Lovesick Lake VI and VII - Two Works in Progress

It is another sunny and hot 84F (28.9C) with the humidity making it feel like 91F (32.8C) day, although today and tomorrow are supposed to be the last of this hot and humid weather for at least a week.

It clouded over around 5:00pm and we have been having one light show of lightning after another together with the continuous sound of rumbling thunder.

I did a little more work on each of these two sketches that I had started last month when we were out on Lovesick Lake in the canoe.

For the sketch of the pine tree I added more details to the branches and areas of the needles.

Then I added in the dead cedar to the right of the pine tree and added the large rock.

Lovesick Lake VI - Beaver Island Pine I

Since I wasn't in the mood to start using pen and ink on this sketch I started working on the second sketch which was on the opposite side of the inlet.

I had the two main cedar trees already sketched and added some of the dead cedars on each side of them and indicated where the reflection will appear in the water.

I will probably end up doing a larger colour painting at a later date as the contrast between the sunlit cedar trees and the dark background of trees behind it will create a lot of interest.

Lovesick Lake VII - Richards Island Cedar I

I will post each of these sketches at a later date once I have applied the ink to them and am pleased with the way they look.

All Members' Show at Art on Kent

Today is the last day of the All Members' Art Show at Art on Kent in Lindsay, Ontario.

As usual I am sitting at the Gallery for the last day of the show.

The Gallery was fairly busy with many tourists coming through to look at the display.

I had planned on working on a couple of paintings while I was there but instead spent most of my time speaking with visitors about the art on display.

It was a nice mix of many different styles and subject matter.

I also let them know that next Saturday there would be the opening for the Photography Show from 1-3pm.

With all the visitors time passed quickly and it was after 3:00pm before the last person left and it was time to take down my paintings and lock up everything for the day.

Lovesick Lake I-V - Five Works in Progress

Today was a beautiful, sunny day with a nice breeze blowing and the temperature went up to 82F (27.8C) with the humidity making it feel like 89F (31.7C). It was a wonderful day to go out on the lake with the canoe.











Lovesick Lake II - Sunken Boat

We originally had planned to go to Coon Lake up near Apsley, but as we were going up 28 Highway through Burleigh Falls, we decided on Lovesick Lake instead. We hadn't been on that lake in over 20 years and we would be out on the water sooner, especially since there was to be a thunderstorm later in the day.

Burleigh Falls Lock 28 which allows access between Stoney and Lovesick Lakes has a Parks Canada public boat launch and parking available so it was an ideal place for us to stop and enter Lovesick Lake.













Lovesick Lake I

We left the boat launch and went across to the far side of the channel markers by Cut Island and stayed outside of them as we passed Ruba Island and followed them as far as the inlet on Richards Island where we backtracked and went up the shallow chancel between Richards, Taylors and Beaver Islands.

Once we were past Taylors Island we eased left and took the scenic route and went all the way around Marshall Island and saw some of the opposite side of Taylors Island before heading back down through the same shallow channel where we would let the current carry us back to the Lock.












Lovesick Lake IV - Abandoned Landing

The lake has a maximum depth of 82' (25m) but there are many shallow areas with submerged trees and large rock shelves, which provides wonderful fishing spots for the many game fish including: large and small mouth bass, muskie, walleye, perch, bluegill and pumpkinseed sunfish, black crappie and carp.

Ron enjoyed himself and caught two large mouth bass and two walleye, all of which were quickly returned live to the lake. He also had numerous fish that he almost landed but got away just shy of the canoe.














Lovesick Lake V - Porters Island Cottage

As we came out of the channel we passed close to Porters Island and stayed fairly close to shore until we had to cross the between the channel markers making sure there were no boats coming toward us in either direction and returned to the boat launch.

Perhaps next time we go to Lovesick Lake we will follow the shore on the opposite side of the channel markers and follow the shoreline into Lower Buckhorn Lake and Deer Bay.















Lovesick Lake III - Survivors

I will post each of these sketches at a later date once I have gone over them with pen and ink.

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

Haunting Reflections - A Work in Progress

I received this notice from Google this morning:

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I appreciate that Google keeps up on the laws of other countries to keep us out of trouble and for doing the work and putting this onto my blog to comply with European laws as I doubt I would have been able to figure out the codes.

Well, I have checked and confirmed that this notice works on my blog (see below).

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Anyway, even though today has a nice breeze blowing and it is going to be a little cooler 83F (28.3C) and 93F (33.9C) with the humidity, than it was yesterday I decided to stay inside and looked through some of the paintings that I had already started including this one that I had painted the background sky (see post 04 February 2011) with plans to put the Alster Tower in the foreground.

It is one of eight structures, including Boldt Castle located on Heart (Hart) Island in the 1,000 Islands of the St. Lawrence River. It is located near Alexandria Bay, in Jefferson County, New York.

I went through the many photographs I had taken of the buildings whenever I had visited Boldt Castle over the years.

Since I wanted the structure reflected into the water I started my sketch of the Alster Tower showing the tower boat dock at the foot of the building.

The Tower was one of the first structures built on the island and was originally built for the entertainment of guests and as a play house for the Boldt family children. However it was occupied by the Boldt family during the first four years when the Castle was being constructed.  

Its design was inspired by the by the castles and towers found along the Rhine and Alster Rivers in Germany by King William, the German Emperor. 

Construction began on the Tower in 1897 and the building was completed in 1899 at a cost of $15,000.00. The six story Tower made of made of brown stone was deliberately built with slanting and uneven walls, ceilings, and roofs.  

There are two stairways leading to the top of the 90 foot (27.4m) tall tower, one on the outer wall of the building. The other is a stone spiral staircase inside the building allowing which when reaching the summit of the Tower guests are greeted by a magnificent view of the area.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have completed the drawing and transferred it to the watercolour paper.

ACEO - Shapes 5

It is a hot, 88F (31C) and humid day 95F (35C) and I thought I would paint inside instead of working in the garden.

I decided to make this piece into an abstract.

First, I drew a couple of rectangles using a pencil.

Starting in the upper left corner I painted that square with Antwerp blue.

For the lower left corner I used a mix of Antwerp blue and alizarin crimson to make a rich purple colour.

Next I moved to the upper right corner and painted it alizarin crimson.

Lastly, I painted the bottom right corner with a mixture of Antwerp blue and cadmium yellow.

I would like to thank Ms. Frances Doane of Toronto, Ontario on her purchase of Threatening Skies (see post on 14 November 2014).

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.

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

Burleigh Falls 14-16 - Three Works in Progress

The hot and humid weather continues with the temperature being 87F (30.6C) and with the humidity feeling like 98F (36.C).













Burleigh Falls 14

I thought taking a run up to Burleigh Falls would be an enjoyable day outside by the water and doing a few sketches.














Burleigh Falls 15

I worked more on sketches of the rocks and trees with a little of the water showing, rather than having the water as the main part of the sketch.














Burleigh Falls 16

I will post each of these drawing at a later date once they have been completed.

Chemong Lake I and II - Two Works in Progress

It is always nice to go out on Chemong Lake as Ron enjoys the fishing with the lake having large and small mouth bass, muskie, walleye, yellow perch, black crappie, bluegill, pumpkinseed and carp.

I enjoy the ever changing seasons and the wide variety of subject matter to photograph, draw and paint and occasionally I will also throw a line into the water and go fishing.

It is a fairly shallow lake reaching a maximum depth of 21' (6.4m) and is about 1 mile (1.61km) wide and 9 miles (14.5km) long making it the largest of the Kawartha Lakes and it is a part if the well-known Trent-Severn Waterway system of locks and canals.

Chemong Lake is connected by narrow waterways to both Upper Buckhorn Lake and Pigeon Lake to make up what is known as the Tri-Lakes.













Chemong Lake I

The J. A. Gifford Causeway between Bridgenorth and Ennismore in Selwyn Township separates the north and south ends of the lake.

Many years ago, before the Causeway was built it was not easy to travel across the 0.7 mile (1.1km) distance across the lake between the two hamlets.

It wasn't until the 1840's that a ferry service provided transportation to shorten the time it took to travel between Bridgenorth and Ennismore. Unfortunately this service was dropped after a few years due to the high cost to the local government to maintain.

Early attempts to construct a bridge ended in failure. Then in 1854 a delegation of residents made the request to county council to build a bridge.

In 1869, a floating bridge was constructed by William Trunnum, which cost $1,000.00 to build. It was finally towed into place and opened on 24 May 1870.












Chemong Lake II

It was known as the world's longest floating bridge due to its almost 1 mile (1km) span.

For obvious reasons the bridge was referred to as the "Bridge of Terror" by the locals due to the middle section of the bridge often being underwater and some of it being carried away when the ice left the lake during the spring thaw.

In total there were three floating bridges built before the current Causeway (named after James Alfred Gifford, a long time Reeve of Ennismore and Warden of Peterborough County), was opened on 23 June 1949.

It was rebuilt in the early 1960’s and they are currently doing more maintenance to the structure.

I will post each of these sketches at a later date once I have completed the graphite pencil drawing or applied the ink.