Century Barn - A Work in Progress

The weather remains bright, warm and sunny which is a pleasant change from the long cold winter we have experienced.

Today is the first day of a three day workshop with Doug Mays being held at Six Foot Bay in Buckhorn, Ontario.

The theme for the workshop is shades of grey and during the course we are going to create a wide range of greys with various paint colour mixes.

The first painting was of an old barn. The barn board was various mixtures of Prussian blue and alizarin crimson.

Instead of doing his barn, I chose to paint a couple of my barns, in this case the east and north barns. The west barn is behind the east barn and not visible.














The upper part of the paper was wet, leaving the barn and foreground untouched. The sky was a graduated wash of French ultramarine blue, and allowed to dry completely.

Next the foreground was washed with clear water and various mixtures of raw sienna and Quinacridone gold and once again it was set aside to dry.

Once the foreground was completely dry it was time to start with the barn board. To start a pale mix of Antwerp blue and alizarin crimson was put over the barns with a dry brush.

Gradually the pigments were darkened as more layers were added. There is still a lot more to do on the barn.

I will post this painting at a later date after the barn board is completed.

Buckhorn Artists' Group Blog - Show Updates

I have updated the Buckhorn Artists' Group blog with a listing of shows some of the various artists in the Group are exhibiting their work in during the month of May.

If you get a chance come out and visit them at one or all of the shows.

Laces - A Work in Progress

An exercise we did last month in Abstract painting with Lorraine Staples was to use a shoe with laces and do four line drawings of a small part of the shoe to create an interesting outline.











Each one was different and although some of the line drawings did look as though they were a part of a shoe, others did not.












As each drawing was completed it was turned in every direction to decide which way looked the best.












By the time the last drawing was completed it was time to make a choice as to which one would be used to create an abstract painting.














For me that was a very difficult decision as I liked both the second and third sketch equally well.

After a lot of thought, I decided that I was going to use both of them and simply joined the two of them together with a couple of lines.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have transferred the sketch to a canvas.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork.

Boxes and Drapery - A Work in Progress

Last month at KAGS we had a very interesting display for the Still Life class where the theme was Scarves, Jewellery and Trinket Boxes.

It was a difficult choice to make as there were so many things that would make beautiful still life paintings.

I found the shadows and folds on the drapery very appealing and because of this decided to work on the one section of the display that had three different sized trinket boxes, a bracelet a couple of necklaces and a pair of earrings.

Each of the trinket boxes was set at a different angle and I will have to work on the perspective to get them correct.

But the most important feature for me will be the shadows and folds on the drapery which I am looking forward to painting.

I will post this piece at a later date once I have completed the drawing.

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

Confirmed Shows for 2015 - May

This is a listing of confirmed shows that I will be exhibiting my artwork at this year. I will update the list as more shows are added.

Norwood Skillet, 4247 Highway 7, Norwood Ont.
25 Mar - 27 May 15

Kawartha Arts Network - Art on Kent, Lindsay, Ont.
KAN
09 Apr - 02 May 15 Local Floral
Opening Reception 11 Apr 15 from 1-3pm.
02 Jul - 01 Aug 15 Annual All Members' Show
Opening Reception 04 Jul 15 from 1-3pm.
03-31 Dec 15 and 07 Jan-16 Jan 16 Affordibleism
Opening Reception 05 Dec 15 from 1-3pm.

Peterborough Public Library, 345 Alymer Street, Peterborough, Ont.
Trent University, Canadian Studies Department, Art and Culture Tour
22 May 15 from 6:30-9:30pm.

MacKelvie Gallery, Keene, Ont.
PioneerVillage
28 May - 25 Jun Lang Pioneer Village Museum, Keene, Ont.

Kawartha Artists’ Gallery, Peterborough, Ont.
KAGS
10 Jun - 05 Jul 15 Warm and Cool
Opening Reception 13 Jun 15 from 1-4pm.
26 Aug - 27 Sep 15 Faces and Figures
Opening Reception 29 Aug 15 from 1-4pm.
11-29 Nov 15 Outdoor Painters' Show - Elements of Nature
Opening Reception 14 Nov 15 from 1-4pm.
02-20 Dec 15 and 06-17 Jan 16 Winter Show
Opening Reception 05 Dec 15 from 1-4pm..

The Lindsay Gallery, Lindsay, Ont.
LindsayGallery
24 Jun - 25 Jul 15 Motion in Stillness
Reception 25 Jul 15 from 2-4pm.


St. John the Baptist Anglican Church, Lakefield, Ont.
27 Jun 15 Artists in Bloom II 2-4pm.

Lockside Trading Company, 2805 River Ave, Youngs Point, Ont.
18-19 Jul 15 3rd Annual Art @ the Locks from 9am-6pm.
15-16 Aug 15 4th Annual Art @ the Locks from 9am-6pm.

St Matthews Church, Buckhorn, Ont.
Buckhorn Artists' Group
15-23 Aug 15 25th Annual Shades of Summer Art Show

Fenelon Falls Fair Grounds, Fenelon Falls, Ont.
KawarthaArtsFestival
05-06 Sep 15 Kawartha Arts Festival

Township of Douro-Dummer Library Art Gallery, Warsaw, Ont.
08 Sep - 24 Oct 15 Three Good Friends
Opening Reception 11 Sep 15 from 7-8pm.

Millennium Park, Peterborough, Ont.
5th Annual Purple Onion Festival
20 Sep 15 from 11am-4:00pm.

Dancing Blueberries, 360 George St. N., Peterborough, Ont.
02-28 Oct 15

Please come out and enjoy the artwork displayed at these shows.

Barn IV

Today I was in not in the mood to paint but I still wanted to do something, so I went through one of my files of sketches and pulled out this one that I did a couple of years ago (see post on 25 September 2013).

I remember it well, the run in shed had a tree growing out through its roof and a small barn beside it looked as though it would fall over in a strong wind. I need to go back and see if the building is still standing and how big the tree has grown.

Beginning with the leaning barn, I used the higher roof line, ran the lifted pieces of tin on the roof keeping them bent and twisted, changed the windows to a barn door, added a door to the hay loft, and removed a number of barn boards from the building.














I proceeded to do some work on the run in shed, starting with the tree growing through the roof, then I twisted the tin around it and bent the edges. I set the side door partially off its hinges showed the old dirt inside the shed and indicated the barn board on the building.

The big barn didn't need a lot of work, I fixed the roof line, added another lightning rod, put in the barn boards, some stonework at the base of the building added a vent hole at the top of the front of the barn.

Lastly I added a fence behind the big barn and another in front of the trees at the back of the pasture. I put some grasses and growies along the path from the barn.

This is an original 6-1/2" x 9” graphite pencil drawing available when matted and shrink wrapped for $50.00.

Seahorse 3

Today, as I was coming down from the loft of the main barn after throwing out hay for my horses; I saw my first swallows. A pair of barn swallows and a single tree swallow.

Hopefully, the warm weather we are currently enjoying will continue and that they will stay and nest in the barn or one of the nearby trees.

After breakfast, I thought I would like to do a drawing of a seahorse among some seaweed.

First I sketched in the seahorse, placing it slightly above the center of the paper.

Next, I started to add the strands of seaweed.

I began with the one I would have its tail wrap around.

Next, I added a couple more strands behind the seahorse.

Lastly, I added one more strand on the lower left side of the drawing.