ACEO - Peach Sky 1 and 4

Today is the first day of the Kawartha Arts Festival, held at the Fairgrounds in Fenelon Falls, Ontario.

As usual I will be working on a couple of small paintings during the day and I pulled out these two pieces that I had started a couple of years ago (see post on 06 December 2016).

I decided that I would work back and forth between the two paintings starting with the background and working forward.















Peach Sky 1

The background had been painted, by using various of Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue, raw sienna, burnt sienna and new gamboge. I darkened the greens and painted the foreground pine trees.

To complete both pieces I used mixtures of alizarin crimson, burnt sienna and both blues to paint in the rocks at the base of the trees.















Peach Sky 4

If you would like more information about ACEO please go to my post on 11 March 2010.

The ACEO shown here are all original watercolour paintings using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on 140lb. Fabriano 100% cotton, acid free watercolour paper. They are priced at $20.00 each and sold unframed.

Setting up the 29th Annual Kawartha Arts Festival

Today I set up my display at the Kawartha Arts Festival in Fenelon Falls, Ontario.

With encouragement from the Festival Organizer, Maud Skoog, this year I decided to enter a couple of my black and white graphite pencil sketches of nudes that I did in the Life Drawing classes at the Kawartha Artists" Gallery and Studio.

If you would like to see the images I will be hanging today for this show please follow the link to my Life Drawing Portfolio.

Unfortunately, I cannot show their images in this art blog as a few people do not understand that drawing and painting the nude human figure is an art form that has been around for centuries and feel it is pornography.

After bringing everything in from the car, the first thing I did was to put the two paintings which would be above the grids on the back wall.

Next the table was set up and covered; and then the grids were placed on top of the table.

Since I knew the two nudes would be placed on the front panel I hung them up first.

The three abstracts were put on the back panel on the far end and they were placed in position.

I hung up my name sign on the pegboard on the wall, and then after putting up the largest painting I placed three more pieces around it all having some red in them.

Now it was time to put the paintings in the grids in the centre of the table.

On the left side I placed two pieces with yellow tones.

On the right side I put a black and white drawing up first, followed by three smaller paintings with blue tones in them.

For the back two panels, I thought a mixture of blue and green colours, blending into pink and mauve to the right side and keeping the grey near the top of the left side blending down into the various shades of green and yellow tones.

All that remained to do was put the two binders of small originals on the table, followed by a few matted and shrink wrapped original paintings in one of the racks.

The final items were my biographies and promotional materials for some of the various art groups to which I belong.

The hours for the show are:
01 Sep 18 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
02 Sep 18 19:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

I hope you are able to come out and enjoy the show on one or both days.

Countryside Art Group Blog - Show Updates

On the first of each month I will update the Countryside Art Group's blog with a listing of shows where the various artists in the Group are exhibiting their work.

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

Early Morning 2 - A Work in Progress

It continues to be hot 84F (29C) and the humidity making it feel like 100F (38C).

This morning I saw a couple of flocks of geese and pulled out this little painting that had geese flying and getting ready to head south.

Using a grey of burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue I indicated the trees on the far horizon first.















I darkened the grey slightly and put in the trees on the far side of the water.

Lastly, with a slightly darker grey I put in the geese and the maple tree in the foreground.

I will post this painting once it has been completed.

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

Sharing the Sky I - A Work in Progress

I didn't have a lot of time to work on my art today, but I wanted to do something so I chose this piece that I had started while I was in Cuba a number of years ago (see posts on 23 May 2016 and 13 December 2017).

First I added in a couple more kite boarders into the water.




















Next, I indicated where I would like to put in some larger seagulls and put in where some smaller flying gulls.

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

Bird House

We put this bird house up in the early spring last year and had a pair of North American Yellow Warblers (Setophaga petechia) nesting in the box. They returned again this year around the middle of May, to raise another family.

This box is in an ideal location, as it is surrounded by lilac bushes and young trees and not far away on the front lawn, in a moist area is my large weeping willow tree, which we planted the year my daughter was born. 

The nice thing about this box is that the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) cannot fit through the opening to lay eggs in the nest.

The nesting box is empty now as they have left for their winter quarters in the south and I will have to wait until spring to see their bright plumage and hear their lovely song next spring.

ACEO - Dusk 3

Today we are under a Meteorological Alert with rainfall warnings 1.5"-2" (35-50mm), a severe thunderstorm watch and warnings, flooding, hail and downpour alerts with the temperature at 72F (22C) and feeling like 88F (31C) with the humidity.

I thought I would work on this piece that I had started last year (see posts on 08 March and 13 July 2017).

Mixing various greens using combinations of Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue, raw sienna and new gamboge; I started putting in the pine trees starting with the furthest back trees and working my way forward.

Next I used mixes of raw sienna and burnt sienna to put in the grasses at the base of the closer trees.

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. Fabriano 100% cotton, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.