Sugar Shack 1 - A Work in Progress

With this version of a Sugar Shack I changed the under paint from raw sienna (see yesterday's post for Sugar Shack) to a purple of alizarin crimson and manganese blue).

The sky colour is cobalt blue and titanium white. The background is a mixture of the sky colour, alizarin crimson, burnt sienna, raw sienna and French ultramarine blue.

The layer of snow closest to the base of the distant trees was painted in using the sky colour. Then some birch trunks were added using the sky colour and a hint of burnt sienna to grey it. The dark deciduous tree trunks were put in using burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue with some of them coming into the snow to appear closer. A thinner mixture was used to indicate the main maple tree trunks in the foreground.

I will post this painting once I complete more work on it.

Sugar Shack - A Work in Progress

It is sugaring time here in Canada.

The days are warmer and the nights continue to drop down in temperature often well below freezing.

For this painting I used a thin wash of raw sienna to underpaint the canvas so that if there are areas where the acrylic paint dosen't completely cover a nice warm glow from the raw sienna will show through.

The sky was painted in with a mix of French ultramarine blue and titanium white.

The background trees where painted with various mixtures of titanium white, raw sienna, burnt sienna, French ultramarine blue and cobalt blue.

The snow on the roof is mainly titanium white with a hint of French ultramarine blue.

The sugar shack is various mixtures of burnt sienna, raw sienna, alizarin crimson and French ultramarine blue. The window frames where alizarin crimson, burnt sienna and a touch of French ultramarine blue.

The background snow is of mixtures of cobalt blue, French ultramarine blue and titanium white.

I will post this painting once it is complted.

Autumn Gold - A Work in Progress

The leaf shapes were masked out to protect the white paper.

Once the masking fluid was dry the paper was wet and various mixtures of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue and alizarin crimson were applied to the background.

The painting was set aside to dry.

The masking fluid was removed and the first oak leaf was given a wash of raw sienna as a base. Burnt sienna, raw sienna and French ultramarine blue were layered into the leaf to create shape.

I will post this painting at a later date once more of the leaves are completed.

White Water - A Work in Progress

This is a waterfall we came across in Dominica a number of years ago while taking a tour of the island when we were on a cruise.

The island has many beautiful waterfalls and rivers as well as a number of hot springs.

At one place we stopped to visit you had to swim across the river which was very cold; to a natural depression in the rock which would hold about 8 people comfortably. The water running down the rock face was hot and was very relaxing but, I really didn't want to swim back across that cold river to join the tour.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

Still Life 4-6 - Three Works in Progress

I did the background for three still life paintings yesterday that had a vase with Chinese Lanterns and dried Queen Anne's Lace.

Today I am going to do the backgrounds for three paintings using an old enamel coffee pot filled with a mixture of flowers and at a later date will develop the third still life of the enamel water pitcher.

There were many things I learned from painting yesterday's backgrounds and I wanted to do a few things differently today especially since I can change the colours of the flowers.

Still Life 4

I liked the streaky effect I got with Still Life 2 from yesterday and thought I would try it again today but changing the way the colours were mixed slightly and using more burnt sienna in some areas along with the French ultramarine blue and raw sienna.

I liked the soft effect of the mauve in Still Life 3 from yesterday but I wanted something bolder and richer looking.

Still Life 5

To do that I added some Antwerp blue to the mixture and more alizarin crimson to the French ultramarine blue.

For the third painting I used almost pure Antwerp blue with a touch of French ultramarine blue to tone it down slightly.

I have set these paintings aside to dry and will post each one as they are completed.

Still Life 6

Still Life 1-3 - Three Works in Progress

When we were painting in Buckhorn on Tuesday, the Church had a number of vases with dried flower arrangements in them.

I had taken photographs and did sketches of them and thought that they could be developed into some interesting paintings.

I sketched out the vase that had Chinese Lanterns and dried Queen Anne's Lace.

Still Life 1

I transferred the small sketch down onto three pieces of watercolour paper.

I wasn't sure what colour I wanted to use for the background and decided to experiment with a couple of different backgrounds.

In the first one I used French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna, making the colour a lot darker to the left side.

Still Life 2

On the second one I used a loose mixture of burnt sienna, raw sienna and French ultramarine blue and ran it down the paper in streaks to create interest.

For the third one I used a mixture of French ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson and worked wet on wet into the background. The mauve it made would be a good contrast to the orange of the Chinese Lanterns.

Still Life 3

I set these paintings aside to allow them to dry completely before I start to paint in the flowers and vase.

I will post them at a later date once I work on them again.

Ocean Treasures - A Work in Progress

I took a workshop with Carol Francisco at KAGS on using pastel.

The morning was spent on learning on how to have a safe working environment when using chalk pastel, types of papers and boards that can be used with pastel, the various ways of handling the medium when applying it to the different types of paper and examples how the results.

In the afternoon we were allowed to choose various objects she had brought in for us to use in creating a still life painting in pastel.

I chose a seashell and a piece of coral.

There is still more depth of colour and detail to add to the painting. I will post this piece once I have it completed.