Wetlands, late afternoon

Another new painting "Wetlands, late afternoon" -  Greater Yellow legs

 

 Both paintings of the Yellow legs and the Heron will be on display at Paint Ontario until the end of March

New Work

I didn't have much time in the studio last fall after we returned from Algonquin and what time I did have I was playing with my pastels...still nothing to show for it but I am becoming more comfortable with them, just not sure what style may eventually emerge from my efforts.

In between shoveling and trying to keep warm I have been working on a few new pieces in acrylic - the first is a small piece that I am teaching in the spring.

and the next piece just finished.

and a close up

I have a couple more pieces that I am working on and hope to have them finished by the end of February!

Algonquin loons

...and what would a trip to Algonquin be without a few shots of some Loons.  We weren't sure if they would still be around and I was really happy to see a pair of them doodling around in the bay shortly after we arrived.  Loons, like all birds, replace their feathers twice a year, and some birds have "2 sets of clothes" and their winter feathers are different from their breeding feathers.  This pair of loons spent most of their time preening and pulling out feathers to be replaced by their winter coat which is quite different from what you expect to see.  Both of them were quite accommodating to our canoe and let us get quite close to them as long as we didn't do anything alarming.  These are full frame shots with no cropping...

Loon, winter plumage.

This loon was well on its way into it's winter feathers, you can see one small feather that has come loose just beside its neck...the water around them was at times littered with floating feathers!

"Grandpa Loon"

This one was more "loony" looking and had barely started it"s moult. I called it Grandpa loon because he/it had a white beard just starting to appear under it's chin.  I don't know how long the whole process takes but they really can't fly very well at all during the moult. The other of the pair that was almost finished must have been saying "hurry up" its getting cold out here, we have to leave!

Classic loon photo

and this is the quintessential Loon shot. They do this a lot, ruffling and flapping their feathers to get them to dislodge.

All in all I took quite a few shots of the Loons, some of which will eventually be turned into paintings.  We certainly enjoyed our trip to Algonquin, (except for the noisy, ignorant campers) and we really lucked out on the weather ...a huge contrast to what is out the window this morning - cold, wet. sloppy snow covering what is left of my flowers and grey colourless sky.  There was a nice little flock of Gold Crowned Kinglets in the tree outside the studio, I expect they will be moving south away from this ugly weather.

a Busy Life

I guess that is what I should have called this blog!  Here it is almost the end of October and I finally have a few minutes to share. August went by like a shot, we had our children home from their diplomatic posting and we were busy, busy while they were home as well as playing catch up into September with our usual fall chores. September is canning month for me - tomatoes, chili sauce, salsa and pasta sauce.  This year our cucumbers decided to keep on giving, so I had to make pickles (2 kinds) and relish.  In between all that chopping, stirring and canning I have the gardening to take care of - at least one trailer load of garden waste goes out, usually two.

We were rushing the chores a bit in September because I knew that I wouldn't be here much in October!
The first of the month we left for Algonquin Park for some camping, back country canoeing, fishing (for Sandy) and some painting en plein air (for me)  The weather was amazing - our neighbours were disgusting - It might have got nasty if we hadn't had the canoe and could escape out onto the lake for most of our trip!

Algonquin morning

This was the view point from the bay where we were camping the first morning we were there.  The sun has such a special quality at this time of year and when it hits one of those gorgeous colourful trees they almost seem to vibrate with colour.

Sparkles

 This is a bit closer to where I was standing - I don't think the camera can really do justice to the sparkle of the sunshine on the water, it was like the brightest of diamonds.

The purples in this shot really struck me - since I started experimenting with pastels I have been making a very conscious effort to really look at colour.  I already consider myself a fairly skilled observer (kind of have to be to paint realism) but now I am really looking at the colours of the landscape and assessing a name, a value, a hue to what I see - and isn't fall the perfect time to undertake such an exercise!
This was taken from the canoe somewhere out on the lake, I had to take 2 cameras with me so that I could capture beautiful scenes like this as well as be ready with the big lens if any wildlife appeared....and I had to do my share of the paddling as well! If you notice the water has a bit of "texture" to it in this protected cove...but down the lake, oh my! there were waves and white caps 12" to 18" high!  That was a real work out, at one point heading right into it I didn't think we were making any headway at all but we kept at it, putting in along the shore when we were tired and called it a really good day when we made it back to camp.

Birches

 I took this at one of those spots we stopped for a rest, it had a lovely sand beach, the sun was warm and we were sheltered from the wind.  There was a walking trail just up a hill that led to the "Booth rock" which was a popular hike for many who wanted to see the fall colours from an elevated vista.

Fall Ferns

The next morning dawned once again very sunny and warm and this time dead calm. We decided that we would head up the Madawaska river into Whitefish lake.  It was so pleasant to glide along in calm water and just enjoy what was around us.  I kept hoping for a moose or fox or even a raccoon to pop out of the brush but no luck on that.  These ferns caught my eye - so colourful when they turn from their summer green to the rusty brown, oranges, yellows (burnt sienna, umbers, ochres, lt. sap green) of fall.

I had fun with reflections!

Look again...

 No...this isn't up side down, there are a few tiny ripples there.

Algonquin - Madawaska river

And this shot has to be my favorite of the trip, and there isn't even a lot of fall colour in it but I just like it - the over all colour, the composition and especially the reflections of the clouds in the water - you can't see that texture up in the sky on a sunny day!

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Next post - a few more shots from Algonquin.

Aren't they lovely!  Stopped by a couple of yard sales earlier in the summer and found these - all jumbled together in a ziploc bag, totally covered in grey dust so that I could barely tell what colour they were....but for the HUGE outlay of.........................10¢.................yes that's right, just one thin dime for all that colour and possibility!

I have to confess that up to this acquisition I was not a fan of soft pastels - too messy and I didn't really know what I was to do with them after a lifetime of mixing paint on a palette, but since I have been working extensively with coloured pencils I have learned a thing or 2.  It took me a couple of hours to clean them all - I started with a good shake in a tub of rice but that didn't seem to see much results when they were sooooo dirty, so I ended up wiping each one down with a paper towel.  I have no idea what brand or what quality they are, some are harder than others, some are very soft and smooth but for starting out and having some fun they are all that I need.

What I need now is some reference material to work from...almost all of my photography is close-up shots of flora and fauna and I certainly could learn to render those with pastel as many do but mmm.....I would really like to be able to loosen up once in a while from the uptight precision that I normally paint and just go with the flow on something different - maybe balance the uptight side of my brain with a looser, softer approach and play with a few landscapes.

I'm going to have to start carrying 2 cameras with me when I am out and about - one for any birds, bugs and butterflies that are going my way and another to capture some nice scenic views!

....another confession....I spent some time on-line studying the work of a few pastel artists who's work I admire and I did attempt a copy of one of their pieces - just to see if I liked it and could render something even "similar" to their work. You know what...I had FUN and my attempt wasn't half bad if I say so myself, in fact I can't wait to see it framed up and hanging on my wall!  I won't show it to you, it was just for me as an experimental piece.  However, I will definitely be looking for a few nice places to either work en plein air or to get some scenic pics to work from. After working so close up for so long I am now craving a wider, more expansive view point...at least some of the time :-)

Stay tuned!

Canadian coins

The September issue of Colored Pencil Magazine has been released and - Canadian coins - has been included in the special Canadian edition!  The editor found the piece through my membership with CPAL on Facebook and sent me a request which unfortunately ended up in my "other" message folder. I rarely remember to look in that file ( I know some don't even know it exists) so when she didn't get a reply she thankfully took the time to track me down last minute.  They actually used the piece twice, once on the index page and again in the gallery of work by Canadian coloured pencil artists.

Thank you so much Colored Pencil Magazine!

here is a link to preview and purchase the September issue:
http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/617711

just a few photos from the summer

As usual it has been an extremely busy summer for me and I haven't had any time in the studio at all.  I usually have the camera fairly close by when I am working in the garden or when we are out camping and have quite a few pics to sort through. I seem to have better luck finding the time to get things posted on my Facebook pages when I am busy so it is past time for me to get things updated here in blog land.

...and you know that summer is starting to draw to a close when the anemones start to flower!
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Red-spotted purple butterfly

Butterflies in the garden have been few and far between this year, we have just had our first Monarch feeding on some flowers in the last few days.  We usually have a few of the "Admiral" variety around throughout the season, this one has a few scratches and a chunk missing from his underwing.
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spider web 

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a pretty pink Gerbera daisy in the morning light

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3 photos from early June

Swallowtail butterfly on lilac

Clearwing hummingbird moth

Meadowhawk? maybe....I'm not up on my dragonflies

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In June we visited the Mountsberg raptor centre and I was able to take some really nice closeups of a variety of captive birds.  All of the birds at Mountsberg have a reason for being there, mostly due to an injury of some sort.  It was a hot sunny day when we were there and the 3 yr old bald eagle was really enjoying his shower.  

Please visit my Photography page for more pics of the birds at Mountsberg.

 They also have a small farm with a variety of rather tame animals as well as a lake for fishing/swimming and picnicking and some very nice walking trails as well.