Sugar Shack 3 - A Work in Progress

Today would have been my father's 83rd birthday. He was born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

I thought he would like it if I did one of the sugar shacks found throughout Ontario and Quebec.

Once he entered his teens he worked in the logging camps in Quebec for a number of years as a topper and using horses to skid out logs.

He often said one of his fondest memories was of getting a piece of snow candy. It was made from the boiling maple sap being thrown into a snow bank where it cooled rapidly to an edible temperature.

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

Syrup Time 1

This is an ideal year for making maple syrup.

We have had a long and cold spring with a few days of warmth and then the temperatures plummeting again at night and often snow during the day.

This is a typical scene out in Warsaw at the maple bush this time of the year. With a team of horses used to gather the maple sap and bring it back to the sugar shack where it is boiled down into maple syrup.

Syrup Time I is an original 6" x 6-1/2” framed pen & ink drawing available for $145.00.

Sugar Shack 1 - A Work in Progress

With this version of a Sugar Shack I changed the under paint from raw sienna (see yesterday's post for Sugar Shack) to a purple of alizarin crimson and manganese blue).

The sky colour is cobalt blue and titanium white. The background is a mixture of the sky colour, alizarin crimson, burnt sienna, raw sienna and French ultramarine blue.

The layer of snow closest to the base of the distant trees was painted in using the sky colour. Then some birch trunks were added using the sky colour and a hint of burnt sienna to grey it. The dark deciduous tree trunks were put in using burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue with some of them coming into the snow to appear closer. A thinner mixture was used to indicate the main maple tree trunks in the foreground.

I will post this painting once I complete more work on it.

Sugar Shack - A Work in Progress

It is sugaring time here in Canada.

The days are warmer and the nights continue to drop down in temperature often well below freezing.

For this painting I used a thin wash of raw sienna to underpaint the canvas so that if there are areas where the acrylic paint dosen't completely cover a nice warm glow from the raw sienna will show through.

The sky was painted in with a mix of French ultramarine blue and titanium white.

The background trees where painted with various mixtures of titanium white, raw sienna, burnt sienna, French ultramarine blue and cobalt blue.

The snow on the roof is mainly titanium white with a hint of French ultramarine blue.

The sugar shack is various mixtures of burnt sienna, raw sienna, alizarin crimson and French ultramarine blue. The window frames where alizarin crimson, burnt sienna and a touch of French ultramarine blue.

The background snow is of mixtures of cobalt blue, French ultramarine blue and titanium white.

I will post this painting once it is complted.