School's Out - A Work in Progress

Today, I thought I would do a little more work on this drawing (see posts on 15 July and 28 December 2016 and 29 January 2017) which is an underwater scene near the rest stop at the CoCo View Resort.

I started by adding more details onto the branches of the sea fan at the top of the rock and indicating the outer edges of the fan.

Next, I brought the outer edge of the large rock down and in behind the tube sponges.

I added some of the shadows onto the tube sponges to give them a little more shape.

I will post this drawing at a later date once I have finished adding all the details onto the various fishes.

Suppertime? - A Work in Progress

Today we are under a Severe Storm Warning with the temperature at 86F (30C) and the humidity making it feel like 97F (36C).

We did get a wonderful thunderstorm in the late afternoon, during which I spent my time on the front porch watching the lightning.

I wanted do some work on this painting of a Knifefish that I had started a number of years ago (see posts on 15 March, 31 October and 30 December 2012 and 25 March 2013).

Using a Schwan-STABILO All-Surface water-soluble pencil, I drew in where I wanted to place sponges, coral and other underwater plants on the rock surface.














The nice thing about using these pencils is that they was off completely with water; so if I don't go to the edge of the line or change my mind about the placement, it doesn't matter as once the paint is dry I can easily wash it off.

Using Titanium white, ultramarine blue and raw sienna, I started putting in some of the plants and soft coral on the top of the rock face.

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

Coral Reef I - A Work in Progress

Today was the first day of the Kawartha Arts Festival and we are going to have a hot, humid day with temperatures reaching 81F (27C) and the humidity making it feel like 90F (32C).

Fortunately there was a nice breeze blowing which made the weather more bearable and it helped to bring out a steady stream of people to visit the show.

I worked on a number of pieces today including this one of a coral reef in Roatan that I had started last year (see post on 16 March 2013).












I added more coral to both sides of the rock face on Newman's Wall and put in a few more details to define the coral.

I will post this painting at a later date once I decide what kinds of fish and where I am going to place them in this painting.

I look forward to seeing some of you tomorrow for the last day of the show.

Red Sponges 1 and 2 - Two Works in Progress

These are two paintings I started while I was sitting at the final day of the Monochrome Show at KAGS.

Since the show was called Monochrome I thought I should work the under painting with one colour and I chose alizarin crimson.

I brushed water onto the two pieces of paper being sure to leave some areas dry.

Red Sponges 1

Using a brush I dropped in various strengths of the alizarin crimson and while the paper was still wet rolled it around allowing the paint to float across the water.

Once the painting was dry I started on the first piece giving shape to the sponges using various mixtures of alizarin crimson, burnt sienna, French ultramarine blue, cadmium red and cadmium yellow.


Red Sponges 2

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

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

Rock Beauty - A Work in Progress

Now that the sponges ate completed I wanted to add the plants and soft coral that grow on the rock faces of the reef.














Most of the soft corals are in various shades of soft greens, yellow and buff. It seems that the sponges and harder corals are the ones that are more brightly coloured.














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