The Heart of Old South

Amelia Husnik, Annemarie Plint, Kevin Bice, Len Hughes and myself will be exhibiting work in this show at The Art Exchange on Wortley Road in London.

Sketching In Venice

Sketching In Italy

I was fortunate to be able to travel to Italy with a group of artists lead by Daphne and Kevin Bice in a Novack's Avid Traveller tour called Artists in Italy. We flew to Rome and then travelled by bus to Cortona. Along the way we passed through some enchanting countryside and I took photos like mad from the bus window. Many of these will be the inspiration for paintings I am sure. In Cortona I did several sketches, some of which are posted below.We did a day trip to Florence, which was magnificent and again my photos will inspire some paintings! After a week in Cortona we went to Venice. I did a few sketches in Venice but had succumbed to a rather nasty cold which developed into bronchitis and found it difficult to work while coughing. Again I have several photos to inspire paintings.

Urban Sketching: Wellington Street

Today I met my friend Cheryl to do some "urban sketching". We went to Victoria Park and decided to sketch this house on Wellington Street. After several days of painting plein air, it was a delightful change to work in pen in my sketchbook....less paraphernalia to cart, no colours to consider, just black and white. My original plan was to apply watercolour to the sketch but  I decided just to leave well enough alone. Definitely a couple of problems with this sketch, but overall I am OK with it. Cheryl and I agreed that the next time Urban Sketchers holds a symposium in the States or here in Canada, we would like to attend.

Early Birds

A group of my artist friends ( The Early Birds ) have been up early painting plein air.  This painting was inspired by one such morning excursion. We set up around 7 am on the banks of the Thames River near the corner of Wonderland and Riverside and painted until noon. What a wonderful way to start a day! This week we are going to paint near the Medway Creek.

A Gift: Lilies In My Garden

I did a watercolour sketch of these lilies in my garden this morning. They were a gift years ago from my mother's garden and have faithfully returned every year since. They have always intrigued me because their seeds appear to form at the base of their leaves, having nothing to do with their flowers. Mom always called them Tiger Lilies, but I think their spots make them leopards!



Newfoundland