Training Mile

A lot of work goes into the training of Standardbreds to get them into condition to qualify and keeping them sound for racing.

The regular routine of jogging the horse five to eight miles a day to keep them in racing condition and two days of the week with training miles usually three miles, each one faster than the one before.













Thank you to Jam Stables of Pickering, Ontario on their commission to paint one of their Stakes Colts.

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

Bunny - A Work in Progress

This is another painting I have developed from my sketches while on location at the Riverview Zoo.

I have was Antwerp blue behind the rabbit and will probably not do anything more to the background.

Most of the rabbit is completed; it just needs a little more detail added to the hair and the face.

A mixture of Antwerp blue and raw sienna was washed in below the rabbit to give it a base. I will have to add a few more detailed grasses and a shadow to ground him in place so he doesn't seem to be floating.

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

Peter Cottontail

This is an original 5" x 7” oval, framed watercolour available for $135.00.

While at the Riverview Zoo I took photographs of a number of rabbits running loose on the grounds. They were very friendly and would often approach if you offered food to them.

I did a number of sketches while there and this is one of the paintings that I completed.

OSWOA - Golden Moment 1

The sky is a graduated wash using new gamboge down to the bottom third of the painting and then gradually darkened.

While the paint was still fairly wet the background trees were put in using mixtures of Antwerp blue and French ultramarine blue.

To give some interest to the background trees a little bit of alizarin crimson was dropped into various areas.

The lake was washed with raw sienna to create the flatness of the calm water. With burnt sienna and a touch of French ultramarine blue the rocky outcrop was painted.

Once the paper was dry the pine trees were painted in using various mixes of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue, raw sienna and burnt sienna.

To complete the painting reeds and grasses were painted in using mixtures of Antwerp blue, burnt sienna and raw sienna.

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 either 140lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $40.00 and sold unframed.

ACEO - Marsh Grass 1-2

I am always amazed at the wide range of marsh grasses, reeds and bull rushes that can be found at the edges of the lakes, by the islands and in the shallows.

Usually around the patches of water grasses you will also find a wide variety of fishes in various sizes from small fry up to large game fish looking for a meal.


Marsh Grass 1

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. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. They are priced at $20.00 each and sold unframed.



Marsh Grass 2

In the Past

After having Emil VARGA demonstrate how to paint barns at the last meeting of the Buckhorn Tuesday Painters, I thought it would be a good idea to work on another barn painting today.

I pulled out all the barn paintings I had started and couldn't believe that there were seven of them; Winter Barns (see posting 27 April 10), Summer Barn, Spring Barn and Home, (see postings 22-24 July 10), Abandoned Farm (see posting 13 October 10), Barns in Autumn (see posting 03 February 11) and the one I decided to work on today In the Past (see posting 24 August 10).

















I darkened the leaves on the main maple tree and added another two more maples on the left side of the barn. I also added a few brighter fallen leaves on the ground and darkened the shadows beneath the trees.

The barn needed to have the areas that were missing boards darkened and a little more detail had to be added to the roof.

Then to tie everything together I added a fence line into the back fields and a few windblown leaves into the sky.

This is an original 8" x 9” framed watercolour available for $185.00.

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

Cloudy Day - A Work in Progress

I came across a couple of photographs I had taken of the Power House - Clock and Chimes Tower before it had been restored and thought this would be an ideal background for the charred remains making them stand out in stark relief against the stormy sky.

It was during a fireworks display on 06 August 1939 that the roof burst into flames and soon the entire framework of the building was ablaze.

The local fire department arrived with the village pumper towed in on a scow, but the fire was impossible to contain and everything burned with the exception of the granite walls of the building.














The Power House - Clock and Chimes Tower remained a burnt out shell for 52 years.

The Alexandria Bay Rotary Club donated the funds to replace the three faced clock in the Clock Tower. The building was restored by the Thousand Island Bridge Authority at a cost of approximately $350,000.00 and was reopened to the public in 1991.

I will post this again once I have transferred the drawing of the shell of the Power House - Clock Tower and Chimes and started the painting.