Flower Power 1 - A Work in Progress

It is another bright and sunny day with warm temperatures 77F (25C) but the humidity makes it feel like 85F (29.4C) which is still a nice summer day.

I decided to work on this piece that I had started quite a while ago (see posts on 09 May 2012 and 23 January 2014).

Using various yellows such as raw sienna, new gamboge and aureolin and painting in the negative, I gave a little more definition to some of the flower shapes.

Then with Antwerp blue and cobalt blue I tinted some of the off white flowers.

I darkened some of the red flowers with alizarin crimson.

Using cadmium yellow, new gamboge and raw sienna I painted in the stamens into the center of some of the flowers.

I will post this painting again once I have completed the yellow flowers in the middle sections of the floral arrangement.

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

Rainy Day 2-4 - Three Works in Progress

It was a nice day even though the sun went into hiding and it was overcast, with an occasional sprinkle of rain and the temperature reached a very pleasant 74F (23.3C).

I pulled out these paintings that I worked on last month (see posts on 06 March 2013 and 15 July 2015).

I wanted to at least get the background in on all four of the paintings.

For this one I wanted to make it an early autumn scene when the leaves have just started to change, with the promise of autumn colours.

Rainy Day 4

Using various mixes of French ultramarine blue, raw sienna, alizarin crimson and Antwerp blue to create the background trees and field.

I put in the under paint on the tree trunks using French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna and washed in raw sienna in a couple of places on the trunk.

On the next one I wanted to make it look like a day in late spring with more of the bright green colours.

I used Antwerp blue as the base with aureolin and new gamboge to make a wide range of bright greens.

The background fence was a mix of burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue.

Rainy Day 2

The first tree I made into a birch  using the dark colour from the fence and adding some burnt sienna in areas and raw sienna to give the tree marking some colour.

For the two remaining trees I have to decide if I want them as birches or another type of deciduous tree.

On the next painting I started putting the bark on the one main tree with a dark of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

I was debating what kind of background to put behind the tree and thought about a dead tree on Highway 507 that is in a field at the edge of a large area of ground water that doesn't dry up even in a drought.

Rainy Day 3

But then I had friends drop by and I put my paints away.

I will post each of these paintings at a later date as they are completed.

Four Seasons - Four Works in Progress

We are having wonderful, bright and sunny summer weather with the temperature at 74F (23.3C), with a light breeze.

Today I wanted to do a little more work on this series of paintings showing the four seasons that I have been working on for a little while (see posts on 07 July 2012, 18 July 2013, 14 July 2014 and 24 July 2015).














Spring Forest 3

Using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I painted in the main tree trunk and branches.

Next I used a mix of Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue and raw sienna to  paint in the darker middle ground and foreground grasses, before setting this painting aside to dry.














Summer Forest 3

With all the tree trunks completed it was time to start painting in the ground cover with grasses.

For this I used a pale mix of Antwerp blue and raw sienna  as an under paint, then gradually darkening the green with French ultramarine blue and adding more details to the grasses as they come closer to the front of the painting.

This painting was then set aside to dry.














Autumn Forest 3

For this painting I added  some dark twigs into the foreground and around the base of some of the larger trees.

To give the painting a little more warmth I added in some grasses and growies with burnt sienna.














Winter Forest 3

For this piece I used raw sienna and burnt sienna to put in the grasses at the base of some of the larger trees.

I felt the large foreground tree should have a few leaves still clinging to the branches and added them in as well as a couple of fallen leaves among the grasses.

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

Selwyn Beach Conservation Area I-VI

The sun was shining, the was a nice breeze to keep the bugs away, for the most part and it was warm 74F (23.3C) making today was an ideal day to go over to the Selwyn Beach Conservation Area, located at 2251 Birch Island Road.

I arrived at the Park for 9:00am trying to beat most of the people who would come out to spend the day at the beach and for the most part I succeeded.

For many years from the time Christine was a year old child we would take her to the Beach most week days during the summer and do other things on the weekend when the beach was crowded.

Selwyn Beach IV

One of the things she liked was going along the trail from the parking lot through the shadowed tunnel created by the trees and coming out into the bright sunlit and running across the grass to the sandy beach.

We would take her on the hiking trails and eventually she walked the entire 3.1 miles (6km).

Selwyn Beach VI

The unsupervised beach is located on the northeast shore of Chemong Lake.

There is a marked off area that reaches a depth of 4.5' (1.37m) and the bottom is sand to that point. Once you go under the rope the bottom becomes a little bit on the weedy side.

But in all the years I have lived in this area the Beach has never been closed due to water quality.

Selwyn Beach V

The 72 acre (29.1 hectare) Park was purchased by the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority (ORCA) in 1973 to make sure that the public would have access to a section of the lake.















Selwyn Beach I

There are many small barbecues and picnic tables in the area around the beach area where families have the opportunity to spend the day and cook a meal in the great outdoors.

There is also a picnic shelter complete with a large barbecue for birthday parties, family reunions or other special occasions which can be reserved by contacting the head office.













Selwyn Beach II

Selwyn Beach also has a public boat launch and dock and years ago in the off season I would sometimes take Pagan and Fancy there to swim.

Pagan preferred to stay at the edge of the water and just get his feet wet; whereas Fancy loved the water and would race to the end of the dock and jump out as far as he could into the lake and would sometimes dive down for the water plants.












Selwyn Beach III

I will post these sketches at a later date once they have been completed and paintings have been started.

It was well worth paying the daily entry fee of $10 per vehicle.

Unicorn Sketches - A Work in Progress

I had a long call and was put on hold a number of times and I started to doodle my usual subject, something relating to horses.

In this case I did a couple of unicorns rearing and leaping.

Unicorns are in the top five of my favourite mythical creatures to draw and paint.

I have drawn many of them over the years, most of which I wish I would have photographed so I would have a permanent record of the artwork.

I may still add another unicorn onto the paper before it gets filed.

If I develop theses sketches I will post them at a later date.

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 August.

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

Confirmed Shows for 2015-2016 - August

This is a listing of confirmed shows that I will be exhibiting my artwork at this year. I will update the list as more shows are added.

Kawartha Arts Network - Art on Kent, Lindsay, Ont.
KAN
02 Jul - 01 Aug 15 Annual All Members' Show
Opening Reception 04 Jul 15 from 1-3pm.
03-31 Dec 15 and 07 Jan-16 Jan 16 Affordibleism
Opening Reception 05 Dec 15 from 1-3pm.

Kawartha Artists’ Gallery, Peterborough, Ont.
KAGS
26 Aug - 27 Sep 15 Faces and Figures
Opening Reception 29 Aug 15 from 1-4pm.
11-29 Nov 15 Outdoor Painters' Show - Elements of Nature
Opening Reception 14 Nov 15 from 1-4pm.
02-20 Dec 15 and 06-17 Jan 16 Christmas Show and Sale
Opening Reception 05 Dec 15 from 1-4pm.
24 Feb - 24 Mar 16 The Abstract Show
Opening Reception 28 Feb 16 from 1-4pm.
13 Apr - 05 May 16 Floral and Still Life
Opening Reception 17 Apr 16 from 1-4pm.
15 Jun - 10 Jul 16 Figuratively Speaking
Opening Reception 19 Jun 16 from 1-4pm.
24 Aug - 11 Sep 16 Black and White Plus 1 Colour
Opening Reception 28 Aug 16 from 1-4pm.
28 Sep -23 Oct 16 Fall Show
Opening Reception 02 Oct 16 from 1-4pm.
26 Oct - 13 Nov 16 Outdoor Painters' Show
Opening Reception 30 Oct 16 from 1-4pm.
30 Nov -18 Dec 16 and 04-15 Jan 17 Christmas Show and Sale
Opening Reception 04 Dec 16 from 1-4pm.

Lockside Trading Company, 2805 River Ave, Youngs Point, Ont.
15-16 Aug 15 4th Annual Art @ the Locks from 9am-6pm.

St. Matthews Church, Buckhorn, Ont.
BuckhornArtistsGroup
15-23 Aug 15 25th Annual Shades of Summer Art Show

Fenelon Falls Fair Grounds, Fenelon Falls, Ont.
KawarthaArtsFestival
05-06 Sep 15 Kawartha Arts Festival

Township of Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery, Warsaw, Ont.
08 Sep - 24 Oct 15 Three Good Friends
Opening Reception 11 Sep 15 from 7-8pm.

Millennium Park, Peterborough, Ont.
5th Annual Purple Onion Festival
20 Sep 15 from 11am-4:00pm.

Dancing Blueberries, 360 George St. N., Peterborough, Ont.
02-28 Oct 15

Please come out and enjoy the artwork displayed at these shows.