Mark Reeder Fine Art • Journal / Blog • Contemporary Realism Artist in Canada • Oil Painter

Algonquin Rapids

I feel very fortunate to live where I do. A short drive takes me to some very special spots that some only get to see while on vacation. In 2006 I moved north from Toronto to the small village of Dwight, just outside the west gate of Algonquin Park. I smile when I see that […]

Learning from the Old Masters – part 1

Sketches, studies and reproductions I’ve made over the years. In many ways I would have to consider myself self taught, although I’m not a big fan of that way of thinking, especially considering the fact that if one is paying attention, there are teachers everywhere. Since I have no formal training much of my education […]

Catching up

Selected works from the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition 2005 and my first solo show 2006 Street light, detail, 2005 © Mark Reeder. Bridge, 8 x 18, oil on panel, 2005 © Mark Reeder. Head study, 6 x 9, oil on panel, 2005 © Mark Reeder. Draped chair, 7 x 9, oil on panel, 2004 © […]

New Portrait

This is a portrait I finished recently of my friend Minna. I really liked the light in this image, and the sense of a rural or country environment. The first thing that comes to mind though every time I look at it is the word youth.

Some older work

One of my good clients brought this piece by for a coat of varnish during a visit to pick up another painting not too long ago. It was nice to see one of my older paintings again, especially after I lost a lot of work when my computer crashed a while back. It’s also good […]

What’s on the easel

I started this quite a while ago and finally got back to working on it the other day. I also have a couple more landscapes in process and most of the other paintings I’ve been working through are pretty much done. It feels good to get through a big batch of work and I still […]

New Portrait

I’ve been working through about half a dozen portraits and figures lately. This is the first one done. Most of the others are very close to being completed and I’m looking forward to getting on with some new ones and catching up on some ideas I’d like to explore.Over the last few years I’ve become […]

Portrait of Mr. Richard Smith

This is a portrait of my friend Chantal’s uncle Richard Smith. I was really caught by his expression and I was glad for the opportunity to do this painting.

Painting in the garden

This is a quick painting I did of daisies I grew in my garden. I really love gardening and a big part of the reason or motive behind creating and exploring the kind of flowers I choose is also with the intention to paint them. In essence I want to create an environment in and […]

The Thinker

An artist/musician friend of mine and I were having a lengthy discussion about art, creativity and philosophy the other day and this painting came up in conversation….coincidentally I came across the image of it this afternoon. I painted it in 2006 so it’s been a while since I’ve seen it, was nice to see it […]

Leah

I had this painting up a while ago when i was ‘playing’ with this whole blog thing. I was thinking to put this up with some other figurative work later, but decided not to wait.

Still life in the studio

Daffodils, 24 x 31, oil on linen, 2009 © Mark Reeder. Turquoise still life, oil on linen, 2009 © Mark Reeder. Here are a few still life paintings I’ve done recently, had quite a bit of fun working on these. I really like the idea in the first one showing a subject for a painting […]