Along the Beach I - A Work in Progress

Well, thanks to yesterdays thaw and rain my driveway by the end of the day looked like a river running beside the house carrying the water down to the main road.

But with the temperature dropping down overnight to 26F (-3C) the rain has turned to snow and the ice has a dusting of snow over top of it making it treacherous for the unwary who are walking on the ice. But at least it isn't foggy anymore, so there is always a bright side somewhere.

Today I worked on another of the sketches I had started while in Veradero, Cuba a number of years ago and I will post this drawing at a later date once it has been completed.

Veradero is located on the Hicacos Peninsula which is separated from Cuba by the Kawama Channel and although the peninsula is less than 3/4 mile (1.2km) at its widest point it extends almost 13 miles (20km) from the mainland.














We took a tour into the city of Matanzas, the provincial capital and wandered through the streets and visited many of the historical and cultural sites. The open market was a fascinating place to visit and we purchased some of the fresh fruit and a couple of shirts.

I thoroughly enjoyed going through a shop where they handmade books starting with the paper made from palm trees, which was hand cut, printed, stitched and bound. I purchased a blank book which I have not used, but I enjoy taking it out occasionally and appreciate all the work that went into creating   the texture of the paper.

Each day when we had returned from our excursions Ron and I would walk along the 6 miles (21km) of the beautiful white sand Veradero beach and watch the wind surfers and kite surfers skim across the surface of the turquoise waters.

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

Flying By - A Work in Progress

Finally we have made it above the freezing mark! It is 36F (2C) and of course it is raining which has turned my driveway into a skating rink. But I am willing to put up with that to have a nice warmer day even if it continues to be foggy.

I decided to do a little work on this sketch from when I was in Veradero of the beautiful white sand beach, the turquoise water and what beach would be complete without a few seabirds flying through the sky.

I will post this drawing at a later date once I have decided what type of gull or tern I wish to put into the sky.

One of the nice things about being in Veradero besides the diving and beaches of course, was being able to visit the Cuevas de Bellamar, or the Bellamar Caves which is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Cuba and has been open to the public since the 1860s.















It is located 25 miles (40km) southwest of Veradero near Matanzas city which is approximately 3 miles (4.8km) northeast of the caves which are open from 9am. to 6pm. daily and guided tours are the norm and the tour takes you through just a part of the Bellarnar caves which is sufficiently lit for visitors to enjoy the cave and to prevent tourists from getting lost in the almost 2 mile (3.2km) cave system.

There are a lot of steps leading down into the cave, which is very humid, warm and damp underfoot, with a network of clear streams running throughout but it is well worth the climb back up them when you have to leave this hidden magical world after seeing the many amazing crystalline domes and formations which come in such a wide range of shapes and sizes.

It is known for the multitude of stalagmites and stalactites which are believed to have been formed over 300,000 years ago. The tour will show you the beautiful cave murals left by the indigenous peoples, numerous fossils and the many interesting formations such as La Fuente de La Juventud (The fountain of Youth) and the Galería de Coco Rallado (Grated Coconut Gallery).

One day I will return to Veradero and take a trip to see some of the other caves in the area like The Santa Catalina and The Saturno.

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

Before the Wind I - A Work in Progress

It managed to make it up to 26F (-3C) today and with the climbing temperatures the fog has rolled in and has drastically reduced visibility. Perhaps tomorrow it will finally make it to above freezing, but I won't hold my breathing waiting for it to happen.

I went through a number of sketches and decided to start putting the ink on this one.












I will have to add a little more detail into the ship before I can put on the ink.

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

Dockside 1 and 2 - Two Works in Progress

It is 4F (-15.5C) perhaps we will make it over the freezing mark today, but I am not going to get my hopes up and it is a good thing is I didn't as 22F (-5.5C) was the high.

Today I am sitting the Christmas show at KAGS and I wanted to get a number of smaller paintings completed.

I wanted to do work on these two pieces and get them completed (see postings on 16 October 2012, 09 February 2013, 20 May 2013, 15 August 2013 and 10 December 2013) since I have been working on them for quite some time.

Dockside 1

As usual when I am working on these paintings the day seems to be fairly busy and I do not get as much work done on them as I would like.

I did manage to complete the posts in the first painting and put in the larger gull on the second.

I will post these painting once I have finished the rope and added a little more detail to the seagulls.

Dockside 2

Christmas Candles 1 - A Work in Progress

It is still bitterly cold, -2F (-19C) and with the wind chill it feels like -13F (-25C). The one nice thing is the sun is shining.

The Weather Network is saying the temperature will finally make it above freezing by the weekend, which would be nice as we haven't had a day here above freezing since around the middle of November.

I thought I would like to do a little more work on this drawing that I had started quite a while ago (see post on 25 December 2011).

First I added more details to the drawing of the candles, giving them a definite shape and straightening them.

Next I fixed the flames on the candles.

From there I used a black ink pen and darkened the base of the red candle and then added the wicks on each of the five candles.

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

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

Free Form - A Work in Progress

-10F (-23C) and the temperature is steadily dropping. You can hear the boards on the house crack as the nails in the wood contract.

I filled all the seed feeders around the house and have had to bring one of them inside to repair the broken hanging cord which snapped due to the winds yesterday. Tomorrow I will have to put more fat into all the feeders in the swamp maple.

It continues to be windy and although it is only -14F (-25C) now, but with the wind chill it is closer to -31F (-35C). Walking up from the barn facing into the wind my cheeks came very close to being frost bitten. The bright point is that it isn't snowing and we have sunshine.














I really couldn't get into painting today so I decided to play with a large flat brush and a limited palette of colours and swirl paint around to create some interesting shapes.

I am not sure where I am going to go with this one, but it looks as though I have an abstract fish in here swimming around.

I will post this painting at a later date.

Cerulean Blue Backgrounds - Two Works in Progress

It is hard to believe that the temperature went up overnight to 32F (0C) and it had rained, which with the rapid temperature drop afterward caused a flash freeze.

The roads iced up, in fact everything turned to ice. Now the wind has picked up and it is snowing. Currently it is -8F (-22C) and all the doors on my vehicles are frozen shut so it will have to wait until tomorrow before I get around to trying to thaw them out.

Pine Tree 1

I pulled out a couple of small paintings that I had started a while ago (see post on 27 February 2012 and on 12 December 2013) and painted the background with a flat wash of cerulean blue and then set them both aside to dry.













Out of the Fog 1

I will post both paintings at a later date once more work on them has been completed.