ACEO - Snow Man 1 and Snow Lady and Child 1

Today I had a dentist appointment in the morning and for noon I had to be at the Kawartha Artists’ Gallery and Studio for a meeting.

Since I wasn't going to go home just to come back down to Peterborough again I decided to wait at the Gallery and paint.

Since Christmas is just a little over a month away I thought I should finish these two paintings that I have been working on for quite a while (see posts on 23 February 2013, 12 and 18 February and 18 August 2014 and 25 August 2015).

The snowman painting didn't need a lot done to it in order for it to be completed.

I painted in the branch arms first with burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue.

Grasses and leaves were painted at the base of the snowman using mixtures of burnt sienna, raw sienna, and alizarin crimson.

Snow Man 1

Now it was time to work on the next piece with the two snow people.

I started with the bonnet and painted it with raw sienna and burnt sienna. The ribbon was various shades of raw sienna and Antwerp blue.

The toque and scarf on the snow child were painted in with mixes of French ultramarine blue and Antwerp blue.

Working back and forth between the two snow people I started by putting in the carrot noses with cadmium red and cadmium yellow.

The shadows were painted with French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna; then alizarin crimson was added to the mix and the eyes, mouth and buttons where painted with this dark mixture.

Snow Lady and Child 1

The grasses were painted with various mixes of raw sienna, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson.

Lastly the branch arms were painted in with burnt sienna and blue.


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. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. They are priced at $20.00 each and sold unframed.

Snow Man 1 - A Work in Progress

This is a painting I have been working on for a while (see posts on 23 February 2013, 12 February and 18 August 2014).

I made a mixture of Antwerp blue and raw sienna and worked back into the scarf.

Adding a little more blue to the mix the shadow colour in the creases and folds of the scarf was applied. Then almost pure Antwerp blue was used for the fringe.

Cadmium red and new gamboge was used to paint in the carrot nose.

I thought the colour of the top hat was a little wishy washy so I mixed a rich black using French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson.

I repainted over the existing colour leaving some highlights on the sunlit edge of the hat.

Using the same colour I added the eyes, mouth and buttons onto the snowman.

Now was the time to add shadows onto the body of the Snowman to give him some shape.

I used various mixes of French ultramarine blue, cobalt blue and burnt sienna to add the shadows and the slightly darker shadows cast by the scarf.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have added the arms and a few growies into the foreground.

Snow Man 1 and Snow Lady and Child 1 - Two Works in Progress

Once the drawings were transferred onto the watercolour paper it was time to paint the background.

To keep the backgrounds of these paintings similar I worked on both pieces at the same time.

I started with the sky using a mixture of French ultramarine blue and cobalt blue, being careful not to get any paint on the snow people.

Next the snow was the put in using the sky colour and a small amount of alizarin crimson was added so the white snow people would stand out from the background.

Snow Lady and Child 1

Raw sienna was added to the snow colour to get a greyed green which was used to add trees onto the top of the hill.

Now it was time to start work on the snow people.

Using the tree colour I added more blue and burnt sienna for a nice, rich black and painted the top hat, leaving the hatband and lining to be painted with pure cadmium red.

A mix of Antwerp blue and raw sienna was used for the scarf.

Snow Man 1

I ran out of time before I could finish the scarf, but I will post each of these paintings at a later date once more work is completed on each of them.

I would like to thank returning collector Mr. Derrick Ryan of Hastings, Ontario on his purchase of Ruffled Grouse (see post on 29 June 2014).

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

Snow Lady and Child 1 - A Work in Progress

Going through a file folder last week, I came across two paintings with a little colour at the bottom (see post on 23 February 2013) and decided they would make ideal winter scenes.

The first one was made into a Snow Man 1 earlier this month (see post on 12 February 2013).

I decided that I would continue with that theme using the one called Abstract B and rename it Snow Lady and Child 1.

The area at the bottom seemed as though it was the base for a small snowman which would become the Snow Child.

The round shape also gave me a light source to use for this piece.

To complete the snow family I would place a larger Snow Lady with the smaller Snow Child.

It didn't take long to do the sketch of both the snow people with the child wearing a scarf and toque, the lady wearing a bonnet and to complete them stick arms were added.

I will post this painting at a later date once they have been transferred onto the paper.

Snow Man 1 - A Work in Progress

Going through a file folder today I came across two paintings (see post on 23 February 2013) with a little colour at the bottom and decided they would make ideal winter scenes.

The curved side at the bottom, of the painting seemed an ideal place to put a large snowman.

I had to decide whether to do a traditional snowman or to do the more sculpted kind with a long body and arms.

After doing a couple of small sketches of both kinds I decided to do a traditional snowman.

I remember making so many of them as a child and also with Christine when she was young. We would roll the three snowballs with the large one on the bottom; together we would lift the middle sized one on top and a smaller one for the head.

I added a scarf, top hat, a carrot for a nose and the eyes and buttons made of coal.

Lastly, I also added the arms made from branches to complete the drawing.

I will use this drawing on the painting originally called Abstract A and change the name to Snowman 1.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have transferred the drawing onto the paper and started painting the snowman.

Christmas Delights - A Work in Progress

Another cold day -12F (-24C) but at least it has stopped snowing for the time being, but it is fitting with our theme "Christmas Delights" for the Still Life class at KAGS.

There was a wide variety of subject matter to choose from and I left a large number of them out of my composition.














The poinsettia still needs a lot of work before I am ready to paint and I may add another Christmas ornament into the foreground.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have made all the corrections to the drawing and put paint onto the paper.