Garden Shed 2 - A Work in Progress

We have a frost warning in place and with the high for the day being 32F (0C) I can understand why, so I decided to work on a painting that reminds me of spring that I had started last year (see posts on 26 May 2016 and 29 May 2017).

I started by finishing the boards on the shed and then adding the shadows cast by the edge of the roof and the shadowed side of the shed.

Next I darkened in the open doorway leaving and area near the bottom blank for when I draw in the wheelbarrow.

Using Antwerp blue, raw sienna and new gamboge I indicated the leaves of the flowerbed on both sides of the shed.















I added French ultramarine blue to the light green colour and put in the grass on the side of the pathway.

I scattered flowers throughout the flowerbeds using cadmium red and a few dandelions through the grasses with cadmium yellow.

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

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

Garden Shed 2 - A Work in Progress

Even though the forecast called for warm temperatures 83F (27.8C), high humidity  94F (34.4C) and thunderstorms, today I went and painted with the KAGS Outdoor Painters' Group at a farm on Cameron Line that was known for its lilac bushes.

The first thing I saw as we turned into the driveway was a peacock walking across the road; needless to say I grabbed my camera and took a picture.

I later learned from the owners that they had eight peafowl on the property but the peahens had already gone to ground and wouldn't appear until after the eggs had hatched.














The farm was a treasure trove of opportunities for paintings and I spent most of the morning taking photographs and making a few quick sketches.

The original barn was built in 1813 and the original section of the stone house was built in 1821 and various additions were added at later times.

There were many wondrous things hidden in and among the flower gardens surrounding the house which also had an enchanting natural stone slab set of stairs leading up to one of the additions.














After taking many reference photographs of the building, gardens, livestock and farm equipment I settled down to work on a painting.

Just before lunch time it started to cloud over and when I went back to do more work on my painting it wasn't long before the first few drops of rain started to fall.

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

OSWOA - Gardening 2

Today I wanted to work on another still life painting so I could have a number of them ready for the upcoming Still Life Show at The Lindsay Gallery later this month.

I pulled out this painting that I had started last year (see posts on 05 March, 14 August and 26 December 2014) and wanted to complete.













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.

Hanging the Peterborough Garden Show

Today was a beautiful, mild and sunny day with the temperatures reaching 53F (11.7C) which is wonderful although by the weekend we are to get more snow.

It has been over three weeks now and still no sign of Junkyard; I can only hope that he is safe and has found a new home.

I started the day by going to KAGS to help load the grids, lights and tables that were to go to the Evinrude Centre for the Peterborough Garden Show.

Once there, the panels were quickly unloaded and two of us went to work setting them up. In the meantime others on the committee were doing the take in of paintings for the show.

When we finished the grids, we hung the cloth panels and finally the lights were added and turned on; we were ready to start hanging the fifty one paintings that were entered for the show.

We first set up the center panels with the larger paintings and from there tried to give each artist a grid for their artwork to keep it all together.









We put the tags with the paintings and had everything set up by 1:30. It was a lovely display of floral artwork.














I returned at 5:00pm to do my sitting for the art show and while there decided to work on this drawing of African Violets in a basket. This original graphite pencil drawing when framed will be available for $65.00.

I hope you will be able to come out and enjoy the Peterborough Garden Show and visit our art show during the weekend.

The hours for the show are:
02 Apr 15 - 5:00-9:00pm
03 Apr 15 - 10:00am - 5:00pm
04 Apr 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm


African Violet Sketch

Gardening 2 - A Work in Progress

If the temperatures continue this mild I may have to cut the grass with my Christmas gift from Ron; a beautiful, new, black riding lawn mower with all the bells and whistles including cruise control and a 46" deck which will cut my time mowing the lawn by about a third.

The drawback to the larger mower is that there is only an inch (2.5cm) of clearance on each side of the deck when going into the west barn.













I didn't have a lot of time to paint today with going to Christine's for  opening Christmas presents and supper at her home and with it being so mild I did a little more work on this painting (see posts on 25 May and 14 August 2014).

I will post this painting later once I have completed the watering can and the other flower container.

24th Annual Shades of Summer Art Show and Sale

I don't mind waking up to rain in the morning, but I do object to temperatures of 46F (8C) although it is supposed to get up to 59F (15C) when it is the middle of August.

Although the morning was fairly quiet I did manage to get some work done on this painting that I had started earlier this year (see post on 25 May 2014) which I will post at a later date once more work on it has been completed.

The afternoon was another story and we had a fair crowd of people come through the show, with three originals sold from Barbara MacGregor, Rebecca Bilcox and JoAnne Connell Northey as well as small items from Bonny Windover and Diane Collins.














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

The hours for our show are:
14 Aug 14 - 10:00am - 5:00pm
15 Aug 14 - 10:00am - 5:00pm
16 Aug 14 - 10:00am - 5:00pm
17 Aug 14 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm

Gardening 2 - A Work in Progress

We have returned from yesterday's wedding where we had a very enjoyable time with family and friends. Good food and wine as well as great music and I spent most of the night on the dance floor.

Now that I am back home it is time to recover from the festivities; so instead of working in my garden today I mowed the lawn instead.














It is fitting that I did a little more work on the barn board in the background on this painting that I had started last month in the still life class at KAGS.

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

Peterborough Garden Show

Today was the last day of the Peterborough Garden Show held at the Evinrude Centre, in Peterborough, Ontario.

The show was well attended and many people headed to KAGS to see more floral paintings at the current art show "Renewal".

ACEO - Watering Can 1

Today was the opening of the Peterborough Garden Show held at The Evinrude Centre, 911 Monaghan Road, Peterborough Ontario, it runs from today through to 13 April 2014.

As usual for this show, I sat the last shift of the first day and one of the other KAGS members that had the earlier shift bought a lovely floral planter as a gift for her mother-in-law.

Since I demonstrated while I was there I decided to paint the lovely little watering can with the spring flowers in it. I used one of the cards that I had already painted in a background (see posting 16 October 2012 of Yellow Sky C).

I didn't have time to finish it while I was there as I had to stop often to talk with people about the display; so when I got home I completed 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 Windsor & Newton paint on 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.

Roses 2 - A Work in Progress

Many of the roses are in bloom in my garden.

I did a quick sketch of a few of them onto watercolour paper and will post this painting at a later date once paint has been applied and more of it is completed.

Power Outage and the Peterborough Garden Show

It has been and interesting couple of days so far with a power outage due to the ice storm and the freezing rain bringing down tree limbs onto the power lines.















I have been without power since yesterday at 10:00am and when I last called for an update I may have my power restored by 11:00pm tomorrow night and hopefully that won't change.

Needless to say I spent the day sitting the KAGS art display at the Peterborough Garden Show in the Evinrude Centre, 911 Monaghan Road, in Peterborough, Ontario, they at least had their power restored.

Chinese Lanterns

Winter is not far off and the days are getting shorter and colder and I decided to paint one of my favourite plants from my childhood.

I have always liked the Chinese Lantern plant (Physalis alkekengi) with their bright orange pods which look like some of the traditional Chinese lanterns in shape and even have a texture similar to paper.

It is also known as Bladder Cherry, Japanese Lantern, Strawberry Tomato and Winter Cherry.

This popular ornamental plant has white flowers, which form into green pods in late summer and by the end of the growing season in September to October depending on the zone in which they are planted they change to their characteristic bright pumpkin orange or darker red orange colour, with each of the pods containing a berry with seeds.

It is at this time that the plant can be harvested. They are cut at ground level, the leaves are stripped off, then the entire plant is suspend upside down to dry in a cool dark place with good ventilation for a couple of weeks.

However, this beautiful perennial does have a down side in that some parts of the plant are poisonous if ingested and they are subject to many plant diseases and attract a variety of insect pests which like to munch away at them.

It is also highly invasive with its wide-spreading root system sending up new shoots some distance away from where it was originally planted. This was something I had never realized, but then where my Mom planted them was inside a small filled in concrete fish pond where the roots could not escape and spread.

I would like to thank Mrs. Heather Grant of Lakefield, Ontario on her purchase of this original 1-3/4" x 5-3/4” watercolour painting for her art collection.

Gardening I - A Work in Progress

Today I was at KAGS for the Still Life class this morning.

The gardening display was brought in by Gail and Carol.

I chose to do one half of it, with the pink gardening hat, green gardening boots, gloves, a begonia and an old watering can with forsythia.

I will post this painting at a later date once more of it is completed.

I am looking forward to next week when we will have a silver tea set with china cups.

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

Gardening - A Work in Progress

We had another large selection of items for the theme of Gardening for our Still Life class at KAGS today and again the class was well attended.

Gail brought in a large assortment of decorative bird houses, gardening tools, hats, packets of seeds and some spring flowers in pots.

I chose one section with an interesting bird house, and a small ceramic nesting bird.

I will post this at a later date after I work on it again.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

Porcelain Plant - A Work in Progress

Today we had Sharon Taylor as the guest artist for the Buckhorn Artists' Group.

We worked on paintings of various fruits, vegetables and plants. I chose the porcelain plant because of its bright and colourful berries. Using watercolour for the background and plants, and then coming back in with black ink to add details.

This painting still needs a lot of work and I will post it once it is completed.

Pretty Pansies 1

This morning I demonstrated from 10:00am until 1:00 pm at Griffin's Greenhouse, 3026 Lakefield Rd. (formerly Hwy. 28) for the "Art in the Garden Show". The Peterborough and Area GardenRoute is hosting this event at all of the ten member businesses from 10am to 4pm.

While I was there I completed this little original, 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" watercolour which is available for $20.00 unframed.

Members of the Kawartha Artists' Gallery will be at the locations showing and demonstrating their art. By following the link you can also see at which locations some of the members from the Buckhorn Artists' Group will be displaying their work.

It is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy beautiful art while visiting spectacular floral displays when all the gardens are in full bloom.

This afternoon I demonstrated for the last time at the Norwood 2nd Annual Art Show and Sale at the Norwood Legion Hall - Branch 300, Corner of Alma and King Street, Norwood, Ontario.

The show runs from the 22-26 June and is open daily from 2-5pm. Tomorrow Helen Sheppard will be sitting the show for me.

Windblown Poppies - A Work in Progress

Today was the last meeting of the Buckhorn Painters Group until September. This was one of the paintings I worked on while I was there.

The poppies had been drawn onto the paper and then masked out.

Once the masking fluid was dry the soft background was created by wetting the paper and then pouring in a medium mixture of raw sienna and rolling it around on the paper to cover the area behind the masked out poppies and leaving some areas of white showing.

While the paper was gradually drying a green of raw sienna and Antwerp blue was poured into the middle of the cluster of poppies. Using a flat brush it was moved outwards from the poppies to give the impression of foliage.

As the paper was drying French ultramarine blue was added to darken the green mix and a few more leaves were painted into the lighter green with a little more detail to give some definition to the poppy leaves. The background is now completed and the painting was set aside to dry completely before removing the masking fluid.

Each petal is painted in stages. The base colour is a wash of alizarin crimson and the areas where the bright white highlight will be is left completely without paint, allowing the paper to be my white.










A little more alizarin crimson is added to the wash to darken the colour slightly and the next layer of colour is applied leaving the palest areas with just the base wash of colour. To the third layer of paint a small amount of cadmium red is added to the alizarin crimson which seems to give a richer more vibrant colour. More cadmium red is added to the colour mix and another layer of colour is applied.

A little bit of the green mix is glazed over the red and is painted in the areas where the darkest colour will be located and to show some of the reflected greens from the background colour. Some of the highlights are painted in with cadmium yellow to give a soft golden glow.

A very dark purple mixture of French ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and burnt sienna is used for the dark center of the poppy.

The stems and buds are painted using various greens made from mixtures of Antwerp blue, raw sienna and French ultramarine blue.

The poppies are in various stages of completion as layers of wash are gradually built up on each petal and stalk.

As I finish more of the flowers I will post this to the blog.

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

Happy Faces

This is a painting that is currently being exhibited at my solo show at the the Showplace Performance Centre.

I have always liked pansies. They are such a cheerful flower that comes in a wide variety of colours and seem almost to smile at you.


















This is a 10 x 14” framed, watercolour $325.00.

Poppies

This is an original, 1-1/2" x 4” framed watercolour.

With the unseasonable warm weather we have been having my poppies are just starting to come up out of the ground. They are one of my favourite flowers. It is such a shame that you can only enjoy their beauty for such a short time. I look forward to June when they are all in bloom.

Congratulations to Mrs. Dawn E. Cox of Peterborough, Ontario for adding this painting to her collection. SOLD