Friday, June 28, 2013

"Red Boat" Oak Bay Marina, 3 works

Using soft pastels and black paper from a 1920s photo album I made this preparatory sketch of a red boat at Oak Bay Marina this morning (above).

 Then thanks to a recent visit to the Art Gallery of Ontario and exposure to Thomson originals, I used thick impasto in oils (above).
They say that if we work in different media then each of these can improve. The whole lot. Oils w/c, pastels, drawings. It seems to work for me...

There was time for a third painting of my Plein Air morning so I changed to pastels again and sought out this isolated blue dinghy which I had painted a few times before (below).

(Above) This one is Pastel. Each image is clickable for a bigger view, your COMMENT will be invaluable.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

"Darrin" oils 11x14 on canvas pad


At Goward House Portrait Painters today fellow artist Angela introduced Darrin as her ten-year old grandson.

"Eleven," he said without missing a tweet on his device.

For two hours he sat, eyes glued to the iPhone while we captured his countenance. Click the image for a bigger view. Your comment is encouraged.

Friday, June 21, 2013

"Kayaks at Fisherman's Wharf" acrylic 11x14

Busy busy busy Fisherman's Wharf presents a problem for the plein air painter 'cos there SO MUCH visual attraction from boats to birds. But I selected a small corner of the bay and used acrylics to capture this scene.
Click it to see a bigger view.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

"Lowtide at Tower Point" oil 6x8

The Group of Seven originals which I saw at the AGO have had their way with me - now I am less worried about drawing and more involved with expression or that misunderstood painting term, FEELING. It's rougher but I'm happier.
Brushstrokes predominate. Colour harmonizes, shapes beckon. "What are those things in the background?"
Answer = logs on the opposite beach. This is Tower Point in Metchosin on Vancouver Isand.
Click it to see a bigger view.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

"Frank" sanguine pencil and watercolour wash 11x14

Frank sat for thirty minutes whilst I sketched him using my two new Conte pencils - sanguine and black. It was fun shopping in the big smoke of Toronto. I was at Curry's Art Supplies on Eglinton. Click this image to see a bigger Frank...

Sunday, June 09, 2013

Tom Thomson - sketching at the AGO

We are allowed to sketch in pencil at the Art Gallery of Ontario which is nice - 'cos I learnt a lot about directness and design from sketching Tom Thomson's "The Dead Pine"



We spent a couple hours getting to know the Group of Seven all over again. 
I last saw their originals here sixteen years ago.


The images are clickable (to enlarge).