Paradise I

This is another sketch I did while relaxing on the beach in Cuba of a beach house in among the palm trees. The boat dock had been pretty much torn apart by one of the hurricanes that had gone through the island, leaving only some of the posts to mark where the dock had been.











I could get used to living in the Caribbean. The last time we were in Aruba we had looked at property on the east shore of the island.

This 7-1/4" x 12" original pen and ink drawing when framed will be available for $150.00.

Sand Dune I

I enjoy going into the Caribbean, everyone is on "island time" and life there is so much more relaxed.

When Ron and I are there we often walk for miles along the white sand beaches and this is a scene we came across while in Cuba.













I look forward to going back to the islands sometime in the New Year depending on Ron's schedule.

This original 4-1/2" x 6-1/2" pen and ink drawing when framed will be available for $95.00.

Bufflehead Duck

Today I had the opportunity to work from a stuffed mount that one of the wood carvers loaned to a friend. Needless to say I wasn't going to pass up the chance at being close to a Bufflehead Duck.














This original 9" x 12" graphite pencil drawing is available, matted and shrink wrapped for $75.00. SOLD

Moses - after Nicholas Hornyansky

While I was still in high school I became interested in the aquatints created by Nicholas Hornyansky and I am fortunate to have been able to purchase a couple of them over the years.

He was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1896 and by the time he was 12 he worked as a colour mixer in his father's printing office.

Hornyansky studied in Budapest at the Academy of Fine Arts and after he graduated he did post graduate studies in Antwerp, Munich, Paris and Vienna and became an accomplished portrait painter.

He later went to Belgium and studied landscape painting in the School of Franz Hens. By then he had held a number of one man shows in Antwerp and Brussels.

He later travelled to England where his portraiture earned him several commissions in London before he went to Paris where he studied colour aquatint printmaking and etching.

Hornyansky immigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto, Ontario in 1929 and became a Canadian citizen in 1934. He remained based in Toronto, but travelled extensively from coast to coast throughout both Canada and the USA.

Hornyansky first exhibited his figure paintings, in Toronto.

He exhibited regularly with and became a member of the Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy (1934 elected Associate Member), the Society of Canadian Painters, Etchers and Engravers (1929 elected Member) and the Canadian Society of Graphic Art.

Moses - Sketch by Nicholas Hornyansky

He was a member of many American art associations including the American Color Print Society (Philadelphia), the California Printmakers, the Philadelphia Society of Etchers and was also a Life Fellow of the International institute of Arts and Letters.

He exhibited widely throughout North America and internationally; and received numerous awards for his work becoming recognized as an award winning Canadian artist and printmaker.

Nicholas Hornyansky made major contributions to the advancement of printmaking in Canada and he taught metal plate media at the Ontario College of Arts from 1945 to 1958.

He also developed a very unique style of his own using a single pull, positive approach aquatint process.

Hornyansky is best known for his colourful aquatint etchings, which cannot be mistaken for the works of any other artist, are of the rural scenery, historic sites and the architecture of Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes and are unmatched anywhere in North America.

Hornyansky’s works are represented in many major public collections throughout the world, including the Royal Ontario Museum, the National Gallery of Canada, the Musée Plantyn in Antwerp, the National Print Collection at the Library of Congress, the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe and the Pennsylvania Museum of Art, in USA, etc.

Moses - after Nicholas Hornyansky

This 10" x 14" carved leather image is my attempt at reproducing Moses created by Nicholas Hornyansky.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

Chinese Lanterns

Winter is not far off and the days are getting shorter and colder and I decided to paint one of my favourite plants from my childhood.

I have always liked the Chinese Lantern plant (Physalis alkekengi) with their bright orange pods which look like some of the traditional Chinese lanterns in shape and even have a texture similar to paper.

It is also known as Bladder Cherry, Japanese Lantern, Strawberry Tomato and Winter Cherry.

This popular ornamental plant has white flowers, which form into green pods in late summer and by the end of the growing season in September to October depending on the zone in which they are planted they change to their characteristic bright pumpkin orange or darker red orange colour, with each of the pods containing a berry with seeds.

It is at this time that the plant can be harvested. They are cut at ground level, the leaves are stripped off, then the entire plant is suspend upside down to dry in a cool dark place with good ventilation for a couple of weeks.

However, this beautiful perennial does have a down side in that some parts of the plant are poisonous if ingested and they are subject to many plant diseases and attract a variety of insect pests which like to munch away at them.

It is also highly invasive with its wide-spreading root system sending up new shoots some distance away from where it was originally planted. This was something I had never realized, but then where my Mom planted them was inside a small filled in concrete fish pond where the roots could not escape and spread.

I would like to thank Mrs. Heather Grant of Lakefield, Ontario on her purchase of this original 1-3/4" x 5-3/4” watercolour painting for her art collection.

Thistle in the Snow

It won't be long before we have deep snow on the ground and will only see the tops of many of the dried weeds in the fields.

There are many Scotch thistles in the infield of the track beside the house. I leave them and the milkweed to provide food for the goldfinch and for the monarch butterfly caterpillars.









I had started this painting a couple of years ago along with Thistle in the Snow (see posting on 15 March 2010). It is of the same thistle just taken from opposite sides.

This 5" x 12" original, framed watercolour is available for $195.00.

Spring Birch

Birches are one of my favourite trees and they are a striking tree no matter what the season. In this instance I decided to paint a spring birch when the leaves are just coming out after a long dormant winter.

While autumn is probably the most beautiful season, spring is a time of rebirth and of new growth; a time of promise.

This original 5-1/2" x 7-1/2" framed watercolour is available for $95.00.