Clear Lake IX

I wanted to finish this drawing that I had originally started a long time ago (see posts on 09 June 2013, 27 May, 18 July and 29 August 2017) while canoeing on Clear Lake.

I started by completing the deciduous trees in the centre area of the drawing and put in the background trees in behind.

Next I added more of the rocks against the shoreline and added the shadows and reflections to each of them until the foreground area was complete.













I then added the background across the distant shore and put in the various pine trees across the island and a few into the background.

Lastly I added a mother duck and her young ducklings following along behind into the water of the lake.

This original 6" x 9" pen and ink drawing when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $40.00.

Clear Lake IV - Sitting Ducks I

I wanted to complete this drawing that I worked on last month (see posts on 09 June 2013 and 05 August 2016).

First I added in the rest of the cattails to the right of the large rock and the more I looked at the drawing the more I felt that something was missing.

Using a pencil, I lightly sketched in a pair of ducks sitting on the large rock near the cattails; it was at this point that I decided to change the name of the drawing to Sitting Ducks.











I carefully inked them in and then added some cast shadow onto the rock and put in some of their reflections into the water.

This original 4-1/2" x 9” pen and ink drawing when matted and shrink wrapped with be available for $40.00.

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

Just Bobbing - A Work in Progress

Today at KAGS the theme for the Still Life class was wood.

We had two different displays set up. The first one was of various carved decoys, some painted and some plain. The second one was of various wooden carvings, bowls and buckets.

I chose to do the one with the carved decoys. I liked the two that were unpainted of a goose and a duck. I added the small painted mallard to the drawing a little later.

When the drawing was completed I used liquid friskit to mask out the decoys.














Once that was dry I used various mixes of cadmium yellow, raw sienna, Antwerp blue and French ultramarine blue to put in the background behind the decoys.

With a pale wash of both blues I indicated the water at the base of the birds.

Using raw sienna I started painting the goose first, gradually building up layers of colour to give the decoy shape.

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

ACEO - Reflections 7

Today I wanted to finish this painting that I had started a couple of years ago (see post on 25 July 2013).

For this painting, I had always wanted to put a duck in the water and today I drew in a female Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos).

Next, I washed in a base colour of raw sienna and as it was drying I added a slightly darker colour mix of raw sienna and burnt sienna into some areas to give the body some shape.

While the duck was drying I put the reflections into the water with burnt sienna and a small amount of French ultramarine blue.















I added more blue to darken the reflection colour and painted in the eye, the nostril, the shadow between the upper and lower part of the bill, the top of the crown and the eye-stripe.

Next, I added more raw sienna to the colour and put in the mid tone markings and lastly, after adding more raw sienna I put in the lightest markings.

Using cadmium red and cadmium yellow, I painted in the bill and this was followed by adding the highlights with aureolin.

I used a tiny dot of cadmium yellow for the highlight in the eye.















At the shoreline, I indicated some reeds using various mixtures of Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue and new gamboge. Using the lighter marking colour, I put some shadows into the water at the base of the reeds.

This was followed with a few closer more detailed reeds on the left side of the 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.

OSWOA - Wanna Play?

Today we set up a show at the Purple Onion Festival held in Millennium Park in Peterborough.












We were fortunate in that we had gotten all of our paintings inside the building before it started to rain. I felt sorry for some of the exhibitors who had to go through high winds and a torrential downpour during the morning hours that caused a couple of tents to collapse due to the amount of rain that fell during a very short time and the high winds. By noon the sun came out and the temperatures climbed to 66F (19C) and the crowds came out to enjoy the Festival.














I would like to thank new collector Gary Smith of Peterborough, Ontario on his purchase of Autumn Birch 1 (see post on 14 July 2012).











This is one of the pieces that I took to the show that I had started in a Still Life class earlier this year (see posts on 27 March 2014, 31 July 2014 and 07 August 2014) and decided that I wanted to finish it as a companion piece for the one I completed a couple of weeks ago (see post on 07 August 2014).













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.

OSWOA - What's New?

This morning I was at Art on Kent which is normally not open on Sunday, but they had the Doors Open Ontario Tour which was sponsored by the Ontario Heritage Trust where tours were conducted through many of the century or older buildings throughout the province.

Since I had a little time at the Gallery and wanted to finish this little piece that was started a while ago (see posts on 27 March 2014 and 07 July 2014) and would be ideal for a child's room.













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.

Wanna Play - A Work in Progress

Today I had to be at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio to help with the take in for the Figuratively Speaking Show.













I decided since I had to be there I may as well arrive early and work on a couple of paintings including this one that I had started in a Still Life class earlier this year (see posts on 27 March 2014 and 31 July 2014).

I will post this painting at a later date after more wok has been completed on the plush duck and the shadows have been added.

Wanna Play? - A Work in Progress

I had some time and wanted to work on this painting that I had started during a Still Life class at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio (see post on 27 March 2014).













I will post this painting at a later date as more work is completed on the stuffed toys.

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

What's New? - A Work in Progress

We were very fortunate that the rain held off yesterday until 8pm and it continued to rain throughout the night including having a major thunderstorm at 2am which lasted for almost two hours. The rain finally ended around 6am and as I headed for the show at Lockside Trading Company it was cloudy and looked as though it would start to rain at any moment.

It didn't take as long to set everything up again as I knew exactly what was being hung up on the grids which made things a lot easier.

With the overcast skies not too many people came out for the morning but as the day progressed the clouds disappeared and the sun came out bringing with it the crowds.













I did a little more work on this painting that I had started in one of the Still life classes at KAGS (see post on 27 March 2014).

I started by working on the curtains to give a little definition to the folds.

Next I darkened the shadows beneath the duck and then worked on getting the duck to look a little more round in shape.

I will post this painting again once the toy duck is completed.

Toy Ducks - Two Works in Progress

Today's theme in the still life class at KAGS was toys. It was a good thing so many toys were brought in for the class as we had thirteen people in the group and were able to have four different displays set up to accommodate all of them.

I chose to do a couple of pieces using the some of the different ducks and fish toys.

For the first one I drew one of the ducks and one of the fish. I painted in the background curtain with various shades of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue and cobalt blue. Then set it aside to dry while I sketched in the second drawing of a rubber duck and the same plush duck in reverse.













What's New?

I painted in the background using French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and raw sienna. This was set aside to dry and I went back to the first painting and using raw sienna painted in the floor and with a touch of burnt sienna indicated the shadows under the toys.

I then went back into the second painting and using French ultramarine blue and Antwerp blue painted in the floor and indicated the shadows beneath both toys. By then it was time to take a break so I set them aside to dry.

After break was over I started back on the first painting and placed a more defined shadow beneath both the fish and the duck.













Wanna Play?

Then working back and forth between the two toys the eyes were put in and all the dark lines. A wash of aureoline was put over the entire duck as a base yellow and different areas were painted with raw sienna, new gamboge and cadmium yellow.

The fish was painted with alizarin crimson and cadmium red and in the lighter areas mixtures of new gamboge and cadmium yellow.

I will post these paintings at a later date once more on them has been completed.

Thank you to new collector Mrs. Julia Cameron of Peterborough, Ont. on her purchase of Poetry (see post on17 January 2012).

Bufflehead Duck

Today I had the opportunity to work from a stuffed mount that one of the wood carvers loaned to a friend. Needless to say I wasn't going to pass up the chance at being close to a Bufflehead Duck.














This original 9" x 12" graphite pencil drawing is available, matted and shrink wrapped for $75.00. SOLD

Brief Encounter

I set this painting on my desk and kept looking at it to see what was bothering me about it (see postings on 19 March 2011, 11 December 2011 and 27 May 2012).

The sun was still the problem and seemed to have a dark ring around it which would not happen. I blended the area around the sun and darkened the cloud slightly.

This original 4-1/2" x 7-3/4" watercolour painting when framed will be available for $165.00.

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

Brief Encounter - A Work in Progress

I was not very happy with the sun (see postings on 19 Mar 2011 and 11 December 2011) as it still looked too much like a big orange floating in the sky.

I went back and worked on it a little more and got rid of most of the "orange" and added a little white to the center of the sun to make it more believable.

However, I am still not completely satisfied with it. I will post it again at a later date when it is completed.

Brief Encounter - A Work in Progress

I have been looking at this painting for a while (see post on 19 Mar 11).

I wasn't happy with the ducks in the painting so I changed them to three larger ducks and added their reflections in to the water.

I lightened the sun a little but it still looks like a large orange in the sky.

I will post this painting at a later date after more has work been done to the sky, sun and water.

Brief Encounter - A Work in Progress

This painting is almost complete. The centre of the sun still needs to be lightened as right now it looks too much like an orange hanging in the sky.

More detail needs to be added to the duck and ducklings and the sun reflection needs to be finished.

The companion piece to this painting is Brief Moment (see my posting on 04 August 2010).

I will post this painting once it is completed.

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

Pink Sky

This is an original 9-3/4" x 13-3/4" framed, watercolour.

The soft pastel pinks and peach tones of the early morning sky reflect into the calm water of the lake. The mirror reflections disturbed only by the passing of a shoveller duck.












Thank you to new collectors Mr. and Mrs. Homberg of Midhurst, Ontario on their purchase of this painting. SOLD

This image is available as a decorator print. It has a 9-3/4" x 13-3/4" image surrounded by a 1-1/2" white border for $15.00. It can also be remarqued for an additional $25.00. Prints are shipped flat and unframed.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.