Rain Clouds - A Work in Progress

Today I was painting with the Buckhorn Tuesday Painting Group and thought I would like to do more work on the trees I put into this painting last month (see posts on 14 January 2011 and 05 January 2020).

I started by washing a in a base colour onto the trunks and main branches of each of the trees using mixtures of Antwerp Blue, French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.









Using darker mixtures of the same colours gradually added the bark texture to the tree trunks and main branches, as well as adding smaller branches and twigs.

I will post this piece at a later date one all the branches on the trees have been completed.

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

Rain Clouds - A Work in Progress

Today I had a little bit of time ans I thought I would work on this painting that I had started many years ago (see post on 14 January 2011).

I washed in a sky behind the clouds using Antwerp blue and set it aside to dry while I decided what to put into the foreground.









Next, using a pencil I lightly drew a few trees into the foreground against the rain clouds.

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

Blue Skies 1 and Grey Skies 1 - Two Works in Progress

We started the day with a foggy morning which gradually cleared to give us a beautiful blue sky.

But that was not to last, by the afternoon it changed to a grey sky, which progressed into a thunderstorm.

I thought I would paint the changing skies so I started with the blue sky.

I wet the paper and dropped Antwerp blue into the top of the sky and lightened with water toward the bottom.

Blue Skies 1

I then set this one aside to dry.

For the second painting which was the grey sky before the rain started falling.

I wet the paper and using a mix of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I brushed in the cloudy sky leaving some areas of white showing.

I wanted to put a bird in the sky, but I put it in when the paper was too wet and it bled.

Grey Skies 1

I will post both of these paintings at a later date once I decide which scene at the farm I want to put in the foreground.

Skies - Three Works in Progress

Today I wanted to play with colour and what better way than to paint skies?

I pulled out these three pieces that I had started a while ago (see posts on 27 June 2013, 23 September 2013 and 07 February 2015).

To keep the palette simple, I would use just three colours which were alizarin crimson, Antwerp blue and new gamboge.

I made a puddle of each colour on my palette, so I could put the paint on quickly and not have to stop to mix color.

I wet the sky in the first painting being careful not to touch the sun.

Using the blue first, I brushed in the top quarter of the sky, this was followed by using the red into some areas of the blue and part way down the sky.

Windmill 1

Lastly, I used the yellow and painted down to the top of the horizon line and then set this one away to dry.

With the next piece I wet the entire paper and as with the first painting I started at the top using the blue and brushed a small amount into the top leaving white areas for clouds, followed by putting the blue into the bottom of the painting for the reflection of the sky colours in the water.















Snelgrove Brook 1

This was followed by using the red into the top third of the painting again leaving areas of white for the clouds and then putting some into the water just above the blue.

Lastly, I put in the yellow into the bottom of the sky to just above the horizon line, followed by putting it in below the horizon line and going down into the red of the lake.

I set this one aside to dry.















Morning Fisherman 2

For the last piece, I started by brushing in the blue through the sky and leaving some areas untouched down the horizon line. The blue was then worked through the water area the same way up to the horizon line.

Next, I brushed the red throughout the sky and in some places overlapping the blue, followed by brushing it in throughout the water.

On this one I decided not to add the yellow. Instead, I put in the rocks in the foreground using burnt sienna, the red and the blue. before setting it aside to dry.

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

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

Dark Skies - Two Works in Progress

Today I didn't have a lot of time to paint but wanted to get a little more work done on a couple of paintings and I thought putting in the skies would be a step in the right direction.














Quiet Place 3

I pulled out this small drawing I started a long time ago (see post on 12 November 2014) and put in the sky using a mixture of French ultramarine blue with a small amount of burnt sienna and set it aside to dry.















City Lights 1

Next I started on this piece that I started earlier this month (see post on 10 March 2018) and using the sky colours from the last painting and added more burnt sienna and a little bit of cerulean blue and brushed in the sky.

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

Blue 1-6 - Six Works in Progress

It is another overcast and rainy day with the temperature dropping to 46F (8C) and they are calling for another 2" (51mm) of rain today.

What hurts more is that the weatherman is also calling for snow flurries over the weekend.

With that in mind I thought I would work on painting a number of pieces with blue skies in them instead of clouds and grey skies.

For the first one I did a graduated was of French ultramarine blue, and having a mid tone at the bottom.

Blue 1

On the next one I used Antwerp blue and had the right side slightly darker, gradually going lighter to the left and kept the bottom without paint.















Blue 2

Using the same blue as the last one I had it darker on the right side lightening toward the right leaving a smaller area untouched at the bottom of the paper.















Blue 3

Leaving a large area of white paper at the bottom and having the colour again darker on the right side, with it light in the centre and changing to slightly darker on the left side.















Blue 4

Next I combined the two blues and streaked the paint across the paper.















Blue 5

For the last one I used both blues again in a flat was leaving a small amount of white paper at the bottom.















Blue 6

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

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

Pink Sky 6 and 7 - Two Works in Progress

Today I just couldn't get into painting, but I wanted to do something.

I thought I would at least put in a couple of early morning skies in shades of pink, blue and mauve.

I started by using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson.

I decided that I would work on both pieces at the same time and started by wetting each piece and started with a wash  of alizarin crimson as the base colour.

Pink Sky 6

With the blue I streaked in a few areas of the blue across the sky, letting the colour blend into the base pink and creating mauve, while at the same time leaving some areas of the pink untouched.

I sketched in one of the rocks into the foreground.

I will post each of these pieces at later date once more work on them has been completed.

Pink Sky 7

Peach Sky 5-8 - Four Works in Progress

I worked on the sky in four paintings yesterday and since I still have a lot of the paint colours I mixed, I decided I would work on four more pieces today and use up the most of the paint before I clean the palette.















Peach Sky 5

Before I started, I mixed a small amount of blue grey made of the blue, brown and white and also a green of the yellow and the blue for some of the distant trees at the bottom.















Peach Sky 6

Once more I worked on all four paintings at the same time and I started with the yellow first and put it in various and sections on each piece, followed by the peach colour.














Peach Sky 7

Next I put in the pink, followed by the blue grey and then the mauve into the sky in various amounts.















Peach Sky 8

Lastly, I put a few trees into the bottom of a couple of the paintings.

I will post each of these pieces at a later date once they have been completed.

Peach Sky 1-4 Four works in Progress

Today I thought I would use the semi-opaque paints a friend of mine gave to me to try that has a very limited palette of four colours and white.














Peach Sky 1

I started by premixing the colours I would use in each of four paintings; a peach of the red and yellow, a pink of red and white, a beige of brown and yellow, a mauve of red and blue, pure yellow and white.















Peach Sky 2

I worked across four paintings at the same time and started by wetting the paper.  Next I brushed in the yellow across varying sections of the sky on each painting.














Peach Sky 3

I switched to the peach colour and brushed it into large areas of the sky, leaving some sections without paint, which were next painted with the pink.















Peach Sky 4

Next I brushed various areas of the sky with the beige. Lastly, I put in some areas of mauve on a couple of paintings and some areas of the white on the other two paintings.

I will post each of these paintings at a later date once I put in the silhouette of the land and trees at the base of the sky.

Pink Sky 2-5 Four Works in Progress

Today I just wanted to play with some morning skies.

I like using French ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson for an early morning pink sky.

But I have found that these lovely pastel colours are usually found in the western sky as the sun is rising in the east.

I thought I would work on all four pieces at the same time and started by mixing a large puddle of the two colours and then wet the paper.

Pink Sky 2

I put down a base wash on the first piece and then added a small amount of the blue in a couple of areas in the sky before setting it aside to dry.

On the next one after putting down the base colour I added a lot more of the blue into the sky before I set it aside to dry.

On the third one, the paper had dried in some areas.

Pink Sky 3

I left these areas white as though they were clouds in the sky.

Once more I added blue into various areas into the sky until a little more than half of the sky had the blue tint.

I set this aside to dry and started to work on the last piece.

This one had a larger dry area that was left as a white cloud.

Pink Sky 4

On this painting I added a little of the blue into the sky near the cloud and then left most of the sky the base colour.

Lastly, I added the blue to the bottom quarter of the paper with horizontal strokes.

This piece was set aside with the others to dry.

I will post each of these paintings again once they are completed.

Pink Sky 5

Lakes 1-3

I was in the mood to doodle and thought I may as well do some drawings of scenes with water in them.

I thought for the first piece that I would like to have a lot of sky where the colours could be reflected into the water of the lake.

I put in my horizon line first, fairly low on the paper to leave plenty of room for the sky.

Lastly I put an island in the foreground on the right hand side with a couple of tall pines.

Lake 1

For the next sketch I wanted to have the water with a lot more movement.

First I put in the horizon line and then put in the large rock, followed by the lighthouse.













Lake 2

At the bottom put in the large waves crashing against the base of the rock and a few white caps in the distance.

For the third sketch I put in the horizon line first and then set down the leading wave on the shoreline.














Lake 3

Lastly, I put in some debris on the shore and indicated some waves on the surface of the lake.

Emil Varga Workshop on Painting Skies

My friend Joanne had wanted to learn to paint in watercolour and I had advised that she take the class with Emil Varga at KAGS.

Since her birthday is tomorrow and she was able to be here I enrolled her in the class as her birthday gift and supplied her with the brushes, paint and watercolour paper she would need for the class.

The theme for the workshop was how to paint skies and during the course of the day we worked on three different paintings.















The first painting had a dramatic sky and we put masking tape across the bottom quarter of the paper to protect the area for the snow that would be there and painted in later.

The paper was thoroughly wet with water and we put in various mixtures of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, Antwerp blue and cobalt blue.

The paint was sprayed and rolled around on the paper as layers of colour were added to the paper to achieve the moody sky.















Winter Thaw

It was set aside to dry before the background islands could be painted.

The distant islands were painted in using various mixes of French ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson.

The tape was then removed leaving with white paper and a large untouched area for the foreground islands to be placed














Last Light

The bottom of the paper was covered with masking tape to protect the white paper then it was wet thoroughly and new gamboge was brushed into the bottom area.

Burnt sienna was applied above and to the side of the yellow, then permanent rose was added on both sides of the yellow.

Clouds were put into the top of the sky with various mixtures of cobalt blue, French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and permanent rose, leaving some areas of white paper showing through.

It was then set aside to dry before the tape was removed.














The third painting was worked in stages in between the other paintings.

The bottom area of the painting was covered with masking tape and then the paper was wet.

Aureolin was put into the bottom of the sky against the masking tape and then softly blended upward to the top of the sky with clear water and set aside to dry.














Once the paper had dried completely it was wet with clear water and permanent rose was applied slightly over some of the yellow and up into the middle of the sky.

It was then blended upward to the top of the paper with clear water and set aside to dry.

The last colour to be added was cobalt blue and as before the paper was wet with water and the colour added above the permanent rose and blended upward to the top of the paper.














Early Morning Light

I will post each of these painting as more work on them has been completed.

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

Hoturo - A Work in Progress

I really shouldn't have been surprised to see a flock of about eighty snow buntings flying around the infield of the track this afternoon; especially since last year with the snow having been so deep, we feed over two hundred of them for about a month until the weather warmed and some of the snow started to melt.

Having put in the under paint and blocked in the background on this piece earlier this month (see posts on 10 and 12 December 2015) I wanted to get more work done on this painting today.

Starting at the top of the painting on the sky I used ultramarine blue with a small amount of white.

I left some of the cloud areas untouched so the warmth of the cadmium red would show through the white.

I gradually lightened the sky colour as I worked down to the horizon line by adding a little more white and some cerulean blue.

Once the paint had dried I started adding the clouds using titanium white as the base and added various mixes of cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, with a small amount of burnt sienna.

I took clouds down into the tree tops of the closer shoreline so when I painted in the trees they would show through the branches.

Using various mixtures of ultramarine blue, Hansa yellow, cerulean blue and raw sienna I painted in the distant shoreline.

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

Autumn Trees 10-14 - Five Works in Progress

Today at the Knoepfli Inn, the sun tried to come out from behind the clouds and while the rain had stopped for the most part there were a few mild showers on and off during the day.

It seemed as though overnight more of the leaves on the trees had changed colour, which was wonderful to see although there were not as many of the brilliant reds that we had seen in the previous years.

I decided that I was going to set myself up on the porch of the farmhouse which is across the road from the Inn and paint some of the trees along the road.

Autumn Trees 11

It didn't take long for me to set my paints up  on a bench by an open window.

As usual before I could settle down to paint I walked around the property taking photographs of the buildings surrounding the farmhouse including both of the small cottages and the main boathouse.

Once I entered the building again, I was enchanted by the curved windows and doors of the building and took photographs of the interior.

Autumn Tree 12

I am sure that I will be using many of them at a later date for other paintings.

For the first one I painted in the entire paper as sky using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue and cobalt blue with a touch of burnt sienna to grey the colour slightly before I set it aside to dry.

I started a number of other paintings using the same sky colours in a vertical format only painting the top half as sky.

Autumn Trees 13

By the time I had put the sky into the fifth painting, the sky on the first one was dry and I could start laying in the under paint.

Using a mixture of Antwerp blue and raw sienna I put in the topmost green leaves that were still left on some of the trees.

I added a little French ultramarine blue to the green mixture and put in some of the slightly darker green leaves that were in shadow and then added the growies down near the bottom of the trees with a darker mix of the colours.

Autumn Trees 14

I added a little burnt sienna to the darker green and painted in the shadowed areas beneath the trees and the dark ground.














Autumn Trees 10

Next using various mixtures of cadmium yellow and raw sienna I put in the leaves that had changed near the tops of some of the trees.














Autumn Trees 10

Using a dark mixture of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson I painted in some of the main branches and the trunks of the trees being careful to leave some of them covered by the leaves.

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

Gathering Storm I - A Work in Progress

Today I wanted to do a little painting and I pulled this piece out  that I had started earlier this year (see posts on 12 January  and 19 February 2015).

I painted in the distant shoreline with various shades of green created by mixing French ultramarine blue. burnt sienna, raw sienna and Antwerp blue.



















I will post this painting at a later date one I have painted the foreground shore and trees.

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

Skies - Three Works in Progress

Today I was painting with the Buckhorn Tuesday Painting Group and we had Emil Varga as the instructor who was demonstrating different skies.














Dramatic

In the first painting the horizon line was masked out using a piece of tape and the paper was wet above the tape. The dark clouds were created with a mix of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna on one side and the other side was a mix of Cobalt blue and burnt sienna leaving a white area slightly off center. The paint was sprayed with water and the colour was rolled around on the paper to create cloud shapes.

Each layer of paint was slightly thicker and darker than the one before and added into the corners of the painting, sprayed with water and rolled around the mix with the under paint.

A few areas of Cerulean blue were added into the clouds toward the bottom of the sky, sprayed with water and rolled to mix in with the existing paint. Then the painting was set aside to dry.














The next one was of a graded sky using three colours and glazing each layer over top of the one below.

The horizon line was put in using masking tape and the paper was wet above the tape. Using pure new gamboge the paint was swept into the area just above the tape in a diagonally upward stroke to create interest and movement.

The painting was set aside to dry before the next colour could be applied.














Pale Sky

Clear water was applied over the paper and  permanent rose was applied just slightly over lapping the layer of new gamboge and upwards leaving some of the area at the top of the painting without paint. It was then set aside to dry.

The paper was once more wet and this time painting from the top of the sky down into the permanent rose, Cobalt blue was applied.

Once again the paper was set aside to dry completely.














A Patch of Blue

For this painting the tape was applied on two different levels the highest was the bottom edge of the farthest island and the lower line was the bottom of the closer island.

The edges of the islands were lightly drawn in as a guide and the paper was wet above pencil lines.

A mix of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna was brushed into the sky in various areas, sprayed and rolled around leaving some areas of the sky white. Pure burnt sienna was added into the sky sprayed and rolled always trying to keep some areas of white. Pure Cerulean blue was brushed into the bottom of the sky and rolled upward into the clouds.

A little pure Cobalt blue was added into the upper part of the cloudy sky in a couple of places, sprayed and rolled. More colours were added into the clouds until I liked the way it looked (and before I made a muddy mess of it).

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

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