Fantasy Flowers

Today I took a class called "Pour Your Heart Out" with Valerie Kent at the Cavan Art Gallery in Cavan, Ontario.

Having tried poured acrylic painting earlier this year I knew how much left over paint there would be so I took along a dozen small 2" x 2" canvases to create some small poured paintings to eliminate wasting so much paint.

For the first painting we did is what called a "Puddle Pour" which can be more realistic as you have more control over the paint as it slides around on the canvas.

We were told to pick three colours and either white or black for the fourth one and I chose white and decided I would use the three primary colours. We mixed the paint together with equal parts of Floetrol.















We layered each of the colours in three different areas on the canvas.

I started in the first corner with my blue as the base, followed by yellow, red and lastly white. From there I went diagonally across the canvas and started with red, followed by blue, yellow and white.

For my last flower I went partway up the canvas and used white first followed by yellow red and blue.

Using a large straw I blew the paint across the canvas to form "petal" shapes. When I was pleased with the results I used the end of a Popsicle stick and indicated the flower stamens.

The final part of this painting I dropped light and dark green onto the canvas to create leaves, vines and stems by pushing the colour around with the Popsicle stick.

This original 11" x 14" poured acrylic painting when framed with be available for $175.00.

Cavan Art Gallery

After two days without humidity, we are once again back into the warm weather 83F (28.3C) and high humidity 94F (34.4C).

Today the KAGS Outdoor Painters' Group painted at Cavan Art Gallery and Galerie Q, which are two art galleries located side by side on County Road 10 in Cavan Monoghan, Ontario.

The Cavan Art Gallery is owned and operated by Valerie Kent who recently taught a class at KAGS on watercolour painting on canvas (see post on 30 April 2016).

I thoroughly enjoyed the class and look forward to taking another class with Valerie at her Cavan Art Academy in the fall.














The house, Gallery and Art Academy rest on a lovely seven acres (2.8ha) parcel of land along the Cavan Creek.














Both the Gallery and Art Academy opened in the spring of this year in a completely renovated hip roof barn.














When you enter the Gallery it is hard to believe it was ever a barn. The original concrete floor stills shows the cracks and now gleams like polished marble. The interior walls and main support beams are covered with drywall to display the artwork. Looking up toward the ceiling you can still see the foundation beams stained a warm dark colour.












Each painting is beautifully presented and showcases Valerie's work and those of a few selected other artists.














As you go through the Gallery you will come across a flight of stairs leading to the upper level which houses the classroom for the Cavan Art Academy.













You are greeted to a wonderful, large, clean and airy, well lit space having both natural and artificial light. It is an inspiring place to develop your artistic talents.














If you have a chance, it is well worth the drive to go out and enjoy the works of art gracing the walls at the Cavan Art Gallery or take one of the many art courses offered the Cavan Art Academy.

Shades of Morning and Scales - Two Works in Progress

These are the other two pieces I started in the watercolour on canvas workshop at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio with Valerie Kent.

For the first one I used various mixes of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue, permanent rose and alizarin crimson.

I have to go back over this painting with darker colour to make it stand out as a background sky.

The second painting was inspired by a photograph of scales from different butterfly wings.

Shades of Morning

As with the first piece I will have to go back into the painting with darker more vibrant colour.

I will keep this painting as an abstract as the shapes seem to work well and create movement.















Scales

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

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

Tundra Sunset

Today I went to at a workshop at KAGS with Valerie Kent.

The workshop was about painting in watercolour on canvas and on wood panels in how to abstract landscape paintings and painting in abstract.

We received a gift from Valerie of an 8" x 10" wooden panel which we primed at the class and painted as our final piece.

It was an interesting class and I learned a lot about painting on canvas. I had started one with Gary Chapman a number of years ago (see post on 09 May 2013) which I will soon pull out and complete.

I worked on three paintings during the course of the class and this is the final piece which I completed.

This painting once it has been sealed and framed will be available for $135.00.