Palomino - A Work in Progress

After a workshop with Lucy Manley earlier this year (see post on 26 March 2014) I used the left over paint front my palette to create a background for another painting.

When I pulled this one out and turned it around 180° I could see a semi abstract image of a horse's head and I changed the name from Background 3 to Palomino.

Using a piece of tracing paper I laid it over the painting and drew in a few more details, trying to still keep it fairly abstract, but to add a little more definition to the painting.

I then tightened up the image on the tracing Paper, making sure that everything was aligned and balanced.

The background was darkened with graphite pencil and then transferred the main lines onto the panel.

I erased all excess graphite from the panel and lightly went over the pencil lines so I could follow them easily when I started to paint.

Now I have to decide what colour to do the mane and forelock.

Also how dark to paint the eyes and nostrils, then see if I want to make any changes to the background.

I will post this painting at a later date once the painting has been completed.

Background 9 and10 - Two Works in Progress

When I had finished working on Magnetawan Reflections for the day (see post on 10 December 2014) as usual I used the leftover acrylic paint to create a background for a painting.















Background 9

Using a palette knife I picked up the paint and applied it to the panel  blending it slightly and keeping the layer of paint fairly smooth and not very thick. After having covered the 8" x 10" panel there was still a fair amount of paint remaining.

In this case I still had enough leftover colours to cover a small 5" x 7" panel using the remaining burnt sienna, cadmium red and a little cadmium yellow.

I applied it onto the panel with a palette knife first and then used a brush and water to blend the paint on the panel to give it a flat, smooth finish.

I will post each of these panels at a later date.

Background 10

More Hallowe'en Stuff - Two Works in Progress

These are two more drawings from the Hallowe'en eve still life class at KAGS.














Witch's Kitty

The first is of a small black cat with beautiful green glowing eyes wearing an orange bow tie and matching witch's hat.














Jack in the Hat

The second is of a smiling Jack o' lantern wearing a black witch's hat.

I will post each of these pieces as more work on them is completed.

Christmas Bags, Boxes and Ornaments - Two Works in Progress

Today in the Still Life class at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio our theme was Christmas Boxes, Bags and Ornaments.

It was fitting subject matter considering it has been snowing since last night and I had to brush off close to 5" (cm) of snow off of my car before I could head into Peterborough for the class.













Christmas Bags, Boxes and Bows

Because of the snow and the road conditions I was late arriving for the class but there was a wonderful display set up and I was spoiled for choice.

I decided to do a couple of small paintings and completed the drawing for the first one and started on the second one before it was time for lunch.













Christmas Balls, Boxes and Bags

I was sitting the Gallery in the afternoon and despite the weather a number of people came through to paint and to see the art show.

I will post both these pieces at a later date once I have started painting them. 

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

Magnetawan Reflections - A Work in Progress

This is the third of three paintings I did with Lucy Manley at KAGS last month.

First the entire canvas is covered with a background colour in this case raw sienna and set aside to dry.















Using cadmium red the darkest areas are indicated as well as the different shorelines, the heights of the background trees, reflections and any major trees.

Using a mixture of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna with a touch of alizarin crimson the darkest areas are painted in first and while the paint is still wet cadmium yellow is added to the dark mixture to give a warm dark green.















This is used for the greens foliage in the shadowed area and more yellow is then added for the mid tone greens.

Using almost pure cadmium yellow with just a touch of the mid tone green the lighter tree branches are painted.















The sky is indicated using Titanium white with just a touch of cadmium yellow to give it a little warmth. Small areas of sky are scattered through the upper branches of the trees.

I will post the next stages of this painting at a later date.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

The Red Sleigh - A Work in Progress

There is snow on the ground which helps to make things look more like Christmas and my Basic Watercolour class at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio wanted to do a Christmas theme.

It was decided to do a horse and sleigh after they saw my graphite pencil drawing that I had started a couple of years ago (see posts on 05 and 21 August 2012).

I made copies of the sketch in four different sizes and had my students decide how large they wanted to make their painting.










Most chose to work on the medium sized one that fit an eighth sheet of watercolour paper and one brave soul decided on the larger one that would fit a quarter sheet of watercolour paper.

After a little bit of discussion it was decided that the horse would be a Belgian, rather than a Clydesdale or a Percheron.

Leaving the mane, tail and white markings dry the rest of the horse's body was wet and a pale wash of raw sienna put over the entire horse.















A little more raw sienna was added to the wash to darken it slightly and the darkest shadows were painted in and the edges softened slightly.

Adding more raw sienna to the wash the darkest shadows were covered over again and the lighter colour at the edge of the darkest shadow was painted once again softening the edges.

This process was repeated twice more to create the look of roundness on the barrel and to give some shape to the legs, chest and neck.

I will post this painting at a later date as more work is completed on the horse.

I would like to thank returning collector Mrs. Joanne Fernall of Norwood, Ontario on her selection of Battle Royale (see post on 01 August 2010).

Backgrounds 7 and 8 - Two Works in Progress

In the first two Lucy Manley classes (see posts on 03 November and 01 December 2014) we had last month we did an autumn scene with lots of red, orange and yellow in the tree leaves.















Background 7

As usual rather than waste the remaining paint I apply it to a piece of canvas as  a background for another painting.














Background 8

I will post these two backgrounds at a later date once I decide what I will paint on them.

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