Invitation for Douro-Dummer Art Show

It is a bitterly cold day -20F (-29C) and the wild chill making it feel like -47F (-44C). It is a good day to stay inside, but I have chores to do and many animals who depend on me to provide feed for them so they will be able to survive the winter.















I have a show opening tonight from 7-8pm. and here is the invitation for this art exhibition at the Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery.

The show runs from 17 February - 15 March 2015. Hopefully you will find the time to come out and enjoy the artwork.

Gathering Storm I - A Work in Progress

Temperature has plummeted once again to -13F (-25C) and with the wind making it feel like a very cold -30F (-34.4C).

I now have three flocks of snow buntings staying all day for the bird seed that I throw out every morning. It shows just how hard this winter is on all the birds and wildlife that have to fend for themselves.

Today I sat at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio for the new still life show called Motion in Stillness. The opening for this show is on Saturday from 1-4pm. You are welcome to come out and enjoy the show and meet many of the artists.



















While at the Gallery I worked on this painting that I had started last month with the Lakefield Creative Arts Guild (see post on 12 January 2015).

First I lightly sketched in the trees on the horizon line the rocks of the shoreline and a couple of pine trees.

Next I painted in the water with raw sienna first and then added various mixtures of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna with a small amount of alizarin crimson.

I will post this painting at a later date once more work on it has been completed.

Still Life Show at KAGS

The last seven days have been extremely busy for me with setting up a display at the Peterborough Theatre Guild (see post on 11 February 2015) then doing take in for the Still Life Show at the Kawartha Artists’ Gallery and Studio in the morning before going to set up the exhibition at the Township of Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery (see post on 16 February 2015) and finally seeing the Still Life show hung and ready for the public at KAGS.











The Still Life show at KAGS is one of the best shows to be hung at the Gallery in recent times.












I hope you will make the time to come out to enjoy this exhibit before it closes on 15 March 2015.

Barn Swallows - A Work in Progress

This is a sketch I had started last summer (see posts on 24 August 2014 and 23 January 2015).

I wanted to do a little more work on this sketch and I started by tightening up the outline shape of both birds sitting on the light post.















I will post this drawing again once I have completed the outline sketch.

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

Exhibition at the Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery

Today was a very busy day starting off with going into the Kawartha Artists' Gallery in the morning since I am one of the co conveners and to do the take in for the 'Motion in Stillness' show until noon.















Next I headed out to Douro-Dummer township to join the Countryside Art Group to set up the exhibition at the Library Gallery.












It is the first time I have set up a show at this library and it has a lovely display area. They are planning on improving the lighting and eventually enlarging the size of the library and wish to also have more exhibition space for the artists.













They have a small area in the front entrance with a space for about 5-10 paintings depending on their size.













In the library there are two long walls which can hold a number of paintings on each side of the main room.















On the top of three sets of the book shelves there are a number of spaces to hold a variety of paintings in various sizes.














The opening reception will be held on Friday, 20 February 2015 from 7-8pm. and I look forward to seeing some of you there.

Open Air Market - A Work in Progress

It is an extremely cold day today with the temperature sitting at -18F (-27.8C) and the wind chill making it feel like a biting -40F (-40C).

Heading down to the barn to do chores was not a a lot of fun, but the horses and cats were happy to see me, as were all the wild birds that come to my feeders and the flock of snow buntings that do not stray far from the house and enjoy an easy food supply.














After having breakfast and relaxing with a hot cup of tea it was time to get my things together and start working on a drawing of an open air market with crowds of Saturday morning bargain hunters wandering through the stalls.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have the sketch completed and start to apply paint.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

ACEO - Beached 1

It is a cold day today with the temperatures dropping 2F (1.7C) per hour last night until it bottomed out at -20F (-30C) this morning and the wind chill making it feel like -39F (-39.4C).

My flock of snow buntings are staying close to their food supply and are becoming a lot less shy of me when I fill the feeders and put the feed out on the ground in the morning for them.

I thought that doing a painting of a nice, warm place like in the Caribbean would take away some of the chill of what I see and feel when I go outside.

I selected this drawing that I did a few years ago (see post on 14 November 2013) and started by putting in an evening sky using a mixture raw sienna and new gamboge at the horizon line and working upward I added a little alizarin crimson.

Making a grey of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I put in the lower layer of clouds in the sky while the paint was still damp. Then, I added more blue and a little alizarin crimson to the grey mix and put in the clouds at the top of the sky.














Next I put the sand on the beach using raw sienna, before adding various colours from the sky throughout the water being careful to leave an area of white between the beach and the water.

Using various combinations of the cloud colours darkened with burnt sienna I put in the distant land masses on the horizon and the dark areas of the waves.

Using the sky colour I added it to the foreground rocks on the edges closest to the evening sky.

This was followed by using the dark wave colour and adding more pigment to put in the shadows and to indicate the cracks and crevices in the rock face.

I continued using both rock colours into the water to create the foam in the water at the edge of the beach.

Now it was time to start work on the boat. Using alizarin crimson I painted in the gunnels first to define to the boat.















With a dark of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and a small amount of alizarin crimson I put in the shadowed areas beneath the seats, being careful to leave the boards of the seats white.

Next I gradually added water to lighten the shadow colour as I worked from the darkest shadows on the boat the lightest.

Once the paint dried I added a small amount of the sky colour onto the bow of the boat.

Mixing a green of the blue and the sand colour, I scattered some seaweed across the sand that had been washed ashore by the waves.

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.