Cavana House

I am lucky to live a few doors down from the Cavana House, a spa and former inn. It's a beautiful red brick Victorian house with beautifully kept gardens. I have taken many photos and done a couple of watercolours over the years.



6x6 Acrylic on Masonite

I'm getting the hang of the masonite board. This time I sketched the main areas, and instead of a nid toned underpainting, I applied a dark and mid tone to the major areas. This way the white is left white. It worked; I didn't have to paint the lighter areas with multiple coats to cover the paint beneath.

I am feeling a little better, and I like this painting better than the last three. Maybe being sick and feverish really does affect your ability to paint.

Art Therapy

I can't believe it. I'm still as sick as ever. I'm never going to get better. Sorry for my bitching.

6x6 Oil on Masonite

Discouraged by three sucky days of disappointing paintings, I grabbed some oil paints that my son also had kicking around the house. I did a loose, kind of messy bunch of trees and shadows. I've only done a couple of oil paintings in a class many years ago. I just wanted to do something different. I may break out the oils from time to time and learn some more. Besides, I love how they smell. I think it brings me back to my childhood when my father would paint landscapes and ships and such.

Valuable Lessons Learned Today:

• Don't be afraid to try new things.
• Oil paint takes MUCH longer to dry than acrylic.
• Oil has a nice velvety texture, and is more opaque than acrylic.
• Don't dip your oil brush in your acrylic water.

Till The Cows Come Home

I'm still sick. I haven't had anything like this in years. A mix of the cold and flu. I painted today, though I can't believe how bad this piece is. Then again, my eyes and nose are running and I have head and body aches. Surprised I'm still alive.

6x6 Acrylic on Masonite

I haven't been happy with my last 3 paintings. What they have in common is that I painted them while I was very ill, and they were done on masonite. I know my focus is off. It took me twice as long to do this one and I'm not happy with it. But I painted!

Since masonite doesn't grab the paint as well, I have to use 4 coats of white over my underpainting (titanium, burnt sienna and ultramarine) and you can still see the colour underneath. In the future I will not paint my underpainting colour onto any areas that are to remain white or very light.

Valuable Lessons Learned Today:

• Painting acrylics onto a smooth surface is much different than onto canvas.
• Painting when you're sick is a difficult, useless venture.

Red Door

I'm so sick. Still. I didn't finish it till today so I'm SO late. Oh dear.

Early Snow

I took this photo a week ago, after an early snow. The cold temperature made the remaining leaves fall on top of the snow.

6x6 Acrylic on Masonite

I'm so sick tonight. The first cold I've had in two years.This painting took way too long, I played around with the paint too much and it looks like it needs more shadows or something. This was the first time I tried painting on masonite too. Hopefully I will be feeling a bit better tomorrow. Goodnight everybody!

Shoes On A Wire

Keeping it simple today. I'm feeling under the weather, and I thought this was a cool reference photo, so therefore today's painting. Unfortunately I fell asleep before I could post it.

5x7 Acrylic on Canvas Board

It's actually Thursday now, so I must gather my energy to do today's painting and get it posted before going back to bed. My throat is burning and I'm so tired. Must....paint.....

Fall Leaves

Day 31. I took a ton of pictures in the forest last fall.  Unfortunately it was a cloudy day, so most of the photos didn't show the fall colours at their best. Luckily, just before reaching the road, the sun came out for a few minutes and shone on a little area of maple saplings.

5x7 Acrylic on Canvas Board

I tried a blue underpainting this time using leftover sky colour from the other night. I don't think this painting is too bad, but it seems to be lacking something. The colour scheme in the actual photo was similar to this painting, but I think perhaps I could have used some reds and greens. It seems too much brown and yellow, almost monochromatic. A little boring maybe.

Valuable Lessons Learned Today:

• Leaves look a lot more realistic with just a few of the veins painted on.
• The camera doesn't capture all the colour and variety of the actual scene.
• Don't be afraid to use a little more colour.

Baked Goods

A group of us have been getting together Monday nights at a local church hall to paint, draw or whatever in the hopes that it will motivate us to continue creating and improving. I was in a hurry to get there, didn't have a reference photo handy, so I grabbed a wrinkled bag of flour and a measuring cup on the way out. What can I say, we don't have a lot of knickknacks around the house to use as still life subjects.

5x7 Acrylic on Canvas Board

Things To Work On: The composition could have been better. I should have tried some different arrangements, but I pretty much set the objects down and started painting. I'm not happy about the middle area where the spout overlaps the bag. A better layout would have helped. As well, a bit of darker shadow under the flour bag would is make it look less like it is floating.

This painting took a little less than 2 hours, though we did talk a bit so maybe it was closer to 1½. I painted quickly and didn't worry much about details, and had a good night painting with friends.

Sam

I snapped this majestic fellow on our Manitoulin Island trip several years ago. We spent a week exploring the island, hiking and camping. Loved the Chichimaun ferry! I can't wait to go back there. Perhaps this summer?

5x7 Acrylic on Canvas Board

Yesterday's painting took two days so I chose a subject that had a minimum of colours, and I used up the ones that I had mixed leftover. The sky is a solid blue because you're looking way up at the totem. The underpainting is burnt sienna and titanium, and the bird is burnt sienna, ultramarine and titanium. I added some straight burnt sienna to some of the darker areas because not all the wood had been bleached and aged light grey yet.

This one took about an hour to complete. My average painting takes closer to two hours. I think I will try keeping track of how long each painting takes, to satisfy my curiosity.

Lest We Forget

I took this photo of the Manitoulin District Cenotaph on Manitoulin Island many years ago while camping. The pink poppies were in bloom that day. This memorial is in a quiet area away from town. A beautiful place to stop and rest and remember.



8x8 Acrylic on Canvas Board

I really wanted to put this painting up for Nov. 11, but it took much longer than I expected, probably because of it's larger size. I'm glad I did it though. The photo has been waiting for many years. I always knew there was a painting in it.

Valuable Lessons Learned Today:

• Bigger paintings take much longer to finish. Start earlier.
• Don't put too many details on statues. As long as the drawing is accurate, a few shadows and highlights will do nicely.

The Cutest House In Town

Friday night was the first real snowfall of the season. We awoke to several inches of snow and a bright blue sky. So I took my camera and went for a walk around the neighbourhood. My apologies to the lady in the house. I would be startled if I saw me talking a photo of my house too.



7x9 Acrylic on Canvas Board

Lots of titanium, ultramarine, burnt sienna and cad yellow medium. I'm beginning to think that those are the only colours I'll ever need.

Valuable Lesson Learned Today:

• If you're going to take pictures of people's homes, don't wear a black hoodie and dark glasses.

Green Acres 3

The third and final painting from the lovely reference photo I found ages ago. I'm tired of doing this one. Maybe the same photo three times in a row is more than enough.



5x7 Acrylic on Canvas Board

Underpainting is burnt sienna and titanium. Mainly burnt sienna, ultramarine, cad yellow light and of course titanium. I think I could have done something different with the distant trees. I was aiming for a cool blue. Maybe they need to be blended better or something.

I had a big dinner tonight then painted. Maybe my full stomach as well as the fact that tonight is the first snowfall of the year made me less than enthusiastic about painting. I just wanted to curl up in a blanket and watch TV.

My front porch at this very moment

Green Acres 2

This is the second painting from the reference photo below. I want to see how many paintings I can get from this beautiful panoramic scene.

5x7 Acrylic on Canvas Board

Reference Photo

Yesterday I primed the canvas with Titanium and Cad Yellow Light. This made a very bright yellow undercoat, but the painting ended up rather reddish or pinkish. Today I primed with Titanium and Burnt Umber, which gave me an orangey pinkish undercoat, but the painting ended up brighter green. Is it me doing this? Is it a subconcious thing, overcompensating for the tone of the underpainting? This would be a good thing to know because I can make it work for me.

By the way, those are cows in the field. I hope they don't look too much like sheep.

Valuable Lessons Learned Today:

• When you paint little shadows under cows, they look more like cows than blobs.
• When you run out of burnt sienna, check the label on the tube carefully at the art store. People get it mixed up with burnt umber and put it back in the wrong spot.

Green Acres 1

The reference photo was very large, enough to break up into several paintings. So that's what I will do over the next couple of days.

5x7 Acrylic on Canvas Board

Sometimes the simplest paintings give me the most trouble. I tend to make things like the building on the left more complicated or overworked or something. Well, this is a learning experience after all. I think I'm tired and discouraged tonight.

Valuable Lessons Learned Today:

• Sometimes it just doesn't go your way.
• It's important to get enough sleep.

Tea For One

Some friends have started a painting night at a local church hall. Tonight was the first night. We just work on whatever we want, and enjoy the company. Having no photos handy, I found this cup and saucer and painted a real object for the first time.

8x8 Acrylic on Canvas Board

The light was coming from above which made unusual shadows. I think I may fix the shadow under the saucer, it doesn't seem quite right. Perhaps doing more still life from real objects instead of photos is a good idea.

Our group had the meeting room for 2 hours, so I was hurrying to get this done before we had to leave. I don't know if that made the painting better or worse.

Valuable Lessons Learned Today:

• Using an actual object instead of a photo for your subject is a bit more challenging.
• You can always fix something on your acrylic painting at another time.
• Get some sleep.