Trent River 1-3

With it being close to the end of September it won't be long before we will not be able to go out on the lake in the canoe until next year.

But we are fortunate that today is bright and sunny day with the temperature going up to 75F (23.9C) by this afternoon.

With an early start instead of going out on one of the nearby lakes Ron wanted to try a different place. We followed a variety of roads and finally along Highway 30 we arrived in Campbellford and crossed the bridge of the Trent River onto Front Street North where we found an area on the river with adequate parking and where we could launch the canoe.

Trent River Pine

We paddled up the river against the current to Campbellford Lock 13 of the Trent-Severn Waterway, before pulling into shore to have lunch.

After lunch we allowed the current to carry us back to our launch point with Ron fishing and I sketched and took photographs.

The Trent River is 56 miles (90km) long and flows down from Rice Lake to empty into the Bay of Quinte on Lake Ontario.

Map courtesy of Google Map Data@Google

The River is host to a wide variety of fish species including: small and large mouth bass, rock bass, bluegill, sunfish, crappie, perch, pike, walleye and freshwater drums.














Trent River Duck Blind

Ron caught a nice sized perch and I was pleased that once we returned to our launch site I was able to capture the setting sun being reflected in the water on a number of photographs.














Trent River I

We stopped to have supper at Riverview Family Restaurant in Campbellford, where we were served an excellent roast beef meal with all the trimmings.

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

Last Day of Reaping and Harvesting

It is another lovely day with the temperature at 72F (22C), great weather for working outside.

But, today I am sitting the last day of the Reaping and Harvesting Show at Art on Kent in Lindsay, Ontario.

Being a part of a couple of co-operative Gallery each person must do their part in the running of the Gallery or eventually it will close. It is the same way at KAGS.

I would be more involved with this Gallery but unfortunately it is over an hour away and I just don't have the time to be there more often.












I have brought in my new pieces for the upcoming show Water, Water Everywhere. The new show runs from 02-25 October 2014, with the opening reception 0n 04 October from 1:00-4:00p.m. If you have the chance perhaps you will come out to view the exhibition.

Three Seashells

Today I thought I would do some sketches of some of the various sea shells I have in my collection.

For the first one I thought I would do a single Queen Conch shell on its own and I set it in an upright position rather than have it on its side.

For the second sketch I added a Murex shell and some seaweed to create an interesting display.

Next I added Sand Dollars and Clams with the Queen Conch shell.

Conch Shell I














Queen Conch and Murex Shells I














Queen Conch and Sand Dollars I

New Friend

It looks as though the weatherman was wrong when he said we wouldn't see the temperature climb to 70F (21.1C) until the spring. I am certainly glad he is wrong as today was a beautiful sunny day with the temperature being 72F (22.2C).

I would like to thank new collector Mrs. Barbara Miller of Toronto, Ontario for her commission to do this pen and ink drawing of her son and one of their horses.

It brings back fond memories of whenever I had the chance to make a new equine friend. It didn't matter if it was the milkman, iceman or policeman's horse.

Each meeting, no matter how fleeting was a joy to remember for a lifetime.

Queen Angelfish

Today I thought I would work on a sketch of a grouping of tropical fish from the Caribbean reef.

I wanted to have a Queen Angelfish as the largest fish and a couple of smaller fish and some coral or sponges around it.














I barely had time to do more than block in some basic shapes when I had unexpected company arrive.

I am sure that this will work into an interesting painting.

Pine Trees

It is sunny today with the temperature reaching 69F (20.5C), making it great working weather.

Once I finished doing the barn chores and the house chores I decided I would take a little time and go out and paint plein air.

There are so many things I would like to paint on the property it is sometimes hard to make a choice. In this case I decided to paint some of the pine trees on the north fence line.

I put the sky in using a mixture of ultramarine blue and titanium white.

The background trees were put in with white, raw sienna and burnt sienna.

I added a little bit of ultramarine blue to the background mix and put in the next layer of pine trees and the under paint for the larger foreground trees.

Next I added more blue to the green mix and put in the trunk and the branches on the largest tree.

I darkened the green down with blue and burnt sienna and did the closest tree to the right of the large tree.

Lastly, I added a few spots of raw sienna and burnt sienna throughout the painting to create some interest.

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

Autumn River

This is the last of three paintings I found in a box in the storage room earlier this month.

All it needed was to finish the dead and weathered cedar trees on the right side of the painting that were currently just "white sticks".

Using a mix of titanium white, ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I put the shadows on the trunks of the cedar trees. 
















With a fine brush I carefully put in the dead limbs onto the tree trunks. 

Lastly, I put a few reflections into the quiet water near the base of the cedar tree trunks.

This original 16" x 20" acrylic painting when framed will be available for $375.00.