Heading for the Loft

Autumn Art Show

'Outlook'   12 inches X 16 inches        $150.00

It is show time!  I am finally having another art show in Kingston, Ontario, after three years of procrastination.  The show will take place at Kingston Central Library, 130 Johnson Street, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.  This will be a solo exhibition of some of my smaller works.  Most of the paintings will be new.  I plan on hanging at least 20 pieces for the show.  The show will open with a 'meet the artist' event on Tuesday, October 2nd., from 6:00pm until 9:00pm.  The event is free and everyone is welcome.  Light refreshments will be served.

After the opening, the show will continue to hang until October 28th.  Since the paintings are smaller in size, so are the prices and I think I will have something to fit everyone's budget this time around.  I hope to see you there!

The painting shown here is a plein air piece that I painted a few years ago.  It was about this time of year, when the trees have just started to take on autumn colours.  I don't get out to paint on location as often as I would like, but I always enjoy the experience when I do.  You really appreciate the feeling of a place when you sit (or stand) quietly in one spot for a few hours just taking it all in.

Harvesting Hay in Summer

Heading for the Loft 24X36 alkyd on canvas

I know it has been a long time since my last post!  As John Lennon (not the first) once said, 'life is what happens when you are busy making other plans'.  Many things have been keeping me busy lately, not the least of which was bringing in the hay crop to feed our horses through the long cold winter to come.

In the 'good old days' hay was forked up onto an open wagon, then pulled by a team of horses to the barn or hay crib, where it was picked up in large clumps by an articulating claw hook that transferred it by pullies and ropes into the barn loft where it was dumped.  We don't do it that way anymore, but it is still a lot of work, even with tractors and hay elevators to drop the square bales of hay into the hayloft of our barn.

The painting "Heading for the Loft" is a commission that I did a few years ago.  That is me driving the team of clydesdale horses pulling a well loaded hay wagon along a dirt road.  The sheep dogs in the picture belong to a friend of mine who also owns a farm.  The painting is sold but prints are available at: www.rdewolfe.com.

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.

I Saw the Light

I Saw the Light

Here it is, Day 2 and I have another small painting to post!  This one also measures 5 inches high by 7 inches wide.  It is painted in oil on canvas panel.  Painting at this size is not as easy as it may look.  You have to be spontaneous but accurate with your brush stokes on a support that is not much larger than your hand.  I am having fun though!

This painting is for sale by auction at Daily Paintworks.com.  If you would like to bid click here.

I love to paint pictures with water in them.  This spot is near my former home just south of Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada.  The sky was rather tepid so I decided to create some drama by painting a defined cloud base with a strong sunrise over the horizon.  I was pleased with the result.....did it work for you?  Post your comments, I would love to hear from you!

Freighter Inviken-Step 6

The final phase of the painting is a matter of going back and refining areas as needed.   The clouds are softened a little and white highlights are added to indicated the direction of the sunlight filtering through them.  The trees and bridge are painted in and if you look close, you will see a tiny tractor-trailer truck at mid-span.  Small details are added over the superstructure of the ship and the hull is embellished to make it look powerful.  I add layers of colour over the small waves and reflect the sunlight with an impressionistic application of white highlights.

The last thing I do is add my signature to the lower right hand corner.  This last image is a professional scan of the finished painting and is a better representation of the true colours in the painting.  As I work, I take digital photos on my easel where the light is not as balanced as it should be, so the initial images can be less acurate.

I wanted to create a painting that suggests power and industry, while at the same time indicating the power and majesty of the natural world.  When I finished, I was pleased with this result.  The painting measures 16 inches high by 20 inches wide, painted on stretched canvas.  If you are interested in purchasing this original work of art or a fine art print on archival paper or canvas, please visit my website at www.richarddewolfe.com.

Freighter Inviken-Step 5

It is finally time to start blocking in the ship itself.  This is a complex shape with many small details.  I take my time, painting in sections simply and as clearly as I can.  The mass of the hull is mostly black with only slight suggestions of form and contour at the rear and away from the sunlight.  On the right side of the ship, where the light is strong, I try to suggest heavy steel plates that are streaked with rust.

The superstructure of the freighter is much more complicated and each area requires careful consideration.  I keep the surfaces that are away from the sunlight cool and subdued and begin playing up the surfaces that face the sun.  This creates the center of interest in the painting.  Everything is now more or less in place and working together.

Freighter Inviken-Step 4

I begin blocking in the clouds now.  I start with the darks, establishing the weight and mass of the cumulus formations.  When I placed the general cloud masses in the sky, I drew them in perspective,  going from large shapes in the foreground above the ship and progressively getting smaller as you look further back and down towards the distant horizon.

Now I begin refining the darks in the clouds and adding mid tones to soften and mold these areas.  I work progressively lighter, leaving the brightest highlights until last.  Now I have established the general look of the sky, with only the ship itself to be blocked in.  The overall look of the painting is beginning to make me want to get back out on the water myself!

Freighter Inviken-Step 3

I continue to build simple colours in the water, the headlands and the bridge that is back near the horizon.  Already the ship seems to be sitting on the surface of the water and moving towards the bridge.

I add more detail to the trees and then spend more time building subtle colour shifts in the surface of the water.  Each wave is a separate surface.  Each of these surfaces is concave in shape, so light is reflecting off of them in a multitude of angles and intensities.  Everything is in continuous motion, so I find the best way to paint water is to recreate the impression it gives you rather than trying to sort out specific details.  I work over this surface a number of times, occasionally adding a thin glaze with one colour to unify everything if it gets too busy.

Freighter Inviken-Step 2

Now I create a tonal image on the canvas, using progressively darker mixtures of my ground colour.  This gives me a feel for the tonal balance in the painting.  In other words, I can assess where the lights and darks will fall and what sort of positive/negative design this will create in the finished work.

Now it is time to switch from acrylic paint to alkyd.  I usually block in the sky first, working from dark to light and distance to forground throughout the painting.  I have painted the sky a darker shade towards the zenith and becoming progressively lighter towards the horizon.  I also keep the sky lighter on the side towards the light of the sun and darker on the opposite side.  As you can see by the light side of the ship, the sunlight will be on the right side of the painting.  I avoid getting to fussy or detailed at this stage.

Freighter Inviken

It is the beginning of boating season here in the Thousand Islands area on the St. Lawrence River.  I love the water and boating, and soon I will be launching my own craft once again.  The St. Lawrence Seaway has been open to shipping for several months now and will remain open until late autumn, alllowing ships from all over the world to reach ports all around the Great Lakes, deep in the interior of Canada and the United States .

This is a freighter from Europe that I saw several years ago as it was approaching the Thousand Island Bridge, between the U.S. mianland and Wellesley Island, N.Y.  I loved the powerful mass of the ship, rising off of the water like some displaced, highrise architecture.  I found the persepective leading to the arch span of the bridge in the distance to be an interesting design that appealed to me.  The rolling clouds overhead seemed to enforce the energy and power of the massive ship churning upstream to Toronto, Detroit  and perhaps  many ports beyond.

Once I had worked out the composition to my satisfaction, I transferred the drawing to a 16" X 20" stretched canvas.  The next step was to spray the drawing with fixative to prevent smearing when I started to paint.

After fixing the canvas, I applied a mixture of matt medium, burnt umber and cadmium red, to create a warm, earthy ground.  This acrylic mixture is mostly matt medium to maintain a high degree of transparency so that my pencil drawing remains very visible.  The warm colours will be complimentary to the cool blues of this waterscape.  At this stage I am always eager to see some local colours applied to this ground.

Across the Miles - Step 5

I have now blocked in the entire canvas with colour.  Finishing the snow-cover changes the mood and the look of the painting quite drastically. This gives me a really good idea of how the finished painting will look.  The contours, light and shadows in the snow requires a subtle touch.  It is important to create the illusion of an undulating plane, falling away from the foreground to the mountains in the distance.  The roadway must also appear to 'sit' into the snow rather than on top of it.  The fence now appears to stand up from the snow, three dimensionally.

Painting and refining the white lettering on the side of the postman's sleigh is meticulous work and requires patience.  There is more work in this painting than I expected!

Across the Miles - Step 4

I continue the process of painting from back to front.  I render the barn in the distance, then proceed to the farm house in the middle ground.  Once again, I am choosing warm colours to keep this winter picture from becoming too 'cold'.

The next thing I tackle is the horse pulling the mail sleigh.   This is a critical element in the painting, essentially the center of interest so I must take great care in how I paint it.   I choose to make the horse black to create a high contrast with the white snow around it.

At this stage, I have left out the snow in the middle ground and started blocking in basic colour and detail on the rail fence in the foreground.  This helps me to keep a visual balance throughout the painting.  I have included the rail fence in the composition in order to add 'weight' to the lower portion and to guide the eye back toward the center of interest.

Across the Miles - Step 3

Usually I like to do a quick underpainting with acrylics on top of my toned canvas, but occasionally I will start to paint directly on a toned and shaded drawing.  I have decided to take the latter approach this time, starting from the sky at the top (furthest away from the viewer) and working my way down and progressively closer to the viewer as I go.  This allows me to build an illusion of depth into the work.

To keep the work from being too 'cold', I add warm yellows and pinks to the clouds, suggesting late-day lighting from the left.  I block in the snow-covered hills and move forward through the heavily laden spruce trees.  The last thing I do at this stage is to begin adding more form and colour to the mailman's sleigh and the mailbox where he has just made a Christmas delivery.

Sleigh Ride!

This painting has been very popular for my collectors and also licensing clients. It is the perfect Christmas image, both nostalgic and exciting! The horses are galloping briskly along the roadway with a frisky dog leading the way. The period dress of the sleigh's occupants suggest Victorian times, when horse and sleigh were the main mode of winter transportation. You might also notice a buffalo skin rug in their laps, which was used to keep travellers warm. The old wooden pump in the lower right corner is now a thing of the past. These pumps were carved entirely out of wood by skilled craftsmen!

The limestone house in the background was once owned by my wife and I. The beautiful blue spruce tree stands just as I have painted it, beside the house in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The historic stone church in the background actually exists in Barriefield, just across the Rideau River.

I chose to paint a colourful winter sky in keeping with the animated feeling of the overall painting. This gave me the opportunity to reflect all of these colours in the snow and gives the picture additional life. The painting measures 18 inches high by 24 inches wide. It is painted in alkyd paint on a canvas support. The original is not for sale, but prints are available at: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/richard-de-wolfe.html Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Weather's Changing

I don't paint much wildlife anymore, but at one time, the genre represented a large percentage of the paintings that I produced. When I was a child, birds were my passion, especially the ducks and geese that frequented the Thousand Islands region. I learned much about drawing and painting by observing them and then trying to capture their likenesses on paper or canvas.

The Lesser Scaup or ‘Blue Bill’, as many locals know it, is a diving duck that will feed and rest in the thousands along the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River districts during the migration south each autumn. They nest in the Arctic but they will spend the winter anywhere from the US/Canadian border to as far south as Central America.

This painting shows both male (purple/black heads) and female (brown heads) of the species, on a beautiful autumn day, but ominous clouds are building, suggesting a change in the weather is coming.

This painting measures 16 inches by 20 inches and it is painted in alkyd on stretched canvas.

Golden Lake

I want to stay with the autumn colours for a while longer. This is a great time of year in the northern hemisphere. A day like the one in this painting is something to be savoured against the cold, barren days to come.

This scene is typical of lake and river country throughout Southern and Central Ontario, Quebec, and the North Eastern United States. The reds and golds of hard and soft maple, white birch, oak, beech and ash trees contrast beautifully with the deep greens of white and red pine, spruce and cedar.

I wanted to play up the crystal blue sky and fluffy white clouds against the strong yellow and gold of the birch and maple trees in the foreground. This is echoed in the shoreline foliage in the middle ground and again in the hazy distant trees in the background. The composition is designed so that the trees in the foreground lead the viewer's eye into the picture to the pines on the opposite shore in the middle ground. These trees, in turn, guide the eye back into the upper foliage of the foreground trees and back around once more. The ripples and abstractions in the water reflections give the painting a feeling of life and movement.

The painting is done in acrylic paint on stretched canvas. It measures 16 inches high by 20 inches wide.

Boldt Castle

This is another example of a painting that I did of a boat in the 1000 Islands. I saw this small, antique sail boat, with the bright red sail and I knew I would have to paint it. I took a number of photos, circling the craft in a power boat, and I am sure the sailor wondered what I was up to.

In order to create an interesting composition, I used the image of the sailboat to create a lead-in to the castle on Heart Island in the background. The six story, 120 room mansion is a full size Rhineland castle, built by George Boldt as a wedding present for his beloved wife, Louise.

In 1904 tragedy struck and Louise died from tuberculosis. Construction of the castle halted immediately, never to resume. Broken hearted, Boldt never completed it and he never returned to the island again.

The picture is actually only part of a larger painting that I did of the entire island, which features stone buildings at either end in addition to the castle itself.

Swell

I love to do paintings of the Thousand Islands, and antique boats are special subjects to me. There is no place I enjoy spending the day more than on the water where I grew up. This spot is just a half mile from my old home, near Rockport, Ontario.

"Swell" is a beautiful example of a 34 foot Elco Cruisette that was built in 1925. She is seen here passing smoothly under the Thousand Island Bridge on a warm, misty morning, as the sun begins to burn through the river haze. You can almost hear the throaty melody of her 38 HP, 4 cylinder inboard engine, as it pushes her smartly through the calm water at a respectable 10 MPH. Antique boats like this one are still fairly common in the Thousand Islands and they are highly prized by their owners.

I painted this picture on cotton canvas, using alkyd paint, applied very smoothly. It measures 16 inches wide by 20 inches tall. Occasionally, I am commissioned to paint antique boats, such as this one, for their owners. Prints are available for this and a number of other antique boat paintings that I have produced. Check out www.richarddewolfe.com for other examples.

Confederation Park

I love to paint pictures of the Thousand Islands, the St. Lawrence River and boats. This painting is one that I did several years ago. It is the Confederation Boat Basin in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, not far from where I live. In the background is Kingston City Hall and Confederation Park. This is a great place to spend a summer evening near the water when the weather is warm. The view here is from the outer docks, looking back toward the lights of downtown Kingston. The sunset is rapidly fading into twilight and the ducks have settled for the night in the shelter of a boat slip in the foreground.

The painting is sixteen inches wide by twenty inches high. It is painted on cotton canvas with alkyd paint. Prints are available.