Sailboat Sketch 1 and 2 - Two Works in Progress

I seem to be on a ship trend at the moment and decided I would like to do a few sketches to develop into paintings of larger sailing ships.

Rather than daytime with the blue of the sky and white of the clouds reflected into the water, I wanted to do a sunset concentrating more on the ship in a vertical format.

I put the dark clouds into the sky and behind the sails so I would have a strong contrast of the sunset colours passing through the sails as the focal point.

Sailboat Sketch 2

Another painting I would like to do is a ship sailing on a moonlit night.














Sailboat Sketch 1

The contrast of the white sails frosted by the moonlit standing out against the darkness all around should prove to be an interesting challenge.

I will post each of these sketches again once I have the outline drawing completed and small colour paintings of how the pieces would look.

Sea Battle I - A Work in Progress

The temperature has climbed to 30F (-1C) for the high and much of the ice that has been on the trees since before Christmas is finally disappearing.

This is another sketch of the tall ships, this time going into battle.

I have started to ink in the water and will have to do more drawing on each of the ships before they are ready to be inked.

I will post this drawing at a later date once more work on the ships has been completed.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and enjoy the artwork. I hope you will return often.

Sail Away - A Work in Progress

Today I felt like working on something with a summer theme.

What would be better than out sailing on a lake, in the middle of a hot and humid summer day; beneath a bright blue sky with the sunlight glittering off the tops of the waves?

Rather than do a traditional horizontal painting, I thought a vertical format would make it a little different and create more interest.

I will have to make some changes to this sketch to move the sailboat from being dead center of the painting.

I will post this painting at a later date once the outline drawing is completed.

Ruffed Grouse - A Work in Progress

We have had more snow since yesterday and the temperatures continue to be below freezing so the ice coating on all the trees remains.

I wonder if we will ever get out of the freezing temperatures, but it sure does look pretty outside although we are having a bit of a heat wave with the temperature making it up to 20F (-6.7C) today.

One of my neighbours offered me the loan of his stuffed grouse over the Christmas season so I could make drawings of one of the many game birds that inhabit the area.

First I took a lot of photographs of the bird from almost every angle and light source.

Next I did a number of quick sketches of the grouse in different positions and with the ones I  preferred I started to tighten up the sketches and turn them into outline drawings.

I will post the outline drawing at a later date once I have decided on the one I like best.

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.