OSWOA - Sewing Machine

I know it is supposed to be spring but when the day starts off at 22F (-5.6C) with blowing snow and the wind making it feel like 10F (-12.2C) and our high for the day is 32F (0C) and the continuing wind and snow making it feel like 20F (-6.7C). I certainly don't feel like working in my garden.

Today at KAGS our theme for the Still Life class was Sewing, Embroidery and Needlework.

Fortunately for me the old Singer sewing machine was one of the pieces in the display and I was able to get more details on a painting I had started a couple of years ago (see posts on 19 January 2012 and 24 July 2013) and I will finally be able to get it completed.

I also did a number of sketches of other parts of the display and I will post those at a later date.

If you would like more information about OSWOA please go to my post on 12 March 2010.

The OSWOA 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 $80.00 and sold unframed.

ACEO - Reflections 7

Today I wanted to finish this painting that I had started a couple of years ago (see post on 25 July 2013).

For this painting, I had always wanted to put a duck in the water and today I drew in a female Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos).

Next, I washed in a base colour of raw sienna and as it was drying I added a slightly darker colour mix of raw sienna and burnt sienna into some areas to give the body some shape.

While the duck was drying I put the reflections into the water with burnt sienna and a small amount of French ultramarine blue.















I added more blue to darken the reflection colour and painted in the eye, the nostril, the shadow between the upper and lower part of the bill, the top of the crown and the eye-stripe.

Next, I added more raw sienna to the colour and put in the mid tone markings and lastly, after adding more raw sienna I put in the lightest markings.

Using cadmium red and cadmium yellow, I painted in the bill and this was followed by adding the highlights with aureolin.

I used a tiny dot of cadmium yellow for the highlight in the eye.















At the shoreline, I indicated some reeds using various mixtures of Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue and new gamboge. Using the lighter marking colour, I put some shadows into the water at the base of the reeds.

This was followed with a few closer more detailed reeds on the left side of the painting.

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.

Skeletons I

It is a cool, 29F (-1.7C) cloudy and overcast and we are supposed to get more rain today, but at least it isn't as windy.

However, as the day progressed and the temperature rose and hovered around the freezing mark, it brought us an interesting mix during the day of rain, hail, snow and then more rain, more snow, more hail and then a mix of rain and snow. But the sun did finally come out and we had perhaps less than 10 minutes of sunshine.

I pulled out this drawing that I did a couple of years ago (see post on 02 September 2013)and thought it needed something more to make it a little more "spooky".

I played around with the drawing for a little while and settled on a full moon in the background.

This little 2-3/4" x 3-1/4" original pen and ink drawing is available matted and shrink wrapped for $20.00.

Light Sources

It continues to pour down rain which started last night. Fortunately, it is above freezing 37F (2.2C) which means no snow, ice pellets or freezing rain. However, the wind was strong enough to blow my lawn chairs and table off the front lawn, so I will leave them where they are until things calm down a little here, because I know from experience that they will blow back off the lawn before I can replace all of them in their original position.

Unfortunately, I can expect a long and stressful trip to Toronto today dealing with all the fools on the road who either drive as though they are on dry roads, weaving back and forth across the lanes in an effort to get where they are going faster and are basically an accident waiting to happen; or the others who creep along afraid, constantly riding their brakes and cause major slow downs. Not something I am looking forward to doing, but that is life.

I thought I may as well relax before I have to leave and do a couple of drawings showing the light source, the highlight, regular colour, the shadow, reflected light and cast shadow.













I started with a cylinder using a roll of paper towel as my guide. Once I had put in the quick outline, I put in the dark area in the top indicating the hole in the core of the paper towel, this was followed by putting in the light area where the normal colour of the object is seen, being careful to leave the paper untouched where the highlight was located.

Next, I added the shadowed area, followed by leaving a lighter area for the reflected light on the far side of the roll of paper towel. Lastly, I added the cast shadow beneath the cylinder shape of the paper towel to ground it.

Since I still had some time before I had to leave I wanted to do a sphere and as my model I used a very large marble.

I indicated my light source, followed by putting in the cast shadow to anchor my marble in place.

Starting at the top of the marble I left an untouched area for my highlight and from there gradually worked my way down to the bottom of the marble leave a light space for the reflected light.

Unfortunately, I have to head out.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

Raging Water

Once again the mornings are dropping below freezing 26F (-3.3C) and with the wind making it chill feel like 16F (-8.9C), but with the sun shining by the afternoon the temperature rose to 57F (13.9C).

Once again I was working in the lawn garden and clearing out the dried, old stalks from last year, removing any of the new weeds that are starting to show themselves and digging out the edging around the garden. It was a productive day and I have almost a third of the way flower bed completed.

I wanted to do work on a painting today, so I pulled out this little piece that was originally called Background 11 (see post on 22 December 2014) which was created by using leftover paint from an acrylic painting.















As I looked at it and turned it each way, I thought by turning it upside down that it looked like water rushing over partially submerged rocks.

I added more rocks into the water using various mixtures of burnt sienna, raw sienna, ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson. This was followed by adding the rushing water flowing over and around the rocks using titanium white, raw sienna and burnt sienna, cadmium yellow and ultramarine blue.

This original 5" x 7" acrylic painting is available unframed for $40.00.

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

Pineapple 1

We had a steady wind blowing all day but that didn't prevent the temperature from climbing up to 60F (15.6C) making it good working weather.

I enjoyed spending the afternoon working on clearing out the old leaves and dead stalks that had accumulated during the winter in the lawn flowerbed.

I then tackled lifting my irises out of the ground by the bird bath and removing the thread weed that had wound itself throughout their roots. It took a while to do but the results are well worth the effort.

When I came inside and after I made myself a cup of tea, I decided to do this sketch of a pineapple that I Christine had given me to use with the ham I was going to make for tomorrow night's supper.

Birch Sunset

Today, while I was getting a framed print out of heated storage, I came across two paintings of mine that were almost completed so I pulled them out as well.

After packing the print for shipping, I decided that I would finish this piece that just needed the birch trees in the foreground painted.

I used titanium white on the sunlit side and then added a small amount of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna to the paint for on the shadowed side and the larger branches.















With a dark of ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and alizarin crimson I added the markings onto the birch trunks and the small branches.

Next, using various mixtures of yellow ochre, burnt sienna and Hansa yellow I added the leaves onto the branches.

Lastly, using the shadow colour and the dark branch colour I added some grasses and growies at the base of the birch trees.

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