What's New? - A Work in Progress

We were very fortunate that the rain held off yesterday until 8pm and it continued to rain throughout the night including having a major thunderstorm at 2am which lasted for almost two hours. The rain finally ended around 6am and as I headed for the show at Lockside Trading Company it was cloudy and looked as though it would start to rain at any moment.

It didn't take as long to set everything up again as I knew exactly what was being hung up on the grids which made things a lot easier.

With the overcast skies not too many people came out for the morning but as the day progressed the clouds disappeared and the sun came out bringing with it the crowds.













I did a little more work on this painting that I had started in one of the Still life classes at KAGS (see post on 27 March 2014).

I started by working on the curtains to give a little definition to the folds.

Next I darkened the shadows beneath the duck and then worked on getting the duck to look a little more round in shape.

I will post this painting again once the toy duck is completed.

Art@the Locks

I don't normally do outdoor shows where I take my own tent and set up everything inside it and then have the hassle of taking all the paintings and tent down each night only to do it all over again the following day. Especially not when they are calling for rain all weekend long.

However, I enjoyed this show where I shared my tent with fellow artist Cindy Allan who picked out a lovely spot right beside the locks at the Lockside Trading Company in Youngs Point. When I was not painting or speaking with the public I spent my time taking photographs of the various boats as they passed through the lock.














The day was 72F (22C) with a gentle breeze blowing and it didn't start to cloud over until everything was safely put into the vehicle.

I would like to thank new collector Ms. Sharon Black of Selwyn, Ontario on her purchase of Snow 1 (see post on 10 March 2011).

Hopefully, tomorrow will be the same as today and the rain will hold off until the end of the show.

Evening Grosbeaks II - A Work in Progress

This is the third of four sketches (see posts on 20 and 22 July 2014) of Evening Grosbeaks coming in for bird seed in the winter.














I have completed the outline sketches of seven Grosbeaks, two females and five males on the ground feeding with one male in flight.

The main grass stalks and growies are also indicated. I will post this piece at a later date once I have transferred the sketch to the watercolour paper.

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

OSWOA - Beachcomber I

This morning I was watching The Weather Network on television and they were showing a video of the surf crashing on shore and it made me think if this painting, that I had started last year (see post on 15 September 2013).

I started at the horizon line and gradually made the wave lines larger until I had a breaker starting to crest, then I put in the trough and the receding waves on the shore.

I scattered some seaweed across the beach that had been washed in by the waves.














After looking at the drawing, while taking a break and having a cup of tea I decided that it needed a lighthouse on a spit of land.

If you would like more information about OSWOA please go to my post on 12 March 2010.

The OSWOA shown here is an original pen and ink drawing using STAEDTLER Mars 308 Fineliner on 109lb. Pentalic Paper for Pens archival quality, acid free paper. It is priced at $30.00 and sold matted and shrink wrapped.

ACEO - Fog 1

Today I pulled out this painting that I had started last year (see post on 27 February 2013).

Using a dark of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I painted in the tree trunks, keeping the background trees lighter with less detail than the foreground ones slightly darker and adding more branches.

With a pale mixture of French ultramarine blue and raw sienna I put in the leaves on the background trees and gradually darkened the leaf colour as I put in the closer trees.














Using clear water I lifted two birch tree trunks and added their markings with the tree trunk colour.

Lastly I put in the grasses into the foreground.

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 Winsor & Newton paint on 140lb. Fabriano 100% cotton, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.

Evening Grosbeaks I - A Work in Progress

This is the second of four sketches of Evening Grosbeaks (see post on 20 July 2014) that I am developing for paintings.














I have completed the outline sketches of nine Grosbeaks, four males and five females on the ground feeding on the mixed grain that has been put out for them.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have transferred the outline sketch onto watercolour paper.

Wolf Lake Birches - A Work in Progress

Today was a bright and sunny day and perfect for doing all kinds of things outside .

First thing this morning Ron helped me reclaim the flower beds by the arbour and we planted four Don Juan climbing rose bushes to replace the Blaze climbers that I lost due to the long and hard winter.

Afterward while I made lunches to take with us, while Ron put the canoe on the Blazer and collected his fishing gear.














Map courtesy of Google Map Data@Google

We went up to Wolf Lake which is located off of Anstruther Lake Road on the east side of Hwy. 28 and east of Apsley. It is another of the many lakes in the Kawartha Highlands Signature Site.

The lake reaches a maximum depth of 30' (9m) with the average depth being about 15' (4.6m). There are many submerged logs, rock piles, weed beds and water lilies found along the irregular shoreline which provide excellent habitat for the muskie, largemouth bass and small mouth bass for which the lake is known.

In the rush to get to the lake I left my sketch book and pencils at home on the kitchen table, but I did have a few pieces of mat board and a small paint box in the Blazer and I took many photographs from which that I am sure I can do paintings of the lake.


















It was the first time we had been on this lake and with Ron catching five largemouth bass and one nice 17" (43cm) walleye (also known here as pickerel) all of which we released. I am sure we will be going back there often.

I will post this watercolour sketch of birch trees found along the shores of Wolf Lake at a later date once I have completed the trees.