Water Lilies - A Work in Progress

After a cooler summer than normal, we are once again getting more of seasonal temperatures with today being 79F (26C) and with the humidity feeling more like 90F (32C). Small wonder I had the air conditioner on both ways for the trip to Toronto and back.

Although waiting for my daughter to see a specialist with a 2:30pm appointment and finally seeing him four hours later is a bit ridiculous, but fortunately the traffic was fairly light.














When I finally returned home I wanted to at least get a painting started. I sketched out a water lily and then applied liquid frisket to the edges so I could paint in the background.

I will post this painting once the background has been completed.

Barn Swallows - A Work in Progress

It is another bright and sunny summer day with the temperature reaching 77F (25C) but the humidity making it feel like 86F (30C).

I was taking a break after I had finished mowing the lawn and I sat by the barn gate watching the barn swallows. There were three of them that were flitting back and forth, landing on the old barn light post, taking a turn around the barn yard and then coming back to rest.















I did this quick sketch of them and will post this drawing again once I have tightened up some of the details on the outline sketch.

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

Number 5

The weather continues to be humid with cloudy skies and an occasional shower of rain. It was 75F (24C) and it felt like 84F (29C).

It was nice Christine came out today and decided she wanted to ride Chi. It was something she hasn't been able to do in quite a while due to her injuries from her car accident.

Seeing her back up on a horse again was wonderful, even though we both know she will be sore tomorrow.

We decided to keep things horse oriented and went to Kawartha Downs Race Track and have supper there and enjoy the harness racing.

I did a sketch of one of the horses doing the warm up miles before the race.

This original 7-1/2" x 9-1/2" graphite pencil drawing when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $30.00.

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

Birch Song 5 - A Work in Progress

It started off with fog in the morning although not as heavy as it was yesterday; but it was another humid, cloudy day with heavy rain in the afternoon.

The temperature was at 75F (24C) and felt like 88F (31C), but I am not going to complain about the heat as it won't be long before we have snow on the ground.

The trip to Toronto for Christine to see a specialist wasn't bad, but the return trip was just a nightmare.

The trip that usually takes at most 1-1/2 hours, with the weekend traffic heading out to cottage country it was a 3-1/2 hour journey.

Not my idea of fun, but at least there is the weekend to enjoy.

I painted in the background on this little painting of birch trees in autumn and set it aside to dry.

I will post it again at a later date once I start work on the birch trees.

OSWOA - Sunset 1

This is a painting I had started last year (see posts on 08 February 2013 and 15 March 2013) and wanted to finish.

I started by painting in the main pine tree on the left side of the painting and then gradually adding in the background tree trunks.

I added more pine trees of various sizes along the ridge of snow and using a pale was of the pine needle colour lightly indicated the tree shadows on the snow.

Finally I added the grasses and growies to the base of the trees and in some areas of the snow.

If you would like more information about OSWOA please go to my post on 12 March 2010.

The OSWOA 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 $40.00 and sold unframed.

ACEO - Koi 2 and 5

The temperatures are climbing again with a lot of humidity the high being 73F (23C) and feeling more like 86F (30C) with rain falling for most of the day.

I thought with it being a wet day I may as well do more work on some of the Koi paintings that I had started earlier this year (see posts on 06, 18 and 30 July 2014 and 12 August 2014).

For the first one I used a wash of new gamboge over the body of the koi as a base and then while it was still wet added in a darker mix with the addition of alizarin crimson to give the fish a little shape.

Using various mixtures of new gamboge, alizarin crimson, raw sienna, burnt sienna and cadmium red I painted in the orange markings.

Koi 2

I used French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson to create a warm black and used that to paint in the dark scales on the koi's body, the markings on the fins and the pupil of the eye.

For the second koi I used new gamboge as the base colour for the orange areas of the body and while it was still wet I added mixtures of alizarin crimson and burnt sienna to give the body shape.

For the white areas I used a mix of raw sienna, with a touch of the black mix used for the pupil of the eye and painted in the shadows and the details on the fins and tail.

Koi 5

Using cadmium yellow I added a little more definition to the tail and the dorsal fin.

If you would like more information about ACEO please go to my post on 11 March 2010.

The ACEO shown here are all original watercolour paintings using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on 140lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. They are priced at $20.00 each and sold unframed.

Buckhorn Artists' Group Blog - Shades of Summer Art Show and Sale

If you go to the Buckhorn Artists' Group blog you can see the daily results of the about what happened during the Shades of Summer Art Show and Sale.