LaPasse - sketch

Last Wednesday when the temperature was an unbelivable 88 degrees Farenheit Marina and I drove to LaPasse looking for pools of melt water to paint. There was very little melt water this year which is very unusual. We ended up on the dock/boat launch at LaPasse. It was almost too hot to paint but at the end of the dock a cool breeze from the cold Ottawa River kept us comfortable enough to paint. This is my first sketch of the afternoon, done very quickly to get a sense of the design, colour, etc.

Arrangements of Ginger Jar and small vessels

Two studies of a favourite ginger jar that I have.  The top one uses a palatte of Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Orange and white, while the bottom one is painted with Ivory Black and Titianium White. 

Value Studies - White Cups

For the dark value in this and the previous study I used burnt umber, which is a nice warm dark.  It is fast drying so don't leave it on your palatte over night or you will be like me and scraping it off  the next day.

Value Studdies

I'm continuing with my work emphasising values and improving my drawing.

Value Studies

A couple of more views of the same white cup.  I am realizing how important is brushwork and accuracy.  I also realise now how the loose brushwork and casual look of many of the paintings of artists that I so admire look that way because the artists have great drawing skills and the ability to make their works look simple and easy.  Behind that loose, easy facade is a firm, hard body of knowledge and technical skill.  Kudos to all those who have spent hours, and hours on learning how to render simple, true objects.
Thank you to readers of my blog who  have returned and continued to follow me after my hiatus through my internet troubles and through the busy holiday season when I didn't post for a while.  I was so happy to see a comment, I can't tell you.

Value Study Series - 2

This small white cup is a favourite of mine.  Marina and I were in New York State at a workshop given by Carol Marine, when we found these sweet little cups plus some other things to paint in one of the stores in the local mall in Greenville.  I have been using the cup in quite a few of my value studies exercises in the past couple of weeks.  I felt that the cup handle came out pretty well in this painting. I find that the handles are tricky to paint, to get the orientation right and the thickness of the various sections of the handle correct.

White Cup

It is great to be back on my blog again!  Ever since my email got hacked I have been experiencing lots of techical problems, including not being able to post any pictures to my blog.  I have been continuing to paint though, and have spent the past few weeks working through some exercises suggested by Liz Wiltzen, specifically painting value studies. It has been really useful, I have learned a lot and have enjoyed the process.

Late Afternoon, November

This has been an interesting week, I had my email hacked into and then received all sorts of phone calls from friends asking me if I needed money.  The hacker used my email address, changed the user name slightly and solicited money from people on the contact list from my email.  I hope no one has fallen for the scheme, and have recognized it was not me who wrote the request.  Now I have the challenging task of notifying people of my new email address.  Oh well, all in a day, in this techno world in which we live.
The sketch is from a trip up the Ottawa River a few weeks ago, I seemed not to have time to post it until tonight.  The light was extremely warm, as it was late in the day just before sunset.  It got really cold moments after the sunset and hot sweet tea brought by Marina was so appreciated.

Toaster

And now for something completely different.  Shelly Ross suggested painting your toaster for this weeks Daily Paintworks Challenge.  It is a great idea, the really reflective surface of the metal was exciting to paint.  I was surprized when I looked at the toaster at all of things in the room I could see including the pink stripe on the corner which is me.

East of Meath Hill

This sketch is from the same painting day as the Snake River sketch.  Marina and I drove down some back roads looking for interesting compositions.  It was the beautiful yellow poplars against the dark forest interior that caught our eye on this one.

Grey Day on the Snake River

This post has been a long time in coming, we have had a lot of cloudy weather and I have had difficulty in having enough sunny days to photograph my paintings.  I admire those painters who have solved their photographing difficulties and who consistently post great shots of their work on their blogs and Daily Paintworks and other internet sites.   Enough with the woes!  Marina and I went to the Snake River east of Pembroke and I very bravely drove our old Dodge Caravan down the railway line where the tracks had been lifted a few months ago.  We stood on the old railway bridge and got these great shots up and down the river.  It was a very atmospheric day, gloomy and haunting.  When it was time to leave Marina said to me where are you going to turn around, knowing there was no place I said I'm a great backerupper, and we backed up down the old railway line at least a half a mile. I know she was very glad when we finally reached the gravel sideroad. Another wonderful painting experience!

On the way to Crooked Slide

Today my painting buddies Marina and Sue are on a workshop in South Carolina given by Ian Robarts.  I am missing them and am posting a small landscape I painted from a photo that I took when we all went to Crooked Slide Park together just after Thanksgiving.  I know that they are having a wonderful time out all day painting and learning valuable lessons from Ian.  Painting is such a joy, and to have friends to share this joy with is truly a blessing.

Crooked Slide

This has been a busy, busy month!  I was fortunate enough to meet Marina and our friend Sue from Toronto on Tuesday for an afternoon of pleine aire painting.  Marina drove us to Crooked Slide Park near Wilno where we spent the afternoon painting in the most glorious weather.  I managed to produce 3 sketches this one being my last and favorite one.

Coreopsis

This is a small painting of some ot the beautiful flowers that are blooming this time of year.

Lemon Lilies

The garden is full of luscious smelling flowers this time of year and lemon lilies are one of my favorites. I spent Wednesday and Thursday at home painting several studies of these lilies in this old jam jar and felt really in the painting groove by Friday, now I'm back to work for the weekend.