Cross Roads - Spring

Today is my daughter's birthday and it is also the coldest day of this winter season with the temperature at -18F (-27.8C) and the wind making it feel like -43F (-41.7C).

Last night as the temperature dropped you could hear the nails in the wood sounding like gunshots as they contracted against the wood due to the cold.

















I wanted to do a sketch of a crossroad, with each of the roads being in a different season and having different kinds of horses. I started with Spring and using riding horses.

I will post this drawing at a later date once I have added more details to the horses and the background.

Morning Fog 1 and 2 - Two Works in Progress

Today I wanted to do a little more work on these two paintings that I had started a few years ago (see post on 12 September 2013).

Using a pale mixture of Antwerp blue and burnt sienna I washed in the first layer of the fog on each of the paintings being careful to leave the sun untouched and set them aside to dry.

Next I added a small amount of cobalt blue to the original mixture.

Then I wet the area of the sky and painted it in, again leaving the sun untouched.

Morning Fog 2

I lifted a small amount of colour from the sky around the sun before I them aside to dry.















Morning Fog 1

I will post each of these paintings at a later date once they are completed.

Summer Evening 1 - A Work in Progress

Winter has come alive with a vengeance, the temperature was at -3F (-19.4C) and the wind chill making it feel like -16F (-26.7C). The snow was squeaking beneath my boots as I filled the bird feeders and went to the barn to do chores.

I pulled this painting out that I had started a number of years ago (see post on 23 July 2013).

With a grey of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna I painted in the distant shoreline and a few shadows on the frozen lake.

I put in the pine needles using various mixes of French ultramarine blue, raw sienna, Antwerp blue and new gamboge.

Next I started to put the bark on the tree trunks and branches in grey and brown tones using French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

Using the same brown and grey tones I indicated the rocky shore on which the trees were placed.

While the paint was drying I felt that more trees and growies were needed rather than having just the two trees standing alone.

I put these in with pencil.

I will post this painting again as more work on it is completed.

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

Mailbox 2 - A Work in Progress

I decided to do a little more work on this painting that I had started quite some time ago (see posts on 20 February 2012 and 14 December 2015).

I wanted to put the trees onto the distant hills, but before I could do that I lifted some lighter areas out of the snow with water.

The furthest back trees were put in using mixes of Antwerp blue and raw sienna.













The closer trees on the next hill were mixtures of Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue and raw sienna.

Next I lightened the snow covered area on the top of the mail box.

I will work on this painting again and post it at a later date.

Toadstools 1-3 - Three Works in Progress

Today I painted with the Buckhorn Tuesday Painting Group and decided I would like to get a little more work done on these three paintings that I had started last year (see posts on 20 and 31 October and 23 December 2015).

Although they had worked on the heating system at the church and taped up the gas leak until the parts for the repairs arrived and the work could be completed, you could still detect a slight gas odour and we kept the windows open. Needless to say, I didn't stay very long.

I worked back and forth on all three of the paintings.

Toadstool 1

I wanted to get the background completed so I could work on the toadstools next.

Using Antwerp blue with a small amount of French ultramarine blue added, I washed in the sky on the first painting then set it aside to dry.

Using the same colour for the first sky I repeated this for the second and third paintings.

By the time I was ready to work on the first one again it was dry and I didn't have to wait.

Toadstool 2

With a mix of burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue I indicated the background tree trunks in the paintings.

With various mixtures of the sky colour with raw sienna, burnt sienna, alizarin crimson, aureolin and new gamboge I added the leaves onto the trees, being sure to leave some of the sky colour showing through the leaves.

With French ultramarine blue and a mix of raw sienna and aureolin I put in the background grass.

Toadstool 3

I will post each of these paintings once the friskit is removed and the toadstools are painted.

Evening on the Lake - A Work in Progress

I took out this painting that I had started last year (see post on 29 August and 08 December 2015) and decided to at least put in the sky and water.

First I lightly drew in the horizon line with a pencil.

I wanted to create and evening scene and to do this I used a mix of alizarin crimson, cobalt blue and French ultramarine blue.

I brushed in the sky above the horizon line with diagonal strokes.

I left a few little spots of the white paper showing and used horizontal strokes to midway down the bow of the boat.

Below the boat I left an area of white for the top of a wave and swept the paint upward into the white.

I will post this painting at a later date once I put in the background and remove the miskit.

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

Countryside Art Group Blog - Show Updates

On the first of each month I will update the Countryside Art Group's blog with a listing of shows where the various artists in the Group are exhibiting their work.

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