Morning Lake 2 - A Work in Progress

Today is another mild day like yesterday with the temperature reaching 43F (6.1C) and most of the snow has once again melted.

I pulled out this painting that I have been working on for quite a while (see posts on 08 December 2013, 27 January and 22 February 2014 and 22 January 2015) and would like to complete it today if time permits.













First I mixed a dark of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna and painted the shadowed areas into the pine needles. Then I added a few dead branches to the ends of the pine tree.

With burnt sienna I put the under paint down for the land area below the pine.














Using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and burnt sienna I painted in the land below the pine tree and added grasses and growies around the trunk.

It was at this point that I realized that the single pine needed company and lightly drew in a few more trunks.

It still needs a little more work before it is complete. I will post the finished piece at a later date.

Emil Varga Workshop on Painting Skies

My friend Joanne had wanted to learn to paint in watercolour and I had advised that she take the class with Emil Varga at KAGS.

Since her birthday is tomorrow and she was able to be here I enrolled her in the class as her birthday gift and supplied her with the brushes, paint and watercolour paper she would need for the class.

The theme for the workshop was how to paint skies and during the course of the day we worked on three different paintings.















The first painting had a dramatic sky and we put masking tape across the bottom quarter of the paper to protect the area for the snow that would be there and painted in later.

The paper was thoroughly wet with water and we put in various mixtures of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, Antwerp blue and cobalt blue.

The paint was sprayed and rolled around on the paper as layers of colour were added to the paper to achieve the moody sky.















Winter Thaw

It was set aside to dry before the background islands could be painted.

The distant islands were painted in using various mixes of French ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson.

The tape was then removed leaving with white paper and a large untouched area for the foreground islands to be placed














Last Light

The bottom of the paper was covered with masking tape to protect the white paper then it was wet thoroughly and new gamboge was brushed into the bottom area.

Burnt sienna was applied above and to the side of the yellow, then permanent rose was added on both sides of the yellow.

Clouds were put into the top of the sky with various mixtures of cobalt blue, French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and permanent rose, leaving some areas of white paper showing through.

It was then set aside to dry before the tape was removed.














The third painting was worked in stages in between the other paintings.

The bottom area of the painting was covered with masking tape and then the paper was wet.

Aureolin was put into the bottom of the sky against the masking tape and then softly blended upward to the top of the sky with clear water and set aside to dry.














Once the paper had dried completely it was wet with clear water and permanent rose was applied slightly over some of the yellow and up into the middle of the sky.

It was then blended upward to the top of the paper with clear water and set aside to dry.

The last colour to be added was cobalt blue and as before the paper was wet with water and the colour added above the permanent rose and blended upward to the top of the paper.














Early Morning Light

I will post each of these painting as more work on them has been completed.

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

OSWOA - Evening on the Lake 1

It is 9F (-12.8C) with the wind chill making it feel like -2F (-18.9C) and we are to get more snow today. But I really cannot complain about it as we haven't had much snow and cold weather so far this winter.

I thought I may as well warm things up by working on a painting of a warm summer evening that I have been working on for a little while (see posts on 29 August and 22 October 2015 and 30 January 2016).

The first thing I did was remove the masking fluid from both sailboats.














I then started by painting the hulls of each of the boats different colours. The first one in red using alizarin crimson and the second one in green using aureolin and Antwerp blue. These colours were also used for the hull reflections in the water.

With a black made with French ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and burnt sienna I put in the windows and hatch openings on the sailboats, the rudders, the hair on the people and the top part of the mast.

Using cadmium yellow and cadmium red I put the life jackets on both people.













Now it was time to start work on the sails and with cobalt blue I put in a band of colour near the top of the sail on the green boat and then added a little alizarin crimson and used the violet colour on the sail of the red boat.

Next the sails needed the shadow and reflected colour put onto them with various mixtures of new gamboge and aureolin.













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 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $40.00 and sold unframed.

ACEO - Stillness 1

Today I was at KAGS painting with the Outdoor Painters' Group.

I brought a number of small pieces to work on while I was there and decided to start with this one that I had started last year (see post on 27 December 2015) while I was playing with combinations of the various blues in my palette.

I thought I would make this piece look as though it was from Stoney Lake with its many small pink granite islands.

First I put in the islands using alizarin crimson as the base and gradually added combinations of burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue for the shadows and texture in the rocks and for the rock reflections in the water.

This was followed by putting the pines onto the islands, starting with the furthest back ones to the closest ones.

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.

White Water I - A Work in Progress

I pulled out this drawing that I had started last year (see post on 15 October 2015) and thought that I would like to possibly get it finished today.

Starting with the closet rock I placed in the shadows and then the cracks and crevices.

I did the same for the rocks behind the first rock and then added some grasses on top of these ones.

Next I put in the waterline and gradually added in the water ripples and the waves caused by the fast moving water.

I added some splash marks at the base of the foreground rock.

I will post this painting once I have finished the birch trees and added in the background.

Gathering Storm - A Work in Progress

It is a milder day 24F (-4.4C) than what we had on the weekend and the snow that started yesterday afternoon continues to fall and is supposed to continue into tomorrow.

I pulled out this painting that I haven't worked on in a long while (see posts on 29 May 2010 and 08 August 2013).

I started by indicating lightly with pencil the distant shoreline first, then added a couple of islands into the lake one further back than the other and added some trees onto both. Lastly, I added an island on the left side of the painting close to the foreground and put in the main pine tree trunks on top of the rocks.

I added another layer of raw sienna into the water just below the sky to darken the reflected colour slightly.

Once that dried I applied a pale wash of alizarin crimson just above it to indicate the rocky shoreline.















Next I made various green mixtures using Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue, raw sienna and aureolin.

I started with the distant shoreline and put in trees above the rocks across to just beyond the rocks of the second island as I knew some of them would be covered by the trees on both of the island.

With a slightly darker mixture of green I put two pine trees onto the smaller island on the left side first.

To finish the trees on the first island I made a dark colour by adding alizarin crimson to some of the darker green and painted in the dead tree.

Going back to the green from the first island I started putting in the largest pine tree when I was interrupted by unexpected company.

I will post this painting at a later date as I complete more work on the various islands.

Field Poppies I - A Work in Progress

Although today is warmer at 8F (-13.3C) the wind chill is making it feel a lot colder at -14F (25.6C) and we are supposed to get both snow and freezing rain later in the day.

I thought I would work on another sketch of poppies today this time a field of them standing tall against a bright morning sky.














For this painting I will use a canvas that was called Background 59 (see post on 18 December 2015) which should work quite well.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have transferred the sketch onto the canvas and started painting in the background grasses and leaves.