ACEO - Fog 1

Today I pulled out this painting that I had started last year (see post on 27 February 2013).

Using a dark of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I painted in the tree trunks, keeping the background trees lighter with less detail than the foreground ones slightly darker and adding more branches.

With a pale mixture of French ultramarine blue and raw sienna I put in the leaves on the background trees and gradually darkened the leaf colour as I put in the closer trees.














Using clear water I lifted two birch tree trunks and added their markings with the tree trunk colour.

Lastly I put in the grasses into the foreground.

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

Evening Grosbeaks I - A Work in Progress

This is the second of four sketches of Evening Grosbeaks (see post on 20 July 2014) that I am developing for paintings.














I have completed the outline sketches of nine Grosbeaks, four males and five females on the ground feeding on the mixed grain that has been put out for them.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have transferred the outline sketch onto watercolour paper.

Wolf Lake Birches - A Work in Progress

Today was a bright and sunny day and perfect for doing all kinds of things outside .

First thing this morning Ron helped me reclaim the flower beds by the arbour and we planted four Don Juan climbing rose bushes to replace the Blaze climbers that I lost due to the long and hard winter.

Afterward while I made lunches to take with us, while Ron put the canoe on the Blazer and collected his fishing gear.














Map courtesy of Google Map Data@Google

We went up to Wolf Lake which is located off of Anstruther Lake Road on the east side of Hwy. 28 and east of Apsley. It is another of the many lakes in the Kawartha Highlands Signature Site.

The lake reaches a maximum depth of 30' (9m) with the average depth being about 15' (4.6m). There are many submerged logs, rock piles, weed beds and water lilies found along the irregular shoreline which provide excellent habitat for the muskie, largemouth bass and small mouth bass for which the lake is known.

In the rush to get to the lake I left my sketch book and pencils at home on the kitchen table, but I did have a few pieces of mat board and a small paint box in the Blazer and I took many photographs from which that I am sure I can do paintings of the lake.


















It was the first time we had been on this lake and with Ron catching five largemouth bass and one nice 17" (43cm) walleye (also known here as pickerel) all of which we released. I am sure we will be going back there often.

I will post this watercolour sketch of birch trees found along the shores of Wolf Lake at a later date once I have completed the trees.

Evening Grosbeaks - A Work in Progress

This is the first of four sketches of Evening Grosbeaks that I would like to develop into paintings.

I have completed the outline drawing of the seven birds; five males and one female on the ground looking for food and a second female in flight.














Some of the larger growies are indicated.

I will post this drawing at a later date once I have the grasses and growies completed and transferred onto watercolour paper.

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

Horse Sketches XVIII-XX

It was a nice, warm, sunny day and as usual since it was my Mom's birthday I visited my parents at Rosemount Memorial Gardens.

It is relaxing there sitting on a bench under the trees in the peace and quiet. Before leaving I left fresh cut flowers in the vase on their niche.














From there I went to visit a friend at the stable where she boards her horses and decided I would do some quick sketches of the horses grazing in the field.

Eventually I will probably use some of these sketches in a couple of paintings of horses out on pasture.














I would like to thank new collector Mrs. D. A. Lackey on her purchase of Sea Fans (see post on 20 April 2013).















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

Koi 3 and 4 - Two Works in Progress

Today I am working on more sketches for Koi Pond (see post on 21 May 2014) and did another ten koi in different positions.














Koi 3

I also chose two of these sketches and transferred the images onto small pieces of watercolor paper as I did the first time (see post on 06 July 2014) I worked on sketches for this painting.













Koi 4

I will post both of these koi paintings at a later date as more work on them is completed.

Resting on a Hinge - A Work in Progress

I always enjoy watching my swallows as they twist and turn in flight and they are often out with me while I am mowing the lawn and stirring up bugs for them.














So rather than have them in flight, I chose to have a swallow resting on one of the hinges on the large barn doors of the west barn.

I will post this sketch at a later date once I have completed the outline drawing.