Mikisew Provincial Park

With this being our last full day at Mikisew Provincial Park this morning we got up early, as we wanted to do both the Beaver Meadow Trail with the red markers and the longer Maple Canyon Trail with the blue markers.


















We went to the start of the trails and after looking at the trail map decided to do the Beaver Meadow Trail first and where it connects with the Maple Canyon trail and follow that trail until it connects with the yellow markers of the Old Dog Trail that we did yesterday and follow it back to the beginning.

The start of the trail took us around the golf course and then through a forested path before coming out into a clearing.

It was there we meet another person who was returning from the wetland. After I spoke to him about his camera, he let us know he had been taking photographs of a young male moose in the pond. We thanked him and continued.

It wasn't long before we once again entered the forest and the ground slowly began to get softer and more moist.

Then came the first of a number of boarded walkways which allowed us to cross through marshland.

This continued until we came to the beaver pond, where there was a long elevated wooden walkway with the pond on both sides.

Unfortunately, there was no sign of the moose in the pond which was disappointing.

The one compensation was that as we started up the hill after crossing the walkway there were moose tracks in the mud at the side of the trail.















The nice thing about this trail was that there were different views of the pond on our left side, including coming close to the beaver lodge.















When we came to the Maple Canyon Trail, it lead us away from the pond and through a wonderful hardwood forest with many of the leaves on the trees in various stages of changing colour.















There were a number of places along this trail, that had wooden benches so you could sit and enjoy the views from the high points along the trail.















Eventually, we came to a point in the trail where we found the trail marker showing all three trail colours and followed it back to the start of the trail.

From there it didn't take long to return to the trailer where we had lunch and then relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine for a couple of hours.

We decided to take a stroll down to the beach and once we arrived there, we took off our shoes and walked along the shore until the sun got lower in the sky. It was time to head back to the trailer.

While I made supper, Ron put the logs into the fire pit so we could enjoy our evening tea or coffee with a fire.

It was the perfect end to an enjoyable day.

Tomorrow we will pack up and make our way back home.

ACEO - Morning Pond 1

Today I wanted to work on something that wouldn't take a lot of time to complete so I pulled out this painting that I had started earlier this year (see post on 01 January 2019).

I started in the background and completed the pine trees and areas of brush and deciduous trees using carious mixtures of Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue, raw sienna, aureolin and new gamboge.

Adding a little more Antwerp blue to some of the pale green I brushed in the water of the pond.

Using a darker green I put in the background reeds and the stalks on the foreground reeds.














Next using burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue I painted in the cattails, being careful to leave areas on two of them for the pale coloured open seed heads. I also indicated a few cattail heads into the background reeds.

Lastly, I put in the foreground reeds using a mix of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue and aureolin.

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.

Morning Pond 1 - A Work in Progress

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

This morning I watched the sun come up on the first day of the year.

I thought I would start by painting the morning sky with raw sienna and adding the haze from the ice crystals in the air with a pale wash of Antwerp blue.

I put in the reflected sky colour onto the distant hill followed by some cast shadows at the edges of the closer field.














Using a pale wash of alizarin crimson to warm the painting I applied it to the snow covered surface of the pond.

I added a little burnt sienna to the blue and started to put in some reeds in the foreground and decided I didn't like the way they looked.

Once the paper was dry I added in some trees on the distant hill, put in some reeds at the far edge of the pond and some growies at the edge of the field. In the foreground I put in some cattails and reeds.

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

Birch Autumn 2

Since the painting I did yesterday worked looks very nice in the frame I had for it, I thought I would do another one today of a similar subject.

The background under paint was already on the paper and I lightly sketched in where my trees would be located.

I already had a mid tone green of Antwerp blue and raw sienna, as well as a dark green of French ultramarine blue and raw sienna.

With the light green and a sponge, I put in the lighter coloured tree leaves throughout the background on the right side of the painting.

With the dark green mixture, I put in the pine trees on both sides of the painting leaving an open area in the centre as well as being careful to leave the birch tree trunks untouched.













Using a dark of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I painted in the rocks and the tree branches as well as some markings on the birch trees.

Next, I used a mix of both blues to put a few in ripples on the water.

I used cadmium yellow and raw sienna to put the leaves onto the birch trees; this was followed by adding in some reflections of the bright leaves into the water on the right side.

Lastly, using burnt sienna I put in some smaller younger trees into the opening in the center between the larger trees on each side of the painting.

This original 3" x 4-1/2" watercolour painting when framed will be available for $75.00. SOLD

Early Spring Sunset - A Work in Progress

Today is the first day of the Lucy Manley workshop at KAGS for the month of February. It had to be postponed for a week due to a snow storm that caused most of the schools in the area to be closed and many of the people in the class have to travel long distances to get to the Gallery.

This painting was started with an under paint of raw sienna to have a layer of warm colour as a base.

Next using pure cadmium red the darkest colours were indicated and the basic outline of the main trees were indicated.














Cadmium yellow was added to the cadmium red for an orange to indicate the trees in the background.

Then the sky was brushed in using pure cadmium yellow as the base colour for a sunset.

A dark was mixed using French ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson this was colour was used to indicate the darkest areas in the trees, the reflections and the foreground.















A little white was added to the cadmium red and yellow mix and the high lit tops of the background trees were indicated.

A dark green of French ultramarine blue and raw sienna was used for the middle tone of the cedar trees; a little cadmium yellow was added to the mixture and the sunlit sides of the cedars were painted.

To the orange mix of cadmium red and yellow a small amount of French ultramarine blue was added and vertical lines were put in to indicate the trunks of the distant trees.















Next Titanium white with a small amount of cadmium yellow added was used to paint the sunlit areas of the snow.

The darkest snow shadows were painted in with a mixture of Titanium white and French ultramarine blue and a touch of alizarin crimson was added to some of the areas to warm the shadows.

Cerulean blue was added to the shadow colour and was painted into a few areas in the foreground.














Adding a little more alizarin crimson to the warm snow mixture the ice was painted into the pond leaving a few areas of open water with the reflections showing through.

A little of the ice colour was put into some of the tops of the background trees to indicate frost.

More of the foreground snow was painted in leaving a few areas untouched as though the sun during the day had melted the snow leaving the water covered ground bare.














I will post this painting later this month after more work on it has been completed.

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

Koi Pond - A Work in Progress

Today I was doing the morning shift at Art on Kent and took in my paintings for the next show Reaping and Gathering.

While sitting the Gallery I worked on the placement of the koi on my painting Koi Pond (see post on 21 May 2014).

I printed off a copy of the painting and drew out a number of koi in various sizes and positions on a piece of tracing paper and then cut out each fish and moved them around on the painting.

I may do a couple more of these changing the direction of the painting and changing the koi to see which one looks the best.

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

On Golden Pond - A Work in Progress

Today I put in some of the under painting in for this piece (see postings on 30 October 2011 and 08 October 2013).

The sky was painted using a wash of cobalt blue deep leaving some lighter areas just above the distant hills. A darker wash of the same blue was used to paint the water leaving a few lighter areas. As the water area was drying a little burnt sienna was brushed below where the distant hills will be and below the middle ground.

Using light red and raw sienna to create a warm glow of colour for the distant hills, which for the most part will be covered up behind the dark greens of the pines and cedars in the middle ground.

Raw sienna was put into the middle ground and then a pale wash of burnt sienna was put over top of that while it was still wet for the middle ground.

I will post this painting at a later date once I put in the dark greens and remove the masking fluid.

On Golden Pond - A Work in Progress

Since today I was painting with the Buckhorn Tuesday Painting Group I took along a number of paintings from Magnetawan.

This is a sketch I had started (see posting 30 October 2011) one afternoon the first time I went to Magnetawan while I was sitting on the bench by the well that overlooked a quiet inlet.

Since the original reference photographs were lost when I had computer problems I decided to bring the sketch with me this year and try and get it completed.

This year there were a lot more leaves on the trees and I made changes to the sketch and masked out the areas that need to be kept clean for the bright coloured leaves and sunlit areas.

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

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

Tranquil Afternoon - A Work in Progress

While going through some boxes I came across a number of partially finished paintings.

This one had the sky, distant shoreline and water completed. The under painting on the rocks and the closer trees had been completed.

I finished the trees and added some dead tree trunks in among the trees on the island to complete that part of the painting.















Dark shadows and some definition were added to the rocks, giving them shape. Once the painting had dried I removed the masking fluid from the water lilies.

It is fitting that with the Art of the Turtle Show being held tonight that I work on a painting with water which would be an ideal habitat for turtles.

The show was well attended with all paintings meeting or exceeding the reserve price and the highest price paid in the live auction was $480.00.

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