Koi 1 and 4 - Two Works in Progress

Well it is finally getting warmer, today is 8F (-13C) and with the wind chill -8F (-22C) which is much more tolerable than the cold that we have had over the past couple of days.

Today I had to sit at Art on Kent instead of on my usual Saturday as tomorrow I have a class at KAGS with John David Anderson.














Koi 1

With it starting to snow shortly after I arrived not many people came in, most probably preferred to go home and spend their evening in the comfort of their home. So I worked on a couple of the drawings of the koi I had started last year (see post on 06 and 18 July 2014).

Once I had tightened the details on the sketches it was time to paint in the background.














Koi 4

On the first one I painted the background using French ultramarine blue and on the second one I used Cobalt blue.

I will post each of these paintings at a later date one I have completed the koi.

Copper Kettle - A Work in Progress

Today it is warmer 0F (-18C) with the wind chill at -17F (-27C) than yesterday and today is also the first day of the Still Life class at KAGS for this year.

We did not have a theme for the class and used some of the vases, pieces of pottery and various containers that are in the Gallery for two interesting displays to paint.

The first one was of a clay jug, pot, bowl and spoon with a glass goblet and a few Chinese lanterns.

The second one consisted of two copper kettles, a brown glass bottle, an orange and a couple of pears.














I chose to use one of the kettles, the orange and the glass bottle. I had to move the bottle over from where it was to make a more pleasing picture.

Once the rough drawing was complete I started working on the orange. First I put a wash of new gamboge over the whole orange and gradually added a couple more layers to give the orange shape.

Next I added a touch of cadmium red to the new gamboge and added a few layers of this colour into the shadowed areas.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have completed the orange.

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

Countryside Art Group Blog - Show Updates

Today is very cold and our high was -8F (-22C) with the wind chill -14F (-25.5C) this morning and the temperature has continued to drop all day and now the temperature is -15F (-26C) and with the wind chill it feels like -29F (-34C), small wonder the weather stations are giving an extreme cold warning for the day. Hopefully it will warm up a little tomorrow.

Junkyard still hasn't returned and with this cold weather I hope he is somewhere safe and warm.

On the first of each month I will update the Countryside Art Group's blog with a listing of shows where the various artists in the Group are exhibiting their work.

If you get a chance come out and visit them at one or all of the shows.

Background 12 - A Work in Progress

Today was a little warmer than yesterday with the temperature at 9F (-13C) and the wind chill making it feel like 3F (-16C) and overnight the temperature will drop to -18F (-28C) with the wind chill -28F (-33C) with tomorrow being a much colder day.

As usual, yesterday at the end of the class I took the leftover paint from my palette and applied it to a canvas.















The colours are a mix of cadmium red, cadmium yellow, lemon yellow, cerulean blue, French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and titanium white.

I will post this piece once I decide what will be painted on it at a later date.

Frozen Marsh - A Work in Progress

The day started off clear and very cold 0F (-18C) and with the wind chill it felt like -17F (-27C). I am concerned about my cat Junkyard. The last time he was in the barn was on New Year's Day and he had scraped a lot of skin off his left hind leg and it is not like him to miss a meal much less for more than a couple of days. Hopefully he is just out being a Casanova.

This afternoon I was in a class with Lucy Manley at the Kawartha Artists’ Gallery and Studio. What was interesting and a pleasant surprise was that the subject for the class was a winter scene of a marsh.

Yesterday I was out taking photographs of a world coated in thick ice after the freezing rain storm of the night before. Some of the pictures were of a section of the Snelgrove Brook which runs through the back of my property, so I was able to use my own reference material.














When I left the Gallery it had clouded over and was starting to snow. The wind had died down a little, but the cold remained and the high for the day was 7F (-14C) with the wind chill making it feet like -9F (-23C). Needless to say, I am not looking forward to the continuing cold weather forecast for this week.

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

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork and I hope you will return often.

Buckhorn Artists' Group Blog - Show Updates

I have updated the Buckhorn Artists' Group blog with a listing of shows some of the various artists in the Group are exhibiting their work in during the month of January.

If you get a chance come out and visit them at one or all of the shows.

ACEO - Serene Place 2

I would like to wish everyone a safe, healthy and happy New Year!

Today I wanted to complete this drawing that I had started last year (see post on 09 November 2014).

I started by washing in a sky using French ultramarine blue and left some areas of the sky white for the clouds.

With a slightly darker shade of the blue I put in the base coat for the lake.

Using various mixtures of Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue, new gamboge and raw sienna, I painted the trees on the island.

I left a small band of white paper showing below the bottom of the trees for the snow covered rocks and immediately below that I indicated a few ripples in the water using one of the green mixes.

From there I started on the pine trees in the foreground using the same colours as the trees on the island but slightly darker.

Using mixes of burnt sienna and raw sienna I put in the dead grasses and growies at the base of the trees.

Leaving a number of white areas on top of the rocks for snow, I used French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna to paint in the rocks.

I added a small bush using the rock colours for the branches and cadmium yellow for a few leaves.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

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.