Open Fields

Occasionally I have had the opportunity to go with my husband, Ron in his transport and I was able to make sketches and take pictures of various places throughout North America.

I am always amazed by the differences in the landscape a few hundred miles will make as we go across Ontario.









From here in the Kawarthas, with its rolling landscape and many lakes, as you head west and the land flattens out to where it seems almost as though you are going through the prairies of western Canada.

This is an original 4-1/2" x 10-1/2” framed, watercolour for $225.00.

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

Spray - A Work in Progress

This is one of three paintings I started with the surf crashing against rock.

The main rock shape was lightly sketched in and the white surf crashing against the rock was masked out. Some of the masking fluid was splattered over the paper to keep areas of spray white.

The sky was painted using a mixture of French ultramarine blue, and Antwerp blue. The shadows on the undersides of the clouds are both blues with a touch of burnt sienna added to grey the colour slightly.















The ocean was painted in using various mixtures of both blues and burnt sienna to create the waves. Then the painting was set aside to dry completely.

The masking fluid was removed. The base colour of the rocks was painted and colour was lifted using a palette knife. I will have to go back in and do more work on the rocks as I am not satisfied with them.

I will post this painting again as more work on it is completed.

Sunrise on the Lake - A Work in Progress

This is a painting I had started back in April (see post on 20 April 10) when I was working on my submission for the "Art of the Turtle" which was a fund raiser for the Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre.

This is the first painting I started which looked more like a lake than a pond for the turtle so I restarted that painting and set this one aside.

I have added more colour into the sky and worked on the rocks and water. I haven't decided whether I am going to add a sailboat into the painting or some reeds and a heron. So it is back to the drawing board and making the sketches to see which would look better.

I will post this painting once I have added the main figures into the painting.















The dog show is proving to be very interesting and I have many sketches for working on during the winter months. I also have a number of commissions for dog portraits resulting from the Eastern Ontario Labrador Breeders Association 10th Anniversary Specialty Show and the Limestone Kennel Club Show.

I would like to thank new collector Marita A. Boyd of Ottawa, Ont. on her purchase of Run Appaloosa Run (see post on 04 February 2010).

Also congratulations to Al and Joanne Fernall of Norwood, Ont. for selecting The Hunter (see post on 26 April 2010) as an addition to their art collection. If you would like to see some of their wonderful Labs follow the link to Devonsleigh Kennels. That is where my daughter got her dog Can. Ch. Shanbro's Charisma affectionately known as "Sully".

Home - A Work in Progress

Everything is set up here in Kingston and I have been enjoying the Eastern Ontario Labrador Breeders Association 10th Anniversary Specialty Show and the Limestone Kennel Club Dog Show.

It seems everywhere I look there are images which would be ideal as paintings, so I am doing many rough sketches before I lose the idea as well as taking a lot of photographs of the different breeds of dogs.

This is a painting of my farm very early in the morning just as the sun is starting to come up over the distant hills on the other side of the Snelgrove Brook. Nothing has disturbed the freshly fallen snow from the night before.








The painting is about half finished. I have to paint the house and have to decide whether I would like to have a light on in the kitchen window. Then there are a few more details that need to be added to the barns.

Not a lot of the track shows with all the snow covering the ground when you look at the house from the far turn on the track. There are still a number of trees along the edge of the track that have to be added which will give a little more depth to the painting as well as adding the growies that are in the infield and tall enough to stick up out of the snow.

I will post this later after doing more work on this piece.

Spring Barn - A Work in Progress

This is the fourth painting in the series of four seasons with a barn and horses. Autumn Barn has already been sold and both Summer Barn (see yesterday's post) and Winter Barn (see post on 27 April 10) are works in progress.

The apple trees on the right side were masked out to protect the whites and the barn was covered with masking tape. Unfortunately, the masking tape did not stay taped down to the paper and allowed some of the sky colour to get onto the white of the barn. Just another thing to fix later.

The sky is Antwerp blue and alizarin crimson, the paint was allowed to mix on the paper.

The pasture grasses are various mixtures of Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue and raw sienna. A soft wash of pure alizarin crimson was also applied in some areas.














The background trees and the shadowed leaves on the elm tree are a mixture of French ultramarine blue and raw sienna.

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

Now I have to finish loading the car and head out to Kingston and set up my paintings at the Eastern Ontario Labrador Breeders Association 10th Anniversary Specialty Show held at the same site with the Limestone Kennel Club Dog Show. It should be an enjoyable weekend.

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

Summer Barn - A Work in Progress

This is the third painting in a series I am working on of the four seasons using a barn and horses.

The first painting Autumn Barn was sold to new collector Ms. Rose Briand of Buckhorn, Ontario. The second in the series is Winter Barn and it is a work in progress (see my post on 27 April 2010), the fourth one is Spring Barn which I will post tomorrow.

The barn had been covered with masking tape to protect the white paper before the sky was wet and painted.














The sky was put in using French ultramarine blue at the top and blending in Antwerp blue leaving some areas of white for clouds and raw sienna down by the horizon line to give it the warm hazy feeling of a hot summer afternoon.

The grass base for the pasture was washed in using mixtures of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue and raw sienna. The distant trees, under painting for the foreground tree leaves and shadows were a darker mixture of the same colours.

The shadows on the barn were indicated using a mixture of French ultramarine blue with a little bit of burnt sienna to grey it.

As I do more work on this painting I will post it at a later date.

Close to the Water - A Work in Progress

The evening sky has been painted in with a mixture of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna near the top, blending into a mixture of raw sienna and burnt sienna, with the orange a mix of raw sienna and alizarin crimson at the horizon line.

The same colour mixes were used in the water and applied with zigzag strokes to give the impression of movement. A slightly darker mixture of alizarin crimson and raw sienna was painted in below the horizon line, with a few touches of pure alizarin crimson in the background.

The colour was gradually lightened as it came closer to the foreground, where it gradually changed when the raw sienna and burnt sienna was added to the right side of the foreground.














Areas of the French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna were painted into the foreground water. Once the paper was dry the juvenile gull was sketched into the foreground and the shape of the bird suggested using the same colour.

The background island and trees are a mixture of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson. Using a darker mixture of the colour a suggestion of the ripples on the water has been added in a few places as well as the dark tips of the gull's wings.

The foreground rocks have been completed and some of the trees on the closer shoreline have been painted.

I will post this painting once more of it is completed.