Backgrounds 19 and 20 - Two Works in Progress

These two canvases are the result of using the leftover acrylic paint from yesterday's painting as a background for other paintings.














The first was from using cadmium yellow, cadmium lemon and cadmium red.

The second was by using Titanium white, raw sienna, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson.














I will post each of these canvases as more work on them has been completed.

A Winter Sunset

It is a cold day -14F (-25.6C) but at least there is very little wind and the sun is shining which makes it much easier to go outside and do some work before the cold drives to back inside to get warm again.

I wanted to finish this final painting for the Small Treasures Show, which I had started last month (see post on 30 January 2015). As with the other two, each painting will be available for $30.00 and draw tickets will be available at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio from 18-29 March 2015.

The first thing was to finish the large maple tree, gradually adding the various branches and some texture to the bark on the trunk.

With a soft grey mixture I painted in the two dead trees that are just on the other side of the road. They are battered and have lost many of their branches but they continue to stand against the wind.














Next were a few more of the pine trees that were planted along the fence line almost 25 years ago.

Some of them have lost their tops and others are starting to bend slightly from the winds, but they continue to thrive against the elements.

Lastly the grasses and growies were painted in at the base of the trees and in the foreground.

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

Autumn Reflections I

It is getting warmer with the temperature at -11F (-23.9C) and thankfully no wind to make it feel even colder, but the sun is shining which makes it easier to take.

I wanted to work on the three canvases and get them finished for the Small Treasures Show at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio next month.

This one needed about an hour of work to complete (see posts on 30 December 2014 and 28 January 2015) so I worked on it first and if I have time I will work on the others.

I started by giving more definition to the major mass of red and orange leaves and continued by adding a little burnt sienna to the colours and putting the dulled colour into the shadowed areas.

Next I scattered some of the green leaves throughout the painting and added some of the bright green to the grasses to tie the greens together.

More details were added to the rocks and a few darks were put into the reflections in the water.

Here and there a few single leaves were added to give the impression that leaves were still falling off the trees.

I may do a few more paintings of trees in autumn at a later date.

Thank you to new collector Mr. John Taylor on his selection of Fallen Birches (see post on 09 September 2012).

Flag Race - A Work in Progress

It is another cold day but at least a little warmer than yesterday at -2F (-18.9C) and the wind chill making it feel like -21F (-29C); but spring will eventually arrive next month.

This is a sketch of the flag race which is one of the many timed evens in western horse shows.














I sketched in a couple of positions for the phase of the stride I would like on the horse.

I may have to do more than one outline drawing until I am satisfied with the position of the legs.

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

Background 16 - A Work in Progress

Looking at extreme cold warnings in the forecast today with the temperatures at -10F (-23.3C) and feeling like -26F (-32C).

I now have over two hundred snow buntings to feed every day, it is wonderful to watch them in flight and they are becoming used to me and wait patiently for me to put out the mixed grain on the snow for them before they come flocking in to eat.

I have quite a variety of other birds coming to the feeders including cardinals, pine siskins, two different kinds of nuthatches, mourning doves, downy and hairy woodpeckers, juncos, gold finches, red polls, song, fox and house sparrows to name some of the varieties.















As usual in yesterday's class I used the leftover paint to put on a canvas as a background for future use.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have decided what I would like to paint on this canvas.

Spring Thaw I - A Work in Progress

Today I was at the Kawartha Artists; Gallery and Studio for the second half of the Lucy Manley class for the month of February.

The first thing was to paint in the sky to using various mixtures of mainly Titanium white, with a touch of lemon yellow and another of the same mix with cadmium yellow added.

The lighter mixture was put into the top of the sky while the darker one was put into the lower areas of the sky.















Next using Titanium white with French ultramarine blue and a touch of raw sienna area of frost touched branches were put into the background trees.

Various shades of green were mixed using French ultramarine blue, raw sienna, lemon yellow and Cadmium yellow and applied to the cedar trees.














Once the cedar trees were completed a mix of Titanium white, French ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson and applied to give a little more detail to the frost covered brush in front of the background cedars which completed the left side of the background.

I will post this painting at a later date once I complete the background on the right side of the painting.














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

ACEO - Cloudy Sky 5

It is fairly mild today and the weatherman is calling for light snow to fall on and off throughout the day. What better way to spend the afternoon than to paint a snow scene?

I picked this piece that I had started a few of years ago (see post on 10 November 2013) and began with brushing in the sky using a mixture of Antwerp blue and leaving some white areas for the clouds.

Next I added a small amount of burnt sienna to the blue to grey it and put in the shadows on the underside of the clouds and then set it aside to dry, while I made myself a cup of tea.















When I returned I put in the shadows on the snow drifts with a mix of French ultramarine blue and Antwerp blue.

I mixed various greys and browns using the blues and burnt sienna and working my way from the distant hills through to the closest ones I put in the trees, gradually adding more details to the closer ones.

Lastly I added a few dead grasses and growies into the snow around the bottom of the trees.














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