When summer mornings look like this I feel so happy to be an artist! It is about 6:30 AM and I was out driving around my Mother's area looking for inspiration...found some! Mosquitoes and deer flies were out in full force and painting on location (for me) was not an option. These biting pests ruin everything!!!

I made some quick notes and a small sketch. I needed the break this past weekend. I am finding the loss of Toby to be quite overwhelming. He followed me continuously and always had to be touching me. A big paw on my foot, a nose on my lap etc. We still have Dan, but he is a real loner and we have to coax him up to meet us when we come home!

Well, on the work front...I managed to get 2 teaching jobs for the start of September. Now I have 3 classes. I can hardly wait! It has made me realize that I need to figure out the why of things. I tend to just jump in to my work and to teach something, you must have a logical and correct way to proceed in order to explain things to students. I have a pen & ink class  and a beginners watercolour class at the Seniors Centre in Newmarket. I also have my watercolour class in Toronto which starts at the end of September.

So, I am back to the easel and will post the finished paintings soon!

Almost There...still adjusting Values!

Well, the snow on branches just isn't right! I want it to look like the sun is coming thru the trees and glistening off the snow tipped branches. I am almost there, but will be into next week.

I have to get in touch with "Gallery On The Lake" and get new work in there. I will post the images they accept.

Today is going to be a real scorcher...with humidity it will be in the forties!!! May just stay in the basement painting today!

Almost Finished this painting!

Yesterday was a Great painting session! I have just about finished this one! I have some value corrections, and then highlights to make the snow "sparkle". Let me know what you think? Maybe I missed something. When you paint on a piece so long sometimes you lose your direction and things are missed.

Busy,Hot andTroubled!

Well, these 3 words sum up how the past few days have been. My 6 yr. old Newfie-X, Toby seems to be losing His battle with bone cancer. I am afraid I have a very difficult decision soon. So this explains "troubled". Hot! I want to get out and do some "plein air" work but the heat is unbearable and thus mosquitoes are thriving! I don't need to "give blood" for their cause. So, studio work has been going rather well.
I am teaching for 1 1/2 hours today, and 1 hour every Wed. so with prep work for classes and trying to get new pieces for myself this explains busy! I need to get "new" work into the Gallery's soon before the summer season ends.

                                                          

                                                    Pastel Study 12.5"X9.5"

                                           Watercolour 21.5"X19.5"

  

Winter Scene  30"X40"

These are the paintings I have been working on (None are complete). If anyone wants to see "Toby" there are pictures of both my dogs on my facebook page.

Finally....getting back to my painting!

Well, it has been awhile since I worked on this painting that I started at the beginning of this Blog! So, as you can see it has changed a bit!!! Larger trees in the foreground helps to draw in the viewer, I am in the process of adding in more snow laden branches to make the wooded area more interesting. I need to adjust the colour value in the distance to give more depth to the painting as well. This is the point I can readily see things that need doing. This painting, I omitted the thumbnail sketch step & I should try and do sketches every time as it eliminates the "puzzle" of figuring out the composition rather than working those problems out on the canvas! (I'm just lazy!!!)