Autumn Snow 1 and 2 - Two Works in Progress

Since the 15th July we have had only two days without humidity and all the rest were 86F (30C) or higher, which is unheard of in this part of Ontario. With today no different and the temperature is at 82F (27.8C) and the humidity at 89F (31.7C) with a few sprinkles of rain.

We will see if August brings more of the same.

I thought I should work on a winter scene to "cool" things down, so I pulled out these two little paintings that I have been working on at various times this year (see posts on 29 February 2016 and 11 May 2016).

Using a mixture of French ultramarine blue and raw sienna, I painted in the pine trees on both paintings.

Autumn Snow 1

Next I mixed a grey with French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

I started painting in the tree trunks and branches on the maple trees, doing the furthest away ones first.

I darkened the paint gradually by adding either a little more of the blue or of the brown as I painted the in closer trees.

I will post each of these paintings at a later date as they are completed.

Autumn Snow 2

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

Transportation Show at Art on Kent

Today I did a double shift at Art on Kent for the final day of the Transportation show.

It is a good thing that there is an air conditioner at the Gallery otherwise with the heat 84F (28.9C) and the humidity 93F (33.9C) it would have been unbearable.

I was surprised to see that in the back room one of my paintings had its own wall.

In the main Gallery area five of my paintings were placed in a grouping together by themselves on another wall which was even more surprising.













My final painting with the Transportation theme was in the center of the middle Gallery wall in between two large photographs of antique cars.














The heat didn't keep people from coming in to view the exhibit and even though I had taken out pieces to paint while at the Gallery I didn't have any time to work on them.

Abandoned House I - A Work in Progress

It is going to be another hot 86F (30C) and humid 91F (33C) day and this morning I worked in my garden before it got too hot.

Since I didn't have a lot of time after lunch before my friends came over, so I pulled out this pen and ink drawing that I had started a while ago (see posts on 19 June 2013 and 20 March 2016).

I outlined the building first and will decide later whether to make it into a stone house or a log house.













Next I finished the trunk and branches on the tree on the right side of the building.

While waiting for my friends to arrive I added some more grasses and growies along the path to the building and around the tree.

I will post this drawing again at a later date once I have completed the building.

OSWOA - Sailboat 2

After the weekend show Art @ the Locks, where I had the opportunity to watch all kinds of boats and watercraft going through Lock 27 on the Trent Severn Waterway heading either to Clear Lake or to the Otonabee River and Katchewanooka Lake I decided that working on a painting with boats would be appropriate.

With the continuing high heat 84F (28.9C) and humidity 93F (33.9C) I wanted to work on a painting that brings memories of a day on the lake with the wind on my face; so I pulled this painting out that I had been working on since last year (see posts on 29 August 2015, 24 January, 28 February and 05 May 2016).

I started on the sails and painted in the highlights with new gamboge.

I used a mix of French ultramarine blue, cobalt blue and alizarin crimson for the darkest show on the sails and lightened the colour for the lighter areas. Once this was dry I applied a wash of new gamboge to the shadowed areas.

I painted in the hull of the boat with alizarin crimson.

Next I used the same colour to reflect the hull colours into the water and then added cobalt blue to put in the darker areas of the wave ripples at the back of the boat.

With a dark mix of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I put in the rigging lines, mast, windows, cabin door, motor, rudder and the heads on the people.

With a mix of cadmium yellow and cadmium red I painted in the life jackets. Lastly, with cadmium red I put the number on the sail.

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 $50.00 and sold unframed.

ACEO - Autumn River 1

Today I wanted to complete this painting that I started last year (see post on June 2015).

Using French ultramarine blue I put in the sky and the river and set it aside to dry.

While the painting was drying I mixed various autumn colours for the tree leaves using raw sienna, new gamboge, aureolin, burnt sienna, alizarin crimson and cadmium yellow.

I started with the trees in the background first and then used raw sienna to put the reflections into the water.

Again the painting was set aside to dry.

Next I mixed the tree trunk colour using French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna and then, I painted in the tree trunks of the maples in the middle area of land followed by the ones that were on the right side in the foreground.

While the tree trunks were drying I put in the grasses and growies in the middle areas and in the foreground using mixes of raw sienna, burnt sienna, new gamboge and cadmium yellow.

Using a sponge I put in the leaves on the maple trees in the middle area with mainly yellow mixes and a few, with areas of orange.

I did the same with the foreground maple trees, using a smaller amount of the yellow mixes and more of the orange mixtures.

Next I put the reflections in the water from the middle trees.

Lastly, using pure cadmium red, I dotted in a few brightly coloured leaves throughout the painting to create interest.

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 Windsor & Newton paint on 140lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.

Fence Posts 4-6 Three Works in Progress

It is another sunny hot 86F (30C) and humid 93F (34C) day and I am going to go along more of the back roads like I did earlier this month (see post on 17 July 2016).

I thought I would continue using the same two blues: French ultramarine blue and Antwerp blue for the sky and mixtures of the two blues together with new gamboge, aureolin, burnt sienna and raw sienna for the trees and grasses.

The first place I stopped at had a bent pine tree in the background, deciduous trees in front of them all behind a fence line.

Fence Posts 4

As I did at all my previous stops when doing quick sketches I took a reference photograph before going to another location.

As I continued down the road I came upon a cluster of intertwined cedar trees close to the fence with a hay field in the background and a distant line of trees on the horizon.

First I put in the sky with a graduated wash of the two blues.

Next I blocked in a rough outline of the mass of cedars and the small pine tree with a dark green.

Fence Posts 5

That was followed by indicating the hay field and background treeline.

By this time the sun was coming around and I decided to take the next road in the direction of home.

After coming to the top of a hill in the distance I could see a part of the Miller Creek Wildlife Area.

I did this piece the same way as the others, starting with the sky, followed by the areas of woodlots and open fields.

Fence Posts 6

I will post each of these paintings at a later date as more work on them has been completed.

Northern Lights - A Work in Progress

Around 3:30 a.m. this morning Kyora woke me up due to the sound of thunder in the distance as the storm was approaching. Normally thunder storms do not bother her, but by her actions I knew that it would be a major storm.

It certainly came in with a vengeance, the rain started and got harder as the storm came closer until we had this tremendous thunderstorm right over the house. The sky lit up and in less than a second the booming thunder clapped over the house causing the windows to rattle.

Since I enjoy a thunderstorm I sat out on the front porch for most of it, but for the better part of almost an hour you couldn't see the lightning,  just a flash as the sky light up and the crash of the thunder overhead.

It wasn't until around 5:00 a.m. that I could finally see the lightning and the rain gradually started to slow down. The storm finally abated around 5:45 a.m. when it moved out of the area.

Usually, after a major storm like this one you can expect the temperature and humidity to drop; but that didn't happen with this one as it remained hot 86F (30C) and muggy with the humidity at 100F (38C).













One benefit of the storm was with all the rain we had, the grass was no longer crunchy when I took the dog out for her walk.

Even though I didn't get a lot of sleep I wanted to get a little more work on this piece that I have been painting on over a long time (see posts on 09 December 2010, 21 February, 29 May, 10 July and 29 August 2012 and 25 May 2016).

Using a dark of alizarin crimson, burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue I started by putting in an indication of the tree trunk on the furthest left side of the painting.

This was followed by indicating the trunk of one of the background trees closest to the completed trees in the background.

Next I started with the closest tree on the left side beside the finished area of the painting on the right. Once again starting with a line indicating the trunk before proceeding with applying the bark onto the tree trunk beginning at the bottom and working my way up toward the top of the tree.

It wasn't long before I decided to stop before I made a mess of the painting due to being tired.

I will post this painting at a later date once more of the trees on this have been completed.

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