ACEO - Morning Sky 5

Today while teaching my basic watercolour class at KAGS one of my students brought in a box of watercolour crayons and asked me how to use them when creating a painting.

This is a quick sketch of trees against a morning sky and was done in less than 5 minutes using the watercolour crayons.

Using a blue and a pink the sky was scrubbed in lightly leaving a lot of white paper and using water the colour was blended together for a soft background.

Using a medium green the pine needles were indicated and water was used to soften the edges but not as much as for the sky.

Next a lighter green was used for some lighter needles and for the grass at the bottom of the trees.

Lastly a yellow was added to the grasses and a small amount of water was used to blend it slightly.

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

Flying By I

Today was a warm and wonderful spring day with the temperature making it up to 65F (18C).

It was so nice to be able to go out and work in my garden again today. The spring flowers are starting to come up and the grass has turned green. Soon I will have to start mowing the lawn.














It made me think of some of my vacations in Cuba so I pulled out this drawing of the beach in Veradero that I started earlier this year (see post on 11 January 2014).

I added a herring gull and clouds into the sky; next I added a high point of land in the distance and lastly added a woman into the ocean watching the sailboat on the horizon.

This original 9" x 12" pen and ink drawing when framed will be available for $165.00.

Approaching Storm 1

Even though it was overcast for most of the day, we didn't get the rain they were calling for in the afternoon; and the temperature rose to 54F (12C).

While I was on the porch I did this quick sketch of the storm clouds and added a few of the pines from my front fence line and decided instead of putting the driveway in the drawing I would turn it into a lake and added in a distant island on the horizon line.

I gathered together my gardening tools and went outside to get a start on getting rid of some of the weeds.

Hopefully, this is going to be the first of many more days where I can get a little work done in my garden.

Thawing

Considering the day started off with the windows on my car being coated in frost due to the 22F (-5.5C) temperature, but the bright and sunny day ended up having a high of 49F (9C). Perhaps spring is finally going to arrive.

This painting had been started a few years ago and set aside until I decided what it needed to be considered a finished piece.

Using a mixture of burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue I added a number of larger deciduous tree trunks along the shoreline.















This was followed by adding the reflections of the tree trunks into the open water.

Once this original 11" x 15" watercolour painting is framed it will be available for $185.00. SOLD

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

Birch Trio 3 and 4

Today as I was on my way home I decided to stop by the Peterborough Riverview Park and Zoo and go down to the lower level of the Park by the Otonabee River.

There is a small island you can get to by crossing over a wooden bridge and while I was there I did these little drawings of two groupings of birch trees.

At a later date I may add some colour to the drawings, but for now I am pleased with the sketches.





Birch Trio 3




















Birch Trio 4

Long Lake XI and XII - Two Works in Progress

Today I was going through some photographs that I had taken last year on the two occasions that we went out on Long Lake (see posts on 15 June and 14 September 2013).

One of the things I enjoy seeing are the magnificent rock faces of pink granite which surround some of the inlets on the lake and the rocky islands that are scattered throughout the lake.














Long Lake XI

I started working on a couple of the sketches with pen and ink. The first one of was of a rock face with a few pines that had taken root at the top of the rocks.














Long Lake XII

The second was of a small island with a weathered pine tree surrounded by dead trees.

Each of these original 5-1/2" x 9” pen and ink drawings when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $40.00.

Autumn Shadows

It is another cold day with the temperature at 15F (-9C) but at least the sun is shining and there is no new snow falling, although the snow we had yesterday remains.

I thought I would like to finish this painting that I had started a number of years ago (see post on 27 May 2010).

I mixed different browns and greys and pinks using mixtures of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, raw sienna and alizarin crimson.

Next I painted the rocks on the left side of the painting making sure to leave some areas of white on the rocks for highlights and adding shape and shadows onto their surface.













Mixing greens using Antwerp blue, raw sienna and aureolin I added a few more areas of shadow across the grass, this was followed by using a darker green and putting some individual grasses and growies at the base of the rocks in the pasture.

I used this darker green mixture into the water near the shoreline.

Lastly, I added a few dark lines at the edge of the water where it meets the land and at the base of the rocks.

This original 7" x 11-1/2” watercolour painting will be available when framed for $235.00.