Norfest 2014

It was a very busy day for me with having to go to Toronto first thing in the morning with the threat of freezing rain which fortunately didn't happen. We only received rain which with the temperatures slowly dropping throughout the day changed to snow.











After returning home I packed up the Blazer and headed to Norwood to set up my tables at Norfest which will open tomorrow.













I look forward to the show tomorrow and having some time to work on a few small paintings.

Wine Bottles and Fruit - A Work in Progress

It looks like winter is just not going to leave with having received another 4" (10cm) throughout yesterday with the temperature plunging to -8F (-22C) overnight and the wind chill bringing it to a bitter -20F (-29C).

I decided not going to go into the still life class today at KAGS, instead Idid a lot of the work around the house as well as finding a little time to do a bit of work on the piece I had started last week (see posting on 06 March 2014).

I put in the two green grapes that were in front of the pear and darkened the shadows under the fruit a little more. Then I sketched in the striped cloth on which the still life was placed.

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

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

Thoroughbred Foal

After the beautiful warm sunny spring like day, winter has come back with a vengeance. It is 22F (-5.6C) and dropping with strong winds and snow.

I worked on this drawing of a Thoroughbred foal that a friend had at her stable.

He was a big solid baby from the time he was born but had such a laid back personality.

In fact in the morning when she went into the stall to put his halter on he wouldn't even bother to get up and she had to lift his head to put on the halter. He learned things quickly and seldom gave any trouble.

It will be interesting to see how he matures and if he continues with having his sweet personality.

This original 5" x 7" graphite pencil drawing when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $30.00.

Moonlight - A Work in Progress

Spring cannot be too far away, the branches on the willow are turning golden, the jays are chiming and the horses are running, bucking and kicking in the paddock.

It was another bright and sunny day with the temperature going up to 42F (6C). A day that I could almost have spent outside, but I preferred to take the second of four classes with Emil Varga in watercolour at KAGS.

We worked with spray bottles, sponges and palette knives. The horizon line was drawn in and masking tape was put down in the area below the line.

Using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna, layers of paint were put onto the paper, then sprayed with water and rolled around.

Each layer gradually getting darker but leaving an area with a little pure white and some very pale shades of the sky colour.














The distant shoreline was painted in with a pale wash of the sky colour. Then the painting was set aside to dry.

Once the paper was totally dry the tape was removed and a new piece of tape was put down slightly below the horizon line for the base of the middle ground island.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have put the trees in using a sponge and the rocks using a palette knife.

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

Winter Trail I

Today I was back at KAGS to continue with the winter painting we had started last week in the first of four classes with Lucy Manley.

We started with painting the evening sky with a thicker paint of cadmium yellow, lemon yellow and white.

Using a darker mixture with more cadmium yellow and white toward the top of the sky and gradually changing the mix to more of the lemon yellow than cadmium in the middle and toward the bottom.

A few small areas of lemon yellow and white were used to indicate where the sun is located.

A mixture of white, cerulean blue with a touch of alizarin crimson and added it to the tops of the background trees and giving them a few of them a little definition.

Then French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and lemon yellow, the dark trees in the background were put in, which pushed the bright light green trees forward.

A few indistinct trunks were added at this time in the background as well as a larger dead tree trunk into the foreground.

Using the two blues, burnt sienna, and raw sienna the main tree trunks were painted being sure to leave a little of the cadmium red under paint showing through to allow a warm to the painting.

The pine needles were applied using various mixtures of the two blues, burnt sienna, raw sienna and the two yellows.

This is the first of three painting that will be donated to the Canvas Confidential fund raiser for the Lindsay Gallery.

Background 1 - A Work in Progress

While taking acrylic classes with Gail Hawkins last month at KAGS she showed the class at the end of the day that rather than throw out the paint she has left over she uses it to put the background colour onto a canvas.

That way there is no waste and it also creates an interesting background for another painting.

This is what I did with my paints that remained from the Lucy Manley class from earlier this week.

I will post this painting at a later date once I decide what I am going to put over this background.

The Drawing Show

Since I was sitting the show at Art on Kent I was planning on doing a little more work on a couple of paintings, but it was very busy with many artists bringing in new paintings for the next art show called 'Paint It Big'.













Here are a few pictures of the paintings I had exhibited in 'The Drawing Show'.














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