Lone Tree I

Today has been a busy day and full of many surprises. The morning started off cool 26F (-3.3C) but by late afternoon the temperature was a wonderful 40F (4.4C) when I took Kyora out for a walk through the fields, which still have a little snow on the trails but most of it has melted.

When I returned from running my errands in Peterborough I was delighted to see my pair of North American Kestrels have returned and will once again be nesting in the hawk box on the south side of the house.

We have had a pair of Kestrels nesting there for over 35 years; originally they nested in a hole in the building under the eaves but after five years we finally finished that side of the house in the late fall and closed the opening. Rather than the birds trying to find a new home when they came back in February I called the Toronto Zoo and received the dimensions for a hawk box that would be appropriate for them.

Ron built it and put it up in the late fall and they adapted to their new nest with no trouble, other than the first year kicking out the starlings that tried to take over their nesting site.

With wear and tear from the elements over the years we have had to replace the box three times with a new one.

I wanted to work on a drawing of one of the old dead trees along the fence line that will soon be felled and turned into firewood. It didn't take me long to do this little drawing and return to the house to warm up with a nice cup of hot tea.

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

Countryside Art Group Blog - Show Updates

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.

ACEO - Shapes 2

Today was the final day of the Small Treasures Show at KAGS. It was very well attended and 57 tickets were sold to raise funds for prize money for the students exhibiting in the Best of High School Art Show that is held in May each year.

I arrived early and had everything set up for the ticket draw and while I was waiting I worked on this little painting by blocking in some rectangular shapes with a pencil.

Using Antwerp blue I painted in the lower right shape; this was followed by paint the upper right shape with alizarin crimson.

I added some cadmium yellow to the Antwerp blue to make a green and painted the lower left shape.

Using the same yellow I added alizarin crimson and painted in the shape on the upper left side.

I set this painting aside to dry as people were coming into the Gallery for the draw and within an hour it was quite crowded when it was time to start. Mrs. Vera Penrose of Peterborough, Ontario had the first ticket drawn and I would like to thank her for choosing my painting A Winter Sunset (see posts on 30 January and 27 February 2015).

The people wasted no time choosing their paintings as their number was called. I would like to thank Mrs. Joanne Fernall of Norwood, Ontario who is a long time collector of my work and she selected First Snow (see posts on see posts on 23 December 2014, 19 January and 15 March 2015) with the fifth ticket that was drawn.

When the seventh ticket drawn I was very pleased and would like to thank Mr. John of Toronto, Ontario for selecting the my final painting in the show, Autumn Reflections I (see posts on 30 December 2014, 28 January and 26 February 2015) as his choice.

Everyone had a wonderful time at our closing ceremonies and perhaps we will have another one in about five years.

Before I left the Gallery I wanted to complete this painting and I painted the remain square with cadmium yellow.

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. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.

In the Shade I - A Work in Progress

It is -3F (-19.4C) and with the wind chill it feels like -18F (-27.8C). Needless to say when I returned from doing the ban chores it was time to warm up with a nice of cup of tea.

I wanted to do some more work on this drawing that I had started a couple of years ago (see post on 04 August 2013).

Rather than having just a single horse in the drawing I started doodling and adding a couple of foals and then some adult horses soon I had an entire herd of horses.












Next I started adding some grass below the hooves of the horses and soon it was time for me to get ready to go out for supper.

I will post this painting at a later date as more work is completed on the horses.

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

Taking Down the Show at the Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery

Today was a very busy day with starting the morning off by going to Fenelon Falls for a seminar on business plans and marketing. It was interesting and very informative with plenty of new ideas that I can put to good use.

From there it was off to Douro-Dummer Township to take down the Countryside Art Group show at the Library Art Gallery.

Finally I was back home and wanted to do a little work on a painting and I chose this one (see post on 20 January 2015).

Using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I started first by painting the island.

Then I started on the tree trunks and branches in the foreground and darkening the mixture started to add in the pine needles.

Evening Sky 5

Painting in the negative I created the rocky base against the water below the tree trunks. I added growies above the rocks and around the base of the trees.

Lastly I put in the reflections in the water below the rocks. I will post this painting at a later date once it is completed.

Glass on Mirrors - Two Works in Progress

Today in the Still Life class at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio our theme was Glass on Mirrors.

There were two distinct groupings and both were challenging subjects, especially when some of the glass was cut crystal and etched glass; and the others were transparent and reflected the colours from their surroundings.














Crystal Reflections I

The first one had a plain goblet, a blued glass with tiny bubbles inside the glass sides, a tall patterned green vase, a large cut crystal candy dish and a small etched glass bowl containing pieces of candy all of which was reflected on the mirror.














Half Full or Half Empty?

The second one had two wine glasses, a bevelled water pitcher which reflected the surrounding colours and a couple of bottles of wine, one was half full and both had some interesting colours showing through the liquid.

I will post each of these paintings at a later date one more work on them has been completed.

Display at the Norwood Skillet

This morning was cloudy and a little cool at 20F (-6C) with the wind chill making it feel like 9F (-12.8C) as I loaded the car to take my paintings to hang the show at the Norwood Skillet Restaurant, in Norwood, Ontario.

I was exhibiting my work there with fellow artist Ron Ward who I have known for almost 25 years.

Ron has mainly much larger paintings than I have and we decided his work would be better suited to hang in the Lounge where the large open spaces would do justice to his paintings.

With having a large number of pieces being displayed in so many venues including the Peterborough Theatre Guild, the Township of Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery, St. Matthews Church, Adventure Divers and the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio.

I chose to bring smaller paintings to exhibit at the Norwood Skillet.

These pieces were much better suited to be hung in the middle room as a single collection.

Ron then hung his remaining smaller and mid-sized paintings in the front Entry room.

This gave the display unity with Ron's acrylics in the front Entry room and my small and mid-sized watercolours in the Middle room leading to Ron's large acrylics in the Lounge.

The show will remain until 27 May 15.

I hope many of you will have the chance to come out and view the show.














By the time we had finished hanging the show the temperature had made it above the freezing mark and it started to rain.














From there I headed to the Township of Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery to meet with new collector Mrs. Heather Heffernan of Warsaw, Ontario.














I would like to thank her for her purchase of Honda Goldwing 1500cc (see post on 05 February 2010) from the exhibit as a birthday gift for her husband.