ARTFINDER: An Old Fashioned Christmas by Richard De Wolfe - At the turn of the century, the main mode of wi...

ARTFINDER: An Old Fashioned Christmas by Richard De Wolfe - At the turn of the century, the main mode of wi...

 "An Old Fashioned Christmas" by Richard De Wolfe 30" x 48" alkyd on canvas

At the turn of the century, the main mode of winter
transportation was by horse drawn sleigh or “cutter” as depicted here.  The scene is typical of many
communities in Eastern Canada and the North Eastern United States.  It is dawn on Christmas morning, and
people are gathering at the church for an early Christmas service.

 Many modern day Amish and Mennonite families still travel in horse drawn vehicles and sleighs in winter, though the type that they favour are much less flambouyant than this one.

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!

An Old Fashioned Christmas

I thought it was time to post a real Christmas painting. I call this one "An Old Fashioned Christmas". Plenty of nostalgia depicted here, about a much slower and innocent time, when most people lived in the country or at least very small towns and villages across Canada and the United States. In those days the main mode of winter transportation was by horse drawn sleigh or 'cutter'. The scene is typical of many communities in Easter Canada and the North- eastern United States. It is dawn on Christmas morning, and people are gathering at the church for an Early Christmas service.

My composition is based on an "S" pattern. The eye enters from the lower left following the direction of the horse and sleigh, over the bridge to where the figures in front of the church are congregated, and finally the church itself. The stone mill beside the church and the mail boxes in the lower right corner lead the eye back to the horse and sleigh approaching the bridge and the whole process is repeated. The snow covered spruce tree acts as a visual stop and keeps the eye from wandering off to the left.

The painting measures 48 inches wide by 30 inches high. It is painted on stretched canvas, and as I usually do, I worked in alkyd paint. I found this cutter in a Sotheby's auction catalogue and I loved the ornate style. It is being pulled smartly by a high stepping Hackney Horse.

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.