Daisies I - A Work in Progress

After working on yesterday's painting I thought it may be interesting if I did another as a companion piece with the taller daisies on the opposite side and who knows I may do a third one in the landscape orientation.

Once again I used masking tape as a resist to create the daisies where I wanted the white of the paper to show.

I used various mixtures of Antwerp blue, alizarin crimson, raw sienna, burnt sienna, new gamboge, Cerulean blue and French ultramarine blue for the under paint which was applied wet on dry paper.

I set this painting aside to dry and will post it again at a later date once I start to work on it in the negative.

Daisies - A Work in Progress

This is a painting I started earlier this year in a watercolour class with Emil Varga (see post on 05 March 2014).

The under painting was already completed with the basic growies and grasses and now it was time to add more details by painting in the negative which is a slow and thoughtful process.

I mixed various dark colours using Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, raw sienna, Cobalt blue, Payne's grey and alizarin crimson.

Using the blacks, browns, greens and purples I gradually added the dark grasses and growies and wove them in between and behind the existing grass shapes.

Sometimes this can be discouraging, when you spend a fair amount of time and at first it doesn't seem as though much has been accomplished. But the end result is usually well worth the effort.

I will post this piece at a later date once more work on this painting is completed.

Bath Time - A Work in Progress

Back in March I did some sketches of rubber ducks (see post on 27 and 28 March 2014) I liked the sketch so much that I set up a sea shell with a couple of bars of soap and a sea shell shaped bottle containing bath oil and then added the rubber duck.













I will post this piece at a later date once I have applied some paint onto the drawing.

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

ACEO - Summer 1

With it being almost time to bring the hay into the barn for the horses, I thought I would do a painting of sunlit hay fields.

I brushed in the sky using a mixture of cobalt blue and French ultramarine blue, gradually lightening the colour toward the bottom of the sky.

I added a little new gamboge to the sky colour and brushed in the distant field, then added a little more cobalt blue and some raw sienna to the green mix and put in the closer field.















Once the paint was completely dry I lightly drew in some trees, a barn and a fence line on the distant hill and a couple of trees and then put in a couple of trees on the top of the closer field.

I started by putting the roof on the barn and adding the fence line with a mix of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna and then I lightened the colour with water and painted in all the tree trunks.

Next I mixed various greens using French ultramarine blue, new gamboge, aureolin and raw sienna. Using a sponge I pit the leaves onto the trees.















To finish the painting I used the darker green mix and added some blades of hay blowing in the afternoon breeze.

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.

Hippocampus

Today I was sorting through an old box of my Mom's stories and photographs that she had collected and kept for many years.

In this box I came across one of my early watercolour paintings that I did with my first set of Grumbacher watercolours. I would have been 10 years old at the time.

I remember doing the painting and thought it was either thrown away or lost when I moved.

Now I realize I must have given it to her as I know it was one of her favourites.

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

Silent Morning - A Work in Progress

I have a busy day ahead of me with a lot of errands to do, but I still wanted to do a little painting.

We had a lovely sunrise this morning and I thought it would be nice to capture the colours and then decide that what to put into the painting.

First I used alizarin crimson and washed in the sky colour leaving an area of white paper for where the sunlight was breaking through the clouds. This area was also left lighter in the water at the bottom of the painting.













The clouds were a mixture of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna and swept them into the sky. This colour slightly darker was then brush into the water and the painting was set aside to dry.

I am not sure whether to put a couple of early morning fishermen into the painting, a pair of loons, or perhaps a heron.

Once I make my choice I will post this painting again.

Koi 1 and 2 - Two Works in Progress

Today I printed out a copy of Koi Pond (see post on 21 May 2014) and worked on sketches of Koi on tracing paper to fit this smaller version.

This will take a lot less time and at a later date can be enlarged to fit the canvas which is 27-1/2" x 35-1/2".

I did about a dozen rough outline sketches of koi in various positions.

Koi 2

I picked two of the sketches and transferred them onto small pieces of watercolour paper and I will experiment with the various colours, colour patterns and scale textures.

I will also have to do some research on the twenty plus types of koi and the various colour patterns associated with each variety so they can be more realistic.

Koi 1

I will post each of these paintings at a later date when they have been completed.