Monkey Shines - A Work in Progress

Today I painted with the Buckhorn Tuesday Painters Group and had taken in a bag of my daughter's stuffed animals for the members of the Group to paint.

I chose the monkey and set him on top of one of the boxes I use to hold my paintings in progress. Then I placed my ceramic container of brushes near him along with a bottle of masking fluid on the box beside him.

I decided it need a few more things to complete the picture and placed a block of watercolour paper in front of him with a couple of my flat brushes resting against one edge and a couple of tubes of paint on the paper.

The final thing added was a paint brush in his hand.

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

Silent Wings - A Work in Progress

Well the temperature has gone back down to the seasonal norm of 18F (-8C) this morning with a brisk wind.

Earlier this morning there was a little bit of freezing fog which gave everything a misty look and I wanted to capture that in a painting.

Using Antwerp Blue and burnt sienna I washed in a greyed background sky. While the background was still wet I brushed in my trees using a slightly darker mixture of the same colours which gave a very soft effect to the trees.

I am going to add an owl to the painting and will post it again at a later date.

Sugar Shack 3 - A Work in Progress

Today would have been my father's 83rd birthday. He was born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

I thought he would like it if I did one of the sugar shacks found throughout Ontario and Quebec.

Once he entered his teens he worked in the logging camps in Quebec for a number of years as a topper and using horses to skid out logs.

He often said one of his fondest memories was of getting a piece of snow candy. It was made from the boiling maple sap being thrown into a snow bank where it cooled rapidly to an edible temperature.

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

Anemone - A Work in Progress

This is the under painting for a section of the reef with an anemone set among the coral.














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

Through the Storm - A Work in Progress

While looking for something to paint I came across this piece that I had started a while ago (see posting on 10 Dec 2010).

After looking at the clouds I decided that I would rather do a seagull instead of a hawk even though I will have to use some Chinese white to bring out the white markings on the bird.














I transferred the image of a seagull onto the paper and had enough time to paint the foot of the gull.

I will post this painting at a later date once more of the bird has been completed.

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

Glass Reflections - A Work in Progress

Margaret brought in today's still life at KAGS. She certainly set out to create two very challenging displays.

I chose the first one with a lemon and lime together with a couple of bottles, a water pitcher and a half filled tumbler. All of the elements were placed on a mirror, which reflected back their images and the blue back cloth backdrop.

Once I had blocked in my sketch I started painting the lime first followed by the lemon and their reflections.

I noticed that the reflected back drop was a lot darker in colour than it appeared with the light shining on it and painted the section between the lemon and line to see how strong contrast it would be.

Using a wash of raw sienna I put in some of the reflected colour from the table on the left side of the clear bottle, into the glass tumbler where the liquid was and into the area the light touched on the bottle at the far right of the painting.

Using a mixture of French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue and burnt sienna I painted in the lip on the water pitcher and a little bit of detail on the handle.

With a pale was of Antwerp blue I indicated some of the areas on the first bottle where the back drop showed through the glass.

A lot of work has to be done in order to finish this painting and I will post it again once more of it has been completed.

Rock Beauty - A Work in Progress

We made it up to the 74F (23C) today; this is unheard of for the season, but I am going to enjoy the bonus weather and not complain at all.














This is the under painting for red sponges and a Rock Beauty. I will post this painting at a later date once the images have been transferred onto the canvas.