First Day of the Shades of Summer Art Show and the Lockside Trading Company Show and Sale

It is another hot 84F (28.9C) and humid 98F (36.7C) day and it is supposed to get hotter and more humid as the week progresses.

I had to be at Lockside for 7:00am this morning to set up the tables, grids and hang the paintings before leaving everything in Norma and Cindy's capable hands.
















The hours for the show at Lockside are:
15 Aug 15 - 10am - 6:00pm
16 Aug 15 - 10am - 6:00pm














Most of the people who came through the show in Buckhorn today were those visiting the many art and craft shows in the area. A number also came in from the boats that were going through the Lock.

Three paintings were sold by Rebecca Bilcox, JoAnne Connell Northey and Penny Little. Small items were also sold by Diane Collins and JoAnne Connell Northey.














The hours for our show are:
15 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
16 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm
17 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
18 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
19 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
20 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
21 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
22 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
23 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm

Please come out and enjoy our show.

Setting up the 25th Annual Shades of Summer Art Show

It is going to be a very hot 82F (27.8C) and humid 100F (37.8C) day which will not make it pleasant while setting up the paintings at St. Matthews Church in Buckhorn.

First I helped my friend Irene hang her paintings which didn't take very much time as she only had about a dozen.

With my friend Heather being on Toronto for a wedding today I offered to set up her paintings as well as looking after my own.

Her paintings were easy to hang once I had taken them out of their containers and grouped together.

Most of her paintings that I brought to the show were up on her panels in less than two hours.

The remaining ones were hung on the front grids where the theme was flowers and the remaining small pieces were put on the short grids.

By then it was time to take a break and I went next door to the Cody Inn to have lunch and relax for a little while.

Before long I returned to the Church to hang my paintings.

Since I was the last person to hang my paintings, it was up to me to fill in the remaining spaces on the theme grids and small panels at the front of the Church.

First I hung some of the floral paintings I brought for the theme panels at the front.

Next I put the remaining smaller floral themed paintings on the short grids beside the entry table where I also placed my biographies and business cards on the table near my artwork.

My two acrylic abstracts were so different from the rest of my paintings that I placed on some of the all group panels among the oils.

I placed the larger paintings onto my set of grids and then gradually added paintings that were complementary to them until I was pleased with the result.

Lastly, I set up the remaining paintings that I brought on the tables by the wall which had most of the windows in the room.

For the mid-sized paintings I used the window sill as the display area.

The remaining paintings, which were fairly small, were set on ornate metal easels so they could be displayed.

The hours for our show are:
15 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
16 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm
17 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
18 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
19 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
20 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
21 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
22 Aug 15 - 10:00am - 4:00pm
23 Aug 15 - 12:30pm - 4:00pm

Now that this show was finally set up I went home to drop off the boxes and from there go over to Lockside Trading Company in Youngs Point.

I will set the tent up tonight which will save me a lot of time in the morning when I set up for the show which starts tomorrow.

Fortunately for me, both Ron and Christine were at the house and we went out for supper first before going to Lockside.

With the extra helping hands the tent didn't take very long to set up in a nice location near a tall cedar tree which would offer extra shade during the day tomorrow, which is supposed to be hotter and more humid than today.

Our timing was perfect as we managed to return home just before the thunderstorm started.

The hours for the show at Lockside are:
15 Aug 15 - 10am - 6:00pm
16 Aug 15 - 10am - 6:00pm

I will be in my usual spot at the back of the building most of the day painting.

Hopefully the heat and humidity will not keep you from visiting the shows.

I look forward to seeing some of you at one or both of the two art shows during the next nine days.

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

Upper Buckhorn Lake I-V - Five Works in Progress

Tonight we are setting up the grids for the 25th Annual Shades of Summer Art Show and Sale held at St. Matthews Church in Buckhorn, Ontario.

I arrived early and decided to walk along the shoreline and do a few sketches of the lake around Buckhorn Lock 31 which divides Upper and Lower Buckhorn Lake.

I plan to develop these sketches into paintings and complete them during the nine days of the art show where I traditionally set up my small drafting table at the back of the Church and can be found painting there daily.

Upper Buckhorn Lake I

Upper Buckhorn, Pigeon and Chemong Lake, make up what is known as a tri lake system of three lakes connected by narrow waterways.

While we have never gone through any of the Locks in the boat, we have spent all day out on the tri lakes.

Starting from the public launch in Ennismore going down to the bottom of Chemong Lake before going back up to pass under the Causeway linking Ennismore and Bridgenorth before going through the Harrington Narrows.

Upper Buckhorn Lake II

From there we passed on the east side of Fox Island and continued through Upper Buckhorn Lake until we reached Buckhorn Lock 31 where we tied the boat and stopped at Mainstreet Landing for lunch on their patio overlooking the Lock and enjoyed watching the boat traffic as we ate our meal.

Lock 31 of the Trent Severn Waterway is one of the busiest locks in the waterway, having between 5,000 to 8,000 boats annually going through them during the boating season.

The Locks open on the Friday of the Victoria Day weekend in May and remain open until Thanksgiving Monday in October.

Upper Buckhorn Lake III

After lunch we headed back down Upper Buckhorn Lake which is the second deepest of the tri lakes with a maximum depth of 47' (14.3m) and passed through Gannons Narrows into Pigeon Lake where we went partway down the lake before stopping for a while so Ron could go fishing while I would sketch and take reference photographs.

Ron prefers to fish until he lands at least one of the major fish species which in all of the tri lakes include black crappie, carp, large mouth and small mouth bass, muskie, perch, walleye, bluegill and pumpkinseed sunfish.

It doesn't matter how large or small the fish he catches is because all are live released back into the lake before we turn around and head back up the lake.

Upper Buckhorn Lake IV

We go back through Gannons Narrows into the lower end of Upper Buckhorn Lake and go down the west side of Fox Island taking the trek through the islands to Harrington Narrows and back into Chemong Lake to return to our launch site in Ennismore where after loading the boat back onto the trailer it is time to have supper at the Sip and Dip Restaurant in Ennismore.

It is nice to be able to spend an entire day out on the these three lakes which provide large bodies of open water for boating, sailing and other recreations without being unrestricted by having to pass through the Locks.

I am fortunate to live such a short distance away from the lakes and be able to enjoy all they have to offer.

Upper Buckhorn Lake V

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

Lovesick Lake VIII - Beaver Island Pine II - A Work in Progress

I pulled this sketch out that I had started last month when we were out canoeing on Lovesick Lake.

It is one of the many beautiful pine trees that are found in the area on the islands.

Originally I only had enough time before we drifted past to do the top part of the tree and put in a few of the many twisted and broken branches that attracted my attention and gave this lone tree on Beaver Island so much character.

I pulled up my reference photographs and added more of the dead branches to the trunk and will later add more of the areas where needles still clung to the branches.

Next I added the two dead tree trunks on either side of this pine that were not able to survive the harsh winter winds.

Then I indicated where few smaller pines were trying to take hold at the base of the trees and in between the crevices in the rocks.

Below the rocks I lightly blocked in where the reflections would appear.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have applied ink to the sketch.

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

ACEO - Rainy Day 1

Another warm 76F (24.4C) and humid 86F (30C) day and it is raining, which hopefully will take away some of the humidity.

A couple of days ago I worked on the other three paintings in this series (see post on 08 August 2015).

While it is still summer I thought I would do this piece in autumn colours and what better than with the bright and glowing colours of a stand of maple trees.

I put a brook running through the maples.

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 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.

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.