Garden Shed 2 - A Work in Progress

We have a frost warning in place and with the high for the day being 32F (0C) I can understand why, so I decided to work on a painting that reminds me of spring that I had started last year (see posts on 26 May 2016 and 29 May 2017).

I started by finishing the boards on the shed and then adding the shadows cast by the edge of the roof and the shadowed side of the shed.

Next I darkened in the open doorway leaving and area near the bottom blank for when I draw in the wheelbarrow.

Using Antwerp blue, raw sienna and new gamboge I indicated the leaves of the flowerbed on both sides of the shed.















I added French ultramarine blue to the light green colour and put in the grass on the side of the pathway.

I scattered flowers throughout the flowerbeds using cadmium red and a few dandelions through the grasses with cadmium yellow.

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

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

OSWOA - Showy Lady's Slipper 1

I started this painting a long time ago (see post on 09 December 2011) and recently came across it in a box of small paintings that needed to be completed.

First using cadmium yellow I put in the stamens and the little bit of yellow on one of the petals.

Next using French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I added more details to the petals with shading.

With alizarin crimson I added a little more colour to the pink areas of the flower.














Lastly using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue, raw sienna and aureolin I finished painting the leaves and stem.

If you would like more information about OSWOA please go to my post on 12 March 2010.

The OSWOA shown here is an original watercolour painting using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $40.00 and sold unframed.

Butterfly 9 and 10

This morning while I was out doing barn chores I saw that the butterflies are out and flying around, which are something I enjoy watching.

The first one I wanted to do was the Clouded Sulphur Butterfly (Colias philodice).

I often see large groups of them in the late spring through to the middle of autumn grouped around puddles and damp spots on the driveway.

This one I saw in the garden by the bird bath, which was surrounded by tulips and daffodils.

Butterfly 9

I may add more spring flowers to this drawing at a later date.

My second drawing is of a Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) which is my favourite butterfly.















Butterfly 10

As a child when I lived at in Toronto, I used to collect the caterpillars, feed them milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and watch them when they left their chrysalis as butterflies and then released them back into the wild.

Garden Shed 2 - A Work in Progress

Even though the forecast called for warm temperatures 83F (27.8C), high humidity  94F (34.4C) and thunderstorms, today I went and painted with the KAGS Outdoor Painters' Group at a farm on Cameron Line that was known for its lilac bushes.

The first thing I saw as we turned into the driveway was a peacock walking across the road; needless to say I grabbed my camera and took a picture.

I later learned from the owners that they had eight peafowl on the property but the peahens had already gone to ground and wouldn't appear until after the eggs had hatched.














The farm was a treasure trove of opportunities for paintings and I spent most of the morning taking photographs and making a few quick sketches.

The original barn was built in 1813 and the original section of the stone house was built in 1821 and various additions were added at later times.

There were many wondrous things hidden in and among the flower gardens surrounding the house which also had an enchanting natural stone slab set of stairs leading up to one of the additions.














After taking many reference photographs of the building, gardens, livestock and farm equipment I settled down to work on a painting.

Just before lunch time it started to cloud over and when I went back to do more work on my painting it wasn't long before the first few drops of rain started to fall.

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

Petals Art Show at Art on Kent

Today I sat the morning shift for the Petals exhibition at Art on Kent in Lindsay, Ontario.

Normally, I sit for the last shift on Saturday on the closing day of the show; but tomorrow we are going to Toronto and taking Ron's mother out for supper for mothers' day.

I had three paintings in this show which features many lovely paintings and photographs of a wide variety of flowers, weeds and gardens.

If you have the opportunity, please drop by the show before it closes tomorrow at 3:00p.m.














It is well worth the drive to Lindsay.

Floral and Still Life Show

Today the Portrait class at KAGS was cancelled which due to the Gallery policy requires two people to sit the art show so Cindy and I were there together.

This made the afternoon go quickly as we discussed the upcoming shows, galleries we would like to visit and have an exhibit at in the future and the new art pieces we were painting.

I put in two paintings into this exhibit that had been shown at the Garden Show earlier this month.














We were pleased that a number of people came in to view the display which will run through to 05 May 2016.

If you have a chance please come out and view the show.

Tulips - A Work in Progress

I have everything ready for Christmas tomorrow and I thought I would have some time to paint today, so I pulled out this painting that I had started earlier this year (see post on 25 October 2014) and removed this masking fluid from the flowers.

The drawing needed a little more work before I would be happy with the way it looked.

I had just started into it when we had some unexpected company arrive and that ended my doing any more work on this piece.

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

Tulips - A Work in Progress

Hallowe'en will be upon us shortly and I wanted to do something with blacks and oranges, so I decided to I would paint black tulips which bloom each year in my garden but have warm oranges, yellows and reds in the background to make them stand out.

I drew out the tulips, transferred them onto the paper and using liquid frisket I masked out the edges of the flowers and the stems.

Next I used various mixtures of Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue, Cobalt blue, alizarin crimson, burnt sienna, raw sienna, new gamboge and aureolin to paint in the background wet on wet.

As the background was drying I sprayed a little bit of water in some areas to create interest. The paper was then set aside to dry.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have removed the masking fluid and started to paint the tulips.

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

Birches and Trilliums

Today while I was sorting through some boxes that were kept in storage, I came across three partially completed paintings that I had started in a few workshops with Mary Lampman a number of years ago.

In Mary's classes we used a palette knife in pretty much all of the painting and this one shows quite clearly, that I was not used to using a knife to paint. 

I just had the foreground to complete and I used Payne's grey and titanium white to put in a rail fence.

















Next, using various mixtures of raw sienna, hansa yellow and burnt sienna for some of the dead grasses and growies and ultramarine blue, cerulean blue and the different yellows for the green grasses and growies I added them into the foreground leaving a small opening for a pathway into the background.

Using titanium white, I added in trilliums through the vegetation in the foreground.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

This original 12" x 12" acrylic painting when framed will be available for $250.00.

Bunny and Easter Eggs - A Work in Progress

My house is filled with the scent of lilacs. I have a vase full of lilacs in almost every room in the house.

With the temperature at 62F (17C) and the morning being bright and sunny it was not long after doing the barn chores that I cut a huge bouquet of lilacs from the bushes growing along the south fence line of the front lawn.

It is unfortunate that they last such a short time, but then if they were available all year round they probably would not be as appreciated when they do appear.













This is a painting I started last month in the Still Life class at KAGS.

The background and the under paint on the tablecloth has been painted in as well as the first layer of colour on the red tulips which in the actual display were white.

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

Now it is time for me to head off to The Lindsay Gallery to drop off my entry form and from there to go to the Norwood Skillet to see how many paintings I will need to take there for the set up tomorrow.

Yellow Vase with Flowers - A Work in Progress

Today at KAGS the theme for our Still Life class was dishes and flowers. Margaret brought in a lovely display of dishes and flowers and I brought in this vase with a large variety of silk flowers.

I used the table runner from the display with the dishes and changed the colour of it from pale cream to a bright green and combined it with the vase. I liked the way the light passed through the linen material and the cast shadow that showed on the table.

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

Lilac Reflections - A Work in Progress

I washed in the background using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp Blue and alizarin crimson then set it aside to dry.

Once it was dry I used a mixture of alizarin crimson and Antwerp blue as the under paint for the lilac flowers. While that was drying I added some French ultramarine blue to the lilac mixture and painted the vase.














Next I washed in raw sienna and Antwerp blue into the leaves. I left this colour for the high lit areas of the leaves.Then added French ultramarine blue and painted the mid tone of the leaves, then with a little burnt sienna added to the mixture and the dark shadows were painted.

I started adding in the shadows on the lilacs, which were a mixture of French ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson.

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

Bottles and Daffodils - A Work in Progress

This is a painting that was started last month in one of the Still Life classes at KAGS. It was an interesting display with a large assortment of bottles to choose from.

I started this small section with the three oil filled bottles and the daffodil in the background with the colour of the bright yellow pot showing through the glass.

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

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

Delicate Beauty

This is painting I had started last year and all that need to be completed on it was the flowers and their stems.

Using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue and alizarin crimson each of the blooms were carefully painted giving them shape.

The stamens were a mix of cadmium yellow and burnt sienna.

Lastly the leaves and stems were added using mixtures of raw sienna, burnt sienna and Antwerp blue.

This original 5" x 7" framed watercolour is available for $95.00.

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

A Spring Bouquet

While autumn is rapidly approaching and the colours will soon change on the trees, I am thinking about the flowers of spring.

I recently planted a number of bulbs and will have to wait to see them poking their way up through the snow in late March.

The snowdrop and daffodil bulbs I planted inspired this painting of the earliest of my spring flowers.

This is an original 5-1/2" x 15" framed watercolour painting and is available for $275.00.

Please excuse the slight blurring as I had forgotten to take the picture before I framed it up and it is through non glare glass. SOLD

Daffodils - A Work in Progress

This is a small 4" x 6" painting that I worked on with live flowers.

The only drawback to this is that as the day progresses the flowers open more and change slightly.

With the one daffodil almost completely finished I decided to add a dark background in behind it to see how it would look.

I will post this once I have completed more on the painting.

Spring Bouquet

This is an original 7-1/2" x 10-1/2” framed watercolour painting.

I remember when my daughter, Christine was little would go out into the fields and bring me a bouquet of the weeds and wild flowers she would find.

Thank you to Mrs. Marsha Rennie of Lakefield, Ontario on her selection of this painting for her art collection.

I am now going to head out to paint with the Outdoor Painters' Group.

Lilacs

This was the third of the three 20 minute warm up exercises for an hour long painting. See yesterday's posting for Abundance (the one hour painting).

For me, I found it was better to break the shapes down into their simplest forms and putting the base colour in and if there was time remaining to add the shading.

Lilacs is an original 3" x 4” framed watercolour available for $95.00.

Abundance

This was a class exercise where we had to complete a painting in one hour.

A bouquet of silk spring flowers was set up and each person set themselves up ready to paint and the timer was set. This is what I had completed at the end of an hour.

I may decide to a more detailed painting of the spring flowers at a later date.

Abundance is an original 11" x 15” framed watercolour available for $195.00.

Signs of Spring

The snow is finally gone, and even though the air is still chilly, brave crocuses bloom to welcome spring.














Congratulations to new collector Joanna Stanton of Peterborough, Ontario on her selection of this original 5-1/2" x 7-1/2” framed watercolour. SOLD

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