Winter Day 1 - A Work in Progress

It is a cold -12F (-24C) but once again another bright and sunny day which even with the cold I prefer to an overcast cloudy and cold day.

Before my daughter arrives for Christmas breakfast and opening presents I wanted to get the last sky and foreground completed for the four seasons on a lake in cottage country painted (for the others see posting on 22-24 December 2013).













My timing was perfect. I had just set this piece aside to dry when Christine arrived.

I will post this painting again as more work on it is completed

I would like to wish a very Merry Christmas to All!

Autumn Day 1 - A Work in Progress

It is Christmas Eve and we are definitely going to have a white Christmas although the temperature is -5F (-20C) we do have a bright and sunny day.













I didn't have a lot of time to work on paintings but I wanted to get at least the sky and water painted on the autumn scene.

I will post this later after doing more work on this piece.

Summer Day 1 - A Work in Progress

The temperature remains at 22F (-5C) and is slowly dropping and the ice covering from yesterday remains on the trees. Fortunately we did not get the high winds which could have caused power outages, much like what happened in Toronto yesterday.

It would be nice if we had a day that makes it above 32F (0C) so I can get the doors open on my vehicles.
I will probably have to run alcohol through the doors to get them to open and now the snow is starting again.













So what better than to start a painting of a lake in the summer to get warm thoughts flowing and try to get away from the continuing cold?

I put in the water and the sky using French ultramarine blue and Antwerp blue, then set the painting aside to dry before I put a wash of raw sienna on the horizon line.

I will post it once it is completed.

My plan seems to have worked as in the late afternoon the sun finally came out and lit everything up with a crystal glow.

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

Spring Day 1 - A Work in Progress

The freezing rain continues today and hopefully we won't get the high winds they are calling for later this afternoon.

This painting is the first in a series of the four seasons on a lake in cottage country.













I wanted to portray the cold water of the lake in early spring once most of the ice on the lake has melted leaving the ice closest to the shore is still grimly holding on to winter.

As I do more work on this painting I will post it at a later date.

OSWOA - Frosted 1

We are back in the deep freeze yet again with the temperature being -16F (-26.7C). I could hear the snow crunch and squeak underfoot as I walked down to do the barn chores this morning. The only good thing is there is a bright blue sky and the sun is shining.

I wanted to work on a painting this morning before I went out to get the last few things I needed for Christmas. I thought working on a winter painting would be appropriate for the season and I chose this one that I had started last year (see post on 09 August 2012).

It was originally called Blue Sky 6 but with the light areas in the blue sky I thought I would make them represent frost covered branches that are often seen after a night of freezing fog and I renamed the painting Frosted 1.














I lightly drew in a small brook, the trunk and main branches of the trees and will use paint for the finer branches coated with frost.

I didn't like the broken branch at the right side of the painting and lifted it out with water and added another tree.

Using various mixes of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and raw sienna I painted in the tree trunks and branches.

Using cobalt blue and French ultramarine blue I painted in the brook; with the same colour watered down I indicated trees on the horizon line.













Using raw sienna, burnt sienna, alizarin crimson and new gamboge I put in the grasses and growies at the base of the trees.

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 Windsor & Newton paint on 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $40.00 and sold unframed.

ACEO - Frost Fantasy 1

The temperature is going to continue to drop during the day from 12F (-11C) to well below 0F (-18C), on the bright side there is very little wind and the sun is shining.

I thought I would like to play with some salt and do a little bit of negative painting today.

Wetting a small piece of paper, I dropped French ultramarine blue into the top half of the paper and brushed in some Antwerp blue and raw sienna into the bottom, leaving a section of white between them.

As the paper started to dry, I sprinkled a small amount of salt into the blue area at the top of the painting and then set the paper aside to dry completely and let the salt do its work.

Where the salt had pushed away the blue paint it seemed as though it was the leaves on a tree covered with hoar frost.

Painting in the negative I started by indicating the tree trunk and a few of the lower branches.

From there I added some small branches in among the frost covered foliage.

Working my way down the painting with the blue I added more detail to the tops of the grasses and growies in the white area.

I decided the green at the bottom wasn't what I wanted for this piece so I lifted most of the green with water dry.

Using the blue I added some detailed grasses into the bottom area.

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 Windsor & Newton paint on 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.

Christmas Delights - A Work in Progress

Another cold day -12F (-24C) but at least it has stopped snowing for the time being, but it is fitting with our theme "Christmas Delights" for the Still Life class at KAGS.

There was a wide variety of subject matter to choose from and I left a large number of them out of my composition.














The poinsettia still needs a lot of work before I am ready to paint and I may add another Christmas ornament into the foreground.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have made all the corrections to the drawing and put paint onto the paper.