Dark Water I - A Work in Progress

Today I wanted to do a little more work on this drawing that I started earlier this year (see posts on 02 July and 20 August 2016).

I started by putting in some of the background trees and rocks.

From there I put in the dead trees behind the pines at the edge of the lake and added some details to the grasses and growies. Then I finished the rock at the water's edge on the right side.















Next I worked on the big dead cedar tree; adding the branches, putting in the bark and shading on the tree trunk and adding the water ripples around the branch in the water and those against the shoreline.

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

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.

Wall of Small

Today is the opening reception for the Wall of Small and the new exhibit "Feast for the Eyes" at Art on Kent.











The Wall of Small consists of thirty five 12" x 12" (30.5 x 30.5cm) spaces on the wall to the left of the entrance door and across from the front desk.









Artists were given the chance to lease from 1-5 spaces on the Wall from 27 Oct 16 - 29 Apr 17 and may change their paintings as often as they wish during that time period.








Currently there are only five available spaces remaining, which I am sure will be leased before long.









If you have a chance, please come out and enjoy the new exhibits.

Feast for the Eyes Poster

This is the poster for the "Feast for the Eyes" exhibit at Art on Kent which features my art and photography.

The new show will run from 27 October to 19 November with the opening reception on 29 October from 1:00p.m. to 4:00p.m.

Hopefully some of you will be able to come out and view the exhibit.

Pottery 5 - A Work in Progress

Today I was at the Still Life class at KAGS and I wanted to do more work on this painting that I had started a number of years ago (see post on 26 March 2013).

The first thing I had to do was straighten out the sides of the pottery bottle so it no longer looked like the leaning Tower of Pisa.

Next I had to balance out both sides of the top and lid as well as the shoulders of the bottle.

From there I evened out the decorative ridges on the bottle.

I mixed a large quantity of a dark blue black from French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and a touch of alizarin crimson.

I started on the left side of the bottle with the darkest value and gradually lightened it to the right side to make it look rounded.

Next I used the lighter colour and put in the ridges making the right side a little lighter.

Using cadmium yellow I put in a little reflected light on the left side of the pottery.

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

KAGS Outdoor Painters' Group Show - Sunny Ways

Today is the first day of the KAGS Outdoor Painters' Show called "Sunny Ways".

To enter this show each artist must have painted with the Outdoor Painters' Group three times during the course of the year.

Unlike the regular shows at KAGS where each artist can submit up to three paintings and the placement of the artwork on the walls is designed by the convenor and is then hung by the show committee.

It differs here in that each artist purchases wall space, beginning with a minimum of two feet and in increments of two feet up to a maximum of eight feet of space.

Each artist is responsible for not only designing how their paintings will be hung in their space, but must also hang them on the wall themselves.
















Also this is one of two exhibits that allow art cards and one of three shows that allow shrink wrapped originals to be offered for sale.

The show continues through to 13 November 2016 with the opening on 30 October 2016 from 1:00p.m. to 4:00p.m.













If you have the chance please come out and meet the artists at the opening or come and enjoy the exhibit before it closes next month.

Autumn's End I - A Work in Progress

Today I was painting with the Buckhorn Tuesday Painting Group and decided I would sketch the trees around St. Matthew's Church which had almost shed all their leaves.

After putting in the three largest trees first, I then added some grasses and growies to the base of them and created some rolling ground.

With a pencil, I lightly sketched in some smaller trees into the background with a few slightly larger ones and a number of smaller trees.















Next I inked in the larger background trees first.

Again I added in some grasses and growies to the base of the trees creating a small hill in the background.

I will post this drawing at a later date once more of the background trees have been completed.

Snow Storm 1 - A Work in Progress

I wanted to do something easy today so I thought I would do a snow scene.

I wet the paper and with a mix of cobalt blue and burnt sienna I brushed in some of the background trees.















Unfortunately, before I could do any more work on this painting I had unexpected company drop by for a visit,

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

The Future is Now

Today I was sitting at Art on Kent for the last day of "The Future is Now" exhibition.











I had seven paintings in this show representing toys, agriculture, lakes and transportation.













It was a fairly busy day today with a large number of people coming in to see the exhibit before it is gone. So busy in fact, that I didn't have time to work on a painting as I normally would.













I decided to leave the three paintings with rubber duck in them for the "Wall of Small".  I also brought in two painting for the next show "Feast for the Eyes".

Fence Posts 2-4 - Three Works in Progress

I decided I wanted to work on these three pieces that I had started earlier this year (see posts on 17 and 26 July 2016) while out on location.

Working on all three paintings at the same time I wet the sky and with French ultramarine blue I reworked the sky to remove the white paper where the tape lines were.

Once the sky was dry I lifted the paint from the fence posts with water.

I will post each of these paintings at a later date as more work on them has been completed.

Fence Posts 2



















Fence Posts 3



















Fence Posts 4

Indian Corn - A Work in Progress

Today was going to be a very busy day for me. It started off with the still life class first thing in the morning at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio.

The theme for the class was "Harvest Time" featuring various fruits and vegetables with an autumn theme.

I decided to do the brightly coloured Indian corn with a couple of maple leaves to add some orange and red tones to the piece.

After drawing the image I started by putting a pale wash of raw sienna over all the corn husks. I darkened the mix slightly and started to add the next layer but ran out of time before getting very far.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have completed more work on the corn husks.














From there I was at the 12:30p.m. Information meeting for new members, where we had three people choosing to become KAGS members.

At 1:30p.m. I attended the meeting for KAGS's inclusion in next year's SPARK Photo Festival as one of our exhibitions.

After that meeting was over, I left KAGS to attend a 3:00p.m. meeting of the President's Council going over current business arising from emails received to the Gallery and discussion about the upcoming AGM next month.

Finally I was able to head home and bring in the horses and start the barn chores.

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

ACEO - Industry 1

This is one of three pieces I started earlier this year (see post on 22 August 2016) that I wanted to finish. I started by using various muddy colours to paint in the smoke stacks on the factories and the different buildings.

I finished the lower toxic sky with aureolin, cadmium yellow and a green of Antwerp blue and new gamboge. The upper sky was put in with Antwerp blue.

With burnt sienna and Antwerp blue I painted in the smoke emitted from the larger, closer smoke stacks.














Using cadmium red and cadmium yellow, I put the various warning lights on the smoke stacks and buildings.

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.

Pastel Colours 1 and 2 - Two Works in Progress

Today I picked these two pieces that I drew onto watercolour paper earlier this year (see post on 14 April 2016).

On this one I brushed the sky in starting at the top with a small amount of aureolin in the upper left corner.

Using a pale wash of alizarin crimson I started with the colour in the upper right corner and gradually darkened the colour as I went down the painting leaving the bottom of the paper white.

I set this painting aside to let the sky dry.

Pastel Colors 2

I started on the next painting using alizarin crimson in the sky gradually darkening the paint toward the bottom.














Pastel Colours 1

Once again I left the bottom of the paper white.

I will post each of these paintings at a later date once they have been completed

Pink Sky 2-5 Four Works in Progress

Today I just wanted to play with some morning skies.

I like using French ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson for an early morning pink sky.

But I have found that these lovely pastel colours are usually found in the western sky as the sun is rising in the east.

I thought I would work on all four pieces at the same time and started by mixing a large puddle of the two colours and then wet the paper.

Pink Sky 2

I put down a base wash on the first piece and then added a small amount of the blue in a couple of areas in the sky before setting it aside to dry.

On the next one after putting down the base colour I added a lot more of the blue into the sky before I set it aside to dry.

On the third one, the paper had dried in some areas.

Pink Sky 3

I left these areas white as though they were clouds in the sky.

Once more I added blue into various areas into the sky until a little more than half of the sky had the blue tint.

I set this aside to dry and started to work on the last piece.

This one had a larger dry area that was left as a white cloud.

Pink Sky 4

On this painting I added a little of the blue into the sky near the cloud and then left most of the sky the base colour.

Lastly, I added the blue to the bottom quarter of the paper with horizontal strokes.

This piece was set aside with the others to dry.

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

Pink Sky 5

Long Lake VII - A Work in Progress

I picked this sketch, that I started a long time ago (see post on 14 September 2013) when Ron and I were canoeing on Long Lake.

I started with the bark on the fallen branch on which the heron is standing, followed by the water ripples below the branch.

A small bush was placed into the background to the left side of the heron.














Next I added the reeds into the background to the right of the fallen branch.

I will post this sketch at a later date once I have added more details to the drawing of the heron on the branch.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

Communion - A Work in Progrress

I picked this painting (see posts on 09 May, 18 July, 02, 09, 19, 23 and 30 August 2016) and I will begin working on the second decanter today.

I mixed a greyed brown of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna and started to put the reflected colour from the wood panels onto the water decanter. After starting with the top of the stopper I decided that it was not the day to work on a lot of clear glass.

Next I started to work on the plate behind the challis since I already had browns made with burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue. I started laying in some of the areas of reflected wood, but before I went too far I realized that I had to place the reflections in the plate from the water decanter on the left side.

So I started on working on the plate to the right side of the challis and came up with the same problem of the reflection from the wine challis.













Since I already had some of the brown paint mixed I started placing some of it onto the silver challis on the base and then started with some of the reflection in the bowl part but, I was not to complete the challis running into the same problem on a larger scale. I had not only both decanters reflected into the cup but also the tray and wafer box.

With still not being able to get into the painting I decided to stop before I messed it up. However, I still wanted to do a little more work on the painting.

So instead of using paint, I lightly indicated in pencil the different areas of reflections on the challis, plate and the highlights on the decanter.

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

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

Clear Lake II - A Work in Progress

I pulled out this drawing that I had worked on earlier this year (see posts on 09 June 2013 and 23 March 2016).

First I added a few rocks and grasses at the base of the tree trunks as well as some small bushes.














Next I worked on the cattails in front of the rocks and added some ripples from the fast moving water going past the island.

I will post this drawing at a later date once I decide what I want to do with the background and the trees.

Trees 3 and 4 - Two Works in Progress

Today I am painting with the Buckhorn Tuesday Painting Group and I couldn't get into painting anything large so I pulled out a couple of small pieces that I had started a while ago (see post on 12 June 2016).

I started with the sky and put in small areas of French ultramarine blue and then I added a little burnt sienna and put in shadows into the clouds.













I left the bottom area of the painting white for snow; it was at this point that I decided to change the name of this painting from Tree 3 to Chance of Snow 1.

I set this painting down to dry and pulled out a second painting.

Using French ultramarine blue I put in the sky leaving some areas white for the clouds and used the same shadow mix for the clouds as I did in the last painting.














I brushed in a mix of raw sienna and burnt sienna for the foreground leaving an area of white paper at the base of the trees.

I changed this painting's name as well, from Trees 4 to Late Fall 1 as the foreground colors reminded me of wheat fields after the grain and straw had been taken off.

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

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

Autumn Strream 1 - A Work in Progress

I was sorting through a number of small drawings already put onto watercolour paper last month (see post on 15 September 2016) and chose this one on which to work.

I remembered it as an autumn scene and for the background brushed mixes of burnt sienna and raw sienna with vertical strokes in the top two thirds of the paper.

Next using the same two colours with horizontal strokes I put in the water of the stream leaving the area where the rocks would be as white paper.















Using the same two colours mixed together I brushed in the ground colour, once again leaving the area along the bank as white paper.

I have decided to rename the painting from River 3 to Autumn Stream 1.

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

Big Cedar Lake I - A Work in Progress

I was going through the various sketches I did while out in the canoe over the last couple of years; and decided that I would like to work on this one that I started last year (see post on 23 August 2015).

Beginning with the background I put in the far water line, which forms the base of the rocks in the background.

Using vertical lines I put in the distant trees behind the rocks and then I added a few pine trees on top and lastly I put the shadows onto the rocks.

In the middle area I put in the rock close to the shore and blocked in the outline of the boathouse.

Next I started on the foreground island by putting in the rocks.














I put the maple tree trunk and branches on the end of the island and then gradually added the leaves onto the branches.

On top of the rocks I put in the small bushes and growies followed by the fallen tree trunk on the end of the island.

Next I put in the ripples in the water and the reflections from the rocks.

Then I started to put in the pine tree trunk, but ran out of time when my friends arrived and I had to leave.

I will post this drawing at a later time when more work on it has been completed.

ACEO - Reflections 6

Today I wanted to work on a painting with reflections in the water.

Using alizarin crimson and new gamboge I put in a flat wash across the upper half of the painting and change to alizarin crimson with a little bit of French ultramarine blue into the lower half of the painting

While the paint was still damp I added more of the blue into the mix and put in some of the darker reflections into the lower area of the water.














As the paint was drying I added in a green mix of Antwerp blue and new gamboge allowing the background colour to show through.

With French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I painted in the rocks against the shoreline.

Using the brighter green, I put in some water ripples below the rocks.















Lastly, I used the rock colour to put in a few tree trunks and branches on the shore followed by their reflections in the water.

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.

On the Lawn - A Work in Progress

We leave the Knoepfli Inn later today after breakfast and taking down the art show.

While waiting for breakfast I sat on the front porch and did this sketch of a wooden barrel with petunias in it and the Canadian flag blowing in the wind, along with a log reindeer ornament.














I haven't decided what I will put in behind the lawn ornaments, if anything.

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

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

Scenes of Magnetawan

Today at the Knoepfli Inn, located at 5484 Highway #124 Magnetawan, Ontario, owner Bea Kolman was having a Meet the Artists Afternoon Tea from 2:00p.m. - 4:00p.m.

This is on the second to last day of the exhibition of "Scenes of Magnetawan" which opened on 22 June 2016.

Four of the seven artists will be in attendance for this event which will resume in the coming year with new artwork when the Inn reopens next year in May.

We had a number of people come out and hopefully this exhibition of art featuring scenes of the areas will grow in popularity.

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 October.

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

Calm and Rage I - A Work in Progress

Today I headed up to Magnetawan to spend a few days at the Knoepfli Inn with some of the KAGS Outdoor Painters' Group and enjoy the peaceful area beside the Magnetawan River and to do some sketches and perhaps do some painting.












Photograph courtesy of Lorraine Ryan.

Once we arrived and settled into our cabins I went and set myself up together with my friend and fellow artist Sheila Stanley, near the bottom end of the Knoepfli Rapids which start about 800' (243.8m) upstream down from the dam at Ahmic Lake.

There was a small section of water where the river splits slightly that does not have the rush of water, but is a calm and peaceful before once again joining with the rapids.













This is what I wanted to capture; the quiet reflections on the calm water of the far bank next to the raging torrent of the rapids on the other side of the rocky outcrop.

I did manage to get the movement of the turbulent water closer to me and hopefully will be able to show the differences.
















I will post this sketch at a later date once I add some pen and ink to show what attracted me to this spot.

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

1st Annual Outdoor Painting Festival Cavan/Millbrook

Yesterday was day one of the 1st Annual Outdoor Painting Festival Cavan/Millbrook and we signed in and had our canvases stamped at the Cavan Art Gallery at 8:00a.m. in the morning before heading out to our first painting location.

The morning was cloudy and overcast with a cold breeze blowing.

As I set up by Needler's Mill just off Distillery Road in Millbrook near Needler's Pond it started to drizzle.

Since we couldn't prime the canvases with a base coat of acrylic before signing in that is what I had to do to my first canvas.

It started to rain a little harder and since it was getting wetter instead of being able to dry, I set it under the table out of the rain and primed a second canvas.

By this time my first canvas had dried and with alizarin crimson I blocked in the trunk and branches of the northern white cedar tree, the bench and the tops of the background trees.

Using mixes of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I put in the grey sky.

A darker mix of the same colours was used for the tree.

Raw Sienna, ultramarine blue and burnt sienna were used for the grasses and the grass in shadow beneath the tree.

Then I put a little bit of titanium white onto the bench for the high lit areas.

By this time with the amount of rain on the canvas I could not get a thicker layer of paint on the canvas so I decided that I would go for lunch and hope that the rain would slow down or stop.

When I returned it had gotten colder and the wind had picked up, but I wanted to do more on the painting and I lightened the sky with a little ultramarine blue and white.

Next I added mixes of raw sienna and Hansa yellow to the sky colour for the background trees, the grass areas and the grasses in the shadowed areas.

By this time my fingers were numb and it was time to go home and warm up. I would return early in the morning and continue to work on this painting.

I arrived around 7:00a.m., which was shortly after sunrise and set up in my spot on a picnic table.

With titanium white I added some highlights to the bench before starting on the foliage of the tree.

Next I put in a few markers of raw sienna and burnt sienna for the areas where the old growth was turning brown with age and a few of the new growth of bright green with a mix of Hansa yellow and cerulean blue.

Then I finished the bench before I ran out of time and then went back to the foliage of the cedar tree using various mixtures of raw sienna, burnt sienna, Hansa yellow, ultramarine blue and cerulean blue.

Although I didn't get the painting totally finished, but when considering the conditions of the first day, I am pleased with the results and I will post this painting again at a later date once it has been completed.