Poppy Balser
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poppybalser.bsky.social
Poppy Balser
@poppybalser.bsky.social
570 followers 310 following 340 posts
Watercolour and oil painter. I paint outside when I can.
I’m inspired by the sea and natural landscapes of the Canadian Maritimes
See my work here: www.poppybalser.com

Banner: oil painting of a sailboat
Profile: me next to one of my paintings
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poppybalser.bsky.social
A recent painting of the Northwest Arm in Halifax
“Cloud Shadows Over AYC” 12x16 inch watercolour

For #BlueSkyMonday
#halifax
#sailboats
#atmosphere
Watercolour painting of a large airy cloud over a body of water. The cloud has sunlight filtering through the top of it which is glinting off the water below. Sailboats are moored in the water and docked along the far shore. Apartment buildings break the skyline. The land and boats are mostly in shadow but a patch of sunlight lightens the background shore on the right , making a pathway for the viewers eye to travel into the distance
November 17, 2025 at 2:16 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
For #blueskyartshow “Fall on the Mountain” 9x12 inch watercolour
#autumn
Watercolour painting of a mowed field in the foreground. A weathered farm outbuilding is nestled at the edge of a forest with a steep hillside behind it. The foliage of the trees ranges from a muted orange to yellow green, showing that fall has arrived
November 1, 2025 at 8:00 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
Hey, #Halifax! Tonight is Nocturne, an annual one-night-only art experience. Dozens of galleries open until late, up to 80 artists presenting their work. I won’t be there, but my paintings are on the wall at Teichert Gallery on Hollis St, in their #Nocturne exhibit. Check it out!

#halisky
Oil painting titled “Weathered Coast” measures 11x14 inches. Shows a rocky basalt shore in South West Nova Scotia. Hazy light highlights the varied colours of the rocks. Artist statement: This painting is a studio piece based on plein air sketches on a sunny July late afternoon. What I love to paint about these rocks at the later time of day is how as the light slants and angles light reflects, bouncing onto the shaded sides of the rocks and revealing colours that are harder to see at mid-day when the sun is straight overhead. These rocks are ancient basalt, left over from immense lava flows causing mass extinctions over 200 million years ago. As we follow the path over this shore we have no hint of the destruction unleashed when these stones were born. Now the rocks lie peacefully under gentle summer sun and invite us to explore the coast Watercolour painting titled “Revereberations” measuring 28x38 inches. Shows a rocky coast being washed by immense waves in a November gale. The size of the waves is implied by the trees dotting the coast above the cliffs. Artist Statement: This painting is based on plein air sketches I made during a November gale on the shores of Point Prim , outside of Digby. I was tucked behind some sheltering rocks as I watched massive waves scour the shore. Over eons similar storms have weathered the rocks and stripped away the topsoil, revealing the bones of the earth below. These stones are truly ancient. They date back to over 200 million years ago, when the piece of land we now call Nova Scotia was part of the super-continent Pangea.
October 18, 2025 at 6:01 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
The Open Water 2025 watercolour exhibition I have been working on for months is now open at Teichert Gallery on Hollis St, in Halifax. The show will be up until October 2.

For #Halisky fans of #watercolour, this exhibition is well worth a visit!

#Canadianart #maritimeartists
#halifaxart
Shows two artists, Gary McFarland and Poppy Balser with their paintings hanging in the Open Water 2025 exhibition at Teichert Gallery in Halifax. Shows 5 watercolour paintings on a wall in Teichert Gallery in Halifax, NS. The wall displays the name of the exhibition, Open Water 2025 Shows the sidewalk sign for the Open Water 2025 Exhibition and the entrance of Teichert Gallery on Hollis street in Halifax. The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia banner hangs on the wall in the middle distance.
September 24, 2025 at 10:13 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
I painted this while surrounded by the sea on one side and a sea of roses on the other. The roses were in full bloom and their scent enveloped me as I worked. It was lovely. “Coming Up Roses” 9x12 inch #pleinair #watercolor

#summerlandscape #seaside #flowersonfriday
Watercolour painting of a green seaside meadow dotted with roses. A piece of sun bleached driftwood breaks up the green. An ocean cove is behind the meadow and hazy green trees are behind the cove.
August 22, 2025 at 6:28 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
“The Setting Sun Moves Quickly” 9x12” watercolour, painted on location last month, at St Peter’s Marina in Cape Breton .

#watercolour #marina #summerscenery #sailboats
Loosely drawn watercolour painting of the patterns of brilliant sunlight reflecting off water in a marina in the evening. The predominant colours are a soft blue with hints of orange to show the brilliance of the sunlight
August 18, 2025 at 4:41 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
Here is a recent plein air painting from my Cape Breton trip: “Sandbars, Islands and Sunshine” 9x12 inches, #watercolour

The Bras d’Or Lakes are dotted with many small islands that curve around protected anchorages. We were anchored nearby and I went ashore to paint.

#BrasdOrLakes #CapeBreton
Watercolour painting of a gravelly beach stretching into the painting, until it curves out of sight behind the grassy shore. Another small rocky beach on a grassy island shows across a channel. In the distance there are treed hills and a small farmhouse amongst the trees.
August 14, 2025 at 4:52 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
I just love painting the way light lays a trail over water. If there is an interesting background, so much the better!

“Evening Marina” 9x12” painted on location in St. Peter’s, Cape Breton, NS
A watercolour painting of sunlight glinting off the water in a marina. Docked sailboats face toward the viewer, with sunlight glinting off their decks and lines. A dock leads into the painting from the left toward the boats. The predominant colours are blue of the water and shaded boats, a muted yellow orange on the sunlit water and the docks and a band of green in the background hills/trees.
August 6, 2025 at 4:57 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
I cracked open a new sketchbook for this trip. Here are a couple of pages. I use my sketchbook to test out ideas and document where we’ve been.

#sketching #watercolour #capebreton
Shows a very loose watercolour sketch in a sketchbook on an easel. The sketch shows a view of a farm field and house reflecting in calm water, framed by trees with a hazy blue ridge in the distance. The page is dated July 7, 2025 Shows a sketchbook page with a watercolour sketch of a marina, seen across sparky water, under a sky filled with puffy clouds. Inscription at the bottom of the page: “St Peters Marina, July 5, 2025”
July 21, 2025 at 1:17 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
I’m in Cape Breton, exploring the Bras d’Or lakes by boat and with paintbrush in hand.
View of an artist’s easel, holding a completed watercolour painting. The painting shows a cluster of trees on a gravel sandbar at the edge of an island. There is green grass in the foreground and driftwood on the shore.
July 19, 2025 at 5:45 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
I was in Parrsboro, NS, last week and did some painting while I was there.

This is a fishing weir, a once common sight along the shores of the Bay of Fundy, now there are very few left.

#fishingweir #bayoffundy
#pleinair #watercolour #art
Shows a completed watercolour painting on an easel on the seashore at low tide. The painting is of a fishing weir, a structure made of tall poles strung with nets. A weir shows in the distance behind the easel. Location: Partridge Island, Parrsboro, NS
July 6, 2025 at 12:10 AM
poppybalser.bsky.social
Flowers on Friday
Yesterday I spent the day on #BrierIsland sketching
Beach roses and beach peas are in bloom
#flowersonfriday
#floralfriday
#pleinair
Photo of an artists easel set up on the coast. There is a completed sketch on the easel. The sketch shows a rocky coast beyond a green meadow with flowers in the foreground. A similar view is visible behind the easel
June 14, 2025 at 12:21 AM
poppybalser.bsky.social
I’ve been enjoying watching spring unfurl around me, painting lots of #appleblossoms among other things

This is an #oilpainting from this morning, from #gravesislandprovincialpark

I like it when the painting lines up with reality and it fits, more or less, except for where the tide went out.
Photo showing an artist’s easel on a rocky seashore. The painting on the easel is of an apple tree in pink bloom. The painting is lined up so it is superimposed over the actual apple tree showing how the painting fits into the scene. Photo of an apple tree in bloom on a rocky seashore. There is an oil painting of the same apple tree in the foreground. There is dappled shade on the rocks below the tree. The ocean is on the right hand side and there is a green field on the left.
May 29, 2025 at 7:05 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
Two plein air gouache sketches of my driveway. I love it in spring when the wild trees bloom in profusion. The first sketch was an under painting that I never finished (weather). The second one is a completed painting of the same scene, showing backlit flowers and new leaves. Both 9x12”.
This is an underpainting of trees growing on either side of a winding driveway . I started by just blocking in the shapes quickly, not worrying about accuracy because i planned to paint on top to add the flowers and brightly coloured leaves. But i was interrupted by weather. So stopped with this very loosely painted sketch that actually shows the vitality and lightness of spring. Gouache painting of a winding driveway lined by flowering trees, cherry and service berry trees, specifically. The sun is streaming through the trees on the right, throwing shadows across the driveway and illuminating the blossoms and new leaves from behind. The flowers are white and the foliage is brilliant green and bronze-red.
May 22, 2025 at 6:01 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
I’m practicing at painting the delicate glow of #springsunshine on and through new leaves

#watercolour
#art

Here’s the view from my easel this morning:
May 15, 2025 at 2:22 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
Sailing season is beginning here in NS, so here’s some classic Bluenose class sailing boats, as seen during a race last summer

“Bluenose Flock” 9x12” watercolour

#art
#watercolour
#bluenose
Watercolour painting of a fleet of small bluenose-class racing boats underway in Chester Basin. Quaker island is visible in the near distance on the left hand side of the painting and a more distant shore is the background on the right. These small sailing boats are sloop style boats with a triangular main sail and a triangular fractional foresail that only reaches partway up the mast. There are approximately 14 boats in the painting. They are clustered in two masses of predominantly white sails, reading as slightly blue where the sails are in shadow.
May 14, 2025 at 4:20 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
“Adjusting the Lines” 12x16” oil painting

For the #blueskyartshow this week the theme is #lines
Oil painting of the front three quarters of a sailboat, seen from the side. The mainsail is set. The hub lies in a rumpled mass on the bow, each fold reflecting a slightly different colour of sunlit or shaded white. There are three sailors before the mast, two adjusting lines running up the mast, one at the ready to assist. The water is rippled and dazzled with sparkles
May 10, 2025 at 5:27 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
Here’s a bracing seascape, for those in need of a visual refresher today.

‘Inward Rush of the Tide’ 10x20” oil painting

#rockintuesday
#painting
#seascape
Oil painting of a tall wave thundering toward shore, with the remnants of a prior wave still collapsing into mist and spray and foam against rocks in the foreground.
May 6, 2025 at 3:10 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
New painting of some tall ships i watched on a trip in the fall.

#watercolour #marineart #tallships
Watercolour painting of a classic wooden sailing yacht under sail. The sails are aged canvas and glow golden where the sun filters through them. The shaded white hull appears purple against the blue green sea. Another tall ship in the distance mirrors the shape of the closer boat.
April 30, 2025 at 11:08 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
It’s not beach weather yet but we can see there from here. Looking forward to summer.

Enjoy your weekend!

#sunnysaturday #pleinairpainting
#novascotia
Shows a watercolour painting on an artists easel, positioned so the painting fits within the larger scene from which the artist was painting. The painting shows people sitting on a beach of white sand backed by granite cobbles. It measures 6” tall, 12” wide and is mostly about the people seated where they can enjoy the glittering waves rolling in on the shore before them. Watercolour painting of two people seated on a white sandy beach. Their position suggests lively conversation. Clear blue water glistens as gentle waves lap the shore.
April 26, 2025 at 11:03 AM
poppybalser.bsky.social
Happy Earth Day!

“Evening Light on Water and Stone” 8x10” plein air gouache

For my Canadian followers, please consider the fate of our environment and climate when you go out to vote.

#earthday
#elxn2025
Painting of a river in summer evening sunshine. The surface is broken with boulders and reeds. Sunlight sparkles off the water and gleams off the sandy river bottom. The forest on the far bank is in shadow and makes a dark backdrop for the brightly sunlit boulders.
April 22, 2025 at 8:55 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
This one was just plain fun to paint. “Ospreys Make a New Home” 8x6” plein air gouache.

These ospreys were building at the top of an abandoned crane. Watching the choice of nesting materials was interesting: Sometimes sticks, other times clumps of mud and weeds.

#birdwatching
#ospreys
Gouache painting of a pair of ospreys nesting at the top of an abandoned crane. The crane structure is orange against a mid-blue sky. One osprey is sitting on the nest looking up at the other which is coming in for a landing with a long stick in its talons.
April 19, 2025 at 6:49 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
A #nocturne painting inspired by being stuck in traffic.

The brightly lit exterior of the Dilly Dally Cafe in #Halifax caught my eye the other night when stopped at a traffic light. I loved the play of red and cool turquoise.

“Dilly Dally in the Evening” 9x12” #watercolour
Watercolour painting of a storefront at night. The paintwork around the door is a cool turquoise, while the awnings over the windows have cheery red and white stripes. Traffic lights nearby add to the play of red across the painting. Viewers can see inside the lit windows of the coffee shop, and though no one is visible inside, it still has a welcoming look.
April 16, 2025 at 3:32 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
Here’s a small warm up sketch trying out some new oil paint colours from @mhpaints.bsky.social

“Wave Highlights” 6x6” oil painting.
Oil painting of a backlit wave. Tumbling foam is rushing toward a rocky coast in the foreground. Sunlight dazzles off the ocean, the top of the wave and the wet rocks.
April 11, 2025 at 5:15 PM
poppybalser.bsky.social
Here’s a recent watercolour painting of shrimp boats from the MillCove docks in Apalachicola, FL

Done on location over 3 or maybe 4 evenings, I lost count.

#pleinair
#fishingboats
#boatsinharbour
Watercolour painting of the front of a shrimp boat tied up at the dock. The perspective is looking directly across a narrow channel toward the boat, through a gap between two other shrimp boats which do little more than frame the view. All three boats are aged and weathered and in various states of repair. The bow of the right hand near boat is in the process of being rebuilt with new thwarts and planking exposed.
April 8, 2025 at 8:00 PM