ACEO - Shapes 4

I thought I would like to work on an abstract painting today.

First, I used a pencil and marked in the various shapes.

Next, I used alizarin crimson and painted in the thin line on the left side.

This was followed by using Antwerp blue in the corner of the right side.

I mixed the two colours together and painted in the bottom space on the right side.

From there I painted the small space at the centre top with cadmium yellow.

Cadmium red was used for the line across the bottom starting from the left side.

Lastly, I mixed the yellow and the blue and painted the remaining shape green.

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.

If you would like more information about ACEO please go to my post on 11 March 2010.

Deer in the Shadows I - A Work in Progress

Nothing like starting a spring morning off with 32F (0C) temperatures and the wind chill making it feel like 23F (-5C) but, the sun is shining and that is a bonus.

It was bound to get a little warmer as the day progressed and I decided to go for a walk through the fields behind the barn.

As I was walking up the slight hill by the north fence line just before the coming to the opening in the fence leading into the middle field a doe came out from behind the trees and stopped in the opening looking around before moving out into the opening.















I quickly pulled the camera out and did manage to get a slightly blurred photograph of the deer just before she turned and bounded away across the middle field and out of sight.

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

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

Backgrounds 34-38 - Five Works in Progress

Today is another unseasonably hot day with the temperature climbing to 80F (26.7C) and with the humidity feeling more like 94F (34.4C), but I am not going to complain about it one little bit as I know the temperature is going to drop back down again.

These backgrounds are from the leftover paint from the class with Melanie Melanie Browne I took over the weekend.














Background 34

For the first panel I used most of the Titanium white, some of the black and a little bit of the Grumbacher red.














Background 35

On this one I used a lot of the remaining Grumbacher red, all of the Hansa yellow and a small amount of the Titanium white.














Background 36

On this one I used about half of the remaining black, all of the brown mixture and a little bit of the Grumbacher red.














Background 37

For this one I used the most of the remaining black and all of the remaining Grumbacher red.















Background 38

For the last panel I used all the remaining black paint, the last bits of the Titanium white and the small amount of the French ultramarine blue.

I will post each of these pieces at a later date once I have decided what I will paint on them.

Imperial Chinese Horse I-V - Five Works in Progress

Today is the second day of a workshop in abstracts with Melanie Browne at KAGS. I thoroughly enjoyed the first day doing the sketch (see yesterday's post) for the image I was going to use for the series of small paintings.













Imperial Chinese Horse I

For the first canvas I drew the sculpture fairly realistic and have lines for the background to show movement and to ground the horse.














Imperial Chinese Horse II

For the second canvas I drew a more stylized horse, concentrating more on the negative space, which will be filled with colour.














Imperial Chinese Horse III

For the third canvas I used more of the geometric shapes found within the horse sculpture. It will be interesting to see what colours I finally decide to use for both the horse and the background.













Imperial Chinese Horse IV

On the fourth canvas I exploded the shapes of the horse using squares and rectangles and it will be on a pale coloured background for a strong contrast.













Imperial Chinese Horse V

On the first canvas which is similar to the fourth canvas in that the horse shapes are exploded but the background is also made of geometric shapes.

I used a limited palette of black, French ultramarine blue, Grumbacher Red (Naphthol red AS-D), Hansa yellow and Titanium white.

I started by mixing my background colours making the various mauves of blue and red with touches of white and black, then the greens of blue, yellow adding white and a tiny amount of black. These colours were used throughout the painting creating an interesting pattern.

In a few areas I used pure French ultramarine blue as well as mixing white and a small amount of black or red for variation.

Next I added a little more yellow into the green and a lot of white for a pale yellow green and painted in the mane and tail as well as a few areas to create movement throughout the painting.

I under painted the horse shapes with a mix of black and red for a warm colour, then to lighten I added yellow and a bit of blue and went over them leaving a few areas of the black mix to show.

It still needs a little more work before it is completed and I will post each of these paintings at a later date as more work on them is completed.

Imperial Chinese Horse

It is the Victoria Day weekend and it seems so strange not to be going to Buckhorn, Ontario for what would have been our 27th Annual Among Friends Art Show.

So I filled the first two days with a workshop in abstracts at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio with Melanie Browne.

Most of the morning was a discussion about what we wanted to learn from the class and about a number of different styles of abstracts.

There were a number of different sculptures that had been brought in and it was no surprise that I chose to abstract an Imperial Chinese war horse copied from the T'ang Dynasty.

The first step was to do the sketch of the image I was going to do and then transfer it to a canvas and do a realistic painting with an abstract background.

Unfortunately I had to leave early and was unable to do more than the sketch.

Tomorrow I will draw the five images for a series of the various stages of abstracting the horse.

This original 4-1/4" x 4-1/2” graphite pencil drawing when framed will be available for $40.00.

Gathering Storm I - A Work in Progress

Today I wanted to do a little painting and I pulled this piece out  that I had started earlier this year (see posts on 12 January  and 19 February 2015).

I painted in the distant shoreline with various shades of green created by mixing French ultramarine blue. burnt sienna, raw sienna and Antwerp blue.



















I will post this painting at a later date one I have painted the foreground shore and trees.

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

White Vase - A Work in Progress

This is a drawing I did earlier this year in a still life class at KAGS (see post on 12 March 2015).

I put a piece of masking tape across the top edge of the table and used liquid frisket to mask out the edges of the vase and the one Chinese lantern that was above the table line.

Using various mixtures of Antwerp blue, Cobalt blue, French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson, I painted in the background.

It was then set aside to dry completely before I removed the masking tape.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have painted in the table and removed the frisket from the vase.