Below the Falls - A Work in Progress

The areas of rocks, the waterfall and some of the sparkle on the water was masked out first.

Once the masking fluid was dry the paper was wet with water. A wash of Antwerp blue and raw sienna was painted in vertically above the rocks and horizontally below them.

As the paper started to dry using a sponge and a mixture of French ultramarine blue and raw sienna the background trees were painted above the rocks. The painting was left to dry completely.

The masking was removed from the rock area. Leaving the sparkle on the water and the areas of white on the waterfall were masked out again and allowed to dry.

The rocks were washed over with mixtures of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna, leaving areas of white paper where the sunlight would touch the tops of the rocks.

A little of the greyed blue was washed into the waterfall and into the foreground water.

I will post this painting at a later date once more is completed.

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

Rock Shadows - A Work in Progress

The birch trees and the top of the rocks were masked out.

The background was layers of washes using French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue and raw sienna.

Once the background had dried the masking was removed.

A wash of French ultramarine blue was placed just under the topmost edge of the rocks leaving them white for the sunlit highlights. More water was added to the blue wash and was brushed into a few places on the white birches.

While the blue was still wet a mixture of burnt sienna and alizarin crimson was placed just under the blue and in some places overlapping it. More water was added the "pink" mixture and it was added to the birch trunks randomly.

Burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue were mixed together and a little shadow was put into the base of the rocks. Salt was then sprinkled into the rocks.

While the salt was working trees were put into the background behind the birches to create a forest.

I will post this painting at a later date once more has been finished.

Tumbling Water – A Work in Progress

Today I worked on this painting that I had started last year (see my posting on 21 December 2010).

In the higher falls I put in a few more movement lines into the water and added more definition to the rocks closest to the water.

To the rock cliffs I darkened a few areas of the rocks close to the water, added a little more definition to some of the rocks and added cracks and crevices to other parts of the rock face.
While sitting a show at KAGS

I also added a few darker dead tree trunks into the tree line at the top of the rock cliff.

In the waterfall I placed a couple of rocks that had water rushing over them and added some movement lines to the falls.

Once the painting was totally dry I scraped out a few highlights with a razor blade.

I will post this painting when it is completed.

OSWOA - Swamp 1

This is a painting using three colours; cobalt blue, raw sienna and burnt sienna.

A graded wash of cobalt blue was painted into the background first and as the paper was drying the pine trees in the background were added using a mixture of cobalt blue and raw sienna.

Mixtures of burnt sienna and raw sienna were used for the foreground grasses. Then as the paper was almost completely dry the dead cedars were painted in using a mixture of cobalt blue and burnt sienna.

If you would like more information about OSWOA please go to my post on 12 March 2010.

The OSWOA shown here is an original watercolour painting using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $30.00 and sold unframed.

ACEO - The 18th Hole 1

This is the 18th Hole at Six Foot Bay Resort in Buckhorn, viewed from the Stone Room.

I will be working on a series of golf course paintings. This is the first colour sketch for a larger painting.

If you would like more information about ACEO please go to my post on 11 March 2010.

The ACEO shown is an original watercolour paintings using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on either 140lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.

Ben

Ben was a Percheron stallion often seen in the show ring and in parades with his team mate a gelding called Bill pulling the wagon.

Both horses were used as a working team for ploughing fields in the spring, haying in the summer, sleigh rides and skidding logs in the winter.

Ben made a made a name for himself as the sire of a number of heavy weight hunters and police horses used by the Metropolitan Toronto Police Mounted Division.

Congratulations to Boyd Dunford of Lakefield, Ontario for selecting this painting.

Emil Varga Workshop - Barns in Summer - A Work in Progress

Today the Buckhorn Tuesday Painters have Emil VARGA coming in to do a workshop with us on painting barns.

I had taken a workshop with him a couple of years ago and knew he was an excellent instructor and we would learn a lot from him.

Everyone had to have two pieces with the barns already drawn onto the watercolour paper and ready to paint.

He started the backgrounds on two different barn paintings one was a summer scene, the other an autumn scene. It was interesting to see how he handled painting the clouds into the sky lifting the clouds out with a tissue and then adding more paint slightly darker into the bottom of the clouds.

He paints his trees both deciduous and evergreens with a sponge and that can create some attractive results.

It was an enjoyable workshop and we look forward to having him back in the spring for a workshop on painting flowers.

This painting is about three quarters finished. I feel the barn board needs to be darkened down more and that something needs to be added to the foreground to unite the entire painting.

I will post this painting at a later date once more of it is completed.

Rain Clouds - A Work in Progress

This is my third monochromatic painting (see Mountains and Waves on my postings of 22-23 January 11 respectively) using only French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

I think I will add some dark coloured deciduous tree trunks in front of the clouds. The lace patterns the branches make should be a pleasant contrast.

I will post this painting later once I have it finished.

Moonlit Waves - A Work in Progress

I am again using only French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna for this painting (see Mountains posted yesterday).

I brushed in the wave patterns from the horizon line downwards, adding more water to the mixture to lighten the colour.

I have set this painting aside to dry until I decide how I wish to finish the foreground; what I will do with the sky and if I will put an island or a boat against the horizon.

Mountains - A Work in Progress

For this painting I am using a mixture of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

Using a flat brush and a thick mixture of paint I put in the mountain tops.









I gradually added a little more water to the paint to lighten the colour and brushed in the sky in the upper right hand corner and left the area white for the edge of the clouds against it.

I added a little more water and continued to build up layers of clouds with gradually lighter paint.

I set this painting aside to dry and will complete it at a later date.

Snow Beauty - A Work in Progress

Only three colours were used in this painting, French ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and raw sienna.

The shadow across the snow needs to be softened and more details need to be put on the tree. Some growies peeking out of the snow wouldn't hurt either.

I will post this painting again I have it is completed.

Dawnlight

Well the snow has finally stopped and we have a bright and sunny day for a change.

After looking at the two small paintings (see my posting on 17 January 11) I did in Janet Skrepnek's class I decided I would do a similar scene adding raw sienna into the sky instead of doing it as a graduated wash.

I did the trees as dark silhouettes against the sky using a mixture of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

This is an original 6-1/2" x 10" framed watercolour.

Thank you to new collector Ms. Geraldine Matheson of Riverside Park, Ontario on her purchase of this painting.

Rosy Reflections

Rosy Reflections is an original 5" x 7” framed watercolour using only two colours; Antwerp blue and cadmium red.

Antwerp blue was first washed into the sky and water. Cadmium red was then brushed in ad the colours were allowed to mix together on the wet paper creating some lovely greys.

A darker mix of the two colours were used to paint in the trees on the horizon line.

Congratulations to returning collector Mr. James Douglas of Cedar Hill, Missouri, USA on his selection of this painting.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my artwork and I hope you will return often.

Stained Glass - Removing the Masking

Today my friend and fellow artist Heather Grant and I got together at her house to work on some drawings of barns for a workshop with Emil Varga for next week; as well as to complete some of our partially finished paintings.

I managed to complete four drawings for the workshop and will transfer them down onto watercolour paper later this week.


After lunch I decided that I wanted to do more work on this abstract I had started a while ago (see posts on 13 April 10 and 15 April 10).

I painted in the remaining white areas of the painting and removed the miskit from the one area I wanted to keep white. After setting it up and looking at it from a distance I took out one area I had originally planned to keep white and painted in the dark horizontal bar.

I have completed a fair amount of it, but it still needs more work before it is finished and I will leave that for another day.

Dawnlight 1-2

Today I was at a workshop with Janet Skrepnek and we were working on a couple of paintings using only two colours, French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

We worked back and forth on the two paintings using the same colour mixtures. Painting one was a snow scene with the sky colour cast onto the snow and painting two was a misty morning scene of three trees.

Both paintings had graduated washes of burnt sienna for the sky colour.

In the first painting the wash was put down from the top of the sky to slightly below the halfway mark and then lightened to about a third from the bottom of the painting. It was set aside to allow it to dry.














Dawnlight 1

In the second painting the sky was washed right down to the bottom of the painting.

While the paint was still wet a small amount of French ultramarine blue was added to the burnt sienna and the foreground grasses were painted into the bottom of the second painting.

This same colour was then used to paint in the background treeline on the left side of the first painting.

A little more of the blue was added to the grass colour and a tree was painted into the right side of the second painting. Before the foreground grass could completely dry using the end of a brush the paper was lightly marked to create individual blades of grass.

This colour was used to paint in the slightly closer treeline on the right side of the first painting.













Dawnlight 2 SOLD

A little more blue was added to the tree colour and a slightly darker tree was painted into the left side of the second painting.

This colour was then used in the first painting to create a stand of trees in the foreground of the first painting as well as some individual grasses sticking out of the snow.

Again more blue was added to the colour mixture creating a fairly dark mixture and the center tree was painted into the second painting and a few dark coloured growies were added into the foreground grasses.

This same colour was used on the first painting to create darker trees within the stand of trees and to add a little more colour in some of the grasses in the snow.

Each of these original 4" x 6" watercolour paintings when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $40.00

Autumn Maple - A Work in Progress

At the front of the property we have a couple of Maple trees that always start to change their leaves to the rich orange colours of autumn as soon as the cool weather starts.

Using a sponge and masking fluid the areas where the orange leaves were to be were masked out to protect the white paper.

Once the masking fluid was dry the sky was painted in using French ultramarine blue and leaving white areas to indicate the clouds.

Using the sponge and various greens made with combinations of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue, raw sienna and new gamboge the background deciduous trees were painted.

The painting was set aside to dry.

The masking was removed from the Maple trees and using the sponge an mixtures of alizarin crimson, new gamboge, raw sienna, cadmium red and cadmium yellow some of the orange leaves were painted.

I will post this painting at a later date once it is completed.

On the Alert

Everything here is covered with over a foot of snow already and we are going to end up with another 8" of snow with this storm that is raging outside now.

I thought it would be a good idea to finish this painting of an old mare standing out in the field on the top of the hill in the middle of summer.













This is an original 13-3/4" x 20-3/4” framed watercolour available for $315.00. SOLD

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

Country Lane - A Work in Progress

This is the kind of dirt lane you will often find on a large farm leading down to the various fields and pastures. Most of the time it is only the pickup trucks, tractors and farm machinery that uses these lanes.

Sometimes a herd of cattle or sheep was being moved from one pasture to another or a rider on a horse just enjoying being out riding on a trail.

There is still a lot of work that needs to be completed on this painting and I will post it again at a later date when it is finished.

Shades of Autumn - A Work in Progress

Today I am sitting at KAGS for the last day of the Christmas Show that will be torn down tonight to make way for the new show coming in tomorrow.

I brought with me a couple of partially finished paintings and decided I would work on this one that I had started last year (see posting on 11 December 10).

I brushed new gamboge and aureolin into the background to brighten some of the autumn colours that had lightened too much when they dried from the first wash of colour.

I used cadmium yellow and cadmium red to indicate areas with maples trees.

Using mixtures of raw sienna, burnt sienna, French ultramarine blue and Antwerp blue I painted in some of the evergreens behind the large rock cliff first then started to add some of the larger closer trees into the middle ground of the painting.

I cleaned up much of the area around the rock cliff with water and removed the dark lines that were originally going to be taller much closer trees.

There is still a lot more to do on this painting and I will post it at a later date.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and look at the artwork. I hope you will return often.

OSWOA - Dawn Silhouette 1

With living on the top of a hill I often see the trees silhouetted against the dawn sky.

If you would like more information about OSWOA please go to my post on 12 March 2010.

The OSWOA shown here is an original watercolour painting using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on either 140lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $30.00 and sold unframed.

ACEO - Forest Shadows 1

Today I was painting with the Buckhorn Tuesday Painters.

With all the snow we have on the ground I tried to capture some of the colours the tree shadows cast across the snow.

If you would like more information about ACEO please go to my post on 11 March 2010.

The ACEO shown here is an original watercolour painting using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on 140lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.

Nightmares - A Work in Progress

This is another painting where if you look closely you can see faces and various creatures within the painting.

It is much like Trapped Souls (see posting on 07 January 11).

I will have to work out what forms I wish to capitalize on and what needs to be added into the painting.

I will post this painting once it has been completed.

Windblown Leaves - A Work in Progress

The movement in this painting reminds me of the wind blowing leaves around on a blustery autumn afternoon.

I need to add some individual leaves in order to complete this paining which I will do at a later date and post the finished piece.

I started a number of mixed media paintings last year (see Free Flow posted on 29 July 10 and my postings on 06-08 January 11 for Bonfire, Trapped Souls and A Flock of Birds respectively).

A Flock of Birds - A Work in Progress

The way this painting has changed from what looked like a very bad hair day into a flock of different types of birds flying.

I will still have a lot more work to do on the various kinds of birds; the central one being a crow flying. I need to add pink to the flamingo and more definition to the head of the heron and then decide on how to define the bird of paradise and add a lot more details to its tail.

I will post this painting once I have completed all the birds.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and enjoy the artwork.

Trapped Souls - A Work in Progress

It always amazes me at what you can find in an abstract painting when you come back to work on it after not seeing it for a while.

Originally I thought this looked like the Genie from Aladdin's lamp, but when I started to look at the painting I could see faces scattered throughout the painting, looking as though they were trapped within a cloud mass.

I have added a few more faces and will work on this later when I decide how I want to complete the painting.

Bonfire - A Work in Progress

I started a number of mixed media paintings last year (see Free Flow posted on 29 July 10).

I added more acrylic paint into the fire and have to decide whether I will paint in the background or leave it white.

I will post this painting once it is completed.

Portraits - Christine

Today we had the lead tip from the Hastings and Prince Edward Regimental Pipe Band as our model, Sergeant Christine Sydney (yes, she is my daughter).

Christine brought her drum and wore the Band uniform. She did two 15 minutes poses standing with her drum as though she was playing.

Then after a short break, she sat for the long pose with her drum and harness on the floor beside her and held her drumsticks in her hands.

This one I am keeping for myself.

Buckhorn Artists' Group Blog - Show Updates

I have updated the Buckhorn Artists' Group blog with a listing of shows some of the various artists in the Group are exhibiting their work in during the month of January.

If you get a chance come out and visit them at one or all of the shows.

Confirmed Shows for 2011 - January

This is a listing of confirmed shows that I will be exhibiting my artwork at this year. I will update the list as more shows are added.

Kawartha Artists’ Gallery, Peterborough, Ont.
KAGS
05-22 Dec & 04-13 Jan 11 Christmas Show
Opening Reception 05 Dec 10 from 1-4pm.
27 Feb – 10 Mar Miniaturia
Opening Reception 27 Feb 11 from 1-4pm.
13-31 Mar Figuratively Speaking
Opening Reception 13 Mar 11 from 1-4pm.
05-23 Jun Temperatures Rising
Opening Reception 05 Jun 11 from 1-4pm.
11-29 Sep Changes
Opening Reception 11 Sep 11 from 1-4pm.
30 Oct – 16 Nov Outdoor Painters' Group Show
Opening Reception 30 Oct 11 from 1-4pm.
04-23 Dec 11 & 03-05 Jan 12 Christmas Show
Opening Reception 04 Dec 11 from 1-4pm.

St. Matthews Church, Buckhorn, Ont
Buckhorn Artists' Group
21-23 May 23rd Annual Among Friends Art Show
06-14 Aug 21st Annual Shades of Summer Art Show

Fenelon Falls Fair Grounds, Fenelon Falls, Ont.
02-03 Sep 22nd Annual Kawartha Arts Festival

Prairie Morning - A Work in Progress

The grain fields of the prairies seem to stretch on forever with only an occasional grain elevator to mar the flat distances.

The sky has been painted in and a little of the grain crop has been placed into the foreground.

I am thinking about adding a grain elevator back in the distance, and still need to add more details to the grain crop.

I will post this painting at a later date once it has been completed.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork and I hope you will return often.

Evening Sparkle - A Work in Progress

This is a scene we often see when out on the lake in either the canoe or the boat.

The sun hidden behind a small island casts its golden glow through the tree branches and onto the water.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have painted in the islands.