Display at the Norwood Skillet

This morning was cloudy and a little cool at 20F (-6C) with the wind chill making it feel like 9F (-12.8C) as I loaded the car to take my paintings to hang the show at the Norwood Skillet Restaurant, in Norwood, Ontario.

I was exhibiting my work there with fellow artist Ron Ward who I have known for almost 25 years.

Ron has mainly much larger paintings than I have and we decided his work would be better suited to hang in the Lounge where the large open spaces would do justice to his paintings.

With having a large number of pieces being displayed in so many venues including the Peterborough Theatre Guild, the Township of Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery, St. Matthews Church, Adventure Divers and the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio.

I chose to bring smaller paintings to exhibit at the Norwood Skillet.

These pieces were much better suited to be hung in the middle room as a single collection.

Ron then hung his remaining smaller and mid-sized paintings in the front Entry room.

This gave the display unity with Ron's acrylics in the front Entry room and my small and mid-sized watercolours in the Middle room leading to Ron's large acrylics in the Lounge.

The show will remain until 27 May 15.

I hope many of you will have the chance to come out and view the show.














By the time we had finished hanging the show the temperature had made it above the freezing mark and it started to rain.














From there I headed to the Township of Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery to meet with new collector Mrs. Heather Heffernan of Warsaw, Ontario.














I would like to thank her for her purchase of Honda Goldwing 1500cc (see post on 05 February 2010) from the exhibit as a birthday gift for her husband.

Skies - Three Works in Progress

Today I was painting with the Buckhorn Tuesday Painting Group and we had Emil Varga as the instructor who was demonstrating different skies.














Dramatic

In the first painting the horizon line was masked out using a piece of tape and the paper was wet above the tape. The dark clouds were created with a mix of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna on one side and the other side was a mix of Cobalt blue and burnt sienna leaving a white area slightly off center. The paint was sprayed with water and the colour was rolled around on the paper to create cloud shapes.

Each layer of paint was slightly thicker and darker than the one before and added into the corners of the painting, sprayed with water and rolled around the mix with the under paint.

A few areas of Cerulean blue were added into the clouds toward the bottom of the sky, sprayed with water and rolled to mix in with the existing paint. Then the painting was set aside to dry.














The next one was of a graded sky using three colours and glazing each layer over top of the one below.

The horizon line was put in using masking tape and the paper was wet above the tape. Using pure new gamboge the paint was swept into the area just above the tape in a diagonally upward stroke to create interest and movement.

The painting was set aside to dry before the next colour could be applied.














Pale Sky

Clear water was applied over the paper and  permanent rose was applied just slightly over lapping the layer of new gamboge and upwards leaving some of the area at the top of the painting without paint. It was then set aside to dry.

The paper was once more wet and this time painting from the top of the sky down into the permanent rose, Cobalt blue was applied.

Once again the paper was set aside to dry completely.














A Patch of Blue

For this painting the tape was applied on two different levels the highest was the bottom edge of the farthest island and the lower line was the bottom of the closer island.

The edges of the islands were lightly drawn in as a guide and the paper was wet above pencil lines.

A mix of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna was brushed into the sky in various areas, sprayed and rolled around leaving some areas of the sky white. Pure burnt sienna was added into the sky sprayed and rolled always trying to keep some areas of white. Pure Cerulean blue was brushed into the bottom of the sky and rolled upward into the clouds.

A little pure Cobalt blue was added into the upper part of the cloudy sky in a couple of places, sprayed and rolled. More colours were added into the clouds until I liked the way it looked (and before I made a muddy mess of it).

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

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

Autumn Maple 1 - A Work in Progress

It is another cold day -1F (-18.3C) with the wind chill making it feel like -16F (-26.7C) but the sun is shining and the wind is supposed to die down a little by the afternoon.

I went to St. John the Baptist Anglican Church in Lakefield help the Lakefield Creative Arts Group complete their paintings which had been started earlier this year (see post on 12 January 2015).

Most of them had completed their paintings but needed some help with tree structure and putting leaves on the trees.

Many of them practiced on small pieces of paper doing various different kinds of deciduous trees and using a sponge to make the leaves.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have painted in the background.

Wine Glass - A Work in Progress

My high school friend Henry came out to visit with me yesterday at KAGS and enjoyed seeing the Small Treasures show. He left me a list of the paintings he would like to have if still available when his numbers are drawn on the tickets he purchased since he will be back in Prince George, B.C. at the time of the draw on the 29th.

It was nice seeing him again after four years but I bet he wishes he would have chosen another time to come to Ontario, yesterday was cold but today is even colder with the temperature at 2F (-16.7C) and even though the sun is shining the wind chill makes it feel like -11F (-23.9C).

Our next Still Life class is going to be glass on mirrors.

I decided to get some practice in and do a drawing of one of the wine glasses and its reflection on the table.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have added some colour to the painting.

Opening of the Small Treasures Show

I was hoping for a sunny day today with seeing the first two robins of the year yesterday; instead it is 27F (-2.8C) and it is snowing with already almost an inch (2.54cm) on the ground.















We will see how many brave souls come out for the opening of the Small Treasures Show at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio.

There are a total of 77 original 8" x 10" paintings on display and the purchase tickets are available for $30.00 each.

On the closing day of the Show on 29 March 2015 is when the draw for order of selection is made for the ticket holders. The draw begins at 2:00pm.















If you are interested in purchasing a ticket be sure to get them soon as there are only 77 tickets available.

Background 29 and 30 - Two Works in Progress

I finally found the two canvases from the painting I did for the Small Treasures Show called First Snow (see posts on 23 December 2014, 19 January and 15 March 2015).

The first was created using the left over Titanium white, cadmium yellow, lemon yellow, raw sienna and a small amount of French ultramarine blue.

Background 29

The second one was painted with French ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, cadmium red and burnt sienna.

I will post each of these backgrounds once I decide what I will paint on them and have at least the sketch completed.




Background 30

Teddy Bear Bedtime - A Work in Progress

It is another cold day 8F (-13.3C) but at least there is very little wind and the sun is shining causing more of the snow to melt.

Today Margaret Tough the President of KAGS and I are going to be on CFFF Trent Radio 92.7 FM in the afternoon after the Still Life class. We will be talking about the Gallery and the current Small Treasures Art Show. It should be interesting.

In the morning our theme for the Still Life class was "Sleepwear".

We had many interesting things to work chose from including various types of housecoats, satin robes, pajamas, night gowns, negligées, slippers, a couple of teddy bears and an alarm clock.














I decided on the two teddy bears, the alarm clock and the negligée on a blanket.

I put in the background with a pale mix of cobalt blue and alizarin crimson. While it was drying I added a section of hardwood floor.

I will post this painting at a later date once I have started painting the teddy bears.

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