ACEO - Ladybugs 1-3

With the weather turning cooler for the mornings it seems like the Ladybugs are congregating together for the coming winter.

After painting the barn board background it was fun to decide just where I wanted to place that little black spotted bug.

Once I had the red base colour of the body painted on the barn board I had to decide on my light source. Then I could place the highlights on the shiny body and put the cast shadow beneath the Ladybug to ground it.

Ladybug 1


I had hoped for better weather today since I have to go to Lang Pioneer Village Museum in Keene to take down my paintings from the show at the McKelvie Gallery.

The up side to it raining is that it just makes the autumn colours that much brighter. While I am at Lang I will take some pictures of the Village.

Ladybug 2

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

The ACEO shown here are all original watercolour paintings using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. They are priced at $20.00 each and sold unframed.

Ladybug 3

Lighthouse - A Work in Progress

The lighthouse and the rock face were drawn onto the paper first.

These areas were left dry and the rest of the paper was wet with water. A pencil mark was put on the stone face and on the left side to indicate the horizon line.

Alizarin crimson was brushed into the sky and the water first.

Then the cloud colours of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue and burnt sienna were brushed into the sky and into the water.

A little new gamboge was put into the sky to indicate the sun behind the clouds and a bit in the water as its reflection.

A little raw sienna was brushed into the shadowed side of the lighthouse tower.

The rock face was painted with a mixture of alizarin crimson, burnt sienna and a little bit of French ultramarine blue. A palette knife was used to scrape out some of the rock shapes.

I will post this painting at a later date when I have worked on it again.

Rushing Water - A Work in Progress

This is another painting I have been working on from my sketches and photographs from Burleigh Falls with Neil Broadfoot.

This is right at the top of the Falls where the water is rushing over the rocks just before the drop.











There is still a lot more work to be done on this painting and I will post it as I continue to work on it.

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

Neil Broadfoot Workshop - Burleigh Falls

Today was spent at KAGS on the final day of a three day workshop with Neil Broadfoot.

We had two weeks to develop our final drawing using sketches made on location at Burleigh Falls and from any photographic reference we had from the pictures taken at that time.













We were shown how to transfer them to our watercolour paper so the pencil lines wouldn't be visible.

Neil demonstrated various ways of painting the granite rocks found at Burleigh and capturing the movement of rushing water as it flows over and around the rocks.

This is the painting that I worked on in class and will show once it is completed. I have another three drawings transferred down onto watercolour paper which I will paint at a later date.

Birch Trio - A Work in Progress

This is the third painting of birch trees in winter that I have started.

The background was originally painted in with mixtures of Antwerp Blue and raw sienna. The sky was then darkened to give it a stormy effect as though more snow was in the forecast (I may pick out a few snowflakes once the painting is complete.) by washing over the sky area with a mixture of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

The dark pines where painted with various mixes of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and raw sienna. The bottom edge of the treeline was softened with water so it was not a hard straight line.

Shadows on the snow are a mixture of both French ultramarine blue and Antwerp blue, with a touch of burnt sienna added to darken the colour in the shadowed areas.

The painting was allowed to dry before the masking was removed.

With the light source being on the left side of the painting a wash of the lighter snow shadow colour was painted down the center of the tree and the right side of the tree trunk was the darker more greyed snow shadow colour.

On the larger birch tree on the right side I left some areas without the darker wash over the trunk to indicate the reflected light.

A mixture of French ultramarine blue, raw sienna and burnt sienna was used as an under paint to indicate where the dark markings were to be placed on the tree.

On the left side of the trees a thin wash of raw sienna was put in to give the trees a bit of warmth to contrast against the cold snow.

Using mixtures of raw sienna and burnt sienna dead grasses and growies were added to the snow banks and around the bases of the trees.

I will post this painting when it is completed.

Birch Song - A Work in Progress

This is another painting of birch trees in winter.

Again the birch trees were masked out to protect the white paper.

Mixtures of Antwerp blue and raw sienna where applied to the background of the paper. Colour needs to be put onto the foreground snow to indicate drifts and shadows.

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

Birch Sonnet - A Work in Progress

This is one of three paintings featuring birch trees that I started today.

The birches were masked out to protect the white of the paper. The background was painted in using various mixtures of raw sienna and Antwerp blue to indicate sky and where some of the trees will be placed.

I still have to work shadows into the snow. I will post this again once I have completed the background,

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.