Bedford Mill

The weather has changed into winter and so has our mode of painting. On Tuesday we now paint from photos and use our artistic license to enhance and delete things from the photo. The resulting painting is always different from the original and has our own brand or style in it. This 11x14 oil painting was interesting to paint but not as satisfying somehow as painting on location.

Our art show and sale last Saturday was very well attended, in fact we were overwhelmed with people interested in what we create on Tuesdays. Everyone was very appreciative of our work and I was very proud to be one of the artists who showed my work. What a great show the organizers put together. Thank you to those who came and made so many appreciative remarks to all the artists

                                     M for sale $175

All the paintings on my blog are for sale. The larger ones, 16x20  are $250 and the smaller 11x14 are $175. I can be contacted at hazelspleinair@gmail.com if you are interested.

A cottage in London, England

This painting was a leap of faith. I was looking for a 16x20 canvas in my closet, when I found an old canvas with a bouquet of pansies painted on it. I painted over this old painting and proceeded to paint my cottage and town homes over top. As I was working on this, with the Wed. Artist group, someone looked at what I was painting and remarked, why don't you leave the pansies in the painting? I thought about that, then lightly uncovered the pansies and finished my painting. I like the result. Let me know what you think.

                      

Cottages on Wolfe Lake

Last weekend we went for a drive up to Westport to capture some of the fall colours and maybe some good sales in the stores in the village. What a perfect day with the sun shining and the trees all decked out in their fall colours. I got some great photos for the winter months of painting indoors. We didn't find any good buys but the stores in Westport are so much fun to browse in and enjoy their unique merchandise. On our way home we decided to travel on the Wolfe Lake Road and I am glad we did. I took this photo of two cottages nestled under the trees, with the leaves just starting to turn. I thoroughly enjoyed painting this on a 16x20 canvas, and as you can see, I'm trying to loosen up in my painting style. Hope you like the result as much as I do. Also, for your information, there is an art show and sale at St Andrews by the Lake United church on Sat. and Sun. this week and I have five pieces in this show. 

                               For sale  $250

All the art work on my blog is for sale and I can be reached at hazelspleinair@gmail.com

London Bridge

Sometime I feel the need to do something different from oils. I started this piece using a multi media approach and throughout the process, that lasted about three weeks, the London Bridge slowly evolved. It is made up of magazine pieces, ribbon, markers, and Liqui Tech Varnish. I wanted to create this and other pieces for our up coming art show and sale on Nov.26 at St. Paul the Apostle Church. We titled the show, Journeys through the Paint Box, and most of the art shown from 10 to 4 will be on that theme of journeys. This piece came from my trip to London Bridge, England. It is on canvas and is 16x20. Hope you like it and I hope you will come to our show and introduce yourself .

  

                     For sale $375

This art and all the art on my blog is for sale. I can be reached at hazelspleinair@gmail.com

Thank you.

Hollyhocks on Bethel Road

When we were returning from a paint out at Marions farm one Wednesday, we passed this old limestone home sitting on the corner of Bethel Road and County Road 6 . The hollyhocks were way past their prime but we could tell, if they had been blooming, they would have been beautiful. We stopped the car and I took a few photos of the home. I was excited to paint it, thinking already how I could add to the colour of the house with just a shade of the the flowers. I wanted the painting to glow with the hollyhocks colour and when I added the sunlight to the house, I knew I had what I wanted. If you look closely you may be able to see a little peach in the sky and in the front lawns. I think this pulled the whole painting together and I'm very pleased with the result. I'll have to try more of these where I combine my love of flowers with the challenges of house perspectives in landscapes. 

                         Foe sale $250

                                                                                                                     16x20 canvas

If you are interested in purchasing any of the paintings on my blog, I can be contacted at hazelspleinart@gmail.com.

The Gan River

One Wednesday morning our Outdoor Painting group met at the Gananoque Inn in Gananoque. The Inn was very accommodating and gave us use of their beautiful landscaped grounds which are right on the Gan. River. It certainly was very hot and humid, but we found a spot down on the shore of the river, where there was a breeze off Lake Ontario. We settled in for a nice morning in this shady location and this oil painting seemed to paint itself. I loved the reflections off the water and the boats sparkling. While painting we kept our eyes open for any person of authority walking our way, since we had walked past one, maybe two,no  trespassing signs on our way to the shoreline. No one questioned us, and if they had, we were going with the story that it is always better to ask forgiveness than permission. Do you agree?

                  For sale $175

If you are interested in purchasing any paintings on my blog, you can contact me at hazelspleinair@gmail.com

In Wilton

Our last morning to paint outside and it started by raining, heavily. We set off at 8:15 and by the time the Wilton road came along the rain had gone . There was still heavy clouds and a good breeze but when we found this shed, we knew we would have a good morning. Three of us settled in, and only once did the clouds open up, and we had a short shower. I enjoyed using the oils on the 16x20 canvas.

                         

For sale $250

If you would like to purchase this painting or any other painting on my blog please contact me at hazelspleinair@gmail.com

A lovely spot to sit

When we were in Sydenham painting this summer, I found this rustic pergola beside a stream. It was definitely in someone's large backyard and for the best view I had to trespass. I decided to see if the owners were home, but before I could knock on the door, painters showed themselves. They had been contracted to paint the exterior of the house while the occupants were away on holidays. After a frustrating conversation where they thought we wanted to paint the pergola, and what were we going to use, latex or acrylic, and they didn't have any ladders to reach the top, because they were using them all.........I got my point across; I wanted to paint a picture of the pergola......because I was an artist. We all had a good laugh and they said go ahead. I found a lovely spot in the overgrown garden and "went ahead". Even though I was in full shade there was very little breeze in Sydenham and it was hot work. I finished much of the painting at home in the a/c. 

                                           

This was painted with oils on an 11x14 board and sells for $175

If you want to buy this or any other painting on my blog, I can be reached at hazelspleinair@gmail.com

The Napanee River

Wednesday was hot again but our group of dedicated outdoor artists were at the small hamlet of Newburg to paint the Napanee River; and paint we did. Because of the drought that we have had all summer, the river was shallow and easy to wade in to get the best vantage point. We all enjoyed our morning, but by 11:00 I was searching for the shade from the brilliant light of the sun bouncing off the river. Most of my oil painting was done from my photo reference at home the next day.

When lunchtime came, some walked into Newburg to try the bakery for lunch. The sandwiches looked delicious. We didn't hang around very long after lunch because the sun was beating down and the shady spots were getting smaller. Newburg is one little village that I will have to revisit. 

Here is my attempt on an 11x14 board with oil paint. Hope you enjoy it.

                  

This painting and all the paintings on my blog are for sale. This one is $175.

If you are interested in this painting or any others on my blog you can contact me at hazelspleinair@gmail.com

Hollyhock corner in Portsmouth village

Wednesday, we painted in Portsmouth village in Kingston. It was one of the hottest days of the very hot days we've had this summer. I painted for about two hours and then had had enough of the heat. The humidity made it feel even hotter and I left at about 11:30. This is the first time in ten years I have left because of the weather conditions. I worked at home in the a/c on the remainder of the painting. Here is the result on an 11x14 board.

                                      

For sale $175

If you are interested in purchasing this or any other painting on my blog, please contact me at 

hazelspleinair@gmail.com

Parrott Bay Conservation Area

 On Wednesday this week we painted at the conservation area close by, on Taylor Kidd. The high way was busy and the noise of passing traffic seemed a little too loud, but, as we entered the conservation area with its dense cedar forest the noise of traffic disappeared. We followed the path deeper into the trees and the silence was wonderful. We heard the birds and the breeze blowing through the branches.  

We were surrounded by the forest, the world slipped away. I  had forgotten how quiet it was. I found a spot on the path and started to paint. In a few hours I was finished. The painting seemed to paint itself.

I looked up and there was the owl, again. He had been watching from the same branch as I set up and then he had flown away. He made eye contact with me both times and I guess he wanted to see the final result. I wondered, as I packed up, if he approved.

I have included a photo of the Barred Owl, looking at me, just in case you didn't believe me.

  Here is the view from my easel and here is the owl. The painting only, is for sale for $175

 As usual the oil painting, on an 11x14 canvas, is for sale, and if you are interested you can reach me at 

          hazelspleinair@gmail.com

Grass Creek Park

Last Wednesday we were at Grass Creek Park beside the MacLachan Woodworking Museum. A few of us found a wonderful quiet bay where the local day camp run by the city, was playing games, doing crafts and generally having fun. We set our easels beside the marsh, and had a  wonderful morning painting. This was done on an 11x14 board with my oils. What a great day.

                         

For sale $175

If you would like to purchase this or any other painting on my blog, please contact me at 

       hazelspleinair@gmail.com

Two as One

These two paintings on canvas, are each 8x10. I wanted to try something different with my favourite flower, pansies. If you look closely you can see that the central mauve, white and orange pansy, extends over to the other canvas. These two paintings could be hung side by side, a short distance apart, or even six inches apart to create a unique effect. Enjoy!

 

              

                  

FOR SALE $250.

If you are interested in buying this or any other painting on my blog please contact me at 

        hazelspleinair@gmail.com

Iris

Spring is such a wonderful time of year and the iris are blooming. There are so many types of iris and colours that are truly amazing. I have iris in my garden but none as colorful as the ones I decided to paint. These are painted from photos. I love the mauves and pinks and darker purples and oranges and greens. I think I got these colours just the way I wanted them. I like the result and wonder how you feel about this oil painting on a 12x24 canvas.

                                                   

FOR SALE $250

If you are interested in buying this or any other painting on my blog please contact me at

          hazelspleinair@gmail.com

Wonderful Pansies

I have the most wonderful photos of pansies in my album. You can see from the painting,
they are white and mauve and pinkish. They were a pleasure to paint, in oils, on this 12x24 canvas.

                               

FOR SALE $250

If you are interested in buying this or any other painting on my blog please contact me at 

         hazelspleinair@gmail.com

Lilacs

It is that time of year again. The lilacs smell and look wonderful around our subdivision and along the roads. Who could resist picking some and putting them in water. The house has a permeating smell of their wonderful perfume. Of course I have to paint them. These seemed to paint themselves and the time just flew by as I mixed colours and had fun. Here they are on a 16x20 canvas. I wish you could smell them too. 

 

                          

FOR SALE $250

If you are interested in buying this or any other painting on my blog please contact me at

           hazelspleinair@gmail.com

Farmhouse on Wolfe Is.

When we were plein air painting on Wolfe is. another artist and I decided to drive eastward, out of the small town of Marysville. On the edge of a field sat this farmhouse. I think the occupant had abandoned it a few years ago, but we were not sure. We decided to paint on the side of the road, and we enjoyed our morning. The only hardship was the large gravel trucks that went by every few minutes, it seemed, to service the large wind turbines that were being erected nearby. The dust from the trucks on this dirt road was very thick. EVerything was covered in it, including the painting. Oh well, it just gave it more character. This is painted on an 11x 14 board.

                         

FOR SALE $175

If you are interested in this or any other painting on my blog please contact me at

          hazelspleinair@gmail.com

A Cozy Porch in Westport

I just was not pleased with the previous painting of this porch. I thought I could do a better job of capturing the house and the comfy porch that it would be nice to sit on. I have never redone a painting, I don't think, and I'm glad I did this time.  What do you think? This was painted on an 11x14 board.

                            

FOR SALE $175

If you are interested in this or any other painting on my blog please contact me at

        hazelspleinair@gmail.com

A Porch in Westport

We love driving to Westport for the day. There are so many wonderful, unique shops there and we both enjoy browsing through the stores and checking out the waterfront. We always find a cozy, pleasant cafe to have a nice lunch and we usually end the day with an ice cream cone. Delicious!  When we were walking back to the car, we passed a unique, restored old home which was a B and B. I think it was called the Porch. I loved the wrap around verandah with its chair to relax in. Here it is on an 11x14 board.

                             

FOR SALE $175

If you are interested in this or any other painting on my blog you can contact me at

            hazelspleinair@gmail.com

A Portsmouth St.

This oil on a 11x14 board seemed to come together very easily. It was a scene from a plein air session in 2007 when our group was spending the day in Portsmouth Village. I found photos from our very first plein air session in2006. Ten years ago. This year we will travel a little further a field and try some provincial parks in the area. I am looking forward to it already.

                                            

FOR SALE $175

If you are interested in this or any other painting on my blog please contact me at

          hazelspleinair@gmail.com

Log Cabin the woods

Last Tuesday, April fifth, there was a restlessness in our art group; most wandered around chatting, others, like myself, chatted and walked and paused and chatted some more and generally avoided my art easel. I blame this on the change of seasons. There is a different feeling in the air, a freshness, a waiting. Spring will soon be here. So we are unable to settle down to our art. It  is a changing time and since our art depicts the season we are in, there is a feeling of needing to change. Let me explain. In winter, most paint seasonal snow scenes. In autumn we paint using different colours on our palette, as the trees change. In this, in-between time, before spring is really here, we can't settle on what to paint. We are reluctant to use vibrant greens since there are still no leaves on the trees. We really don't want to paint the snow scenes we have been doing all winter, and so.......we wander, we chat, until motivation or creativity hits, and we are ready to paint again. I chose a photo I had been keeping for a while, and since I have been in an artistic slump lately, I started. I finished this one, on an 11x14 board, at home. It is not one of my better pieces but it does reflect the slump and, maybe,  the restlessness, that many of us were  feeling.

                          

FOR SALE $175

If you are interested in this or any other painting on my blog, please contact me at

          hazelspleinair@gmail.com

A Pond in Northern Ontario

I have been saving this photo for a while, and this week I decided the time was right. This is an oil painting on a 16x20 gallery canvas. It was one of those paintings that seemed to paint itself and I thoroughly enjoyed creating it. Fall, north of Lake Superior, with those northern spruce and the golden aspen. It doesn't get much better than this.

                        

FOR SALE $250

If you are interested in this or any other painting on my blog, you can contact me at

       hazelspleinair@gmail.com

Castries Market,St. Lucia

What an adventure to visit the busy local market in Castries. It is a six day a week operation, with Sunday's set aside for church services. Everyone seems to have their own spot and they must have to provide their own tables and seats and umbrellas. As you can tell from the oil painting, these are local farmers who eke out a subsistence existence for their families out of selling their produce at the market. The umbrellas are many times propped on some else's umbrella and most are cast-offs from the resorts, but they provide some shade from the hot sun for the produce and sellers. It's a noisy, busy place and is set beside the craft market, which on the day we visited was very quiet, probably because there was not a cruise ship in port.

                                    

More Pansies

Here is my last post from St. Lucia. I am looking forward to getting back to my oils and creating some oil paintings taken from photos of this beautiful island.

                                  

Pansies

I have been using my watercolours in St. Lucia and finally I think this is the one I like best. These pansies have a softness and delicacy about them that is appealing. It's interesting that my favourite flower ends up to be successful in watercolours. 

                        

Peonies

Of the flowers I have completed, this is my favorite.

    

                         

When I looked at this watercolour on my blog, I realized the painting did not "read" properly. This is a painting term that means some thing in the painting did not work. In other words something did not make sense. Look at the first painting, then look at the corrected one below and see if you can spot the change.   

                                

Hibiscus

More flowers using the same technique as previously.

  

                        

St. Lucia flowers

This painting with watercolours was fun!! I thoroughly enjoyed the w/c as I dripped the colors I had chosen on a wet sheet. When they  had dried, which took a while in this humid climate, I spent a an interesting half hour trying to see what possibilities for blossoms and leaves and composition were there. Using the same colours I darkened some petals, added details, but much of the time I concentrated on lost and found edges.  Overall, I wanted a very soft, suggestion of flowers so that the viewer could find for himself the interesting areas. I think I succeeded. I included two photos of the painting, one when it was just starting and one finished.

                               

Lands End

Here is another attempt with watercolours. St. Lucia, as you can see is a very rugged, tropical island and here we are at its northern tip where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean Sea. Old Volcanic mountains have created the landscape and as this shows most of the slopes are covered with tropical rain forest. Everything seems to bloom in abundance here and the flowers are fragrant, colorful and exotic.

                       

We have to continue to explore.

Pencil sketches

What fun to do pencil sketches again. This is how most artists start their artistic adventure and it is where I started mine. When I was a teenager I used to sit in the garden and sketch flowers for hours.I thoroughly enjoyed each moment and as I became more efficient, I enjoyed it even more. My art attempts were beginning to look like the real thing and the fun was starting to happen. This journey has led me through sketching to watercolours and eventually to oils. What an exciting adventure and such pleasure. 

So I am sketching again. Who knows where the journey will lead me this time?

         

                     

                                   

A Pergola in St. Lucia

After an uneventful trip down, we have arrived in St. Lucia. We have been here for nearly two weeks and the weather is showing signs of improving. We arrived with a nearly full moon and locals say that that fact accounts for the very high tides. The crashing huge waves on the Caribean Sea, can be accounted for by the tail end of the large weather system that has just left the eastern shore of the US. The rainfall everyday is because of the same weather system. Sometime this rain is a  lovely sun shower and that's all, sometime it is a heavy downpour that lasts for half an hour, one day it poured all day. So we just returned from the office where the locals said they have no idea why this weather is not better. It is usually sunny and hot. They say that in Februaury everything will be back to normal. We will wait and see. 

I have my watercolours paints with me this time, and the change to them has been challenging. I miss my oils!!! Anyway here is my first weak attempt. This is the view from our lovely little porch where we have been spending quite a bit of time. The pool beside this pagoda is a nice change and the lounges are very comfortable. We have been relaxing, drinking Piton beer and watching the freighters and cruise ships and sail boats pass by. Tolerating the weather is just something we will have to get used to........until February, then it is going to be beautiful, hot and sunny!

Oh well, back to the lounge and another Piton.