Floral Demonstration - Two Works in Progress

I am often asked by the members of the Buckhorn Artists' Group to show how I paint various subjects. It can be anything from backgrounds, birds, animals or landscape.

These are two paintings I started as demonstrations to show how I approach floral paintings of irises and roses.

With the irises it was primarily what colours to use when painting yellow flowers. For the base coat on the iris I used new gamboge and added mixtures of raw sienna and burnt sienna for shadows.

Iris Trio

With the roses it was a lesson on how to paint the overlapping petals without them having an "outline" to keep them separated from one another.

A wash is put on the first petal and left to dry while another petal on the same bloom that is not touching the first petal has a wash applied to it. This is repeated though the entire flower.

With each succeeding wash more detail and shadows are added to give shape to each of the petals.

Rose Bouquet

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

OSWOA - Cecropia on Barn Board

The Cecropia is the largest native North American moth. It belongs to the family of large silk moths known as Saturniidae.

We often find them on the shadowed side of the barn or inside the mow hidden in the darkness during the day.

At night they can be seen flying around the sentinel light at the front of the house or hanging on the window screens.

The Cecropia depicted here is a male. They are easily distinguished from the female by the very large bushy antennae.

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 $50.00 and sold unframed. SOLD

Now I have to head out to Norwood Fairgrounds to judge the art show. It should be an enjoyable day.

ACEO - Rocks 1

If you would like more information about ACEO please go to my post on 11 March 2010.

The ACEO 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 $20.00 and sold unframed.

Water was first splattered onto the paper. Alizarin crimson mixed with burnt sienna was dropped onto the paper, followed by French ultramarine blue and finally a little raw sienna. The colours were rolled around on the wet paper and allowed to blend.

While the paint was still fairly wet I scored a few places on the paper to allow some of the paint to collect in the indents.

As the paint dried I used a mixture of burnt sienna with a touch of French ultramarine blue added to darken it slightly and loosely painted the rock shapes in the negative.

Buckhorn Artists' Group Blog - Show Updates

I have updated the Buckhorn Artists' Group blog with a listing of shows some of the various artists in the Group are exhibiting their work in during the month of October.

If you get a chance come out and visit them at one or all of the shows.

October - A Work in Progress

This is another painting I started on the same day as September (see posting 03 October 10).

The under painting had been put in and today I added more details to the trees and foreground.

It still needs more work and I will post this painting once it is completed.

Neil Broadfoot Plein Air at Burleigh Falls

The group met at Burleigh Falls for the second part of Neil Broadfoot's painting rushing water workshop.

It was a cold and very windy day and I was glad that I had stopped at Tim Hortons for an extra large tea to help keep my hands warm.

Neil demonstrated sketching and how to capture the movement of the water. Then we did our own value sketches before stopping to have a hot lunch at the local restaurant. Which helped get rid of our cold fingers and toes.

It was a cold and very windy day and I was glad that I had stopped at Tim Hortons for an extra large tea to help keep my hands warm.












Neil demonstrated sketching and how to capture the movement of the water. Then we did our own value sketches before stopping to have a hot lunch at the local restaurant. Which helped get rid of our cold fingers and toes.

Then back out into the cold to try doing colour sketches in pastel, watercolour or acrylic. I found a somewhat sheltered spot from the wind just below a rock face and set up there.

I would peek my head up over the rock edge and take a look at what I was painting and then duck back down into the shelter of the rocks. This was my end result; I added a few more details once I returned home.

Racing Clouds is an original 14" x 22-1/2” framed watercolour available for $295.00.

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

September - A Work in Progress

I came across a couple of gessoed boards and decided that I would paint in acrylic for a change.

The autumn colours are wonderful to see. So I did the under painting on a small scene at the bottom of the hill.

When I removed the tape from the edge of the painting it lifted some of the paint. That is one of the nice things about painting with acrylics; you can cover a multitude of mistakes.

I will post this painting once I have it completed.