Hoturo - A Work in Progress

All my paintings start with a number of quick sketches of the subject and a selection is made as to which one is to be developed into a painting.

It is the same for this one of a Redline 25 sailboat built by the Canadian Company, C&C Yachts and designed by George Cuthbertson and George Cassian.

The next step is to enlarge the completed sketch to the size needed for the canvas.

Now comes the time consuming part, making sure everything is in its place.

Needless to say, it took just under twelve hours to complete; by the time the multitude of rigging lines and all the parts and pieces of the boat were place in the correct way, and shape.

I will post this outline sketch at a later date once it has been transferred onto the canvas.

Abstract Horse Head 1 - A Work in Progress

Today I injured my knee and I have my leg in a splint that goes from the top of the thigh to the ankle and I am on crutches; not what I needed at this time of the year.

I thought I would make the best of it and play with a little bit of colour; I wet some areas of the paper and left others dry.

Next I mixed various combinations of colour together and put it on the paper and in other areas I used pure colour. Some I brushed onto the paper and some I simply dropped into various areas.















Once the paper had dried completed I looked to see if there were any shapes that could be made into anything recognizable.

It didn't take long until I found a partial horse head and drew it in with pencil.

Next I started to put pen and ink on top of the pencil outlines, but I didn't get too far along with it before I decided to set it aside for now.














I will post this painting at a later date once it has been completed.

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

Evening on the Lake - A Work in Progress

I thought since I was going to be working on a sailboat painting I may as well develop some of the sketches that I did when we were on the Stoney Lake Boat Cruise earlier this year.

I decided to use the sketch of Sailboat 7 (see the post on 29 August 2015) and I worked on it until I was satisfied with the basic outline drawing.

Then I transferred the drawing onto the watercolour paper for this painting.

Next I used liquid masking fluid to protect the sailboat from the paint I would put onto the background.

I then set the painting aside to let it dry before I will sketch in the background.

I will post this painting at a later date after I have decided on the background and painted in the sky and water.

Christmas Art Show and Sale

This morning while I was out running errands in Peterborough I stopped by KAGS to drop off some matted and shrink wrapped paintings for the Christmas Art Show and Sale.

The show has a wide variety of subject matter with something for everyone, including animals, landscape, portraits, still life, buildings and floral in sizes ranging from tiny miniatures through to a couple of fairly large paintings and in almost all sizes in between.


The hanging committee did a wonderful job as the show was well laid out and beautifully presented.













A number of paintings have already been purchased an may even end up as Christmas gifts.














The show continues through to 20 December 2015 and closes for the holidays and will be open again in the New Year from 06-17 January 2016.










I hope you will take the time to come out and enjoy the show.

Background 55 - A Work in Progress

As usual I used the remaining paint from yesterday's artwork to make a background for another painting.

This background was made from a limited palette of Cerulean blue, French ultramarine blue, Titanium white and alizarin crimson.















I put the colour onto the canvas much as I would for a landscape painting of an early morning sky with a lake in the foreground.

I will work on this painting again and post it at a later date.

Cool Morning - A Work in Progress

Last month we had a class with Wayne Moore on painting windswept trees in acrylic.

We put the sky in using Cerulean blue and lighted the colour with water as we went lower into the sky.














The water was a darker Cerulean blue and toward the bottom of the painting a small amount of alizarin crimson was added to the blue to give a little warmth to the water.

Using a pencil the rocks, grasses and main tree trunks were lightly sketched onto the canvas.














With Cerulean blue, some French ultramarine blue and a little alizarin crimson the trunks, growies, branches and some of the needles were painted.

With the darker colour a touch of white was added and the background trees were painted in using vertical strokes along the horizon line.














Using the dark mixture and adding a little more French ultramarine blue to darken it a little more the background water and some of the shadows below the rocks were added.

It was suggested that I continue with the painting but make it into a winter scene rather than add a lot of bright greens to the trees, and perhaps add some snow onto the rocks.















Before making a decision about what I would do with the painting I added some definition onto the one dead and broken tree trunk on the right side of the painting.

I will post this painting once I have finished the rocks and added a little more detail into the water.

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 December.

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