this month the announcers on the radio were talking about the economy and how it can effected by local businesses. All small businesses can have an effect, either positive or negative on local economy and the greater economy that surrounds it.

I have seen many a small locally owned business close its doors in my life time, and with the doors closing went jobs for local people. At the same time the local economy suffers lose whether it is visible or felt immediately. The more small business that closed their doors, that were bought up, the local economies suffered as did the local community at large.

My friends we can all see changes happen in our towns and cities if the entrepreneurial spirit returned to people. That spirit would be encouraged if the community supported small local businesses.

Julie and I buy local as much as we can, if it isn’t available where we live we will get it as close to home as possible. I would rather support a local business person, even if it means paying a little more than to buy from a company that has no interest in my local community.

This is why we look for locally made or grown products and items that show they are “Made in Canada” Our small studio supports the local economy.  We are not a big enough to change the Kawartha Lakes economy, or the Canadian economy, but if we all looked to support locally made, locally grown the economy would improve. It is time that the pendulum swings back from mass production that leads to cheaply made products that don’t last and don’t employ local people.

I purposely don’t buy made in China, unless there is no choice, sadly “Made in China” is the case more than I like it to be. We let people know that what we produce is locally made, Canadian made, even if the base pieces were not, the rest of the production is Canadian.

Canada was better off when we had local production of the products in our homes. Canadian made furniture, clothing, and food. It is true, Farmers Feed Cities!

 Relaxing! By Doug Wilkie

At The Cottage. by Doug Wilkie

Two of my paintings, done with locally purchased supplies, from smaller business not globally owned mega business. We would love to grow our little cottage industry studios into a large enough enterprise to open a store front that would be open to hire others, and even make room for people who were of similar creative spirit. 

Wilkie Fine Art Calendar

When you start painting you are never sure if you will gain any kind of recognition. I have been lucky so far, I have had one painting selected for an auction to support Children's Art programs through the National Art Council. I have had another that was selected for auction in support of Children needing medical attention. Recently I was asked if I wanted to do a calendar with my art. I was surprised but more than happy to try as it also meant I would be given an opportunity to have a lot of people see my art. So now I have a calendar available immediately on Amazon U.K. and it will be available for sale soon in North America. It is listed on North American sites, but not yet priced or shown as available. Here is a link to the U.K. listing.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wilkie-Fine-Art-Canada-Featuring/dp/1325045152/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417997605&sr=8-1&keywords=Doug+Wilkie

Here is the front cover.

Changing Subject Matter Can Be Inspiring

I have been painting wildlife for most of the last year, it has been a growing and a learning experience. I have enjoyed it and will continue to paint the wild life of this great country. As I finished the series I was doing that included some baby raccoons, a bear and a couple of moose I decided to do something different.

So for over the last couple of weeks I have been working on something different. It has been enjoyable, and inspiring. When I posted them to a fine art website I have some of my work on they were both viewed by a number of people very shortly after posting them. I have noticed that the people viewing my art work has definitely gone up in the last year, but these ones jumped ahead of how those were being viewed.

This piece is "Prairie Flight".Canada Geese having rested in an old prairie farm have taken to flight over an old wagon. The geese can be found just about anywhere in Canada. The old family farm is not as plentiful any more, and just like this wagon, left in the field and forgotten. It is sad to see the farm, all the hard work it represents, how the family farm helped to build this country being set aside.

 A walk through the forest in the fall, seeing all the colours as the hang in the trees. When you walk the same path again, a few days, a week or so later you will find the "Forest Quilt" as the leaves have fallen covering the ground in a quilt of colour.

As I have said before Canada offers so much  beauty outside of the concrete jungle.

"Beyond the concrete jungles and paved roads is a wonderful world waiting to be discovered, looked upon in awe and loved. It gives us a place to escape to from the pressures of life to a place of freedom and inspiration." D.W.

Hush!

One of my latest paintings, Hush! A Cougar looks on from its' resting place on top of a rock. This kind of image is only something you would have the opportunity to see off the main road.

A fast and beautiful member of the cat family. The cougar also known as the mountain lion or puma. The cougar is closely related to smaller cats, including the domestic cat, than it is to any of the subspecies of lion. The cougar prefers the dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking, but can and will also live in open areas.

As I have said in the past I love to paint images of Canada, images that are seen on a drive out of the city, into the country and onto the road far less traveled. Canada's beauty is, in my opinion best seen on a hike, a canoe trip down a river or around a lake
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As a kid I went for many a bike ride into an undeveloped area of the town I lived in, went for hikes up the Niagara Escarpment. Love to sail the waters around Vancouver Island when I was older and deeply appreciated our cottage near Perth Ontario that had a road like a goat path that lead into it.

I have never been in favor life in big cities and have always liked a more country style life, that is only part of the reason Julie and I live in the Kawartha Lakes region with our children and dogs.

Wilkie Fine Art Calendar

Waiting for me in my email this morning was a request from a U.K. Publishing company asking me to come up with images for a calendar of my art work. It would be available world wide. They would make sure that the images I submit would be of high enough quality to produce a good quality calendar. 

Every artist wants to be able to sell their artwork and have seen by many people. I have been honoured in the past with requests from national organizations to participate in charitable auctions. I have no idea how many calendars with my art work displayed on its pages would sell. It is an honour to be asked.

Here is the image they mentioned in the email as one they would like included. 

A New Work In Progress

I have a new piece that I have been working on. A cougar on top of a rock watching, waiting. A pice may take a week, a month the time varies depending on the subject and he size of the canvas. I may set it aside when it is partially done so that I can decide what is the best way to proceed and with which brushes. I rarely throw an old brush out because the old brush ay be good in its worn out state to be used for creating different parts of landscape, rocks, leaves on a tree etc. 

This painting has been two weeks in the making so far. It will be another week or so before I finish. It won't be done until I have looked at the image in its near finished form and decide on any areas needing more attention. 

This next painting is at the point I am looking at it for finishing touches, details needing attention. Once I have completed these I will post them here and on a few other websites, like Fine Art America, Artfinder and on our website that I am working on updating, A Frame Studios.

Watch my blog for more.

Why I Paint.

I started painting as a hobby when I was a teen, living at home in Grimsby Ontario. I was surrounded by artistic people. My mom Shirley painted and was very good at her craft, sadly it was short lived as she passed away too early in life. My brother Ron is also an artrist and still paints today, he shares our website www.aframestudios.ca Ron is an excellent artist he paints in both oils and watercolours. Most of his work today is in watercolours.

I have used painting as a form of stress relief and as a way to relax. I find painting totally relaxing. I love to paint images of my country, Canada. There is so much to be seen in Canada, we have a wide and varied landscape. The best way to see it is to travel the country and not just the highways. I recommend to get off the highways and take the back roads, the dirt roads, rivers and many lakes there are in this big beautiful country. Go for a hike, walk he pathways, ride a bike down the Terry Fox Trail that follows a lot of old railway trails.

I want my art to be seen by many people, and hope it inspires people to look at Canada in a different way. Canada is my inspiration. Part of my art work has been on canoe paddles. The canoe was used to explore the country before Canada was Canada, what better way to display the beauty of Canada than on a canoe paddle. I have painted well over 500 paddles, most were custom created for collectors across Canada. All of these paddles were scenes from across Canada, parks, farms, town halls, train stations and more/

I challenge everyone to look at this country, the beauty of it, the awesome lakes and mountains, the beauty of the wildlife.

Here are a couple of  my paintings of Canada.

One is Mystic Beach on Vancouver Island.

Stormy Sheringham - Sheringham Lighthouse, Vancouver Island

A great way to see this country, in a canoe. While paddling around you can set the paddle down, hang your feet over the side and start "Relaxing".

My Canada, an awesome country waiting to be explored and discovered.

Old Favourites Still Gain Attention

In my last post I displayed an older painting of mine, "At The Cottage". I painted this piece back in 2010, I posted it on my web site and Fine Art America. The original was sold to a collector in Vancouver, prints of the painting are still available. This has been one of my most popular pieces, the number of times it has been viewed on my website and other sites continues to grow. 

This is the first of my paintings to have received so much attention. A number of comments had been made about how welcoming and inviting the painting seemed.

Another piece that has gained almost the same attention is "Mystic Beach" which is based on an image of Mystic Beach on Vancouver Island. It was painted in 2011,  when I posted it I had a number of comments made about how it seemed like you could almost walk into the painting. The original was sold to a collector in Ottawa, and yes prints are available. 

Both of these paintings were painted a few years ago, but remain popular today. They are among some of my earlier works that I can see a change in my style. I keep working at every painting, feeling I learn something new with every piece I paint. Every artist works at their craft, every artist develops with every new piece they work on. This is true whether it is a piece that has been; sewn, written, painted, carved or another style of art.

As an encourage for other look at your personal choice of craft, look at your early works, look at others as well. You will see development over time. Some people will encourage you, others will point out flaws, some may be totally discouraging about your work. Don't allow comments by others to take your focus off what you are doing whether they are positive or negative. Allow yourself time to develop, become more creative in your style. Keep working your craft.

The Passion Of An Artist

As I said before I have been painting for a number of years. I have used painting to destress from the stresses of life. As time passed I have found I paint not only to relax but to express myself through my art. We live in a beautiful world, all we have to do to notice the beauty is to look up beyond the concrete jungles that we live in. To enjoy the world around us is part of the reason we moved to a more rural area of the Kawartha Lakes region. I love Canada, my home. Beyond the town and cities we live in, at the end of that road is a country filled with beauty and wonder. That is what I have tried to capture in my art.

I have been told that many of my paintings have the appearance that you could almost walk into the scene. I first heard this said about my painting "At The Cottage". I have painted beaches, light houses, mills and more. I have recently been painting scenes that include wildlife, like the owl and bear in my previous post.

I want to encourage others to express themselves in what ever method you would like to try. Write, paint, draw, sew. Don't quit, give yourself some time. When I look back on my first paintings to where my work is today I feel I have come a long way, and I know it will change / develop as I paint more.

So here are a couple more of my new paintings, and a copy of "At The Cottage" which was sold some time after it was painted. The first is Marsh Explorer, the second Muskoka Marsh.

New Art By Doug Wilkie

I have been painting in various mediums for over 30 years. As time has marched on my style has developed and grown. I now use mostly acrylics in my work. I started this blog in order to get more exposure. I have my own website and use other art sites to show my work.

I have added a couple of my latest pieces, and will add more as I complete various pieces. I would love to hear your opinions.