Shades of Spring 1 - A Work in Progress

Overnight we had 3/4" (19mm) and the temperature dropped to 10F (-12C) with the wind chill making it feel like -2F (-19C).

Today I have just returned from seeing the surgeon and had X-rays taken and see how the break is healing.

The best thing is he changed my Zimmer splint to a hinged split which is is wonderful, as now I am able to bend the knee and I can sit in a chair normally.

I started by using Antwerp blue and new gamboge as a background.

When the paper was dry I lightly indicted three birch trunks with a pencil.

I will post this piece at a later once more work on it has been completed.

Morning Sky 7-10 Four Works in Progress

Today Cindy Allan, Norma MacEachern and Diane Collins took my paintings for me to The Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery, at  425 Douro Fourth Line Road, in the Hamlet of Douro, Ontario to hang the Countryside Art Group's exhibit.

The show runs from 28 February - 30 April 2017, with the Opening Reception being held on 03 March 17 from 7-8p.m.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to be there, but I hope you will be able to come out for the reception or to view the exhibit.















Morning Sky 7

In the meantime, I thought I would like to work with the semi opaque paint again, that my friend gave to me last year.

I started by mixing the colours I wanted to use in the paintings, a beige of brown and yellow, a dull green of blue and beige, a dark green of blue, yellow and a touch of brown, a pink of red and white, a peach of red and yellow, a mauve of red, blue and white, pure yellow and a light blue made with blue and white.















Morning Sky 8

Next I wet the paper and began blocking in basic shapes on each painting, starting with the peach in the sky to keep something in common with all four pieces.

On some of the skies I added a little of the pink colour, on some I added the mauve, others I added some light blue and in a few I added a little bit of pure yellow.















Morning Sky 9

On one of the paintings I put in a little bit of water with the light blue and a shoreline with the beige.

I also added a few hills into the background of the same painting with the mauve.















Morning Sky 10

Next I started adding in some trees using various combinations of the dull and the dark greens.

I will post each painting at a later date once they are completed.

Pink Sky 6 - A Work in Progress

Today was going to be a very busy day and I am so very fortunate to have such good friends as Cindy and Norma for without them I do not know how I would have managed.

They are going to put up my new paintings in at Rolands' and while they are there, they will take down my current paintings and take them to the Douro Dummer Library Art Gallery and hang them for me for our upcoming show.

While I waited for Christine to come and get me so I could go and see my doctor to have the more than fifty staples removed from my leg, I worked on drawing in the trees.

I will post this piece later once more work on it has been completed.

ACEO - Industry 3

This is the last of three pieces I started a while ago (see post on 22 August 2016) and wanted to finish.

I started by putting in the top area of the sky above the toxic emissions with Antwerp blue, and then added in the warning lights on the smoke stacks and some of the buildings witrh cadmium red and cadmium yellow.














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

Loon Call Lake II and III - Two Works in Progress

Today I pulled these two sketches that I started while canoeing on Loon Call Lake a number of years ago (see posts on 14 September 20014 and 13 May 2016).

On the first one I started by putting the shadows on the underside of the clouds, followed by indicating the tops of the clouds with thin lines.

From there I put in the two large pine trees closer to the front of the island and lightly indicated the trunks of the middle ground large pine trees.

On the background rocks, I added the shadows first and gradually worked my way around the base of the rocks below the larger pine trees adding more shadows and details..
















Loon Call Lake II

I put some of the ripples into the water along the shoreline.

I started to put in the deciduous trees on the right side of the drawing, but found that I was getting tired and decided to take a break.

After having a cup of tea and a light lunch, I decided rather than overwork the first drawing that I would do a little work on the second drawing that was on the same piece of paper.















Loon Call Lake III

I started by putting in the front section of the boathouse and then indicated the boards and the door.

Next I put the reflections from the boathouse into the water below; and in the area between the bottom of the door and the water I darkened the water to reflect the dark interior of the boathouse.

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

I will post both of these drawings at a later date when more work on each of them has been completed.

Four Seasons 3 - Four Works in Progress

Today was a foggy, grey day but the temperature 48F (9C) is remaining fairly mild for February.

I pulled out this set of the four seasons that I had started a couple of years ago (see post on 14 April 2015) and wanted to put the sky into each of them.














Spring 3

The first one I put in a grey sky using French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and a small amount of alizarin crimson.














Summer 3

On the second one I used a mix of Antwerp blue with a small amount of cobalt blue.














Autumn 3

For the third one I used a wash of cobalt blue.














Winter 3

On the last painting used a mix of Antwerp blue and French ultramarine blue.

I will post each of these paintings at a later date after I put in the land on each side of the road and the roadway.

Autumn Rapids 1 - Work in Progress

Today I wanted to work with acrylic so I pulled out some of my partially completed canvases and chose this one that that I had started many years ago (see post on 11 October 2010).

I began by adding more colour and texture to the bark on the maples trees using mixtures of burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and titanium white.

Using the same colours for the maples, I added some dead tree trunks into the background on the far side of the river.

I darkened the foreground rocks slightly and mottled the colour on them so they were not just one flat shade of grey.

Now it was time to add the grasses and growies into the foreground. For this is put in the base layer with mixtures of raw sienna and burnt sienna.















From there I added ultramarine blue to the base colours and added in various shades of green throughout the foreground.

Using various mixtures of Cadmium red, cadmium yellow, Hansa yellow and alizarin crimson I added a little more colour onto the maple trees on the far side of the river and then added the bright colours into the tops of the foreground trees.

Next I added a few smaller trees at the base of the birch trees, and then scattered some fallen leaves throughout the grasses and on top of the rocks.

Lastly, I added some maple leaves throughout the background as though they had fallen from the branches and were carried away by the wind.

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