I’ve had a bit of a slow start to the year but here’s my first oil painting of 2026. It’s a nostalgic piece based on remembered summer evenings where I grew up. Usually when painting, to get a sense of depth the background recedes with cooler colours and the foreground has warmer tones but here, I wanted to capture the light glowing through the trees with the cooler shadowed foreground with the warmer light in the background.
(C) 2026 Hilary Farmer
This one is based on some delightful local community gardens. This time of year the sunflowers are reaching high, glowing yellow and busy with bees. I wanted to capture that feeling as well as some specifics of the tangled garden including sweet peas, nasturtiums, and runner beans climbing in the background with their distinctive scarlet blossoms.
There’s a balancing act between creating a scene that has enough detail to be meaningful while still leaving some space for the imagination. I’m pretty happy with where this one landed.
(C) 2025 Hilary Farmer
I have painted a few tidal pools but they usually had still water. This view was inspired by a scene on Cortes Island last summer. The tide was rushing through a narrows moving the seaweed while the purple starfish clung on. Such a sense of energy and movement!
(C) 2025 Hilary Farmer
On a delightful day this summer, a friend let me know she had laundry out on the line. How pleasant to paint in her garden catching light and shade moving in the breeze!
(C) 2025 Hilary Farmer
The next day of the May long weekend event was much more pleasant with the sun shining and scudding clouds. The mountains of the mainland were visible and not obscured by clouds as they were the day before so I tried two views taking in the lighthouse buildings on Entrance Island.
This was the second view done in the afternoon. The panel is the same size but the light was warmer and I decided on a vertical format. Both views ended up fairly sketchy and I like them that way as a memory of the day.
(C) 2025 Hilary Farmer
The first day of the inaugural “May’d on the Rock” event on our little island dawned cool and overcast. We set up our tents with fingers crossed that the rain would hold off and it (mostly) did. The last hour the wind picked up, and the heavens opened ending the day with more of a rush than we’d hoped. I did this one painting mostly in the morning. For once the light was not much of the factor – it was so grey that there was very little change from morning to afternoon! This mysterious pink shrub took center stage being a lovely foil to the unremitting grey of road, sky and ocean, and a blackbird that was singing on another bush across the road didn’t mind me moving him for the sake of art. So despite the weather, a lovely day to share with those who came out to watch us paint. 🙂
(C) 2025 Hilary Farmer
I went back out to this local beauty-spot to paint again. This time, instead of looking out towards the ocean and the mainland, the view was along the road with Vancouver Island in the background. The sun was shining and flowers in the overgrown garden were beginning to bloom. Once again, I was filled with a deep feeling of peace and gratitude to be able to work here and do this – even (or especially) in the midst of the world’s turmoil.
(C) 2025 Hilary Farmer
It was very rainy this March so my opportunities to get out plein air painting were quite limited. In fact, we were rained on at the end of this outing on the last day of March! Oh well.
We set up after looking around for the best vantage point for too long and wandering too far from where the car was parked. (Which made for a long dash back in the sudden downpour with my painting in a wet cardboard box at the end.) Anyway, only some of the fruit trees were in bloom so this scene with the rising driveway and the moss-roofed fruit stand was too picturesque to pass by.
A few days later, this was a lovely day to be outdoors painting – plein air is good for the soul! 🙂
(C) 2025 Hilary Farmer
Another heron …and there may be more to come 🙂 This one is lifting off from the shore and heading to an overnight roost.
(C) 2025 Hilary Farmer
I went out plein air painting again about a week ago. It was a really lovely day – perfect for spending some time outdoors. This may not exactly be the painting I was imagining but I still had a nice afternoon – so grounding and stress reducing.
(C) 2025 Hilary Farmer
Green Tea Doodles 