Backgrounds 19 and 20 - Two Works in Progress

These two canvases are the result of using the leftover acrylic paint from yesterday's painting as a background for other paintings.














The first was from using cadmium yellow, cadmium lemon and cadmium red.

The second was by using Titanium white, raw sienna, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson.














I will post each of these canvases as more work on them has been completed.

A Winter Sunset

It is a cold day -14F (-25.6C) but at least there is very little wind and the sun is shining which makes it much easier to go outside and do some work before the cold drives to back inside to get warm again.

I wanted to finish this final painting for the Small Treasures Show, which I had started last month (see post on 30 January 2015). As with the other two, each painting will be available for $30.00 and draw tickets will be available at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio from 18-29 March 2015.

The first thing was to finish the large maple tree, gradually adding the various branches and some texture to the bark on the trunk.

With a soft grey mixture I painted in the two dead trees that are just on the other side of the road. They are battered and have lost many of their branches but they continue to stand against the wind.














Next were a few more of the pine trees that were planted along the fence line almost 25 years ago.

Some of them have lost their tops and others are starting to bend slightly from the winds, but they continue to thrive against the elements.

Lastly the grasses and growies were painted in at the base of the trees and in the foreground.

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

Autumn Reflections I

It is getting warmer with the temperature at -11F (-23.9C) and thankfully no wind to make it feel even colder, but the sun is shining which makes it easier to take.

I wanted to work on the three canvases and get them finished for the Small Treasures Show at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio next month.

This one needed about an hour of work to complete (see posts on 30 December 2014 and 28 January 2015) so I worked on it first and if I have time I will work on the others.

I started by giving more definition to the major mass of red and orange leaves and continued by adding a little burnt sienna to the colours and putting the dulled colour into the shadowed areas.

Next I scattered some of the green leaves throughout the painting and added some of the bright green to the grasses to tie the greens together.

More details were added to the rocks and a few darks were put into the reflections in the water.

Here and there a few single leaves were added to give the impression that leaves were still falling off the trees.

I may do a few more paintings of trees in autumn at a later date.

Thank you to new collector Mr. John Taylor on his selection of Fallen Birches (see post on 09 September 2012).

Flag Race - A Work in Progress

It is another cold day but at least a little warmer than yesterday at -2F (-18.9C) and the wind chill making it feel like -21F (-29C); but spring will eventually arrive next month.

This is a sketch of the flag race which is one of the many timed evens in western horse shows.














I sketched in a couple of positions for the phase of the stride I would like on the horse.

I may have to do more than one outline drawing until I am satisfied with the position of the legs.

I will post this sketch at a later date once the outline drawing is completed.

Background 16 - A Work in Progress

Looking at extreme cold warnings in the forecast today with the temperatures at -10F (-23.3C) and feeling like -26F (-32C).

I now have over two hundred snow buntings to feed every day, it is wonderful to watch them in flight and they are becoming used to me and wait patiently for me to put out the mixed grain on the snow for them before they come flocking in to eat.

I have quite a variety of other birds coming to the feeders including cardinals, pine siskins, two different kinds of nuthatches, mourning doves, downy and hairy woodpeckers, juncos, gold finches, red polls, song, fox and house sparrows to name some of the varieties.















As usual in yesterday's class I used the leftover paint to put on a canvas as a background for future use.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have decided what I would like to paint on this canvas.

Spring Thaw I - A Work in Progress

Today I was at the Kawartha Artists; Gallery and Studio for the second half of the Lucy Manley class for the month of February.

The first thing was to paint in the sky to using various mixtures of mainly Titanium white, with a touch of lemon yellow and another of the same mix with cadmium yellow added.

The lighter mixture was put into the top of the sky while the darker one was put into the lower areas of the sky.















Next using Titanium white with French ultramarine blue and a touch of raw sienna area of frost touched branches were put into the background trees.

Various shades of green were mixed using French ultramarine blue, raw sienna, lemon yellow and Cadmium yellow and applied to the cedar trees.














Once the cedar trees were completed a mix of Titanium white, French ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson and applied to give a little more detail to the frost covered brush in front of the background cedars which completed the left side of the background.

I will post this painting at a later date once I complete the background on the right side of the painting.














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

ACEO - Cloudy Sky 5

It is fairly mild today and the weatherman is calling for light snow to fall on and off throughout the day. What better way to spend the afternoon than to paint a snow scene?

I picked this piece that I had started a few of years ago (see post on 10 November 2013) and began with brushing in the sky using a mixture of Antwerp blue and leaving some white areas for the clouds.

Next I added a small amount of burnt sienna to the blue to grey it and put in the shadows on the underside of the clouds and then set it aside to dry, while I made myself a cup of tea.















When I returned I put in the shadows on the snow drifts with a mix of French ultramarine blue and Antwerp blue.

I mixed various greys and browns using the blues and burnt sienna and working my way from the distant hills through to the closest ones I put in the trees, gradually adding more details to the closer ones.

Lastly I added a few dead grasses and growies into the snow around the bottom of the trees.














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.

Invitation for Douro-Dummer Art Show

It is a bitterly cold day -20F (-29C) and the wild chill making it feel like -47F (-44C). It is a good day to stay inside, but I have chores to do and many animals who depend on me to provide feed for them so they will be able to survive the winter.















I have a show opening tonight from 7-8pm. and here is the invitation for this art exhibition at the Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery.

The show runs from 17 February - 15 March 2015. Hopefully you will find the time to come out and enjoy the artwork.

Gathering Storm I - A Work in Progress

Temperature has plummeted once again to -13F (-25C) and with the wind making it feel like a very cold -30F (-34.4C).

I now have three flocks of snow buntings staying all day for the bird seed that I throw out every morning. It shows just how hard this winter is on all the birds and wildlife that have to fend for themselves.

Today I sat at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio for the new still life show called Motion in Stillness. The opening for this show is on Saturday from 1-4pm. You are welcome to come out and enjoy the show and meet many of the artists.



















While at the Gallery I worked on this painting that I had started last month with the Lakefield Creative Arts Guild (see post on 12 January 2015).

First I lightly sketched in the trees on the horizon line the rocks of the shoreline and a couple of pine trees.

Next I painted in the water with raw sienna first and then added various mixtures of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna with a small amount of alizarin crimson.

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

Still Life Show at KAGS

The last seven days have been extremely busy for me with setting up a display at the Peterborough Theatre Guild (see post on 11 February 2015) then doing take in for the Still Life Show at the Kawartha Artists’ Gallery and Studio in the morning before going to set up the exhibition at the Township of Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery (see post on 16 February 2015) and finally seeing the Still Life show hung and ready for the public at KAGS.











The Still Life show at KAGS is one of the best shows to be hung at the Gallery in recent times.












I hope you will make the time to come out to enjoy this exhibit before it closes on 15 March 2015.

Barn Swallows - A Work in Progress

This is a sketch I had started last summer (see posts on 24 August 2014 and 23 January 2015).

I wanted to do a little more work on this sketch and I started by tightening up the outline shape of both birds sitting on the light post.















I will post this drawing again once I have completed the outline sketch.

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

Exhibition at the Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery

Today was a very busy day starting off with going into the Kawartha Artists' Gallery in the morning since I am one of the co conveners and to do the take in for the 'Motion in Stillness' show until noon.















Next I headed out to Douro-Dummer township to join the Countryside Art Group to set up the exhibition at the Library Gallery.












It is the first time I have set up a show at this library and it has a lovely display area. They are planning on improving the lighting and eventually enlarging the size of the library and wish to also have more exhibition space for the artists.













They have a small area in the front entrance with a space for about 5-10 paintings depending on their size.













In the library there are two long walls which can hold a number of paintings on each side of the main room.















On the top of three sets of the book shelves there are a number of spaces to hold a variety of paintings in various sizes.














The opening reception will be held on Friday, 20 February 2015 from 7-8pm. and I look forward to seeing some of you there.

Open Air Market - A Work in Progress

It is an extremely cold day today with the temperature sitting at -18F (-27.8C) and the wind chill making it feel like a biting -40F (-40C).

Heading down to the barn to do chores was not a a lot of fun, but the horses and cats were happy to see me, as were all the wild birds that come to my feeders and the flock of snow buntings that do not stray far from the house and enjoy an easy food supply.














After having breakfast and relaxing with a hot cup of tea it was time to get my things together and start working on a drawing of an open air market with crowds of Saturday morning bargain hunters wandering through the stalls.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have the sketch completed and start to apply paint.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

ACEO - Beached 1

It is a cold day today with the temperatures dropping 2F (1.7C) per hour last night until it bottomed out at -20F (-30C) this morning and the wind chill making it feel like -39F (-39.4C).

My flock of snow buntings are staying close to their food supply and are becoming a lot less shy of me when I fill the feeders and put the feed out on the ground in the morning for them.

I thought that doing a painting of a nice, warm place like in the Caribbean would take away some of the chill of what I see and feel when I go outside.

I selected this drawing that I did a few years ago (see post on 14 November 2013) and started by putting in an evening sky using a mixture raw sienna and new gamboge at the horizon line and working upward I added a little alizarin crimson.

Making a grey of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I put in the lower layer of clouds in the sky while the paint was still damp. Then, I added more blue and a little alizarin crimson to the grey mix and put in the clouds at the top of the sky.














Next I put the sand on the beach using raw sienna, before adding various colours from the sky throughout the water being careful to leave an area of white between the beach and the water.

Using various combinations of the cloud colours darkened with burnt sienna I put in the distant land masses on the horizon and the dark areas of the waves.

Using the sky colour I added it to the foreground rocks on the edges closest to the evening sky.

This was followed by using the dark wave colour and adding more pigment to put in the shadows and to indicate the cracks and crevices in the rock face.

I continued using both rock colours into the water to create the foam in the water at the edge of the beach.

Now it was time to start work on the boat. Using alizarin crimson I painted in the gunnels first to define to the boat.















With a dark of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and a small amount of alizarin crimson I put in the shadowed areas beneath the seats, being careful to leave the boards of the seats white.

Next I gradually added water to lighten the shadow colour as I worked from the darkest shadows on the boat the lightest.

Once the paint dried I added a small amount of the sky colour onto the bow of the boat.

Mixing a green of the blue and the sand colour, I scattered some seaweed across the sand that had been washed ashore by the waves.

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. Fabriano 100% cotton, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.

Rusty Stuff 1 - A Work in Progress

Today for the still life class at KAGS I brought in a number of rusty bits and pieces that have been in the barn since before we bought the place almost 40 years ago.













I chose to do one of the smaller pieces from the collection that was on one of the window sills by the stairs going up into the loft.

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

Peterborough Theatre Guild Display

It is another cold and windy day with the temperature at 6F (-14.4C) and the wind making it feel like 1F (-17C)











One of the nice things is that my flock of snow buntings came back again to help themselves to the mixed grain feed I leave on the ground on the south side of the house.










This afternoon I hung some of my paintings at the Peterborough Theatre Guild. They will be on display until 31 March 2015.

Background 15 - A Work in Progress

As usual in acrylic workshops I use the left over acrylic paint at the end of a class as a background on a canvas for future use. This one is from the Lucy Manley class held at KAGS (see post on 09 February 2015).















I will post the piece at a later date once I have decided what I will paint.

Early Spring Sunset - A Work in Progress

Today is the first day of the Lucy Manley workshop at KAGS for the month of February. It had to be postponed for a week due to a snow storm that caused most of the schools in the area to be closed and many of the people in the class have to travel long distances to get to the Gallery.

This painting was started with an under paint of raw sienna to have a layer of warm colour as a base.

Next using pure cadmium red the darkest colours were indicated and the basic outline of the main trees were indicated.














Cadmium yellow was added to the cadmium red for an orange to indicate the trees in the background.

Then the sky was brushed in using pure cadmium yellow as the base colour for a sunset.

A dark was mixed using French ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson this was colour was used to indicate the darkest areas in the trees, the reflections and the foreground.















A little white was added to the cadmium red and yellow mix and the high lit tops of the background trees were indicated.

A dark green of French ultramarine blue and raw sienna was used for the middle tone of the cedar trees; a little cadmium yellow was added to the mixture and the sunlit sides of the cedars were painted.

To the orange mix of cadmium red and yellow a small amount of French ultramarine blue was added and vertical lines were put in to indicate the trunks of the distant trees.















Next Titanium white with a small amount of cadmium yellow added was used to paint the sunlit areas of the snow.

The darkest snow shadows were painted in with a mixture of Titanium white and French ultramarine blue and a touch of alizarin crimson was added to some of the areas to warm the shadows.

Cerulean blue was added to the shadow colour and was painted into a few areas in the foreground.














Adding a little more alizarin crimson to the warm snow mixture the ice was painted into the pond leaving a few areas of open water with the reflections showing through.

A little of the ice colour was put into some of the tops of the background trees to indicate frost.

More of the foreground snow was painted in leaving a few areas untouched as though the sun during the day had melted the snow leaving the water covered ground bare.














I will post this painting later this month after more work on it has been completed.

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

Bath Time - A Work in Progress

The temperature has dropped significantly from yesterday to 2F (-16.7C) and with the strong wind out of the east making it feel like -18F (-27C).

This is a painting I had started last year (see posts on 11 and 16 July and 28 December 2014 and 21 January 2015) and wanted to do some more work on the painting.

The towel was painted using various mixtures of Cobalt blue and French ultramarine blue.












Next I wanted to do more work on the duck and started by putting the shadows and giving shape to the toy with mixes of raw sienna and burnt sienna.

Once the paint had dried I applied a wash of new gamboge over the entire duck body and head.

I will post this painting again once I have completed the duck.

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

Can. Ch. Shanbro's Charisma

It is another snowy day but is a lot milder 23F (-5C).

The bad news came this morning when my daughter called to let us know her dog Sully (Can. Ch. Shanbro's Charisma) would have to be put down today due to health reasons.

We all knew it was just a matter of time; but at age 12 even though his strong and fun loving spirit wanted to stay with us, unfortunately his body was no longer willing.














Sully is now resting peacefully beside She-Ra (see post on 04 August 2014) under the elm tree at the back of the barn with all the other family pets in this sheltered place.

He is another of the noble and loving souls whose time among us is far too short. He will be sorely missed.

The Walk and Trot - Three Works in Progress

I wanted to do a couple sketches of horses moving and since I was watching Black Beauty on television I thought it would work out fairly well.














The Walk

I started with the horse walking and when the program changed to horses trotting I started work on another sketch and gradually ended up working back and forth between three drawings.














The Trot II

There were many more scenes in the movie with horses walking and trotting through the streets and countryside, with only a few sections of the horses cantering or galloping which is why I stayed with just the three sketches.














The Trot I

I also worked a little larger with these sketches than I normally do with most of the sketches I do from life.

At a later date I will post each of these sketches once they have been completed as outline drawings.

Enamelware - A Work in Progress

For the still life class at KAGS today our theme was Enamelware. There were a number of items to work from including a caldron, two bowls, two plates, an earthenware jug, two ceramic mugs and a tea pot.

I chose to do the tea pot with the two mugs and one of the plates.














I will post the painting at a later date once I finish the drawing and put in the background.

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 February.

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

Pine 2 - A Work in Progress

It is another cold day -3F (-19.4C) with the wind chill making it feel like -9F (-22.8C), but then that is to be expected in February.

I felt like doodling with a brush and when I pulled out my palette I had a dark mixture of colour on my palette and after adding a little water I used this paint by running down a line of paint for a tree trunk.

Next I added some needles onto the trunk to turn it into a pine tree. It still needs some dead branches and a little more shading.

Rocks were added below the tree to ground it and a few ripples into the water.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have decided what colour to use for the background to indicate the time of day.

Steps for Abstraction - Three Works in Progress

It is -6F (-21C) and with the wind chill it feels like -25F (-31.7C) we already have 4" (10.2cm) of snow on the ground and it is still snowing.

With all the schools in the area closed and many of the people coming into the class with Lucy Manley at KAGS are from outlying areas it was decided that the class was cancelled.

So today I decided I would work on an exercise in how to change a realistic drawing into a semi abstract and then into an abstract.

The first step is to make a realistic drawing of the subject matter preferably on a slightly tinted paper which can be used as the mid tone colour and add the lights using white and the darks using black.








The drawing was to be completed in 20 minutes. Since my drawing was the basis for a painting I would like to do entitled North American Built I ran out of time before I could add the lights and darks.










For the next step 15 minutes was given to do the same drawing with less details and more emphasis on the light and the dark shapes.

While the shapes still are recognizable as cars and trucks the type of vehicle they are is not well defined.










For the third stage only 10 minutes was allowed to put in the black and white shapes; while still recognizable as automobiles, the makes and models can no longer be discerned.

I have left the three different ones stacked one on top of the other so the differences can more clearly be seen.

It is an interesting exercise and I will post each of the North American Built paintings as the drawings are tightened up and I decide in which media I would like to use as each one is completed.

Confirmed Shows for 2015 - February

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.

Peterborough Theatre Guild, 364 Rogers St., Peterborough, Ont.
Theatre
11 Feb 15 - 07 Mar 15

Township of Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery, Warsaw, Ont.
17 Feb - 31 Mar 15 Countryside Art Group
Opening Reception 20 Feb 15 from 7-8pm.
08 Sep - 24 Oct 15 Three Good Friends
Opening Reception 11 Sep 15 from 7-8pm.

Kawartha Artists’ Gallery, Peterborough, Ont.
KAGS
18 Feb - 15 Mar 15 Motion in Stillness
Opening Reception 21 Feb 15 from 1-4pm.
18-29 Mar 15 Small Treasures
Opening Reception 21 Mar 15 from 1-4pm.
Closing Reception 28 Mar 15 from 1-4pm.
08-30 Apr 15 Emerging
Opening Reception 11 Apr 15 from 1-4pm.
10 Jun - 05 Jul 15 Warm and Cool
Opening Reception 13 Jun 15 from 1-4pm.
26 Aug - 27 Sep 15 Faces and Figures
Opening Reception 29 Aug 15 from 1-4pm.
11-29 Nov 15 Outdoor Painters' Show - Elements of Nature
Opening Reception 14 Nov 15 from 1-4pm.
02-20 Dec 15 and 06-17 Jan 16 Winter Show
Opening Reception 05 Dec 15 from 1-4pm..

The Evinrude Centre, 911 Monaghan Road, Peterborough Ont.
02-04 Apr 15 The 15th Annual Peterborough Garden Show

Kawartha Arts Network - Art on Kent, Lindsay, Ont.
KAN
09 Apr - 02 May 15 Local Floral
Opening Reception 11 Apr 15 from 1-3pm.
02 Jul - 01 Aug 15 Annual All Members' Show
Opening Reception 04 Jul 15 from 1-3pm.
03-31 Dec 15 and 07 Jan-16 Jan 16 Affordableism
Opening Reception 05 Dec 15 from 1-3pm.

Norwood Skillet, 4247 Highway 7, Norwood Ont.
25 Mar - 27 May 15

MacKelvie Gallery, Keene, Ont.
PioneerVillage
28 May - 25 Jun Lang Pioneer Village Museum, Keene, Ont.

The Lindsay Gallery, Lindsay, Ont.
LindsayGallery
24 Jun 15 - 25 Jul 15 Motion in Stillness
Reception 25 Jul 15 from 2-4pm.
02 Dec 15 - 30 Jan 16 Annual Members' Show and Sale

Fenelon Falls Fair Grounds, Fenelon Falls, Ont.
Kawartha Arts Festival
05-06 Sep 15 Kawartha Arts Festival

Millennium Park, Peterborough, Ont.
Purple Onion Festival
20 Sep15 from 11am-4:00pm.

Dancing Blueberries, 360 George St. N., Peterborough, Ont.
02-28 Oct 15

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