Viamede Resort I-III

Today the KAGS Outdoor Painters' Group went to the Viamede Resort in Woodview, Ontario.

When Cindy, Norma and I arrived in the upper parking lot at the Viamede Resort, I stopped to take some photographs of the chapel on the property where numerous weddings have been held over the years since it was established in 1877.

From there we went back across the parking lot and started down the paved pathway to the docks on Stoney Lake.

I didn't go down onto the dock, but stayed in the patio area just above them.
The lake was very calm and I took photographs of the cottages on its edge that cast long reflections across the water.

Viamede III - Flower Pot

I sat down at one of the picnic tables and started sketching the cottages before the wind came up and blurred their reflections.

Once my drawing of the cottages was completed, I started on a sketch of the large wooden barrel planters at both entrances to the patio.

They were filled with ivy, dark purple petunias, bright pink geraniums and salvia.

What intrigued me was the use of two hawsers (a heavy rope used for mooring) running between the posts that surrounded the patio giving it a nautical theme.

Which, is fitting since the docks and boat house are right there.

Viamede II - Planters

Once I finished that sketch I noticed a flower pot on the upper level of the boathouse.

It had a black eyed Susan vine growing out of the pot and climbing up the corner post on the rail fence around the deck.














Viamede I - Cottage Reflections

At a later time I may turn each of these drawings into either watercolour or acrylic paintings.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

Elli's African Violets - A Work in Progress

This morning in the Still Life class at KAGS our theme was Potted Plants.

There were two different displays; the first one was of house plants, two kinds of African violets, orchids and cyclamen placed on a quilt in various shades of blue.

The second display had mainly flowering bulbs in pots, white tulips, red and white tulips, yellow daffodils, miniature daffodils, crocus, hyacinths and a large container of various coloured African violets, resting on a throw with sunflowers on a blue background. 














I decided to work on the large pot of African violets. Once the basic sketch was completed I brushed in the background with a mix of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue and raw sienna.

By then it was time for a break and when I returned the background was dry and I put in a base colour for the sunflower throw.

While waiting for the bottom of the painting to dry I put in the under paint on some of the African violet blooms using various mixes of French ultramarine blue, Cobalt blue and Antwerp blue combined with alizarin crimson.

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

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.