Purple Onion Festival

Today the Countryside Art Group set up their show at the 5th Annual Festival held in Millennium Park in downtown Peterborough, Ontario.














We had a wonderful day for the exhibition, with bright, sunny skies, warm weather and a gentle breeze.














Throughout the day I worked on a number of different paintings, but with the large crowd going through the building I spoke with more of the public than actually had time to do any serious work on the paintings.













I look forward to returning again next year.

Birch Autumn 2

Since the painting I did yesterday worked looks very nice in the frame I had for it, I thought I would do another one today of a similar subject.

The background under paint was already on the paper and I lightly sketched in where my trees would be located.

I already had a mid tone green of Antwerp blue and raw sienna, as well as a dark green of French ultramarine blue and raw sienna.

With the light green and a sponge, I put in the lighter coloured tree leaves throughout the background on the right side of the painting.

With the dark green mixture, I put in the pine trees on both sides of the painting leaving an open area in the centre as well as being careful to leave the birch tree trunks untouched.













Using a dark of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I painted in the rocks and the tree branches as well as some markings on the birch trees.

Next, I used a mix of both blues to put a few in ripples on the water.

I used cadmium yellow and raw sienna to put the leaves onto the birch trees; this was followed by adding in some reflections of the bright leaves into the water on the right side.

Lastly, using burnt sienna I put in some smaller younger trees into the opening in the center between the larger trees on each side of the painting.

This original 3" x 4-1/2" watercolour painting when framed will be available for $75.00. SOLD

Birch Autumn 1

I cut a few pieces of watercolour paper to the size that would fit into a couple of small frames, complete with mats that I had purchased a number of years ago.

I started by brushing a pale wash of French ultramarine blue across the paper and set each one aside to dry.

While they were drying, I mixed a mid tone green using Antwerp blue and raw sienna, followed by a dark green using the other blue with raw sienna.

With the light green and a sponge, I put in the lighter coloured tree leaves throughout the background.













With the dark green mixture, I put in the closer pine trees being careful to leave the birch tree trunks untouched.

Using a dark of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I painted in the rocks and the tree branches.

Next, I used a mix of both blues to put a few in ripples on the water.

Lastly, I used cadmium yellow and raw sienna to put the leaves onto the birch trees as well as adding in some bright sunlit spots throughout the painting.

This little original 3" x 4-1/2" watercolour painting when framed will be available for $75.00. SOLD

OSWOA - Flower Power 1

I decided that I wanted to finish this painting that I have been working on for a while (see posts on 09 May 2012, 23 January 2014 and 09 August 2015).

I started with the yellow mass of flowers on the right side of the arrangement and using aureolin and raw sienna I created flower shapes by painting in the negative.

Using burnt sienna I added the stamens to the center of the flowers.

I wanted to put in a few larger yellow flowers on the left side of the floral arrangement.

With raw sienna and painting in the negative I created the first of the two large blooms.

A little burnt sienna was added into the shadows.

Aureolin was added to the shadow colour and a few small flowers were added around the large blooms.

With various shades of green, leaves were added throughout the painting.

If you would like more information about OSWOA please go to my post on 12 March 2010.

The OSWOA 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 $40.00 and sold unframed.

ACEO - Four Seasons

I spent most of the day working on a number of small paintings that I had started a while ago and should be finished (see posts on 07 July 2012, 18 July 2013, 14 July 2014, 24 July and 07 August 2015).

With this group of paintings, since they were completed to the same stage I could work on one, set it aside to dry and then work on another.














Spring Forest 3

For the first one I used a Antwerp blue and new gamboge for the lighter leaves and set it aside to dry.

When I came back to it I used a darker mixture of the same two colours and added a touch of raw sienna and did the darker leaves.

Summer Forest 3

For the second one which was again mainly green foliage I used Antwerp blue, raw sienna and French ultramarine blue for the lighter leaves on the background trees and a few onto the foreground tree.

Once it had dried I darkened the mixture with more French ultramarine blue and put in the next layer of leaves on the middle area trees and some onto the foreground tree.

Lastly, I added a touch of alizarin crimson to the green mixture and put in the darkest layer of leaves on the foreground tree.














Autumn Forest 3

The first layer of leaves on the background trees were painted with raw sienna and set aside to dry.

The middle trees were put in with various mixtures of new gamboge, alizarin crimson and aureolin.

It was time to start on the foreground tree. Using mixes of alizarin crimson, cadmium red and cadmium yellow the leaves were painted.

Lastly, I added a few falling leaves and some that had already fallen onto the ground in the grasses.














Winter Forest 3

This last one just needed a few more burnt sienna leaves added to the foreground tree and it was finished.

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

The ACEO shown here are all original watercolour paintings using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on either 140lb. or 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. They are priced at $20.00 each and sold unframed.

River Morning 1

It is a cold, wet and miserable day of 42F (5.6C) with the high this afternoon to be 52F (11.1C).

I pulled out this piece of tinted paper and thought I would keep the darker colour into the top of the sky.

I put in the main trees into the foreground and then added the closer bank of the river behind them.

Next I indicated the trees on the far shore, keeping them lighter and less distinct and put the water line below them.

Lastly, I put the horizon line into the background.

Seahorse 5

Last night was the opening of our show at the Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery. The Peterborough County Warden gave a short speech and opened the show which was fairly well attended with around 40 people coming out to see the exhibit.

Today it is pouring rain and cool 51F (10.6C) with the high to be 58F(14.4C).

I thought I would like to spend the day drawing and decided that I would like to do a sketch of a seahorse hidden in among  some seaweed.

Once I had the seahorse completed, it was time to start placing the sea grasses around the seahorse.

I started by putting in the seaweed to the right of the seahorse.

This was followed by the one behind the seahorse and the one it had its tail wrapped around.

Lastly, I added a couple more to the left side of the seahorse.