Snelgrove Brook 1 - A Work in Progress

Today is not going to be a pleasant day, with having had freezing rain overnight and a Meteorological Alert for Wind Warnings of sustained winds of 31mph (50km/h) and wind gusts of 62-68mph (100-110km/h), a high of 37F (3C) and two thunderstorms, one in the morning and one in the afternoon (although I am not going to complain about the thunderstorms, as I enjoy watching them).

I decided that since I am staying indoors I may as well paint. I picked this piece that I had started a number of years ago while driving home (see posts on 23 September 2013 and 08 December 2018).















I started with the pine trees in the forest behind them using mixtures of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and raw sienna.

Next, I put in the reeds along the far side of the brook, using various mixtures of raw sienna, burnt sienna, aureolin and new gamboge.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have put in the foreground shoreline.

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

OSWOA - Evening Marsh 1

I wanted to finish this painting that I have been working on for quite a while (see posts on 11 December 2011, 31 January, 19 March and 12 May 2016 and 19 August 2017).

With various mixtures of burnt sienna, raw sienna and French ultramarine blue I first painted the reeds by the dead cedar behind the fallen tree trunk.

Then I put in some grasses and growies at the base of the trees in the background on the left side of the painting.














Lastly I added more grasses and growies at the base of the foreground trees on the left side

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 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $40.00 and sold unframed.

27th Annual Shades of Summer Art Show and Sale

Today I thought I would work on smaller paintings today and chose this piece that I had started a while ago (see posts on 11 December 2011, 31 January, 19 March and 12 May 2016).

I added a few more cattails to the far bank of the marsh then added some reeds and growies on the closer bank.

I will post this painting a later date once I add some growies to the base of the trees and darken a couple of the tree trunks.














Evening Marsh 1

It was a fairly busy day with six paintings sold by Diane Collins, Ron Desjardine, Sharon Harper and Bonnie Windover; pottery by JoAnne Connell Northey and small items purchased from Diane Collins, Irene Smith and JoAnne Connell Northey.

The hours for our show are:
19 Aug 17 - 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
20 Aug 17 - 12:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

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

Evening Marsh 1 - A Work in Progress

It is another sunny and hot day with the temperature reaching 83F (28C). We were fortunate that there was a nice breeze blowing to prevent it from getting too humid.

I pulled out this painting that I had worked on earlier this year (see posts on 11 December 2011, 31 January and 19 March 2016).













The first thing was to add in the more of the tree trunks and branches using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

Once most of the main trees were completed, some of the smaller and darker saplings and growies were added.














With a mix of raw sienna and a touch of burnt sienna I indicated where the water in the marsh would show, reflecting the colour of the sky.

Using various mixes of raw sienna, new gamboge, burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue I started to put in the reeds, grasses and growies.

I will post this painting once I have completed the marsh area.

Evening Marsh 1 - A Work in Progress

I pulled out this painting that I had started working on again earlier this year (see posts on 11 December 2011 and 31 January 2016).

It had originally been called Yellow Sky 3 and after deciding that it would be a nice scene of a wetland area I have changed its name to Evening Marsh 1.

I started by putting in some of the tree trunks with mixtures of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.













There will be a number of the trees that will be dead which is often found in the marsh. 

As I do more work on this painting I will post it at a later date.

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

Swamp 2 - A Work in Progress

It is another humid day with the temperature reaching 81F (27.2C) and with the humidity making it feel like 94F (34.4C) and quite likely we will have a thunderstorm this afternoon.

I decided to go for a drive up Highway 507 (Buckhorn Road) just past Flynn's Corners where there is a large variety of wetlands.












This time of the year the swamp and marshland on either side of the highway is just beautiful, with the sunlight reflected back into the water turning it to blue and all the different shades of green from the aquatic plant life and the pearl grey dead cedar trees scattered about the swamp.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have developed the sketch and transferred it onto watercolour paper or canvas.

Frozen Marsh I - A Work in Progress

It is 0F (-18C) and with the wind chill it feels like -18F (-28C). There is still no sign of Junkyard and I am starting to think that something has happened to him; but I am hoping that I am wrong and he will show up again.

Today is the first day of the John David Anderson workshop at the Kawartha Art Gallery and Studio.














In the morning we started by under painting the canvas with a thin layer of French ultramarine blue. Then with thicker paint we blocked in the basic shapes of the painting establishing the rock, the trees, the first line of reeds and the distant shore of the marsh.

Next the darkest darks were painted in, then the mid tone values and finally the lightest colours were painted.














After the lunch break it was time to add more detail starting with the background dead trees in the sunlit area.

Some of the brighter colour was added into the closer area of weeds on the edge of the marsh and shadow and colour onto the closer trees.

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

Frozen Marsh - A Work in Progress

The day started off clear and very cold 0F (-18C) and with the wind chill it felt like -17F (-27C). I am concerned about my cat Junkyard. The last time he was in the barn was on New Year's Day and he had scraped a lot of skin off his left hind leg and it is not like him to miss a meal much less for more than a couple of days. Hopefully he is just out being a Casanova.

This afternoon I was in a class with Lucy Manley at the Kawartha Artists’ Gallery and Studio. What was interesting and a pleasant surprise was that the subject for the class was a winter scene of a marsh.

Yesterday I was out taking photographs of a world coated in thick ice after the freezing rain storm of the night before. Some of the pictures were of a section of the Snelgrove Brook which runs through the back of my property, so I was able to use my own reference material.














When I left the Gallery it had clouded over and was starting to snow. The wind had died down a little, but the cold remained and the high for the day was 7F (-14C) with the wind chill making it feet like -9F (-23C). Needless to say, I am not looking forward to the continuing cold weather forecast for this week.

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

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

Stormy Sky I

It was a beautiful day today with the temperature going up to 77F (25C) and with the humidity it felt more like 88F (31C), this caused us to be treated to three thunderstorms.

I have always enjoyed watching thunderstorms and with living on the top of a hill you can see the lightning all around you during a storm. It was especially nice being able to sit on the front porch with my husband and enjoy the beauty of the storm with its many lightning strikes.












While going through some drawings I came across this one that I had started a few years ago (see post on 27 August 2011).

I thought it fitting that I should finish this drawing of a stormy day.

I lightly penciled in the bottoms of a series of clouds and then gradually inked in the layers of the clouds as they stacked one on top of the other.

This original 4-1/2" x 9" pen and ink drawing when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $45.00.

Wilderness Sunset - A Work in Progress

It is another rainy day; the only nice thing is the temperature is rising, but then it is also supposed to get very windy. Hopefully my lawn furniture won't blow away down the driveway as usual.

I started thinking about my time in Magnetawan at the beginning of this month and the unseasonably warm weather and the beautiful sunset over the marsh while we were going through Algonquin Park on our way home.








I brushed in some of the sunset colours that I remembered as well as a few of the dead cedar trunks.

Then I set the painting aside so I could think about what else I would like to include in the painting. I will post this piece at a later date once more of it has been completed.

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

OSWOA - Winter Forest 1

This painting was originally called Blue Sky 1 (see post on 22 December 2011) and I have changed the name to Winter Forest 1

I lightly indicated in pencil, where I would like to have the larger trees and where the distant land would be placed.














With a pale mixture of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue and raw sienna I put in the distant evergreen trees.

With various mixtures of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I started painting in the tree trunks, keeping the more distant trees lighter and less detailed and having the closer ones darker with more bark texture.













Once all the trees had been painted into the picture I started putting in the various grasses and growies around the base of the trees and in a few areas in the snow.

For this I used mixes of raw sienna, burnt sienna, alizarin crimson and French ultramarine blue.













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 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $40.00 and sold unframed.

Reeds 4-6 Three Works in Progress

Today I was over at my friend Heather's along with Irene and the three of us worked on our paintings.

Where we are set up on Heather's kitchen table we are able to look out the window and see the inlet and a section of Lake Chemong.

I decided that I wanted to paint the reeds and bull rushes from the inlet.


Reeds 4

Mixing up Antwerp blue with a little burnt sienna gives a wide range of lovely green greys which make a wonderful under paint for the calm water of the inlet.

I worked back and forth on all three of these paintings.

I started with the paler background colour of the slowly moving water with the sunlit reflecting off of it.


Reeds 5

Then each painting was set aside to allow it to dry.

A slightly darker mixture was made by adding more pigment and a touch more burnt sienna.

To the first one I added in the mass of reeds. With the second one I added a little raw sienna to the mixture and started to indicate the brighter coloured reeds.



Reeds 6

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

OSWOA - Landscapes

One of the many nice things about living in the Kawarthas is the beauty of the land and the lakes no matter what the season, weather or time of day.

The Snelgrove Brook runs through the back part of the property, it is a part of the Miller Creek system and a haven for wildlife. This wetland habitat is a nesting area for many species of waterfowl, and houses two beaver dams. The 60 plus acres of forest is home to a small wolf pack, deer and many other smaller animals, wild turkeys, many types of game birds and an unbelievable number of species of birds.

On the Edge SOLD

In the autumn many migrating birds pass through the area and often spend the night in safety on the Snelgrove Brook.

I do not allow hunting on the property, with the exception of a neighbour who goes deer hunting during one week of the hunting season.

In exchange he keeps my fences posted and helps to keep unwanted trespassers off the property.

Autumn Visitor

Even when the weather is overcast and grey, with rain falling the land has a peaceful beauty all its own.

Often on a still night or after a rain sound carries a fair distance and you can hear the call of the loons on Lake Chemong which is about 2 miles (3.2km) away.

If you would like more information about OSWOA please go to my post on 12 March 2010.

After the Rain

The OSWOA shown here are all original watercolour paintings using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on either 140lb. or 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. They are priced at $40.00 each and sold unframed.

Swamp

This is a 6-3/4" x 6-3/4" original, framed watercolour available for $145.00.

The Snelgrove Brook runs through the back part of my property and is home to a wide variety of wildlife.


















Many of the shore line trees have died with the land being on a flood plain and underwater much of the time. In the early morning, the fog gives it an air of mystery, as the soft breeze carries the muted sounds of animals moving unseen through the wetland.

Thank you for looking at my artwork.