Selwyn Beach - A Work in Progress

The temperature certainly has dropped from yesterday's hot and humid temperatures. In fact the high for today was 40F (4.4C) with a strong wind and rain for most of the day,

When there was a break in the rain I decided to take a quick trip over to Selwyn Beach and see if I could get a couple more quick sketches of the trail leading from the parking lot to the beach.

I managed to do this sketch and before I could start on another one the rain came pouring down and after getting soaked I decided to be happy with just the one sketch.

Fortunately the beach isn't very far away and I will just have to pick another day to go back to do more sketching. It would probably be best to go early in the morning before all the picnickers arrive.

One nice thing was that the sun did come out for s short time before it set bringing with it a completed double rainbow which makes up for the fact that the furnace came on during the night.

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

Countryside Art Group Blog - Show Updates

On the first of each month I will update the Countryside Art Group's blog with a listing of shows where the various artists in the Group are exhibiting their work.

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

Swimming Pools and Seadragons

Another hot and humid day with the temperatures reaching 81F (27.2C) and with the humidity making it feel like 85F (29.4C), but there is a storm in the air and I know with tomorrow being even warmer with higher humidity we should have thunderstorms, which I always enjoy watching.














We had gotten a swimming pool for my dog, Kyora earlier this month and she was quite happy to take a nice long refreshing dip in her very own pool. An added benefit of this is at least it keeps her out of the horse trough in the barn yard.














Since we are on the subject of animals in water I thought I would share this live camera feed of Weedy Sea Dragons that I came across at the Aquariums of the Pacific website.  The Aquarium is located at 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach, CA 90802, USA; this is another of the many places I would like to visit.

The live cam feed is courtesy of the Explore website, I thought you may enjoy watching them and check out some of the other cam feeds and films on their site.

Art Show at the MacKelvie Gallery.

Today it is bright and sunny day with the temperature at 75F (23.9C) and a pleasant breeze which will help keep the mosquitoes away unlike yesterday with the same temperature but the lack of a breeze and the high humidity making it feel like 87F (30.7C). But I am not going to complain at all after the long and very cold winter we have just experienced.

For me it is going to be a very busy day.

My friends and fellow artists Cindy Allan and Norma MacEachern are taking my paintings to Lang Pioneer Village Museum in Keene, Ontario to hang in their MacKelvie Gallery.

The exhibit there by the KAGS Outdoor Painters' Group will run from the 28 May - 25 June.

Meanwhile I will head to Toronto to be with my daughter, Christine where she will undergo surgery at Princess Margaret Hospital.

Norma's Peppers - A Work in Progress

I sort of miss the goslings but I know they will be well looked after at Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge and integrated into another family of Canada Geese out in Pefferlaw, Ontario.

Today I worked on another still life painting for the upcoming show at The Lindsay Gallery later this month.

The background was painting in using a mixture of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson.

Once the background was dry it was time to work on the peppers.

The stems were put in first using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue and raw sienna.

The red pepper was painted using different combinations of raw sienna, alizarin crimson, cadmium red and cadmium yellow. There are at least eight to nine layers of colour on the pepper to build the depth of colour.

For the yellow pepper I brushed in a base of new gamboge, aureolin, cadmium yellow and burnt sienna.

I set it aside to dry and I will post this painting at a later date once it is completed.

Goslings

Last night we had a fair amount of excitement with Kyora having found a family of Canada geese at the top of the front field and chasing the parents away while scooping up a gosling in her mouth. She decided not to come when called and that it was great fun to have Ron chase after her until he finally caught her and took it out of her mouth. Needless to say she was scolded and sent to her bed for the night.

At first Ron didn't think the gosling would survive since it lay on the grass panting, but after I looked at it and found no puncture marks and the back wasn't broken I wrapped it in a piece of flannel and we went to look for the parents, which we could hear calling for their baby.

They were across the road in a farmer's field but as soon as I entered the field they flew off. We went along the road to where one of the pairs of Canada geese had nested hoping to find them, but they were nowhere to be found, so we decided to take the little one that was starting to perk up and calling softly for its parents back home.











Before we arrived home we saw walking across the road at the bottom of the hill another gosling. So I got out of the vehicle and picked it up so it wouldn't get hit by a car and set it on the seat with its sibling. Getting almost to the top of the hill what should run out in front of us, but two more goslings which I caught and it was a good thing too as I was putting the fourth one into the car another vehicle came speeding over the hill in the opposite direction and would probably have run them over.

Now we had four goslings to look after for the night, so we put them in a large cardboard box lined with a bath towel, filled a dish with water and put some chopped grass and bread into the water for them and left them on the porch for the night.

In the morning they were all doing well and had eaten some of the food and almost all of the water was gone and even the smallest one seemed much better after its experience of being carried around in the dog's mouth. So I put them out into the child's pool that we have for the dog and added more grass and bits of bread.











We called the Peterborough Humane Society to see who would take in the goslings if we couldn't get them adopted by a pair of Canada geese that had goslings of about the same age and they gave us the phone number for Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge in Pefferlaw, Ontario.

After going through the Snelgrove Brook, over to Chemong Lake and then to the Peterborough Riverview Park and Zoo where you can almost always find geese (in fact they even have signs posted "DO NOT FEED THE GEESE") we managed to find one lone Canada goose, but no pairs or goslings.

So we made the trip to Shades of Hope and they felt that in another week or so that there would be many more families of geese and that they could successfully be adopted by another family.

Morning Shadows I - A Works in Progress

It is a nice warm 78F (28.5C) sunny day with a wonderful breeze; great weather to be out working in the gardening, unfortunately I will be at the Executive meeting at the KAGS this afternoon.

I was not going to let that stop me from doing some drawing and in the fields behind the barns with the early morning sun the trees cast long beautiful shadow causing beautiful dancing patterns on the waving grasses.














I took a number of photographs to capture the beautiful colours and the stunning contrasts.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have transferred the sketch to paper and started adding colour.

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

Bath Time - A Work in Progress

I wanted to do a little more work on this painting that I have been working on for  a while (see posts on 11 and 16 July and 28 December 2014, 21 January and 08 February 2015) and hopefully have it completed in time to take to the Motion in Stillness show at the The Lindsay Gallery next month.

After painting the bill with mixes of cadmium red, alizarin crimson and cadmium yellow I finally completed the rubber ducky.













Next I worked on the bottle of bath oil. The yellow from the duck had already been put in and I added the blue from the towel once it had dried I washed over the bottle with raw sienna.

The label on the bottle was put in with a pale wash of alizarin crimson.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have painted the bars of soap.

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

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada

Today started off fairly cool this morning at 27F (-2.8C) and a layer of frost on the grass, but at least the sun is shining and it supposed to get warmer as the day progresses.

After the chores were completed we headed out to Toronto to go to Ripley's Aquarium of Canada, which is a place I have wanted to visit since it first opened to the public in October 2013.

With the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team playing today it took a while to find a parking spot as most of the closer parking lots were already filled. We were fortunate and finally found a parking lot south of the Aquarium that had a few spaces available.

While Ron got the tickets to enter Ripley's I enjoyed looking at the various kinds of goldfish they had in tanks at the waiting area.

Once inside we took our time to enjoy the nine different galleries into which the Aquarium is divided. One gallery flows into the next. They include:
Canadian Waters,
Rainbow Reef,
Dangerous Lagoon,
Discovery Centre,
The Gallery,
Planet Jellies,
Ray Bay,
Life Support Systems and the Shoreline Gallery.

Seahorses

In the Canadian Waters Gallery there is amazing range of fresh and salt water displays featuring Atlantic lobster in a wide range of colours, Pacific octopus, a vast array of game fish, a large, shimmering silver, school of alewife and an impressive display of a Pacific kelp reef.

This towering display tank has a ramp which starts at the main level and wraps itself around the tank allowing you to view the inhabitants from the top all the way to the base of the tank. Needless to say this was one of the displays where I walked back up the ramp to enjoy the wide variety of fish before returning to the bottom where Ron was patiently waiting for my return.

From there we entered the Rainbow Reef Gallery which is a stunning display of the colourful reef fish of the Indo-Pacific region. To dive in the reefs surrounding the Fiji Islands and visit Micronesia and dive the many WWII wreck in Truk Lagoon is on my wish list and after seeing the multitude of fish in this display makes me want to go sooner.

We had just missed the every other hour interactive dive show, which leaves something to look forward to enjoying on my next visit.

From there we entered the vast Dangerous Lagoon exhibit.

It starts out as a large tank and changes into a tunnel where you are surrounded by the underwater world and as you look up you can see a variety of sharks, reef fish and green sea turtles swimming overhead.

Seahorses I

This display features a moving sidewalk running alongside the main display area where you can watch the ever changing reef, or you can step off the sidewalk and stroll along beside it and observe the sharks and other sea life on the opposite side of the tunnel stopping whenever you please to enjoy the fish.

This was another display that I had to go through a couple of times. I took the sidewalk to the end which leads to the Discovery Centre where Ron decided to wait for me as he watched the people in the pop-up research submarine replica located within the waters of the Dangerous Lagoon.

When I joined him there after walking back to the beginning of the Lagoon and taking the sidewalk back again, he decided he would find a table at the far side of the Discovery Centre and pick up lunch for us while I went back through Dangerous Lagoon for the third time.

On my return I strolled through the Discovery Centre which is a wonderful place for children to view fish up close in the viewing bubbles as well as having the opportunity to touch horseshoe crabs; which are living fossils, unchanged since prehistoric times.











Seahorses II

After lunch we continued on our way through the Aquarium to The Gallery which is home to many of my favourite fish species from around the world and also houses an impressive display of propagated corals (grown in an off-site facility) showing the wide variety of types and colours in one amazing location.

Ron and I enjoyed watching the deadly beauty of red lionfish as they slowly glided about their tank. Their bold coloration of black, brown, or red and white stripes and showy pectoral fins, serve as a warning to potential predators that they have defenses such as being poisonous which is backed up by their venomous spiky fin rays.

We moved on to the tanks filled with my favourite family of marine fish Syngnathidae which includes seahorses, pipefish, leafy and weedy sea dragons. Ron at first didn't believe that the weedy sea dragons were real, since they look just like floating seaweed in the tank, but once he saw their eyes moving he was amazed at how well they were camouflaged.

The next Gallery is called Planet Jellies, which is an enthralling room filled with back lit and colour changing display tanks featuring five different species of jellyfish. Even the ceiling has a delightful display of aptly called translucent moon jellyfish.

Ray Bay is made up of two Galleries in one; the lower level features three species of stingrays and like the Rainbow Reef Gallery features daily interactive dive shows.

The upper level called the Shoreline Gallery, which has a small beach area and offers a two hour package called the Stingray Experience where you can have a closer, hands-on experience with the stingrays.

I have always considered rays to be the butterflies of the underwater world and have had many experiences with them as they gracefully glide through the water past us while diving and snorkeling in the Caribbean. We snorkeled with nurse sharks and rays when we visited Marinarium Park, in Cabeza de Toro, Dominican Republic and while in the Bahamas we spent an afternoon on Nassau Balmoral Island and had unlimited time in the sting ray pool feeding and swimming with the rays.

The last Gallery is probably the most important one to the well-being of the many wonderful animals at the Aquarium and is called Life Support Systems Gallery. It gives a behind the scenes look some of the massive life support and filtration equipment needed to maintain the water quality and conditions for the survival of the marine life. What you see there is only the equipment for the Dangerous Reef and Ray Bay and there is much more not being shown that is required to maintain the other Galleries.

I enjoyed my visit to the Aquarium and will return again in the not too distant future.

Trent University, Canadian Studies Department, Art and Culture Tour

Today we set up the display at the Peterborough Public Library for the Trent University, Canadian Studies Department, Art and Culture Tour.

The Kawartha Artists Gallery and Studio had forty four works of art by twenty two of their members on display in the Auditorium of the Library.

It was a beautifully set up display, which was well worth seeing.

Unfortunately, of the 200 delegates who were to attend the tour less than ten were able to leave from the original start point to go the two blocks to our location.

And as far as I am concerned it is their loss and they should be ashamed of themselves for not taking the tour which was set up for their benefit.

The artists who were at the exhibition had an enjoyable time and were pleased that a number of the general public came out to enjoy the display.

I worked on a number of pieces at the show and I will post them at a later date.

ACEO - Shapes 4

I thought I would like to work on an abstract painting today.

First, I used a pencil and marked in the various shapes.

Next, I used alizarin crimson and painted in the thin line on the left side.

This was followed by using Antwerp blue in the corner of the right side.

I mixed the two colours together and painted in the bottom space on the right side.

From there I painted the small space at the centre top with cadmium yellow.

Cadmium red was used for the line across the bottom starting from the left side.

Lastly, I mixed the yellow and the blue and painted the remaining shape green.

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.

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

Deer in the Shadows I - A Work in Progress

Nothing like starting a spring morning off with 32F (0C) temperatures and the wind chill making it feel like 23F (-5C) but, the sun is shining and that is a bonus.

It was bound to get a little warmer as the day progressed and I decided to go for a walk through the fields behind the barn.

As I was walking up the slight hill by the north fence line just before the coming to the opening in the fence leading into the middle field a doe came out from behind the trees and stopped in the opening looking around before moving out into the opening.















I quickly pulled the camera out and did manage to get a slightly blurred photograph of the deer just before she turned and bounded away across the middle field and out of sight.

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

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

Backgrounds 34-38 - Five Works in Progress

Today is another unseasonably hot day with the temperature climbing to 80F (26.7C) and with the humidity feeling more like 94F (34.4C), but I am not going to complain about it one little bit as I know the temperature is going to drop back down again.

These backgrounds are from the leftover paint from the class with Melanie Melanie Browne I took over the weekend.














Background 34

For the first panel I used most of the Titanium white, some of the black and a little bit of the Grumbacher red.














Background 35

On this one I used a lot of the remaining Grumbacher red, all of the Hansa yellow and a small amount of the Titanium white.














Background 36

On this one I used about half of the remaining black, all of the brown mixture and a little bit of the Grumbacher red.














Background 37

For this one I used the most of the remaining black and all of the remaining Grumbacher red.















Background 38

For the last panel I used all the remaining black paint, the last bits of the Titanium white and the small amount of the French ultramarine blue.

I will post each of these pieces at a later date once I have decided what I will paint on them.

Imperial Chinese Horse I-V - Five Works in Progress

Today is the second day of a workshop in abstracts with Melanie Browne at KAGS. I thoroughly enjoyed the first day doing the sketch (see yesterday's post) for the image I was going to use for the series of small paintings.













Imperial Chinese Horse I

For the first canvas I drew the sculpture fairly realistic and have lines for the background to show movement and to ground the horse.














Imperial Chinese Horse II

For the second canvas I drew a more stylized horse, concentrating more on the negative space, which will be filled with colour.














Imperial Chinese Horse III

For the third canvas I used more of the geometric shapes found within the horse sculpture. It will be interesting to see what colours I finally decide to use for both the horse and the background.













Imperial Chinese Horse IV

On the fourth canvas I exploded the shapes of the horse using squares and rectangles and it will be on a pale coloured background for a strong contrast.













Imperial Chinese Horse V

On the first canvas which is similar to the fourth canvas in that the horse shapes are exploded but the background is also made of geometric shapes.

I used a limited palette of black, French ultramarine blue, Grumbacher Red (Naphthol red AS-D), Hansa yellow and Titanium white.

I started by mixing my background colours making the various mauves of blue and red with touches of white and black, then the greens of blue, yellow adding white and a tiny amount of black. These colours were used throughout the painting creating an interesting pattern.

In a few areas I used pure French ultramarine blue as well as mixing white and a small amount of black or red for variation.

Next I added a little more yellow into the green and a lot of white for a pale yellow green and painted in the mane and tail as well as a few areas to create movement throughout the painting.

I under painted the horse shapes with a mix of black and red for a warm colour, then to lighten I added yellow and a bit of blue and went over them leaving a few areas of the black mix to show.

It still needs a little more work before it is completed and I will post each of these paintings at a later date as more work on them is completed.

Imperial Chinese Horse

It is the Victoria Day weekend and it seems so strange not to be going to Buckhorn, Ontario for what would have been our 27th Annual Among Friends Art Show.

So I filled the first two days with a workshop in abstracts at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio with Melanie Browne.

Most of the morning was a discussion about what we wanted to learn from the class and about a number of different styles of abstracts.

There were a number of different sculptures that had been brought in and it was no surprise that I chose to abstract an Imperial Chinese war horse copied from the T'ang Dynasty.

The first step was to do the sketch of the image I was going to do and then transfer it to a canvas and do a realistic painting with an abstract background.

Unfortunately I had to leave early and was unable to do more than the sketch.

Tomorrow I will draw the five images for a series of the various stages of abstracting the horse.

This original 4-1/4" x 4-1/2” graphite pencil drawing when framed will be available for $40.00.

Gathering Storm I - A Work in Progress

Today I wanted to do a little painting and I pulled this piece out  that I had started earlier this year (see posts on 12 January  and 19 February 2015).

I painted in the distant shoreline with various shades of green created by mixing French ultramarine blue. burnt sienna, raw sienna and Antwerp blue.



















I will post this painting at a later date one I have painted the foreground shore and trees.

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

White Vase - A Work in Progress

This is a drawing I did earlier this year in a still life class at KAGS (see post on 12 March 2015).

I put a piece of masking tape across the top edge of the table and used liquid frisket to mask out the edges of the vase and the one Chinese lantern that was above the table line.

Using various mixtures of Antwerp blue, Cobalt blue, French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson, I painted in the background.

It was then set aside to dry completely before I removed the masking tape.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have painted in the table and removed the frisket from the vase.

Backgrounds 31-33 - Three Works in Progress

Yesterday I was painting an abstract in acrylic and rather than waste the leftover paint I used it for background on a couple of canvases.













Background 31

For the first one I used yellow ochre with a little alizarin crimson and Hansa yellow.














Background 32

The second one was of the various mixtures of greyed Cobalt blue with a little yellow ochre.














Background 33

The final was a combination of the greyed Cobalt blue, the orange made from Hansa yellow and alizarin crimson and the remaining yellow ochre.

I will post each of these backgrounds at a later date once I decide what I am going to paint on the canvases.

Laces - A Work in Progress

I transferred the sketch of the laces to the canvas (see post on 03 May 2015).

The next step was to decide on a colour and paint all the lines one colour to give them definition.

I had a part tube if yellow ochre and used that for the outline colour for all of the lines to give it a warm glow and in a few areas of the line work I painted in a little bit of Hansa yellow to brighten it.

Next I used a little of the Hansa yellow to paint in one of the open areas on the canvas.

Then I painted another small open area with Cobalt blue and set the painting aside to see if I was going to go with a warm palette for the background or a cool palette.

It was time for lunch and I needed a break to get away from it, relax and when I returned to look at the painting with fresh eyes before I made my decision.

When I returned and looked at the two areas it was easy to see that going with yellows and reds the colour would jump out at you, whereas the blues and greys would be much more relaxed and I could add a few reds and yellows into the blue areas to create interest without it being garish.

Using the Cobalt blue as a base I added an orange made with Hansa yellow and alizarin crimson to grey the colour and started painting in a few dark areas and at the same time covered over the area that had been painted yellow.

Next I added Titanium white to the greyed blue and put in areas of lighter colour.

I decided that I would leave the painting for the time being and set it where I can look at it and decide on how I would like to place my colours.

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

Jewellery Tree - A Work in Progress

Last month at KAGS in one of the Still Life classes our theme was Scarves, Jewellery and Trinket Boxes.

There was a very nice display set up and it could be viewed from any angle. It had many interesting sections to do individually or you could do the entire display.

I worked on two different sections of the display as individual paintings. This is the second one I started (see post on 02 May 2015 for the first one).

For this one I chose to do the large jewellery tree which had many interesting pairs of earrings, necklaces, chains and a bracelet.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have completed the drawing and started to painting the background.

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

ODYSSEO Cavalia

As a mothers' day gift my daughter gave me a pair of Rendez-Vous VIP tickets to go and see ODYSSEO Cavalia in Toronto last night.

It was an unbelievable experience starting with a buffet supper produced by the KEG, the wonderful performances by horses, riders and performers, followed by a tour of the stables.














I cannot thank Christine enough for her wonderful, unexpected and extremely thoughtful gift.

The performance I saw last night inspired me to produce this sketch which I will post at a later date once the line drawing is completed.

OSWOA - Two Family Home 1

While going through a box of small paintings I came across this piece that I had started last year (see posts on 06 and 17 May 2014).

A lot of things needed to be changed on the building so I started at the top and changed the angle on the front part of the roof adjusted the chimney and lowered the back roof to give more definition to the shape of the building.

I used various mixtures of French ultramarine blue, raw sienna and burnt sienna to match the greens in the background to make the changes to the silhouette of the building. Since I was using the green mixes I washed over the bright teal colour to the right side of the building.

For the front roof I used alizarin crimson and burnt sienna for the shingles and repeated those colours with the addition of raw sienna for the chimney.

For the back roof I used mixes of raw sienna, French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna and kept it as a tin roof.

On the far right side of the building I wasn't pleased with the window over the top of the door, it looked as though the building had a screaming face so I removed the window with water and made the door a little larger.













Next I added two more windows, one beside the door on the left side and another to the right of the door on the other section of the house.

Since I wanted the building to have that neglected look I used a greyed green of Antwerp blue and burnt sienna and brushed it through some areas of the white walls. While the paint was still wet I put in the shadows on the building with cobalt blue.

While that was drying I added a few fence posts to both sides of the house using burnt sienna and connected them together wire. At the same time I added some of the burnt sienna to the tree trunk and on some of the branches to take away the solidness of the dark shape.

Now that the building had dried I went in with a dark of burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue and gave a little definition to the door and window frames.

Lastly I went into the foreground grasses and weeds with various mixtures of raw sienna, burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue.

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 - Shapes 3

It seems as though we have totally by-passed spring and have jumped straight into summer with the temperature today reaching 82F (27.8C) with the humidity making it feel like 89F (31.7C). We were fortunate to have a strong breeze blowing to make it pleasant to be outside.

I thought that today I would work on another abstract painting.

Using a pencil, I marked out a couple of rectangles.

With alizarin crimson, I painted in the long rectangle on the right side.

I moved diagonally to the bottom and used Antwerp blue to paint in the rectangle.

Using a mixture of both colours, I painted in the horizontal bar at the top left side.

Lastly, I used cadmium yellow on the bottom horizontal bar to complete thee painting.

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.

Sunlit Builidings 1 and Moonlit Buildings 1 - Two Works in Progress

Another bright, sunny day with a nice breeze, which even though the temperature reached 78F (25.6C) it was nice to be outside.

Today is the last day of the Doug Mays workshop and it has been a very enjoyable and learning experience. I look forward to future workshops with him.














For the morning he did a demonstration of a number of sunlit buildings with the only thing being masked was the window on the first building.

Once the painting was completely dried he washed over the entire painting with indigo turning it into a moonlight scene and set it aside to dry.













I will complete the first painting and leave it as a sunlit scene and the second one I will wash over with indigo and turn it into a night scene.

I will post each of these paintings at a later date once they are completed.

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

Snowy Trail - A Work in Progress

Today was day two of Doug Mays' workshop.

This is of a winter forest trail with the background trees in muted shades of green greys and cast shadows in a variety of blue greys throughout the snowy landscape.

The sky was brushed in using Cobalt blue and as it dried the distant trees were painted in using raw sienna which mixed with the blue of the sky.














A little darker mixture of Cobalt blue and raw sienna was added to create a slightly closer layer of background trees.

The main tree trunks were put in using pure burnt sienna on the sunlit side, burnt sienna with a little French ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson was added to the grey mix for a dark on the shadowed side of the tree trunk.

Smaller background tree trunks were added using various shades of the greyed browns. I will post this painting at a later date once more work on the trees has been completed.

Century Barn - A Work in Progress

The weather remains bright, warm and sunny which is a pleasant change from the long cold winter we have experienced.

Today is the first day of a three day workshop with Doug Mays being held at Six Foot Bay in Buckhorn, Ontario.

The theme for the workshop is shades of grey and during the course we are going to create a wide range of greys with various paint colour mixes.

The first painting was of an old barn. The barn board was various mixtures of Prussian blue and alizarin crimson.

Instead of doing his barn, I chose to paint a couple of my barns, in this case the east and north barns. The west barn is behind the east barn and not visible.














The upper part of the paper was wet, leaving the barn and foreground untouched. The sky was a graduated wash of French ultramarine blue, and allowed to dry completely.

Next the foreground was washed with clear water and various mixtures of raw sienna and Quinacridone gold and once again it was set aside to dry.

Once the foreground was completely dry it was time to start with the barn board. To start a pale mix of Antwerp blue and alizarin crimson was put over the barns with a dry brush.

Gradually the pigments were darkened as more layers were added. There is still a lot more to do on the barn.

I will post this painting at a later date after the barn board is completed.

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 May.

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

Laces - A Work in Progress

An exercise we did last month in Abstract painting with Lorraine Staples was to use a shoe with laces and do four line drawings of a small part of the shoe to create an interesting outline.











Each one was different and although some of the line drawings did look as though they were a part of a shoe, others did not.












As each drawing was completed it was turned in every direction to decide which way looked the best.












By the time the last drawing was completed it was time to make a choice as to which one would be used to create an abstract painting.














For me that was a very difficult decision as I liked both the second and third sketch equally well.

After a lot of thought, I decided that I was going to use both of them and simply joined the two of them together with a couple of lines.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have transferred the sketch to a canvas.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.