Coral Reef 3-5 - Three Works in Progress

I came across these three pieces, that had once started as granite rocks in a larger painting but it didn't quite work out.

After looking at them, I decided that I would turn them into underwater paintings.















Coral Reef 3

Using French ultramarine blue, cobalt blue and burnt sienna I painted in the water on each painting.















Coral Reef 4

Before I could get more work done on these paintings, I had friends come over for a visit.















Coral Reef 5

I will post each of these paintings at a later date as more work on them is completed.

Coral Reef 1 and 2 - Two Works in Progress

Today, I wanted to paint but just wasn't sure which piece to work on and try to finish.

I decided to go through some of my pieces that didn't work out and were kept for playing with colour or cut up to make into small paintings.

I pulled out these two pieces that had started as moss covered, granite rocks, but it didn't quite work out.















Coral Reef 1

After looking at them I thought I could turn them into underwater paintings.

Using French ultramarine blue, cobalt blue and burnt sienna I painted in the water. For the first one I put the darker water at the bottom against the rocks and added some lighter areas toward the top to indicate the waves and light coming in from the sky.















Coral Reef 2

For the second painting I lightened the colour slightly with water to try and create what it looks like from under water when a wave comes over a rock near the surface and the sun shining through the sallower water.

I will post each of these paintings at a later date as more work on them is completed.

ACEO - Along the Shore 1-3

Today I am back at the Douro Spring Automotive Flea Market and Car Show held at the Douro Community Centre and Arena, located at 2893 Highway 28 and County Road 4, in Douro, Ontario.














Along the Shore 1

When I first arrived, there were already four of the old cars lined up along one side of the parking lot and after taking a few things inside I came back out to take photographs.

With wanting to go back outside to take photographs as more cars arrive I decided I would work on these three paintings that I had started a number of years ago (see posts on 16 September 2013, 27 August 2016, 16 January and 22 December 2017).















Along the Shore 2

In between taking photographs of the cars, I completed each of these three paintings.

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














Along the Shore 3

If you would like more information about ACEO please go to my post on 11 March 2010.

The ACEO shown here are all original watercolour paintings using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on 140lb. Fabriano 100% cotton, acid free watercolour paper. They are priced at $20.00 each and sold unframed.

Suppertime? - A Work in Progress

Today, I wanted to get more of the sponges, coral and plants painted on this piece I had started quite a while ago (see posts on 15 March, 31 October and 30 December 2012, 25 March 2013 and 09 August 2017).

Using Titanium white, ultramarine blue and raw sienna I finished adding to the plants at the top of the rock face. With the white, I indicated the top of some of the sponges lower down on the rock face.

With various mixtures of raw sienna, burnt sienna and Hansa yellow, I added some tube sponges on the edge of the rocks closest to the Jack-knifefish (Equetus lanceolatus).

From there using the same colours I added more sponges into the middle of the center area and a few more smaller ones towards the left side.















Next, I used a mixture of Titanium white, ultramarine blue and vermillion and put in a couple more of the purple sponges toward the middle of the rock face and some much smaller, duller coloured ones to the left side.

At this point I wanted to get the top area of the rock face completed. I mixed various greens using ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, raw sienna and Hansa yellow.

Using the greens I put in some of the small, leafy sea weed, draping it down the rock face from beneath the light coloured sponges and corals.

Lastly, using the darker greens I added a few pieces of seaweed above and around the smaller purple sponges.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have finished painting the remaining coral and sponges on the rock face.

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

Along the Shore 1-3 - Three Works in Progress

This morning I woke up 19F (-7C), with the wind chill making it feel like 8F (-13C) and add to that another 3" (7.6cm) of snow on top of everything we had received a couple of days ago.

To offset the cold I decided to work on these three paintings that I had started a number of years ago (see posts on 16 September 2013, 27 August 2016 and 16 January 2017).

Working on all three paintings at the same time, I started by putting the seagulls into the sky using a dark of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.















Along the Shore 1

Next I put in the blue of the water using various mixtures of Antwerp blue and raw sienna, leaving some areas of the paper white against the shoreline.

I added a small amount of French ultramarine blue to the water colour and added a few darker areas throughout the water to indicate waves.















Along the Shore 2

Using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue, raw sienna, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson I started adding layers of colour onto the distant islands on the horizon line.

Darkening the colours slightly I put in the closer islands.















Along the Shore 3

Lastly, I worked on the closer more detailed rock cliffs close to the beach.

I will post each of these paintings as they are completed.

Sharing the Sky I - A Work in Progress

Today I wanted to do a little more on this sketch that I started in Cuba (see post on 23 May 2016).

Using pen and ink I started with the clouds putting in the outline first and then adding in some shadows.

Next, I put in the horizon line, followed by adding the islands and hills.

From there I put in the palm trees, life guard hut, and the pier.















I then started in on the water and put in the waves and white caps as well as the ripples from the waves washing onto the beach.

The kite boarder was added onto the water. I then erased the hut that had been on the end of the pier as I felt it made things too "busy" and fought for dominance with the kite boarder.

I will post this drawing at a later date once I have added a few more kite boarders and some of the seagulls which are sharing the sky with them.

ACEO - Caribbean Shore 1

It is fairly mild here 39F (4C) with the wind chill at 28F (-2C), fairly "balmy" weather for a December day, which is why I pulled out this painting that I had started a couple of years ago (see posts on 08 April 2015 and 27 August 2016).

Using greens made from various mixtures of  Antwerp blue, burnt sienna, French ultramarine blue, new gamboge and raw sienna I started by putting in the trees on the distant land on the left side of the painting first.

I followed this by putting in the palm trees on the right side of the beach, followed by adding the closest palm trees on the left side of the beach.














I added a few strands of seaweed onto the sand of the beach just above the waterline.

Finally, using a dark of burnt sienna and the darker green mix I painted in the coconuts among the palm fronds on the two closer trees, then lightened the colour with water I put in the tree trunks on the closer trees and on the tree trunks at the far end of the beach.

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. Fabriano 100% cotton, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.

Grass Huts I

Today I didn't feel like working on a painting so I decided that I would work on this drawing that I started work on earlier this year (see posts on 15 February and 06 July 2017) once they had been found in a box that had been put away in storage.

I started back working on the right side tree and added a couple more palm fronds to finish the first tree.

Next I put in the two remaining palm tree trunks beginning with the trunk of the smaller one on the left side of the group and then doing the larger one in the middle.

Then I started putting the last of the palm fronds on the first tree which were blowing in the wind, followed by putting those on the smaller tree, being careful to keep them behind the middle palm tree trunk.

Lastly, I added the palm fronds on the large tree in the middle, being sure to keep them behind those of the first tree.

This original 6" x 7" pen and ink drawing when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $75.00.

Grass Huts I - A Work in Progress

It is hot 84F (29C) and humid 91F (33C) and I thought that I would work on one of a number of sketches that I did while I was in Cuba (see post on 15 February 2017).

Along the beach by the Tryp in Cayo CoCo were a number of dilapidated huts that were left there to provide shelter should you get caught outside during a thunderstorm.

Hopefully, the wind won't be strong enough to cause them to collapse on top of you.

I finished the huts by putting in the walls and doors.

Next I indicated some of the sand on the beach and the waves along the shoreline.

I drew in a clump of palm trees by the huts.

I started with the small clumps of young palm trees at the base of the large palm trees before I started on the trunk and some of the palm fronds at the top of the trees.

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

Caribbean - Two Works in Progress

I did a little bit on this drawing that I had started a couple of years ago  (see posts on 24 January 2014 and 27 May 2016).

After putting in the woman's hair, I found I couldn't get into the drawing so I set it aside.














Sail Softly on By I

Next I started on another drawing that was also started a couple of years ago (see post on 12 January 2014).















Along the Beach I

I put in a few boats up near the horizon line and then did a little more work on the seaweed on the shore.

I will post each of these drawings as more work on them is completed.

School's Out I - A Work in Progress

I started to work on this underwater drawing that I began last year (see posts on 15 July and 28 December 2016) by indicating the bottom edge of the sea fan by the top edge of the rock.

Next I put in the top of the highest rock on this piece of the reef.

Part way down the reef I put in the rock out cropping with some yellow tube sponges. At the base of the sponges I put in some sea weed.

I will post this drawing at a later time once I have decided whether I am going to put in a school of French Grunts or Purple Wrasse.

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

Along the Shore 1-3 - Three Works in Progress

Today it is 25F (-4C) with the wind chill making it feel like 18F (-8C) and we are going to get just under 1/2" (8mm) of freezing rain accretion.















Along the Shore 1

I pulled out these three paintings that I started a while ago (see posts on 16 September 2013 and 27 August 2016).















Along the Shore 2

Since I didn't have much time to work on paintings today, I decided to put in the sky on each of the paintings with Antwerp blue.















Along the Shore 3

I will post each of these paintings at a later date as more work on them has been completed.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

School's Out I - A Work in Progress

I pulled out this sketch that I started earlier this year (see post on July 2016).

First I added more details to the fish and started on the branches of the sea fan.

Next I added various coral and sponges onto the rock.

I started to ink in the main branches of the sea fan before I ran out of time.

I will post this sketch at a later date.

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

Beach Scenes - Four Works in Progress

Today I thought I would like to work on some of the scenes from the Caribbean.

I pulled out three drawings from Aruba (see post on 16 September 2013) and one from Roatan (see post from 08 April 2015).














Along the Shore 1

I thought that I would work on all four pieces at the same time starting with the sand.















Along the Shore 2

I used raw sienna in various strengths for the sand on the beaches leaving some areas of white paper by the shore for the froth from the waves.














Along the Shore 3

Using Antwerp blue in the sky I brush in the sky and then added in a little of the raw sienna for the water, leaving some areas white for the froth on the beach and for a few white caps.















Caribbean Shore 1

I will post each of these paintings at a later date as more work on them is completed.

Barracuda I - A Work in Progress

It is typical hot July weather with the temperature reaching 91F (33C) and the humidity making it feel like 99F (37C).

This is another sketch I transferred onto paper from my diving slate when I was in Roatan, Honduras at the CoCo View Resort.















I was on Newman's wall after the first morning dive on my way back to the Resort when I came across this small school of barracuda slowly moving along the reef.

I did a quick sketch of their placement in the reef and thought it may turn into a nice painting later.

I will post this sketch once more work on it has been completed.

School's Out I - A Work in Progress

We had rain last night and the power went out in the evening around 7:30 and didn't return until around 4:30 this morning. The rain, wind, heat 79F (26C) and the humidity 88F (31C) continued throughout the day.

I came across my slate that I use when diving and transferred this sketch that I did when I was in Roatan onto a piece of paper.

This landmark rock formation is at a decompression stop at 30' (9.1m) located between the Prince Albert wreck and the platform in the backyard of the CoCo View Resort.

While waiting there you are almost always guaranteed to see a multitude of fish swimming around the large sea fan.

I will post this sketch at a later date when I have tightened up the drawing of the fish and added the details of to the rocks and sea fan.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada

Today started off fairly cool this morning at 27F (-2.8C) and a layer of frost on the grass, but at least the sun is shining and it supposed to get warmer as the day progresses.

After the chores were completed we headed out to Toronto to go to Ripley's Aquarium of Canada, which is a place I have wanted to visit since it first opened to the public in October 2013.

With the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team playing today it took a while to find a parking spot as most of the closer parking lots were already filled. We were fortunate and finally found a parking lot south of the Aquarium that had a few spaces available.

While Ron got the tickets to enter Ripley's I enjoyed looking at the various kinds of goldfish they had in tanks at the waiting area.

Once inside we took our time to enjoy the nine different galleries into which the Aquarium is divided. One gallery flows into the next. They include:
Canadian Waters,
Rainbow Reef,
Dangerous Lagoon,
Discovery Centre,
The Gallery,
Planet Jellies,
Ray Bay,
Life Support Systems and the Shoreline Gallery.

Seahorses

In the Canadian Waters Gallery there is amazing range of fresh and salt water displays featuring Atlantic lobster in a wide range of colours, Pacific octopus, a vast array of game fish, a large, shimmering silver, school of alewife and an impressive display of a Pacific kelp reef.

This towering display tank has a ramp which starts at the main level and wraps itself around the tank allowing you to view the inhabitants from the top all the way to the base of the tank. Needless to say this was one of the displays where I walked back up the ramp to enjoy the wide variety of fish before returning to the bottom where Ron was patiently waiting for my return.

From there we entered the Rainbow Reef Gallery which is a stunning display of the colourful reef fish of the Indo-Pacific region. To dive in the reefs surrounding the Fiji Islands and visit Micronesia and dive the many WWII wreck in Truk Lagoon is on my wish list and after seeing the multitude of fish in this display makes me want to go sooner.

We had just missed the every other hour interactive dive show, which leaves something to look forward to enjoying on my next visit.

From there we entered the vast Dangerous Lagoon exhibit.

It starts out as a large tank and changes into a tunnel where you are surrounded by the underwater world and as you look up you can see a variety of sharks, reef fish and green sea turtles swimming overhead.

Seahorses I

This display features a moving sidewalk running alongside the main display area where you can watch the ever changing reef, or you can step off the sidewalk and stroll along beside it and observe the sharks and other sea life on the opposite side of the tunnel stopping whenever you please to enjoy the fish.

This was another display that I had to go through a couple of times. I took the sidewalk to the end which leads to the Discovery Centre where Ron decided to wait for me as he watched the people in the pop-up research submarine replica located within the waters of the Dangerous Lagoon.

When I joined him there after walking back to the beginning of the Lagoon and taking the sidewalk back again, he decided he would find a table at the far side of the Discovery Centre and pick up lunch for us while I went back through Dangerous Lagoon for the third time.

On my return I strolled through the Discovery Centre which is a wonderful place for children to view fish up close in the viewing bubbles as well as having the opportunity to touch horseshoe crabs; which are living fossils, unchanged since prehistoric times.











Seahorses II

After lunch we continued on our way through the Aquarium to The Gallery which is home to many of my favourite fish species from around the world and also houses an impressive display of propagated corals (grown in an off-site facility) showing the wide variety of types and colours in one amazing location.

Ron and I enjoyed watching the deadly beauty of red lionfish as they slowly glided about their tank. Their bold coloration of black, brown, or red and white stripes and showy pectoral fins, serve as a warning to potential predators that they have defenses such as being poisonous which is backed up by their venomous spiky fin rays.

We moved on to the tanks filled with my favourite family of marine fish Syngnathidae which includes seahorses, pipefish, leafy and weedy sea dragons. Ron at first didn't believe that the weedy sea dragons were real, since they look just like floating seaweed in the tank, but once he saw their eyes moving he was amazed at how well they were camouflaged.

The next Gallery is called Planet Jellies, which is an enthralling room filled with back lit and colour changing display tanks featuring five different species of jellyfish. Even the ceiling has a delightful display of aptly called translucent moon jellyfish.

Ray Bay is made up of two Galleries in one; the lower level features three species of stingrays and like the Rainbow Reef Gallery features daily interactive dive shows.

The upper level called the Shoreline Gallery, which has a small beach area and offers a two hour package called the Stingray Experience where you can have a closer, hands-on experience with the stingrays.

I have always considered rays to be the butterflies of the underwater world and have had many experiences with them as they gracefully glide through the water past us while diving and snorkeling in the Caribbean. We snorkeled with nurse sharks and rays when we visited Marinarium Park, in Cabeza de Toro, Dominican Republic and while in the Bahamas we spent an afternoon on Nassau Balmoral Island and had unlimited time in the sting ray pool feeding and swimming with the rays.

The last Gallery is probably the most important one to the well-being of the many wonderful animals at the Aquarium and is called Life Support Systems Gallery. It gives a behind the scenes look some of the massive life support and filtration equipment needed to maintain the water quality and conditions for the survival of the marine life. What you see there is only the equipment for the Dangerous Reef and Ray Bay and there is much more not being shown that is required to maintain the other Galleries.

I enjoyed my visit to the Aquarium and will return again in the not too distant future.

Caribbean Shore 1

We are under a freezing rain warning for later this morning and with the temperature at 27F (-2.2C) and the wind chill making it feel like 20F (-6.7C) it gives me a feeling of déjà vu back to 2013 when I was without power for almost five days due to the freezing rain storm that we had about this time of the year.

So rather than dwell on the upcoming storm I thought I would do a drawing of a nice warm place like a beach in the Caribbean, with the surf rolling up onto the shore and a soft breeze making the palm fronds gently sway.














This little black and white drawing brings back warm memories of the white sand beaches. I can hardly wait to head south to the Caribbean islands again.

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

Watching the Boats I - A Work in Progress

Starting the morning off at -24F (-31C) and if I am lucky the high today will be 0F (-18C), so it is a good thing that I came across some of the sketches I did while lying on the beach in Cuba a few years ago.

I have inked in some of the drawing and I will post this piece at a later date once it is completed.

On that vacation we spent two weeks in Jardines del Rey Gardens (Gardens of the King) which is an archipelago or a chain of islands off the northern coast of Cuba that extends 125miles (200km). It developed on the coral reef system that lines the shore between the Bay of Buena Vista and the Atlantic Ocean.

The cays and islands include: Cayo Guillermo, Cayo Coco, Cayo Romano, Cayo Guajaba, Cayo Sabinal, Cayo Paredón, Cayo Grande and Cayo Cruz.

For the first week we stayed at the Tryp Cayo CoCo and I was very disappointed with a number of things. But I do have to say their entertainment was well worth watching, the dance routines were wonderful as was the music and singing.

We had booked this resort because it was supposed to have a dive shop on site, but when we asked at the front desk, they said they didn't have one and of course they were wrong. We finally found the dive shop at the far end of the property while taking a walk along the beach on the fourth day we were there so I managed to get three dives in using some of their equipment; it is a good thing I made sure I brought my own regulator unlike Ron.













He had expected the equipment to be of the same quality as the kind that was in the dive shop in the Breezes Veradero, unfortunately it wasn't and Ron had three pieces of equipment break before he even got into the boat to get taken out for our first dive. But the reef was well worth going out on with plenty of fish and a wide variety of different species.

The beaches were in deplorable condition, covered in seaweed and about mid-day when many of the tourists started to complain about the stench of rotting vegetation they brought out an ancient tractor and the beach then reeked of diesel fumes while they cleared the offending seaweed.

I had wanted to go back to the Bellamar Caves but with the King's Garden being over 185 miles (300 km) southeast of Varadero it was impossible to do it as a day trip, so for the next two days we booked tours through Sunwing and had an enjoyable time aboard a catamaran for the first trip where we were able to enjoy the sun and the sea, with good food and lots of fish while snorkeling on two different reefs.

The second day our tour took us to a sugar cane plantation, an abandoned sugar cane processing plant where we took a ride on the old train the pulled the sugar to port and ended our tour with a visit to a tobacco plantation where we watched the Cuban cigars being hand rolled. Each of us was given a cigar as a gift and since neither Ron nor I smoke friends enjoyed the two cigars we brought back.

Soon it was time to go to the second resort on Cayo Guillermo.

Along the Shore 1-3

I was going through some photographs of the Caribbean that I had taken over a number of years on various islands.















Along the Shore 1

I came across these pictures from Aruba and thought that I would do a few drawings of the sandy beaches and the rocky shores.















Along the Shore 2

Any drawing of the sand and surf in the Caribbean wouldn't be complete unless it had a number of seagulls in the sky.














Along the Shore 3

I may at a later date do paintings from each of these drawings.