Wine Glass I - A Work in Progress

Today I wanted to work in pastel for a change and I decided that I would do a still life of a wine glass.

With the sunlight coming in through the kitchen window and lighting up the glass on the table, I knew that I would have to work rather quickly to capture the image before the light changed.

Using only black and white pastel on a coloured background of Canson Mi-Tientes paper, it didn't take long to draw in the highlights and shadows.

I will post this drawing at a later date once I have made the glass stand upright and sober.

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.

Stoney Lake Boat Cruise and Sailboat Sketches 1-7

Last week we tried to get reservations for the three hour sunset dinner cruise for our anniversary, but unfortunately not enough people were booked to take the dinner and sightseeing cruise on the Kawartha Spirit with Stoney Lake Boat Cruises so it was cancelled.

Today was a different story altogether and I made sure that I was well prepared for taking plenty of photographs and had a spare 64GB SD card and plenty of batteries for my camera.

I also took along a note pad, a sketch book and a couple of pencils just in case there was a little time in between taking pictures and notes of the placces to do a few sketches.

Sailboat 1

Back in May, Cindy, Norma and I had been out sketching and taking photographs on Norma's family farm in Woodview and we stopped at the Viamede Resort located on the Mount Julian Viamede Road to see if it would be a good site for the Outdoor Painters' Group to have a paint out there for next year.

It was there, that I found the Stoney Lake Boat Cruises located at the Public Dock adjacent to the Resort.

Needless to say, I picked up a number of brochures to bring back to the Group for consideration as a paint out location for next year and that some of the Outdoor Painters may be interested in taking the boat cruise before then.

Sailboat 2

We arrived early and I took a number of photographs of the cruise boat which is named the "Kawartha Spirit". It is the largest Canadian Coast Guard approved vessel in the Kawarthas and has a passenger capacity of 200 people.

It wasn't long before we were allowed to board and were greeted by the smiling, welcoming crew.

We were shown our table for the evening meal and then went to explore the rest of the boat and find a place on the upper deck.

The view from the upper deck was wonderful and I wasted no time taking photographs.

Sailboat 3

At the front of the deck by the pilot house there was a ladder leading down to the bow of the boat, we had to go and explore that area as well before heading back up on the deck.

We were very fortunate in that it was a sunny, warm evening with a mild breeze blowing to keep away the humidity and we were to have a clear, almost cloudless night.

It seemed like only a few minutes had passed and the crew was casting off the lines and we were underway for the start of our three hour boat cruise.

Sailboat 4

Captain Randy Hinton introduced himself and provided a wealth of information about the history of the area, the many points of interest and was very helpful in answering all questions asked by the passengers throughout the entire cruise.

Stoney Lake consists of three interconnected lakes, having Upper Stoney Lake in the northeast, Stoney Lake in the centre and Clear Lake to the southwest.

Stoney Lake forms the eastern end of the Kawartha Lakes Region.

Stoney Lake is one of the deepest of  all the Kawartha Lakes with a maximum depth of 105' (32m).

Sailboat 5

The scenery was breath taking as we slowly cruised through some of the over 1,000 islands found in Stoney Lake and viewed many of the spectacular mansions, gorgeous waterfront homes and a large number of island cottages of every shape and size imaginable.

At the halfway point which was near St. Peter's on-the-Rock Anglican Church which is located on a small island and is ironically located in the narrows between the Devil's Elbow and the Hell's Gate Channels and is accessible only by boat.

Here we were called below deck to enjoy a buffet supper consisting of roast beef complete with all the fixings.

Sailboat 6

After the meal we returned to the upper deck and watched as the sun slowly set filling the lake with glowing colours.

Although we did not enter Upper Stoney Lake we did head far enough south to enter Clear Lake where we turned around before heading past the Burleigh Falls Lock 28 and heading up into Burleigh Bay.

There we were greeted by the rising of a full moon which reflected into the water before turning around and then slowly making our way back to the Public Dock in Stoney Lake.

Sailboat 7

We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and will definitely go on this one again next year.

I also hope to go on one of the Public Lunch Cruises on either a Tuesday or Thursday which departs at 11:00am as well as one of the Daily Cruises which depart at 2:00 pm.

In the Shade - A Work in Progress

Today I thought I would continue with this drawing that I had worked on earlier this year (see posts on 04 August 2013 and 28 March 2015).

I started by working on the mares and foals on the right side of the main tree.













Next I added the grass beneath the horses' hooves to ground them.

I decided to add a barn into the background and put it in behind my original horse.

I will post this drawing again once I have completed the rest of the horses.

Buckhorn Artists' Group Blog - Shades of Summer Art Show and Sale

If you go to the Buckhorn Artists' Group blog you can see the daily results about what happened during the Shades of Summer Art Show and Sale as well as some of the paintings that were exhibited in the show.

Upper Buckhorn Lake VI-X - Five Works in Progress

These are more sketches of Upper Buckhorn Lake that I did while walking along Highway 23 (formerly called Highway 507) and also called Buckhorn Road.

I started at the Post Office and took my time as I walked across the bridge stopping to make a sketch of the shoreline.

Then a sketch of one of the interesting trees that are on the islands that are just below the dam.

I slowly continued across the bridge and stopped to do a sketch of the small inlet.

Upper Buckhorn Lake VI

I will return another day to make sketches of some of the cottages that are right on the lake and can be seen from the Highway.

Coming off the bridge I turned onto Highway 36 and did another sketch from the shoreline of a couple of pine trees, rocks and distant shore.

My final sketch, before I turned around and headed back to my car was of a section of the shoreline which had a number of large pine trees and a view of the far shore.


Upper Buckhorn Lake VII

I will post these at a later date as they are developed into paintings.





















Upper Buckhorn Lake IX

















Upper Buckhorn Lake X












Upper Buckhorn Lake VIII

Snow Man 1 - A Work in Progress

This is a painting I have been working on for a while (see posts on 23 February 2013, 12 February and 18 August 2014).

I made a mixture of Antwerp blue and raw sienna and worked back into the scarf.

Adding a little more blue to the mix the shadow colour in the creases and folds of the scarf was applied. Then almost pure Antwerp blue was used for the fringe.

Cadmium red and new gamboge was used to paint in the carrot nose.

I thought the colour of the top hat was a little wishy washy so I mixed a rich black using French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson.

I repainted over the existing colour leaving some highlights on the sunlit edge of the hat.

Using the same colour I added the eyes, mouth and buttons onto the snowman.

Now was the time to add shadows onto the body of the Snowman to give him some shape.

I used various mixes of French ultramarine blue, cobalt blue and burnt sienna to add the shadows and the slightly darker shadows cast by the scarf.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have added the arms and a few growies into the foreground.

Upper Stoney Lake I and II -Two Works in Progress

It was a fairly busy day today with the take in for the Faces and Figures Show at KAGS this morning.

Afterward since it was a nice day with a breeze and we decided to go to Quarry Bay Beach to have a picnic and go swimming.











Upper Stoney Lake I

This is the only public beach on Stoney lake and it is located in Upper Stoney Lake off of Northey's Bay Road.

This is a beautiful small, sandy unsupervised (no lifeguard) beach with a roped off swim area. It has lovely tall pines slightly back from the beach which provide shade and a lovely picnic area.














Upper Stoney Lake II

After lunch I did a couple of sketches of one of the islands out in the lake close to the beach.

I will post each of these sketches once I have completed them with pen and ink.

Last Day of the Shades of Summer Art Show and Sale

Today I decided that since it is the last day of the show that I was going to play hooky from my sitting at the show and painting. Instead I would go canoeing on Big Cedar Lake and come back to the show in time for the tear down.

The hours for our show are:
23 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm

We hope some of you will be able to come out and visit our show.












Big Cedar Lake I

Big Cedar Lake is a land locked lake on the north west side of Highway 28 and approximately 2-1/2 miles (4km) from Burleigh Falls and there are a number of ways you can go to get to the lake.

If you want a full day out on a couple of lakes and don't mind portaging, launch in Coon Lake and go to the far end and portage about 1/2 mile (0.8km) into Big Cedar Lake. The trail is fairly well marked.














Big Cedar Lake II

You can do what we did this time and go past the launch at Coon Lake and follow the road until you can see the lake and there is a small launch site, but the parking is very limited.

The other option is to follow Highway 28 and turn onto Julian Road and go to the public boat launch where there is more parking available.















Big Cedar Lake III

There are several canoe routes that use Big Cedar Lake to the reach more northern land locked lakes or to go onto Eels Creek and to Stoney Lake.

The lake has an irregular shoreline with a number of bays which help to provide protected areas for canoeing and kayaking. The local cottagers are also courteous to small craft as well, which I must say is a very pleasant surprise.













Big Cedar Lake IV

The lake is known for its cleanliness and clarity. I said to Ron that it would probably be a wonderful lake for diving with an average depth of 19' (5.8m) and the maximum depth reaching 60' (18.3m).

Rock piles and close to the surface rocks are well marked and in many places the shallow areas are adjacent to deep drop offs and submerged logs can be found in most of the shallower bays.














Big Cedar Lake V

The lake has a large variety of fish including rock bass, small mouth and large mouth bass, black crappie, walleye, muskie, sunfish, bream and bluegill.

Ron was very happy as he caught five large mouth bass and one small muskie, all of which we live released back into the lake










Big Cedar Lake VI

As usual while Ron fished I took photographs and worked on a number of sketches that I will post at a later date once I have completed them using pen and ink.

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

It wasn't long before we had to return to the art show at St. Matthews Church in Buckhorn to take down the show.

Pottery was purchased from JoAnne Connell Northey and small items were sold by Diane Collins.

Shades of Summer Art Show and Sale

It is a wonderful change not having the humid weather with a lovely sunny day at 76F (24.4C) and a cooling breeze.

Today they are holding Rock the Locks right across the street from the Church which is attracting a large crowd, with many people coming through to see our art show as well.

Needless to say I didn't have a lot of time to paint on this piece that I started last year (see post on 21 January 2014), but at least I did put the far shore into this painting, which I will post at a later date once it has been completed.














Morning Sky 1

A painting was purchased from Penny Little and small items were sold by Pat Harvey.

The hours for our show are:
22 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
23 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm

We hope you will be able to come out and visit the show either today or before it closes tomorrow

25th Annual Shades of Summer Art Show and Sale

Yesterday's rain has certainly cooled things down with our high today being 71F (21.7C). It is a pleasant change and brought more people out to view our show.

Today I worked on a couple of small paintings that I had started a couple of years ago.

For the first one (see post on 17 March 2013) using various greens made from Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue, raw sienna, new gamboge and burnt sienna. I gave a little more definition to the background trees.

Next using the same colours I started adding some grasses and growies before I set it aside to dry and decide what animals I will put into the foreground.

Pasture 1

The afternoon brought I drew in where I would place the trees in the second painting that had been called Blue Sky E (see post on 07 July 2012).

I will post each of these paintings again once they have been completed.














Pasture 2

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

Small items were purchased from Pat Harvey.

The hours for our show are:
21 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
22 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
23 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm

Please come out and enjoy our art show at some point over the weekend.

ACEO - Massey Ferguson 1

The continuing hot weather 85F (29.4C) seems to keep people away from the show and in the coolness of their homes, but fortunately for us there was a nice breeze blowing which kept things from becoming feeling the humidity 100F (37.8C).

I thought I would work on this painting that I had started a number of years ago (see posts on 02 July 2012 and 09 July 2015).

Using various greys made from mixtures of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue and burnt sienna I finished painting in the engine.

Then I finished the small areas of red on the tractor with a mixture of cadmium red and alizarin crimson.

Lastly, I put in a rail fence behind the tractor, with some of the grey mixtures I used on the engine.














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 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $65.00 and sold framed. SOLD

Small items were sold by Diane Collins.

The hours for our show are:
19 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
20 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
21 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
22 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
23 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm

Please come out and enjoy the artwork displayed at our show.

Shades of Summer Art Show and Sale

It is another hot 82F (27.8C) and humid 98F (36.7C) day with a number of thunderstorms in the area and we had times when there were flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder but we did not receive any rain.

Today I decided to work on this painting that I had started last year (see post on 22 August 2014).

First I lifted out the background birch trees that I had indicated in pencil.

I decided that the large birch on the right side needed to be changed from going off the edge of the painting.

Using various mixtures of alizarin crimson, French ultramarine blue, raw sienna, burnt sienna and new gamboge I painted into the entire background to unify it and to fix the birch tree.

Once the paint had dried I could see some rock shapes in the background.I will develop them more by painting in the negative around them.

Next I added the dark markings onto the background birch trees with a mixture of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

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

Not many people came through the show, but small items were sold by Diane Collins, Pat Harvey and Penny Little.

The hours for our show are:
18 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
19 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
20 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
21 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
22 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
23 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm

We hope you can come out and enjoy the artwork.

Bath Time - A Work in Progress

With another day of high temperatures 93F (33.9C) and humidity making it feel like 103F (39.4C) I don't expect to see very many people come through the art show until closer to the weekend, although there is a slight breeze today.

Last night I saw all the swallows flocking together and I am saddened this morning as they have left on their long journey south for the winter. I will miss watching them in flight and hearing their soft calls.

I thought this would be a good painting to work on today as I have been working on it for a while (see posts on 11 and 16 July and 28 December 2014, 21 January, 08 February, 24 May and 23 July 2015).

I softened some areas of the towel, as they were too dark and making it look very busy.

Using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue, cobalt blue and burnt sienna I painted the wrappers on the remaining two bars of soap, adding a small spot of cadmium red to the top of one of them.

Now it was time to start painting the various seashells of the soap dish.












The flat shells that were set on the back part  of the soap dish to look like leaves were painted in using raw sienna, Antwerp blue and for the darker areas a touch of burnt sienna was added.

For the small shells between the two "leaves" that were supposed to look like a flower I used a mix of alizarin crimson and burnt sienna and blocked in the darker areas.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have completed the remaining shells.

Bonnie Windover sold a painting and small items were sold by Diane Collins.

The hours for our show are:
17 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
18 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
19 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
20 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
21 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
22 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
23 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm

We hope you can come out and enjoy the artwork.

Shades of Summer Art Show and Art @ the Locks Show

The high heat 87F (30.6C) and humidity 100F (37.8C) will continue to increase until the middle of the week when we are to get a break for a day or two before it returns.

This is another of the sketches I did last month while we were out canoeing on Lovesick Lake.

It is a scene from Beaver Island where the cabin that had once been on the property had burnt to the ground with nothing to indicate it had ever existed other than the trees which had surrounded it were charred more than halfway up their trunks and the lack of any form of vegetation within the area.

What was interesting was that the outhouse remained untouched further back in among the trees and that this part of the deck with a barbecue, a couple of chairs and a few small wooden tables sat exposed to the elements.

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

Traffic was fairly steady at Lockside both with foot traffic and from people off the boats going through the Lock, although the temperatures did keep the numbers down from last year.














Lovesick Lake V - Survivors

With it being the last day of the show we took everything down in the evening.

Up in Buckhorn three paintings were sold by Ron Desjardine and one sculpture and pottery was sold by JoAnne Connell Northey. Small items were purchased from Diane Collins and Penny Little.

Hopefully some of you will make it out to see the show.

The hours for our show are:
16 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm
17 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
18 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
19 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
20 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
21 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
22 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
23 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

First Day of the Shades of Summer Art Show and the Lockside Trading Company Show and Sale

It is another hot 84F (28.9C) and humid 98F (36.7C) day and it is supposed to get hotter and more humid as the week progresses.

I had to be at Lockside for 7:00am this morning to set up the tables, grids and hang the paintings before leaving everything in Norma and Cindy's capable hands.
















The hours for the show at Lockside are:
15 Aug 15 - 10am - 6:00pm
16 Aug 15 - 10am - 6:00pm














Most of the people who came through the show in Buckhorn today were those visiting the many art and craft shows in the area. A number also came in from the boats that were going through the Lock.

Three paintings were sold by Rebecca Bilcox, JoAnne Connell Northey and Penny Little. Small items were also sold by Diane Collins and JoAnne Connell Northey.














The hours for our show are:
15 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
16 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm
17 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
18 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
19 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
20 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
21 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
22 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
23 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm

Please come out and enjoy our show.

Setting up the 25th Annual Shades of Summer Art Show

It is going to be a very hot 82F (27.8C) and humid 100F (37.8C) day which will not make it pleasant while setting up the paintings at St. Matthews Church in Buckhorn.

First I helped my friend Irene hang her paintings which didn't take very much time as she only had about a dozen.

With my friend Heather being on Toronto for a wedding today I offered to set up her paintings as well as looking after my own.

Her paintings were easy to hang once I had taken them out of their containers and grouped together.

Most of her paintings that I brought to the show were up on her panels in less than two hours.

The remaining ones were hung on the front grids where the theme was flowers and the remaining small pieces were put on the short grids.

By then it was time to take a break and I went next door to the Cody Inn to have lunch and relax for a little while.

Before long I returned to the Church to hang my paintings.

Since I was the last person to hang my paintings, it was up to me to fill in the remaining spaces on the theme grids and small panels at the front of the Church.

First I hung some of the floral paintings I brought for the theme panels at the front.

Next I put the remaining smaller floral themed paintings on the short grids beside the entry table where I also placed my biographies and business cards on the table near my artwork.

My two acrylic abstracts were so different from the rest of my paintings that I placed on some of the all group panels among the oils.

I placed the larger paintings onto my set of grids and then gradually added paintings that were complementary to them until I was pleased with the result.

Lastly, I set up the remaining paintings that I brought on the tables by the wall which had most of the windows in the room.

For the mid-sized paintings I used the window sill as the display area.

The remaining paintings, which were fairly small, were set on ornate metal easels so they could be displayed.

The hours for our show are:
15 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
16 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm
17 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
18 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
19 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
20 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
21 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
22 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
23 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm

Now that this show was finally set up I went home to drop off the boxes and from there go over to Lockside Trading Company in Youngs Point.

I will set the tent up tonight which will save me a lot of time in the morning when I set up for the show which starts tomorrow.

Fortunately for me, both Ron and Christine were at the house and we went out for supper first before going to Lockside.

With the extra helping hands the tent didn't take very long to set up in a nice location near a tall cedar tree which would offer extra shade during the day tomorrow, which is supposed to be hotter and more humid than today.

Our timing was perfect as we managed to return home just before the thunderstorm started.

The hours for the show at Lockside are:
15 Aug 15 - 10am - 6:00pm
16 Aug 15 - 10am - 6:00pm

I will be in my usual spot at the back of the building most of the day painting.

Hopefully the heat and humidity will not keep you from visiting the shows.

I look forward to seeing some of you at one or both of the two art shows during the next nine days.

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

Upper Buckhorn Lake I-V - Five Works in Progress

Tonight we are setting up the grids for the 25th Annual Shades of Summer Art Show and Sale held at St. Matthews Church in Buckhorn, Ontario.

I arrived early and decided to walk along the shoreline and do a few sketches of the lake around Buckhorn Lock 31 which divides Upper and Lower Buckhorn Lake.

I plan to develop these sketches into paintings and complete them during the nine days of the art show where I traditionally set up my small drafting table at the back of the Church and can be found painting there daily.

Upper Buckhorn Lake I

Upper Buckhorn, Pigeon and Chemong Lake, make up what is known as a tri lake system of three lakes connected by narrow waterways.

While we have never gone through any of the Locks in the boat, we have spent all day out on the tri lakes.

Starting from the public launch in Ennismore going down to the bottom of Chemong Lake before going back up to pass under the Causeway linking Ennismore and Bridgenorth before going through the Harrington Narrows.

Upper Buckhorn Lake II

From there we passed on the east side of Fox Island and continued through Upper Buckhorn Lake until we reached Buckhorn Lock 31 where we tied the boat and stopped at Mainstreet Landing for lunch on their patio overlooking the Lock and enjoyed watching the boat traffic as we ate our meal.

Lock 31 of the Trent Severn Waterway is one of the busiest locks in the waterway, having between 5,000 to 8,000 boats annually going through them during the boating season.

The Locks open on the Friday of the Victoria Day weekend in May and remain open until Thanksgiving Monday in October.

Upper Buckhorn Lake III

After lunch we headed back down Upper Buckhorn Lake which is the second deepest of the tri lakes with a maximum depth of 47' (14.3m) and passed through Gannons Narrows into Pigeon Lake where we went partway down the lake before stopping for a while so Ron could go fishing while I would sketch and take reference photographs.

Ron prefers to fish until he lands at least one of the major fish species which in all of the tri lakes include black crappie, carp, large mouth and small mouth bass, muskie, perch, walleye, bluegill and pumpkinseed sunfish.

It doesn't matter how large or small the fish he catches is because all are live released back into the lake before we turn around and head back up the lake.

Upper Buckhorn Lake IV

We go back through Gannons Narrows into the lower end of Upper Buckhorn Lake and go down the west side of Fox Island taking the trek through the islands to Harrington Narrows and back into Chemong Lake to return to our launch site in Ennismore where after loading the boat back onto the trailer it is time to have supper at the Sip and Dip Restaurant in Ennismore.

It is nice to be able to spend an entire day out on the these three lakes which provide large bodies of open water for boating, sailing and other recreations without being unrestricted by having to pass through the Locks.

I am fortunate to live such a short distance away from the lakes and be able to enjoy all they have to offer.

Upper Buckhorn Lake V

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

Lovesick Lake VIII - Beaver Island Pine II - A Work in Progress

I pulled this sketch out that I had started last month when we were out canoeing on Lovesick Lake.

It is one of the many beautiful pine trees that are found in the area on the islands.

Originally I only had enough time before we drifted past to do the top part of the tree and put in a few of the many twisted and broken branches that attracted my attention and gave this lone tree on Beaver Island so much character.

I pulled up my reference photographs and added more of the dead branches to the trunk and will later add more of the areas where needles still clung to the branches.

Next I added the two dead tree trunks on either side of this pine that were not able to survive the harsh winter winds.

Then I indicated where few smaller pines were trying to take hold at the base of the trees and in between the crevices in the rocks.

Below the rocks I lightly blocked in where the reflections would appear.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have applied ink to the sketch.

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

ACEO - Rainy Day 1

Another warm 76F (24.4C) and humid 86F (30C) day and it is raining, which hopefully will take away some of the humidity.

A couple of days ago I worked on the other three paintings in this series (see post on 08 August 2015).

While it is still summer I thought I would do this piece in autumn colours and what better than with the bright and glowing colours of a stand of maple trees.

I put a brook running through the maples.

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 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.

Flower Power 1 - A Work in Progress

It is another bright and sunny day with warm temperatures 77F (25C) but the humidity makes it feel like 85F (29.4C) which is still a nice summer day.

I decided to work on this piece that I had started quite a while ago (see posts on 09 May 2012 and 23 January 2014).

Using various yellows such as raw sienna, new gamboge and aureolin and painting in the negative, I gave a little more definition to some of the flower shapes.

Then with Antwerp blue and cobalt blue I tinted some of the off white flowers.

I darkened some of the red flowers with alizarin crimson.

Using cadmium yellow, new gamboge and raw sienna I painted in the stamens into the center of some of the flowers.

I will post this painting again once I have completed the yellow flowers in the middle sections of the floral arrangement.

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