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.

School's Out I - A Work in Progress

I pulled out this sketch that I started earlier this year (see post on July 2016).

First I added more details to the fish and started on the branches of the sea fan.

Next I added various coral and sponges onto the rock.

I started to ink in the main branches of the sea fan before I ran out of time.

I will post this sketch at a later date.

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

Pink Sky 6 and 7 - Two Works in Progress

Today I just couldn't get into painting, but I wanted to do something.

I thought I would at least put in a couple of early morning skies in shades of pink, blue and mauve.

I started by using various mixtures of French ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson.

I decided that I would work on both pieces at the same time and started by wetting each piece and started with a wash  of alizarin crimson as the base colour.

Pink Sky 6

With the blue I streaked in a few areas of the blue across the sky, letting the colour blend into the base pink and creating mauve, while at the same time leaving some areas of the pink untouched.

I sketched in one of the rocks into the foreground.

I will post each of these pieces at later date once more work on them has been completed.

Pink Sky 7

ACEO - Christmas Pines 1

Today is Christmas Eve and what better way to celebrate it than to paint a snow scene with pine trees?

I started by putting in the pine trees first using various mixture of French ultramarine blue, raw sienna, new gamboge and cadmium yellow.

First a thin line of water was run on the paper and blotted with a tissue to lighten where the white birch tree trunk would be placed.

Burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue were used for the birch tree markings and branches.

A little more blue was added to the dark mixture and the maple tree was painted in beside the large pine tree.

Various mixes of cadmium yellow and raw sienna were used to put in the grasses and growies beneath 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.

Therese's Oven I - A Work in Progress

This morning started off as cold as yesterday's high of 25F (-4C) with the wind chill making it feel like 14F (-10C), but the nice thing is it will warm up to 36F (2C) with a wind chill of only 25F (-4C).

Today I wanted to do a little work on a pen and ink drawing so I pulled out this sketch from a few years ago (see post on 26 August 2013) when painting with the KAGS Outdoor Painters at Therese Harmon's home.

I started on the left side of the drawing and inked in the tree, adding the leaves as I put in the various branches.














I started putting in some of the grasses and growies around the base of the trees and at the bottom of the oven.

Next I put in one of the fence posts a put in some of the grasses on the lawn below the post.

From there I started working on some of the field stones that the oven was made of and added shadows to the rocks.

I will post this drawing at a later time once I have completed the oven.

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

Northern Island 1 - A Work in Progress

I didn't have a lot of time to work on a painting today as had to go out and run a lot of errands for last minute things I had forgotten about and needed before Christmas.

I simply refuse to be in stores on Christmas Eve. I did that once in my teens and vowed never to do it again.















I picked this piece that I had started a few years ago (see post on 14 June 2013) and started by putting in the sky, using a mix of French ultramarine blue with a tiny amount of burnt sienna. I was careful to have the small seagull on the left side of the island in an area that was fairly light in colour.

I will post this painting at a later date as more work on it is completed.

Birch Trio 1 and 2 - Two Works in Progress

Today I wanted to do more work on these two paintings that I had started a few years ago (see post on 21 September 2013).

I decided to work back and forth on both pieces.

First I tidied up the branches of the birch trees and gave the trunks a little more definition.

Next I mixed the sky colour using French ultramarine blue, cobalt blue and added a small amount of burnt sienna and painted in the sky on both paintings.

I set them aside to dry.

Birch Trio 1

As I was deciding what I would like to do in the background of each painting I had friends drop by for a visit.

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















Birch Trio 2