Coon Lake IV

Earlier this month (see post on 14 April 2018) I completed a drawing of Coon Lake that I started a number of years ago on the same canoe trip that I did this drawing (see posts on 29 July 2014 and 30 March 2016).

I continued to work my way down the trunk and the main pine tree adding branches and needles until I reached the earth.

Next I worked on the two smaller pines on the right side of the main pine tree and on the tree stump.

I put in the horizon line behind the trees and added the small islands in the distance.

From there I returned to the foreground and put in the small bushes to the left side of the main tree and the fallen tree trunk.

Next I added in the rocks at the base of the main tree and at the edge of the lake, followed by adding in the grasses and a few bull rushes into the water.

To complete the drawing I added in the water ripples below the rock as well as a few more ripples at the base of the closer islands on the horizon line.

This original 9" x 12" pen and ink drawing when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $95.00.

Freezing Fog and Winter Streams

Overnight we had freezing fog and I woke up to see everything coated in white ice crystals.

For the third day we are under a Meteorological Alert issued for the area of a winter snow storm warning with up to 9" (22.9cm) of heavy, wet snow and a heavy rain warning together with possible flooding. With the sun making an appearance in the late afternoon the high reached 41F (5C).















After doing the barn chores I went for a walk around the track and took a number of photographs of the ice covered trees.

I thought I would do a couple of sketches of streams with winter trees coated with ice much like the scenes I had on the property.















Winter Reflections 1

For my first drawing I put in the river and then added in the snow covered banks. From there I added some grasses and growies onto the river banks coming up out of the snow.

Next I went in and put the tree trunks and branches along the shore and added them faintly into the distant hills.















Winter Stream 1

For my second drawing I wanted to do one of the wetland at the S bend at the bottom of the property, where there are cattails growing.

I put in the stream followed by the snow covered banks against the water. Next I added the trees onto the land and some of the dead, dried cattails at the edge of the wetland.

Ice Storm

Today we are still under Meteorological Alerts issued for the area including a winter storm warning, a freezing rain warning with up to 3/4" (20mm) of freezing rain and a high wind warning with the wind speeds reaching 45mph (72.4km/h). The high being, 28F (-2C) and the wind chill making it feel like 16F (-9C).














Due to the high volume of ice accretion they were calling for, we decided to take the Peterborough Garden Show's generous offer of letting us to close the exhibit early to avoid the treacherous road conditions.















We returned home in time to have the power go out at 10:30 a.m. and after reporting the outage I was informed not to expect the power to return until 6:00 p.m. tomorrow evening.















It is a good thing that we have a generator and it wasn't long before we had heat, light and water. With having the microwave oven I was also able to make hot meals.















I will have to wait and see what tomorrow brings and hopefully we won't have too much damage from falling trees and branches.

Coon Lake X

Today there were Meteorological Alerts issued for the area for a winter storm warning, a freezing rain warning and a high wind warning with the wind speeds reaching 45mph (72.4km/h).

I woke up to the sound of ice pellets hitting my window and the sound of the wind whistling. As I tried to look out the window it was coated in ice, so we did receive the freezing rain overnight that we were told to expect.

Since the winter storm would continue all day and into tomorrow, I wanted to finish this drawing that I had started many years ago (see posts on 29 July 2014, 20 July 2016, 31 August and 22 October 2017 and 23 March 2018) while canoeing on Coon Lake.

I started on the rocks and continued developing the areas of light, shadow and cast shadow.

When I finished the rocks I took a break and watched The Weather Network. The weather report was not very nice for the weekend; with the temperature hovering around the freezing mark and the wind chill making it feel like 14F (-10C).

It seems that we will be alternating between periods of rain, freezing rain, ice pellets, snow and as the temperature drops later in the day to alternate from ice pellets, freezing rain, ice pellets and snow.

I returned to my drawing and I wanted to finish the dead maple tree growing up from in between the rocks.

Next I added a few more ripples in the water below the rocks as well as a few at the edge of the lake in the distance.

This original 9" x 12" pen and ink drawing when matted and shrink wrapped will be available for $95.00.

18th Annual Peterborough Garden Show

Today we set up our exhibit at the 18th Annual Peterborough Garden Show, held at the Evinrude Centre, at 911 Monaghan Road, in Peterborough Ontario.

This year it is the Buckhorn Artists' Group exhibiting there, instead of the artists from the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Kawartha Artists’ Gallery and Studio as none of the members from the Gallery were willing to organize and run the show.

We arrived at the Evinrude Centre in the morning and it didn't take very long to unload and set up the grids.

Once everything was securely in place the artists picked out where they wanted to hang their paintings.

Some of the artists had larger paintings than others and used an entire set of panels, while others had smaller pieces and shared the panels.

I shared space with two different artists who didn't have enough paintings to fill their spots.

Once we everything was hung we decided to bring in some lights.

Since I was one of the sitters for tonight's 5-9 p.m. shift I would bring in lights, light bars and extension cords and the other two sitters would bring in their lights.

When we returned to the show it didn't take long to hang the lights on the panels, turn them on and get them positioned to enhance the look of the paintings.

It wasn't long before people started to arrive to look at the various displays throughout the building and come into the conference room to have something to eat and view our show.

Many of the people we spoke with came out tonight in the rain and hoped to return home before the temperature dropped and changed to freezing rain for the overnight.

We were fortunate that the freezing rain held off until we made it safely home.

Three paintings were sold by Diane Collins and Susan Sydney.

I would like to thank new collector Mrs. Valerie Senior of Peterborough, Ontario on her purchase of Water Jug II (see post on 16 September 2012).

ACEO - Quiet Place 2

Overnight we had freezing fog which coated all the trees and grasses in little white crystalline coats, which is why today I wanted to finish this painting that I had started a while ago (see posts on 12 November 2014 and 09 December 2016).

First I wanted to put some of the sky colour into the snow, so I used alizarin crimson and Antwerp blue and brushed a pale wash of each colour across the snow.

Next I mixed a grey of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna and painted in the bare tree trunks and branches as well as the rail fence.















To compete the painting I used various mixtures of raw sienna, burnt sienna, new gamboge and alizarin crimson for the grasses and growies poking up out of the snow.

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.

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

Bat House

Even though we have snow flurries and the temperature is 32F (0C) with a wind chill making it feel like 23F (-5C) Ron put up the bat house I received on my birthday from Christine.

He put it on the south side of the barn, where it is protected from the north wind.

I am hoping that it will become a home for little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) which are currently listed as an endangered species on the IUCN Red List.

Up until recently, we used to watch a number of them fly at night hunting for insects.

Last year I only saw one on the property, which disappeared toward the end of the summer.

Bats have very few natural predators, some owls and predators like racoons.

Diseases such as rabies may cause death but no more than it would affect any other wild animal species. Many bats are now dying from white-nose syndrome which has been a significant cause of mortality since 2006, killing over two million to date.

In some areas the bat population loss has been extreme, averaging a loss of up to 90%.