Friends by the Horse Pasture

For a change of pace and to challenge myself,  I tried two nude models and some horses. As you can see I did not do the lower half of the torso and did not do the horses in much detail. It was a challenge.

                           

The Old Tamarack at Bellevue House

This Wednesday our group painted at Bellevue House. This is the Kingston residency of the first Prime Minister of Canada and his family. What a beautiful setting for this Spanish architecture home, on the shores of Lake Ontario. As Sir John A. waited on his porch for his carriage, he probably glanced over at the lake to see if any ships were coming into Kingston Harbour and maybe he noticed the tamarack or larch tree growing in front of his house. The tree is one of the oldest specimens of a tree of this type in the area and has definitely outlived Sir John A Macdonald. 

                                         

The Stream at Babcock Mill

Today being Wednesday we were painting outside at Babcock Mill in Odessa. The weather was not cooperating however; it was totally overcast all morning, with high humidity. There were warnings of thunderstorms in the morning weather forecast as well. In spite of this, we met as usual at 9:00 and chose our own spot to paint. As you can tell from the finished painting, I did not paint the Mill. Instead I looked up the stream from the mill to where the concrete abuttments crossed the water. There was an old pathway across the top of them, but it was closed off. I liked the crossover pathway and the large willow tree, over the stream, so that's what I painted. Luckily, we had only one light, short shower and no thunderstorms. I was especially pleased because I chose to paint under a very large tree.

                             

Riley's Garden Centre

Our group of Plein air artists was at  a garden centre today. It was a perfect morning to paint with just a slight breeze and full sun. The nursery is right on the shoreline of Collins Bay and has been there a long time. The structure was originally a cottage, with a large angel stone fireplace on the lake side. it was this angle that I decided to paint. You can see the old chimney covered with vines and also where the first greenhouse was originally attached to the lake side of the cottage. I wonder how much longer the city will allow the nursery to stay or if it will just fall down on its own.

                            

Carol Ann's House in Barriefield

About fourteen of us spent the morning Wednesday, painting in Barriefield. I found this wonderful, old house on a side street and fell in love. I knew the perspective would be challenging since the house went down a hill and pieces had been added on over the last 160 years. The old tree in front just added to its character and the charming hanging baskets and railing boxes made it perfect. here is my finished painting on a 11x14 board.

                                   

Sears Catalogue Pansies

I decided, for a change, to try a collage. using only the Sears Catalogue and Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish. it was fun and a nice change from oils. Since it is my first attempt with collage, it is pretty tame. As I continue with this challenge I am going to try to become more abstract and use something more than just the Sears catalogue. there has to be a lot of other things to make it interesting! I guess I will go to U tube. Here is the attempt on a wooden frame.