Buildings VI-IX

Today I decided to take a drive along Highway 134 and look for interesting buildings to sketch. I was fortunate to find a number of them during the afternoon.












Roadway I

It wasn't long before I found a long roadway leading off the highway to some farm buildings near the top of a hill.













Abandoned House I

As I continued on my way, down in a dip in the road partially hidden in among the tall grass and trees growing up around it there was a small abandoned building with a couple of broken windows and the shingles slowly falling away from the roof.














Street Scene III

Just before lunchtime, I came across a small town and stopped to do a quick sketch of the main street that wound up a hill.














Old Buildings III

I had lunch at the local restaurant which was at the top of the hill. The building was interesting so I did a small outline drawing before I carried on along another road that would take back home.

Buildings I-V

Today I went out and decided that I would work on location and pull off on the side of the road and do quick sketches of various building and scenery as I drove along Highway 507.













Run In Sheds I

The first thing that attracted my interest was some old run in sheds in an overgrown field alongside the highway.
















Lily Pond I

As I continued past Flynn's Corners I found in the marsh an old barn reflected in the water among the white lily pads in bloom.














Farm House I

Not too far away, was an old farm house that probably went with the barn near the marsh.















Church I

Heading into the town I came across a church by the side of the road with a fairly large parking lot for the congregation.














Stone House I

As I started along another road that would take me back home I found this stone hose with a large maple tree in the front lawn.

I was pleased with today's sketches, many of which came easily be made into paintings at a later date.

Lost Marble 1

Today I was on a telephone call with my brother and while I was talking with him I decided to doodle.

I was just playing with simple shapes and I ended up with a drawing of a marble and its shadow.















I liked the simplicity of the image and in the future I may do a series with more than one marble or perhaps marbles of various colours and types.

Still Life Trio

I came across the original pencil sketch for nine still life paintings that I had started a couple of years ago (see posts on 13 and 14 March 2011) two of which were completed (see posts on 16 and 17 September 2012).















I decided to do more work on the sketch and will remove the writing from the completed drawing.

Long Lake I-VI

Today Ron and I went up to Long Lake, which is on the west side of Highway 28 just south of Apsley for a day trip with the canoe.

Long Lake is one of the many lakes found within the boundaries of the Kawartha Highlands Signature Site. As its name implies it is a long narrow lake that reaches depths of up to 80' (24.4m).

Long Lake I

It consists of four basins connected by three narrows. The lake supports natural and stocked populations of lake trout, rainbow trout, speckled trout, walleye and is well known for large mouth and small mouth bass fishing.

We paddled up the lake from the launch site and towards late afternoon turned around and allowed the wind and current to carry us back.

While I sketched and took many reference photographs of the stately pine trees, rocky shoreline and pink granite cliffs Ron spent his time fishing and did catch a nice, large mouth bass.


Long Lake III

Unfortunately, the wind caught the edge of my sketchbook while I was taking the hook out of the bass's mouth and three of my sketches ended up in the water and sank before they could be recovered.















Long Lake II

But the bass was quite happy to be back in the lake and not ending up in a frying pan.















Long Lake IV

Fortunately, since I had reference photographs which will eventually end up as paintings, I wasn't upset by the loss of the drawings and continued to sketch.















Long Lake V

These are a few of the sketches I did afterward until we returned to the launch site as the sun was setting.















Long Lake VI

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

Northern Island 1

I came across some photographs in the family album of when I was nine years old on a family vacation near Parry Sound, Ontario.

The log cottage we in stayed at was located on Georgia Bay and right across from the small inlet in front of the cottage was an island that we would swim over to during the day and explore.

The four of us would often go out on the Bay in the small motor boat to go fishing.















My Mom caught a Northern Pike that was slightly less than 40" (1 metre) long and it broke the small weight scale we had so I do not know what it weighted, but it was large enough to give us more than one meal.

I did this little sketch of the island and I may do a few more of them at a later date.

West Barn I

Today had some of my friends over for a paint out at the farm which was a lot of fun.

They arrived around 10:00am, had a cup of tea or coffee before settling down and finding a place to paint or sketch.

Lunch time was enjoyable with many of the artists having completed some drawings or sketches and had a good start on a painting.















In the afternoon I joined some of the group that was working on drawings or paintings of my barns.

Everyone had a wonderful time and succeeded in getting a drawing or painting completed.

I did this outline drawing of the west barn which is the one closest to the house.