Winter Moon

I pulled out this painting that I had started a number of years ago (see posts on 21 May 2010 and 31 May 2014) and wanted to complete it today.

I started on the fence by using burnt sienna to run the lines of barbed wire and then added the barbs onto the wire.

Next I painted in the grasses and growies at the base of the fence posts using various mixtures of aw sienna, burnt sienna, new gamboge and cadmium yellow.

Lastly, I put in some grasses on the left side.

This original watercolour painting when framed will be available for $125.00.

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

Changes 1

Today I pulled out a frame that was complete with glass, backing and mats and decided to do a painting that would fit.

I thought an autumn evening would be ideal and I started by putting in the sky with a mixture of raw sienna and new gamboge.

Using raw sienna, I under painted the areas where I was going to put in the bright orange leaves and some of the grassy areas at the base of the background trees.

With various mixtures of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue, raw sienna and new gamboge, I painted in the pine trees into the background.

While the paint was still wet, I lifted the trunks of a couple of birch trees on the left side of the painting.

Using various mixtures of alizarin crimson, cadmium red, cadmium yellow, aureolin and new gamboge I put in the autumn coloured leaves throughout the painting and as a reflection into the water. 














I dotted in a few small areas of coloured leaves using mixtures of cadmium red and cadmium yellow.

With the darkest green I put in a few dead tree trunks throughout the painting.

Using some of the dark green tree colour I brushed in the water around the orange reflections.

Lastly, I put in the rocks along the shore with various mixtures of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

I do apologize about the photograph, but it was taken after I had framed it when I thought to take the picture.

This original, framed 5" x 7" watercolour painting is available for $95.00. SOLD

Trent River 1-3

With it being close to the end of September it won't be long before we will not be able to go out on the lake in the canoe until next year.

But we are fortunate that today is bright and sunny day with the temperature going up to 75F (23.9C) by this afternoon.

With an early start instead of going out on one of the nearby lakes Ron wanted to try a different place. We followed a variety of roads and finally along Highway 30 we arrived in Campbellford and crossed the bridge of the Trent River onto Front Street North where we found an area on the river with adequate parking and where we could launch the canoe.

Trent River Pine

We paddled up the river against the current to Campbellford Lock 13 of the Trent-Severn Waterway, before pulling into shore to have lunch.

After lunch we allowed the current to carry us back to our launch point with Ron fishing and I sketched and took photographs.

The Trent River is 56 miles (90km) long and flows down from Rice Lake to empty into the Bay of Quinte on Lake Ontario.

Map courtesy of Google Map Data@Google

The River is host to a wide variety of fish species including: small and large mouth bass, rock bass, bluegill, sunfish, crappie, perch, pike, walleye and freshwater drums.














Trent River Duck Blind

Ron caught a nice sized perch and I was pleased that once we returned to our launch site I was able to capture the setting sun being reflected in the water on a number of photographs.














Trent River I

We stopped to have supper at Riverview Family Restaurant in Campbellford, where we were served an excellent roast beef meal with all the trimmings.

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

Last Day of Reaping and Harvesting

It is another lovely day with the temperature at 72F (22C), great weather for working outside.

But, today I am sitting the last day of the Reaping and Harvesting Show at Art on Kent in Lindsay, Ontario.

Being a part of a couple of co-operative Gallery each person must do their part in the running of the Gallery or eventually it will close. It is the same way at KAGS.

I would be more involved with this Gallery but unfortunately it is over an hour away and I just don't have the time to be there more often.












I have brought in my new pieces for the upcoming show Water, Water Everywhere. The new show runs from 02-25 October 2014, with the opening reception 0n 04 October from 1:00-4:00p.m. If you have the chance perhaps you will come out to view the exhibition.

Three Seashells

Today I thought I would do some sketches of some of the various sea shells I have in my collection.

For the first one I thought I would do a single Queen Conch shell on its own and I set it in an upright position rather than have it on its side.

For the second sketch I added a Murex shell and some seaweed to create an interesting display.

Next I added Sand Dollars and Clams with the Queen Conch shell.

Conch Shell I














Queen Conch and Murex Shells I














Queen Conch and Sand Dollars I

New Friend

It looks as though the weatherman was wrong when he said we wouldn't see the temperature climb to 70F (21.1C) until the spring. I am certainly glad he is wrong as today was a beautiful sunny day with the temperature being 72F (22.2C).

I would like to thank new collector Mrs. Barbara Miller of Toronto, Ontario for her commission to do this pen and ink drawing of her son and one of their horses.

It brings back fond memories of whenever I had the chance to make a new equine friend. It didn't matter if it was the milkman, iceman or policeman's horse.

Each meeting, no matter how fleeting was a joy to remember for a lifetime.

Queen Angelfish

Today I thought I would work on a sketch of a grouping of tropical fish from the Caribbean reef.

I wanted to have a Queen Angelfish as the largest fish and a couple of smaller fish and some coral or sponges around it.














I barely had time to do more than block in some basic shapes when I had unexpected company arrive.

I am sure that this will work into an interesting painting.

Pine Trees

It is sunny today with the temperature reaching 69F (20.5C), making it great working weather.

Once I finished doing the barn chores and the house chores I decided I would take a little time and go out and paint plein air.

There are so many things I would like to paint on the property it is sometimes hard to make a choice. In this case I decided to paint some of the pine trees on the north fence line.

I put the sky in using a mixture of ultramarine blue and titanium white.

The background trees were put in with white, raw sienna and burnt sienna.

I added a little bit of ultramarine blue to the background mix and put in the next layer of pine trees and the under paint for the larger foreground trees.

Next I added more blue to the green mix and put in the trunk and the branches on the largest tree.

I darkened the green down with blue and burnt sienna and did the closest tree to the right of the large tree.

Lastly, I added a few spots of raw sienna and burnt sienna throughout the painting to create some interest.

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

Autumn River

This is the last of three paintings I found in a box in the storage room earlier this month.

All it needed was to finish the dead and weathered cedar trees on the right side of the painting that were currently just "white sticks".

Using a mix of titanium white, ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I put the shadows on the trunks of the cedar trees. 
















With a fine brush I carefully put in the dead limbs onto the tree trunks. 

Lastly, I put a few reflections into the quiet water near the base of the cedar tree trunks.

This original 16" x 20" acrylic painting when framed will be available for $375.00.

OSWOA - Wanna Play?

Today we set up a show at the Purple Onion Festival held in Millennium Park in Peterborough.












We were fortunate in that we had gotten all of our paintings inside the building before it started to rain. I felt sorry for some of the exhibitors who had to go through high winds and a torrential downpour during the morning hours that caused a couple of tents to collapse due to the amount of rain that fell during a very short time and the high winds. By noon the sun came out and the temperatures climbed to 66F (19C) and the crowds came out to enjoy the Festival.














I would like to thank new collector Gary Smith of Peterborough, Ontario on his purchase of Autumn Birch 1 (see post on 14 July 2012).











This is one of the pieces that I took to the show that I had started in a Still Life class earlier this year (see posts on 27 March 2014, 31 July 2014 and 07 August 2014) and decided that I wanted to finish it as a companion piece for the one I completed a couple of weeks ago (see post on 07 August 2014).













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 140lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $40.00 and sold unframed.

ACEO - Tree Tops 10 and 11

The colours here are absolutely stunning, with the various reds, yellows, golds and greens; especially when I look out over the trees below the hill and across the Snelgrove Brook and the far hill beyond.

Today I wanted to work on these two pieces that I had started earlier this year (see post on 19 February 2014) and called them Clouds. I have already completed the first two of them earlier this month (see post on 06 September 2014).














Tree Tops 10

Keeping with the same theme I first worked on the one that had been called Clouds 3 and used as my subject more of the trees from the north fence line that I see out of my kitchen window.

Once this one was completed I worked on the final background which had been called Clouds 4 and painted the last of my bare bones trees.














Tree Tops 11

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

The ACEO shown here are all original watercolour paintings using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. They are priced at $20.00 each and sold unframed.

Meandering Stream

This is another painting that I found in storage earlier this month that I had started in a class a number of years ago with Mary Lampman.

This one as with the other two that I found, they just needed a few grasses and growies put into the paintings to finish them.

Using yellow ochre and a small amount of burnt sienna I painted in the dead grasses at the base of the trees on the left side of the painting and smudged in a little as a reflection into the stream.














Using a mix of burnt sienna and ultramarine blue, I put in the small twigs and branches of small trees and bushes peeking up through the snow on both sides if the painting.

Mixing the grass colour and the twig colour together I put in small bits and pieces into the background.

This original 16" x 20" acrylic painting when framed will be available for $375.00.

Watching the Boats I

Today I spent the day at KAGS. In the morning was the first still life class for the fall/winter session and the theme was once around the bathroom.

Since I couldn't get into painting, I ended up taking a number of reference photographs for future use.

After lunch I worked on this painting that I had started earlier this year (see post on 22 January 2014) of a beach in Cayo CoCo, Cuba, while I was with the Outdoor Painters' Group.














Then I stayed to help with the take in for the upcoming Carnival of Colour show which runs from 21 September - 16 October with the opening reception on 21 September from 1-4pm.

The original 5-1/2" x 9” pen and ink drawing shown above when framed will be available for $95.00.

Countryside Art Group Blog

I have just finished posting information about the four members of the Countryside Art Group to their blog.

Bird House 1

Today I was taking a rendering class with Julia Cameron at KAGS.

We were going to work from photographs in this class and last night I went through some of my photographs and thought the old of an old bird house attached to a post beside a young oak tree in the fall would be a good one to take to class.

We were given a lot of pages about composition, sketching and how to create an outline drawing from a number of our sketches.

I did this outline drawing from various sketches of the birdhouse and oak tree.

Birches and Trilliums

Today while I was sorting through some boxes that were kept in storage, I came across three partially completed paintings that I had started in a few workshops with Mary Lampman a number of years ago.

In Mary's classes we used a palette knife in pretty much all of the painting and this one shows quite clearly, that I was not used to using a knife to paint. 

I just had the foreground to complete and I used Payne's grey and titanium white to put in a rail fence.

















Next, using various mixtures of raw sienna, hansa yellow and burnt sienna for some of the dead grasses and growies and ultramarine blue, cerulean blue and the different yellows for the green grasses and growies I added them into the foreground leaving a small opening for a pathway into the background.

Using titanium white, I added in trilliums through the vegetation in the foreground.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

This original 12" x 12" acrylic painting when framed will be available for $250.00.

Loon Call Lake I-VII

Today we took the canoe and went up to Loon Call Lake which is another lake along Ansruther Lake Road and is within the Kawartha Highlands Park. It is less than a mile (1.6km) before Wolf Lake and we had stopped to take a look at it earlier this year (see post on 21 July 2014) as we were heading home.

It is what is known as a Canadian Shield lake which was formed millions of years ago when the continental ice sheets moved, depressing the land and scooping out thousands of lake basins as it carried away most of the soil leaving the bare rock exposed.

Loon Call Lake is a fairly small, long narrow lake compared to some of the other nearby lakes.

Loon Call Lake I

It is approximately three miles (4.8km) in length with an irregular shoreline which in some places drops off sharply and has a number of islands. The lake reaches maximum a depth of 56' (17m) with the average depth being 16' (4.8m).

With it being an infertile lake it is regularly stocked with splake (a cross between lake and brook trout) which is one of the major fish along with bass (both large and small mouth), sunfish and yellow perch.

The launch site is at the northeast end of the lake and as usual we paddled to the end of the lake where we stopped to have lunch.

Loon Call Lake IV

We were in a small inlet and Ron started fishing and I took out my sketchbook to draw while we let the wind and the current carry us back.

Before we were out of the inlet he caught a sunfish and after I had taken it off the hook and released it, with his next cast he caught a 14" large mouth bass which was released back as well.

As usual I made a number of sketches and took reference photographs and will probably at a later date turn them into paintings.

Loon Call Lake V

There are two paintings that I want do in the not too distant future that are both in almost the same location.














Loon Call Lake II

The first one is of a marker which is in the channel between the shore and one of the larger islands. It is of a solar patio light mounted on a post. I thought it was a wonderful idea and I am sure that when it originally had only a plastic marker many boats hit the rock before they could slow down and maneuver away from it.














Loon Call Lake III

The other is of a chair sitting all alone on the rocky island among the tall pines far from the cottage located on the southern side.














Loon Call Lake VI

It wasn't long before the sun was getting low in the horizon and we were back at the launch site.















Loon Call Lake VII

On our way down Highway 28 and stopped in Burleigh Falls to have supper at the Lovesick Lake Restaurant and Grill before returning home.

Farm House I

Today I was in the mood to draw, so I went through my portfolio which contains a number of sketches that I started on location while out with the KAGS Outdoor Painters' Group and decided to complete this drawing that I started last year (see post on 18 June 2013).

I started on the larger section of the house, making changes to the buildings as I worked on the roof first and removed a section of the roof on the smaller part of the building and had it join to the back part of the building.

Next, I worked on the chimneys. I ran the first one down the front of the house and set the one on the front building into the back part of the roof and set the chimney on the smaller part of the building through the middle section of the roof.














From there I added more details to the roof on each of the buildings and then, added a couple of windows to the smaller section of the house and fixed the size and shape of the windows and the door on the larger part of the house.

Next, I added in the frames onto the windows and put in the details on the door and the steps.

From there I worked on the old tree at the side of the house and added a tire swing to the lower main branch.

Lastly, I put in the horizon line in the background and indicated the grasses around the base of the building and by the edge of the pathway.

While the outline drawing is complete, I am still not entirely happy with it and I will give it some "mantle time" while I decide what other changes are needed.

Moon Glow I

Today I didn't have a lot of time to work on my art and I came across this drawing that I had started a couple of years ago (see post on 05 March 2012).

I put the shadows beneath the gunnel on the inside of the boat, followed by darkening the stern and outside of the boat, being careful to leave the moonlit area of the bow untouched.















This original 3" x 4-1/4" pen and ink drawing when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $30.00.

I would like to thank new collector Mr. Hiroshi Saito of London, Ontario on his purchase of Sunlit Poppies (see post on 06 June 2014).

Tied Up 3

While driving home along River Road I came across this scene of a boat tied up to a pier waiting to go out on the Otonabee River.

I stopped and did this little drawing of the boat gently bobbing on the water.














I can already see that this drawing at a later date can easily be turned into a painting.

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

Peaceful Morning 1

Today the weatherman says, is the last day we will have temperatures reach 70F (21C) until the spring next year. I can only hope that they will be wrong as usual. But the nice thing about today with the humidity making it feel like 84F (29C) was that we had a fabulous thunderstorm with lots of lightning.

I pulled out a piece of paper that already had some colour on it and decided to draw a lake scene with a few islands.

With the darker colour at the bottom of the paper for the reflected light in the water I drew in the closer island on the right side of the paper.

On the left side I put in a smaller island and the horizon line.

Lac Blanc 1

Today I was painting with the Buckhorn Tuesday Painting Group at St. Matthews Church in Buckhorn, Ontario.

I just couldn't get into painting and since I had brought along a number of photographs from my summers spent in Québec I did this drawing of Lac Blanc, which was walking distance from my aunt's cottage on the shores of Lac Sergent.














I have many fond memories of my summers in Lac-Sergent, which is in a community in the Portneuf Regional County Municipality in Québec where my uncle, François Desrochers was the mayor of Lac-Sergent from 1981-1985.

I may at a later date do more drawings and/or paintings of Lac Blanc, which had a number of charcoal huts near the lake which were moldering away, as well as some of Lac Sergent where we would sometimes go out on the lake in the canoe or on the catamaran.

Boat Sketches

Today went to the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto to see the Canadian International Air Show which is held every year over the Labour Day weekend.

It features the Canadian Forces Snowbirds (431 Air Demonstration Squadron); an internationally known team of serving pilots that perform demonstrations throughout North America flying the easily recognized red and white Canadian built jets, the Canadair CT-114 Tutor.


















We found a nice place on the shores of Lake Ontario to sit and enjoy the show. While we were waiting for the show to begin I sat and sketched some of the boats sailing on the lake and tied up in the nearby harbour.

This original 7-1/2" x 7-1/2" graphite pencil drawing when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $40.00.

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

OSWOA - What's New?

This morning I was at Art on Kent which is normally not open on Sunday, but they had the Doors Open Ontario Tour which was sponsored by the Ontario Heritage Trust where tours were conducted through many of the century or older buildings throughout the province.

Since I had a little time at the Gallery and wanted to finish this little piece that was started a while ago (see posts on 27 March 2014 and 07 July 2014) and would be ideal for a child's room.













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 140lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $40.00 and sold unframed.

ACEO - Tree Tops 8 and 9

I started with the backgrounds for these paintings earlier this year (see post on 19 February 2014) and called them Clouds for lack of a better name at the time.

Now that autumn is just around the corner and the trees will soon be dropping all their brilliantly coloured leaves I wanted to paint trees showing just the bare bones without the leaves hiding anything.

I took the first one that had been called Clouds 1 and painted in a single dark coloured tree with its branches showing starkly against the background sky.

Tree Tops 8

For the second one which had been called Clouds 2 I thought painting in some of the trees along the north fence line would be interesting and I have many pictures if them against the sky in every season with some stunning background colours.














Tree Tops 9

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

The ACEO shown here are all original watercolour paintings using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. They are priced at $20.00 each and sold unframed.

Cabin Memories I

It is another hot 86F (30C) and very humid 102F (39C) day.

I thought I would work on a snow scene today instead of something from the Caribbean so I chose this painting that I had worked on earlier this year (see post on 08 February 2014).














I added trees to the distant shoreline on the right side of the lake, some shadows to the cabin and to complete the drawing I added some dead grasses and growies to the shoreline.

This original 3-1/4" x 6-1/4” pen and ink when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $25.00.

Barn VI

It is a very hot 90F (32.2C) and with the humidity it felt like 106F (41.1C)

Cindy and I went to Millennium Park, in Peterborough, Ontario to see what our area looked like for the Purple Onion Festival in September; afterward Cindy sketched, while I took photographs of some of the various gardens and waterfalls in the Park.

A little later we parted company and I headed to KAGS to sit the last day of the Figuratively Speaking exhibit.











While I was there I worked on this sketch that I had started last year (see post on 25 September 2013).

This original 4-1/4" x 9” graphite pencil drawing when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $40.00.

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

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 September.

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

Confirmed Shows for 2014 -2015 - September

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
10 Aug - 04 Sep 14 Figuratively Speaking
Opening Reception 10 Aug 14 from 1-4pm.
21 Sep - 16 Oct 14 Carnival of Colour
Opening Reception 21 Sep 14 from 1-4pm.
02-20 Nov 14 Outdoor Painters' Show
Opening Reception 02 Nov 14 from 1-4pm.
25 Feb -22 Mar 15 Still Life
Opening Reception 01 Mar 15 from 1-4pm.
08 Apr - 03 May 15 Spring Show
Opening Reception 12 Apr 15 from 1-4pm.
10 Jun - 05 Jul 15 Summer Show
Opening Reception 14 Jun 15 from 1-4pm.
26 Aug - 20 Sep 15 Figuratively Speaking
Opening Reception 30 Aug 15 from 1-4pm.
04-22 Nov 15 Outdoor Painters' Show
Opening Reception 08 Nov 15 from 1-4pm.
25 Nov -20 Dec 15 and 06- Jan 16 Winter Show
Opening Reception 29 Nov 15 from 1-4pm.

Kawartha Arts Network - Art On Kent, Lindsay, Ont.
KAN
04-27 Sep 14 Reaping and Gathering
Opening Reception 06 Sep 14 from 1-3pm.
02-25 Oct 14 Water, Water Everywhere
Opening Reception 04 Oct 14 from 1-3pm.
30 Oct 14 - 22 Nov 14 Abstraction and Contraptions
Opening Reception 01 Nov 14 from 1-3pm.
27 Nov 14 - 10 Jan 15 Affordableism
Opening Reception 29 Nov 14 from 1-3pm.

Millennium Park, Peterborough, Ont.
Purple Onion Festival
21 Sep14 from 11am -4:00pm.

The Lindsay Gallery, Lindsay, Ont.
LindsayGallery
18 Nov - 19 Dec 14 Members' Christmas Show and Sale

Please come out and enjoy the artwork displayed at these shows.

The Herd I

Today we had been planning to going to the C.N.E. in Toronto to watch the airshow but with the temperature going up to 78F (25.5C) and feeling like 93F (34C) with the humidity we decided to stay home.

Ron took me out for breakfast and on our way there we went past the airfield for model airplanes on 11th Line. Four people were there and they were flying their planes; we stopped to watch and enjoyed the airshow without having to fight traffic, heat or crowds.













Once we returned home it was a surprise to see the horses grazing peacefully on the infield of the track. I went and caught them while Ron opened the paddock gate and closed the gate to the field. Needless to say we spent the rest of the day fixing the fence where a tree had fallen in one of the storm crashed down and had broken a section of the fence.

After super I did this little 5" x 9" pen and ink drawing of a herd of horses. It will be available matted and shrink wrapped for $30.00.