Personal Celebration

The Gallery Painting group is a club which I belong to and which celebrated its 60th Anniversary this year. Our celebrations included a show at the Arts Project and severall of the paintings from that show are currently at the Mayor's office and will later be exhibited at The London Arts Council.
I decided to mark the occasion of our 60th by keeping a dedicated sketchbook of this year's 60th anniversary paint out locations, my own personal celebration. I have completed the first three entries. To get a better look, you may wish to click on the photo to enlarge it.

Two More Northern Ontario Inspired Oil Paintings

This painting will be for sale in the Lambeth Art Show

This painting will be at Sunset Arts Gallery during the Grand Bend Studio Tour.

Early Morning, Misssissagi River

This painting is of the same area as the previous one but with a different view as well as a different format. It will be in the Brush and Palette Club Show at St. Paul's Cathedral. The show runs from April 4th, 5 pm to
 9 pm, April 5th, 10 am to 9pm  and April 6th from 10 m to 7 pm.

Work In Progress: Early Morning On the Mississagi River

I have been in the studio for a couple of days working on this 24" x 30" painting. Some areas are still unfinished, such as the foreground and some areas of light, but I am happy with what I have done to this point, and the oil paint has to dry before I can paint any more. I have been working from a photo taken a few years ago on the way home from several days painting in the Sault St.Marie region. We stopped here to stretch our legs and admire the early morning views of the river. I have painted this scene in a miniature format in watercolour but thought it would be fun to work with again in a larger format and different medium.

What Colour Is Yearning?

I was under the weather for a couple of days, which is never good, and it kept me out of the studio and from painting. However, it gave me the opportunity to watch a video for the second time. A friend had given it to me to watch and I enjoyed it even more the second time around. One of the things I liked about the video was the sound of loons on the lake. I always find this sound emotionally moving and the sound  seems to me to be filled with longing, with yearning. After my first viewing I began to wonder how you could portray this sound visually. The second viewing helped me to decide to use the extended branches of trees, which look to me as if they are reaching for something with longing. I got my sketchbook and pen, took them back to the couch and began. Once the trees were finished I added the rocks. The trilling characteristic of the loon's song repeats and ripples and the rocks seemed to do the same. Now I would like to paint this but I must make a decision....what colour is yearning?

Second Oil: Memories of Gros Morne

Oil Painting

I have been taking oil painting lessons for a few weeks now. This is my most successful effort to date. It was done from a reference photo taken near Sault St. Marie on my first visit to the area. I am enjoying working with oil, more so since my husband installed a ventilation fan in my studio! I am currently working on three more paintings and hope to have something to post soon.

Two More

Missing The North

Distant View

 Circumstances were such that I have been unable to travel "north" this autumn. To alleviate my sadness about this, I have been going through photographs from previous painting trips. I decided to do some sketches with pen, brush and ink.
Distant View was done directly with a brush and ink with no preliminary drawing. The sliver of lake in the distance is a sight that always makes me happy and hopeful.

Tumbling Water

For Tumbling Water I did a preliminary pen sketch and then completed it with brush work. It is based on a photo taken near Sault St. Marie.

Reflections

Reflections was done directly with brush and ink. The photo for this is one I used to make a watercolour painting several years ago. I find the line of the tree tops very appealing and will likely paint this again sometime.

Doing these sketches has helped me to remember wonderful painting trips to the north with good friends, to be greatful for those opportunities and to look forward to future painting trips.

Random Splatter and a Stick

Poppies

I pass through Birr on my way to work at our co-op gallery,  Sunset Arts, in Grand Bend. Earlier this summer, just outside of the general store, there was a large bed of poppies. I returned the next day to enjoy them and to take some photos for reference as sketching them from the busy road or the parking lot didn't hold much appeal. I sketched poppies from memory when I got home and have been working on this painting ever since, using my sketches and reference photos. It is a watercolour but I used watercolour with very little water added to the paint from the tube to do the random spatter and I scraped some on here and there with a stick. I left a band at the bottom free of spatter to give allow for depth.

Landon Library: watercolour, pen and ink

I've been walking through Wortley Village with my friend Cheryl Radford, sketching and taking photographs and looking for inspiration. Along with my friends, Len Hughes and Amelia Husnik, Cheryl and I will be having a show of Wortley based art in November of 2013. It may seem a long way off , but time has a way of flying past so quickly these days, that it seemed like a good idea to start looking for ideas.The piece above was done in the studio and is based on one of the photos I took. I drew the scene and then washed it with several layers of watercolour and finished it with pen and ink.

The second sketch was done on location, around 5:30, sitting on the steps at the front door of one of the churches in Wortley Village. It's a sketch of a house on Elmwood Ave. The view of the house was partially obstructed by trees, but I enjoyed sketching it anyway. This time I used watersoluble ink and water.

This painting is of a house on Princess Ave here in the Woodfield area of London. I have been looking at this house for a couple of years now, wishing I had the time to sketch or paint it. I finally got the opportunity to do so this summer. This painting will be in The Gallery Painting Group's show in October at the Byron Memorial Library. The information about the show follows.

Blackfriars Estate Revisisted: A Quiet Corner

An earlier post featured pen and ink drawings of some of the architectural details which attracted my attention while on a paint out with the Gallery Painting Group. Yesterday I finished this watercolour painting of a quiet corner of the garden surrounding the building. I use a limited palette to convey the quiet, almost dreamlike atmosphere I found here. I loved the morning sunlight and the shadows it produced on the wall near the structure of the fire escape.

Blackfriars Street Bridge

I finished this painting of Balckfriars Street Bridge today.

A Work In Progress, part 2

I have had this ready to paint for a couple of weeks, but just started painting it today. 

Painting around the bridge instead of using  masking fluid was time consuming but worth it.

About half way there but finished for today.

A Work In Progress

A few days ago I went to the Thames River near Blackfriars Street Bridge to sketch with the Gallery Painting Group. Here is where we were.

Here is the first thumbnail I did. I liked the way the very dark shadows on the rocks seemed to lead back to the bridge.

The second thumbnail was less concerned with values and more with the shapes and randomness of the exposed river rocks.

Finally I did a quick watercolour sketch. I now have enough information to begin working on a painting in my studio. When the painting has been completed I'll post a photo on my blog. I may include a heron we saw perched up in the trees. You can see him ( her ?) in the photo below.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

View from Clarence Street side of Victoria Park

A Gallery Painting Group paint out took place this morning. I knew that it was going to be very hot so I decided not to lug my painting gear and instead work in my sketchbook with my Lamy Safari pen and watersoluble ink. There are some problems with perspective here which need to be worked on, but I think once they have been sorted this should be the beginning of an interesting painting. I am attending a perspective workshop on Friday and Saturday and I'll bring this along for suggestions.

Studies of Poppies

Poppy Study 1, June 4

I belong to an artists' co-op gallery in Grand Bend, Sunset Arts. Last Saturday it was my turn to work in the gallery. On my way home I noticed a beautiful garden of poppies in front of a store beside the highway.  I didn't have time to stop but I went back this week to do some very quick sketches ( the garden was very close to the highway and it didn't feel very safe to set up there with traffic whizzing by) and to take lots of photos.  Since then I have been happily painting small studies of poppies. I have been playing around with composition and with background colours. These two are my most successful to date, but I think I need to do some more studies before I start my painting. When I finish the painting, I'll post it here.

Poppy Study 2, June 5

Remembering Venice

Reflections: A Canal In Venice

I had the good fortune to travel to Italy with a group of artists in 2011 and my favourite place was Venice.  I did several sketches and took many photos while my husband and I strolled through the streets. The old buildings and their reflections were wonderful. This watercolour painting was finished two days ago, using photos and sketches as references. It will be entered into the Square Foot Art Exhibition at The Art Exchange along with two other paintings. Some day I would love to go back to Venice. 

Two Consecutive Days Sketching

 I pick my grandson up after school most days. Since there seems to be construction everywhere, I have been leaving early and, if not delayed by construction or detours or traffic jams caused by lane reductions, I spend my waiting time sketching homes in the adjacent neighbour hood. Both of these were done on location for the most part and finished at home.

pen and ink wash

graphite