On Stoney Batter Road Finished

At this stage I have blocked everything in and I can judge the final look of the painting.  If I am unhappy with how things are going, it is easy to make changes at this point.  If you have an area in a painting that you have spent a great deal of time on trying to make it 'just right', it can be heart breaking and difficult to bring yourself to make necessary changes.  It is usually better to leave 'finished work' until last!

It is nice to get to this stage and begin adding detail and subtilties to the painting.  I like alkyd because it dries quickly but not so quickly that you have difficulty blending one colour into another.  Working from back to front, I add more mist coming through the distant trees.  Next, a little more detail in the middle ground.  The last thing I do at this point is add colour and light on the birch tree in the foreground.

Now I turn my attention to the split-rail fence, adding colour and light to define the weathered surfaces.  The fence makes a great lead-in for the viewer's eye.  The composition is designed to stop the eye at the birch tree, move up the trunk and follow the limb near the top of the picture to the trees in the middle ground.  The gentle slope of the rough fields brings the viewer's eye back to the birch tree and weathered fence.

The final step involves adding a little more colour to the foliage of the trees in the middle ground, more definition to the leaves and branches of the birch tree, the fence and the foreground grasses.  The whole painting is completed in a little over an hour.

On Stoney Batter Road

This is start of one of my small works.  It is painted on a canvas panel that measures 6 inches high by 8 inches wide.  The round white buttons in the photos are push pins which I have used to secure this small canvas to a larger board that I have sitting on my easel.  The title of this piece is On Stoney Batter Road. I will use this oil sketch as a study for a larger painting that I plan to complete in the future.

In the first image I have primed my canvas with a mixture of gesso, cadmium red and burnt sienna acrylic paint to give me a warm ground that is not too dark.  It dries quickly and I can proceed with alkyd paint right away.  I use a combination of burnt sienna and black alkyd to lay in the rail fence and birch tree in the foreground, then the receding layers of forest behind.  I also start blocking in a basic sky colour.

I continue to block in the sky, allowing the warm background to show through.  Painting from back to front, I block in the hazy trees in the distance.  The trees in the middle ground come next, just quickly blocked in with more intense greens.  The conifer trees behind the foreground birch are suggested and a grassy shadow along the base of the fence completes my initial working plan.

The picture is progressing quickly as I block in golden colours made up of cadmium yellow deep, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, titanium white and olive green in the grassy areas throughout the painting.  I use olive green and sap green and titanium white to begin defining the trees in the background and middleground.

Madawaska Sunset

18 X 24     Madawaska Sunset    $950.00

We used to own a cottage that we built ourselves near Algonquin Park in Ontario. It was tucked away on a beautiful, quiet bay below the fast water at Bell’s Rapids on the Madawaska River. This was the view in front of our chalet. In the winter, the quiet was almost deafening, only broken by the soft and distant sound of the rapids and an occasional raucous ‘cawing’ of a raven. It was a wonderful place that I think of often.

Hinterland Beach

$150.00      Hinterland Beach      12 X 16

I originally painted this plein air piece quite a few years ago.  Recently, I came across it in a stack of canvases leaning against the wall in my studio.   I have always liked the simplicity of the painting and it struck me that it really has a spiritual quality.   The serenity of the tree raising bare limbs to the wilderness sky and the light breaking on the calm waters suggest this theme to me.  Probably the colour that most often dominates in my paintings is blue and I have a great afinity for water.  This picture has it all!   I decided to touch it up a little and offer it for sale once more.  If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, go here.

Portrait Commission

I completed this portrait about one week ago.  I don't do a lot of portraits, but occasionally it is fun to take one on and stretch my capabilities....hopefully at least!  This one was a commission for a previous collector of my art.  The painting measures 11 inches wide by 14 inches high.  I painted it on a canvas panel and mounted it in a simple, antique style dark walnut coloured frame that really suited the subject of older folks.  This was actually a portrait of the collector's parents who passed away some years ago, so my patron was delighted to have this painting done as a keepsake and family heirloom for future generations.  If you have a photo that you would like me to use to create a special work of art, please contact me and we can discuss the possibilites.

Canola Fields

6 X 8                 Canola                     $50.00  

I love the contrast of the brilliant yellow of canola in full bloom against the soft, blue-greens of other farm crops.  The landscape is suddenly transformed and artists such as van goph come immediately to mind.  The winter has reached mid-point here in southern Ontario, and I look forward to the summer to come when I can once again enjoy vistas such as this to explore and paint.

This little painting measures 9 inches by 12 inches.  It is painted in alkyd oil on a canvas panel.  If you would like to purchase this painting, please click here.