Faith - A Work in Progress

Today is unusually hot 93F (33.9C) with the humidity making it feel like 109F (42.8C). Hopefully it won't be as warm tomorrow.

Earlier this year when I was painting at St. John the Baptist Anglican Church with the Lakefield Creative Artists' Group I took some photographs of the inside of the Church.

I thought that window with the backlit silhouette of the crucifix would make an interesting painting.

I painted the entire canvas with a pale mixture of French ultramarine blue and titanium white.

I added some burnt sienna to the under paint and blocked in the walls around the window.

Next I need to work on tightening the up the drawing and then transferring the image onto the canvas.

I will post this painting again once the image has been transferred onto the canvas.

Sail Softly on By I - A Work in Progress

Since I had worked on some other sketches of Cuba earlier this month, I pulled out this drawing of the beach at the Iberostar Daiquiri in Cayo Guillermo, Cuba. The resort was partially closed with one half of it newly renovated and the other half under construction.

If I was going back to Cuba I would stay there or at the Breezes Veradero, both were wonderful, but I would not return to the Tryp Cayo Coco.














I didn't have a lot of time before I had to go and meet with some friends, but I put in the sailboat on the horizon.

Then I started working on the woman holding the child's hand and finished part of the wrap she was wearing.

I will post this painting at a later date after I have worked on it again.

Garden Shed 2 - A Work in Progress

Even though the forecast called for warm temperatures 83F (27.8C), high humidity  94F (34.4C) and thunderstorms, today I went and painted with the KAGS Outdoor Painters' Group at a farm on Cameron Line that was known for its lilac bushes.

The first thing I saw as we turned into the driveway was a peacock walking across the road; needless to say I grabbed my camera and took a picture.

I later learned from the owners that they had eight peafowl on the property but the peahens had already gone to ground and wouldn't appear until after the eggs had hatched.














The farm was a treasure trove of opportunities for paintings and I spent most of the morning taking photographs and making a few quick sketches.

The original barn was built in 1813 and the original section of the stone house was built in 1821 and various additions were added at later times.

There were many wondrous things hidden in and among the flower gardens surrounding the house which also had an enchanting natural stone slab set of stairs leading up to one of the additions.














After taking many reference photographs of the building, gardens, livestock and farm equipment I settled down to work on a painting.

Just before lunch time it started to cloud over and when I went back to do more work on my painting it wasn't long before the first few drops of rain started to fall.

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

Northern Lights - A Work in Progress

Today is going to be another hot 85F (29.4C) and humid 91F (32.8C) day, making it a good day to stay inside with the air conditioner on keeping things livable and getting work done on a painting.

I decided to do a little more work on this painting that I had started many years ago (see posts on 09 December 2010, 21 February, 29 May, 10 July and 29 August 2012) and recently found.

I started on the right hand side of the painting beginning with the trunk of the tall pine tree in the foreground.



Next starting at the top of the tree I added branches and needles, gradually working my way down the tree trunk.

I added the background trees in behind the rocks at the edge of the lake.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have completed the trees on the right side and drawn in the trees on the left side of the painting.

Lakes 1-3 - Three Works in Progress

It is another nice sunny day with the temperature reaching 84F (28.9C) and the humidity it feels like 89F (31.7C).

I pulled out these three little pieces that I started last month (see post on 18 April 2016).

For the first painting I put a line of new gamboge with a touch of alizarin crimson along the horizon line.

I added a little more alizarin crimson and put it in above the new gamboge and blended it up into the sky.

It was also added just below the horizon line and then a little more alizarin crimson was added to the mixture and put in below.

Then the phone rang and when I returned the paper was dry, so I rewet the paper and with alizarin crimson I blended it into the sky.

Next I used French ultramarine blue and put into the sky and then I mixed it with the alizarin crimson and painted it into the bottom area of the lake and created a few waves through the orange colour.

I changed the name of this painting from Lake 1 to Rainbow Sky 1 and then decided that I would make all these paintings into sunset scenes.

For my next painting I used new gamboge and put a line across the paper just below the center of the sky.














Next I added some alizarin crimson to the yellow and painted in the lower part of the sky just above the water. To the orange I added water to lighten the colour and painted in the top portion of the sky.

Then I mixed a dark of French ultramarine blue burnt sienna and alizarin crimson for the clouds and before I could apply the paint the phone rang.

After the call I once again had to rewet the sky in order to put in the clouds and finish the sky. I decided to call this painting Evening Lighthouse 1 instead of Lake 2.














For this painting since I had all the colours I needed mixed, I started with the new gamboge and washed it into the top of the sky, followed with the orange mix and then the alizarin crimson into the bottom of the sky. Into the top of the sky I put in the clouds with the burnt sienna mixture and with the mauve mixture I added some more clouds into the area just above the water.

I changed the name of this painting from Lake 3 to Beach Sunset 1 and decided that I would stop painting for the day before the phone rings again.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and enjoy the artwork. I hope you will return to see how these paintings look when they are completed.

Cuba - Three Works in Progress

I pulled out these three sketches that I did in the various resorts I stayed at when I was in Cuba.

This first one was of the Breezes Veradero, which although it is a little run down on the outside, the food, the service and the entertainment are very good you can walk for miles along the beaches.

I enjoyed my time there, the diving is wonderful and we went out on the boat a number of times during our stay. 

Sharing the Sky I

The next one is of the Iberostar Daiquiri in Cayo Guillermo, which was still undergoing renovations, but the food and service were excellent.















Kite Surfers I

The last one is of the Tryp Cayo Coco, which is fairly large resort and belongs to a chain of resorts that can be found throughout the Caribbean.














Floating Islands I

I will post each of these drawings as they are completed.

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

Trotting 1

Earlier this month I did a sketch of a Standardbred trotting and today I am going to work on a sketch of an Arabian trotting because there is a program on television about training Arabians.

In the program it showed a number of their horses running on pasture as well as their two stallions at liberty in their indoor arena.

















I started with the head and worked my way through the body and finally added the legs and tail.

I have the basics blocked in and I will post this sketch at a later date once more work on it has been completed.