Aurora - A Work in Progress

I enjoy seeing the Northern Lights even though here in the Kawarthas, they are not very brightly coloured. I still find them fascinating and will watch them for as long as they light up the sky.

For this painting the sky was painted in using a mixture of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna, leaving some areas white.

The paper was left to dry completely, then washes of alizarin crimson and raw sienna were painted into the sky for the colours I see in the skies here and once again the painting was left to dry completely.

With a mixture of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and a touch of alizarin crimson for a dark I started painting in the one of the more detailed treetops.

I will post this painting at a later date when I have more completed on it.

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

Birches at Dawn - A Work in Progress

The birch trees were masked out to keep the paper white.

The sky has been painted in with a base against the horizon line of raw and burnt sienna. The open area of sky with Antwerp blue, the clouds are a mixture of alizarin crimson, Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue and a touch of burnt sienna.

The distant shoreline was painted with a slightly darker mix of the cloud colour. Then the painting was set aside to dry.












Once the paper was completely dry the masking fluid was removed from the birch trees.

They have been washed with the colours from the sky and some of the markings and smaller branches have been added were added using the same mixture that was used in the shoreline.

I will post this painting again at a later date once I have painted in the snow covered lake.

Buckhorn Artists' Group Blog - Heather Grant

Today I posted Heather Grant's biography and a piece of her artwork to the Buckhorn Artists' Group blog.

Roses and Rose Cascade - Two Works in Progress

The roses had been masked out first to protect the whites.

Various mixtures of Antwerp blue and French ultramarine blue and greens made by using the two blues and raw sienna were set in small containers.

A dark was mixed of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson and set aside.

Rose Cascade

The paper was wet and the blue mixtures and green mixtures were poured over the entire background and rolled around. As the paper started to dry and there is more control over the paint the dark mixture was poured mainly around the flowers and then splattered over some areas.

The paintings were then set aside to allow the background to dry completely before the masking fluid was removed.

Using a wash of alizarin the roses that were going to be either pink or red had the first layers of colour applied.

Raw sienna was used on the orange or yellow roses as a base layer.

On the white rose a pale wash of French ultramarine blue was used to indicate where the darkest shadow would fall across the petals of the rose.

Roses

Up to the first three layers of colour have been applied to some of the rose petals.

Tranquil Afternoon - A Work in Progress

While going through some boxes I came across a number of partially finished paintings.

This one had the sky, distant shoreline and water completed. The under painting on the rocks and the closer trees had been completed.

I finished the trees and added some dead tree trunks in among the trees on the island to complete that part of the painting.















Dark shadows and some definition were added to the rocks, giving them shape. Once the painting had dried I removed the masking fluid from the water lilies.

It is fitting that with the Art of the Turtle Show being held tonight that I work on a painting with water which would be an ideal habitat for turtles.

The show was well attended with all paintings meeting or exceeding the reserve price and the highest price paid in the live auction was $480.00.

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

Frozen Birches - A Work in Progress

This is an interesting exercise using a monochrome for the background and painting in the negative.

Using only Antwerp blue the entire background area with the exception of the center tree was painted with a light wash.

A little more pigment was added to the wash and the next layer was painted leaving the original tree as white paper and the next two closest trees with just the original wash.

Each layer was built up by adding a little more pigment to the wash to darken it and leaving a few more trees.

Each layer leaves the original trees untouched and leaving smaller and darker trees.

The painting was left to dry and using pure pigment with a small amount of water the "whip" marks were painted into the background birch trees as well as the smaller branches on the trees.

I will post this piece at a later date as more of it is completed.

Wary

This is a little watercolour plein air painting I did while watching my horses out in the field.

My Quarter horse mare, Sunsets L'il Eclipse kept approaching to see what I was doing. She would stand a short distance away watching me, then snort, turn and trot away with her tail bannered.

I will frame this painting later today. It is available for $65.00. SOLD