Good Advice!

"Good Advice" Oil on board 8x10

This was a Sunday morning challenge: do a painting in one hour, the original photo was taken in about 1994 so we have both aged!
It was fun to do, lots of thick oil, simple brush strokes and no redoing anything. I have to confess, on the Monday morning I made a few minor touch ups on both our faces and my pants.
Enjoy

Skating on Dufferin Marsh

24x20 Oil on Canvas

Now on display and available for sale at the Grackle Coffee Shop in Schomberg
Grackle Coffee

John Singer Sargent's "Vernon Lee"

Jo's Interpretation Oil on Canvas

John Singer Sargent's "Vernon Lee" 

Fourth in my portrait series, this time trying to learn from the master

John Singer Sargent. Not a society beauty but an intellectual name

of Violet Paget (pen Name Vernon Lee) who became more interesting as I became more acquainted with her. The unfinished state is intentional as the original was completed by Sargent in less than 3 hours and rapidly signed with the 'other' end of his brush as a gift to a friend. This one I enjoyed very much and would liked to have dwelt longer in her presence, but teacher is hurrying me along to something 'completely different'

uh, oh!?

Jo

"Coffee Break" 14x18 oil on canvas

An early morning scene in a local Tea shop "Sheena's Kitchen"
Very interesting challenge this one  with the light and shade and recognizable faces!
I tried to capture a moment of tranquility before the customer's arrive.
The table cloth is covered with a sheet of plastic which caused some interesting reflections. Skin tones were all over the place depending on whether the person was facing the light or in shade., but slowly over several weeks and allowing it to dry while I did other paintings I think it finally came to life!
John

Skating on the Dufferin Marsh

"Skating on the Dufferin Marsh" oil on canvas 20x24

Every year in February the local Dufferin Marsh Committee organize an afternoon of skating on the frozen marsh. The marsh is in the centre of Schomberg and the committee with the assistance of the Township keep as environmentally clean as possible.
The painting was inspired by several photos I had taken over the years, here you can see scenes from 2005 and 2010.
It was cold on both occasions and the time was late afternoon getting close to sunset.
One of the many challenges was getting the people to look like people but not to look like portraits , all of the participants look cold and ready for the hot chocolate!
The overall cold blue took several coats before I got it to my liking.
The sky was also awkward and I did exaggerate the purple to bring out the lateness of the day and the cold.
The poor trees look like they are impatient for Spring!
Hope I caught the feeling of a day in Ontario in mid February
John

"A Main Street Christmas"

"The Parade of Lights" 16x20 oil on Canvas

This year Schomberg celebrates the 17th "A Main Street Christmas" and I thought a great challenge to create a couple of paintings. the one above shows the commencement of the "Parade of Lights' a wonderful event organized by the local farming community and features all kinds of agricultural equipment all decorated in multi coloured lights.

"Carol Singers on Main Street" 16x20 oil on canvas.

A variety of entertainment and food is featured on Main Street and this is one of my favourites that expresses the feeling of the evening, an old fashioned Christmas Spirit.

"A Main Street Christmas"  this year is on December 3rd.

Portrait of Ron

"Ron" 10x14 oil on board

A fellow aspiring painter at our weekly Art Class, this is my attempt at capturing Ron on canvas. He is such a pleasant, kind person with an interesting and 'open'
face, I hope these qualities are apparent in this, my third portrait so far. I'm told the way to learn is to copy the masters, which is my next challenge, but with Ron I wanted to try my hand at a real sitter, plus photograph, and believe me I learned plenty!



Jo

Animals

Chippy 8x8 Oil

Woody 8x8 Oil

Professor 8x10 oil

I have decided to take a chance and put two 8x8 paintings of animals,
both are from photos taken by Lisa (my daughter) both the dog Woody and the little
chipmunk too.

I know I have a long way to go, but, hope I can get a few comments that will give me some tips for improvement! My intention is to be good enough to help animal rescue and sell the portraits.

A young friend Erica works hard to save dogs and fosters three of them one in particular called The Professor really looked very sad and it made me feel these animals should have the chance to live a happy life. so I am on a mission to try to help.

Comments welcome  Babs

Back to Normal!

Banker's House, Schomberg by Jo

Monday Oct 17th Jo was on the way back to U.K after 5 weeks in Schomberg. We had plenty of time to get up to speed with family matters and talked a lot about painting as well as painting in the Barn a lot of the mornings. I must admit I felt like a kid again, three easels and the three of us discussing each others work as we painted together. 

Jo is taking classes with her daughter in U.K. which they enjoy 3. hours every Friday with a good teacher that is able to encourage the right way to do things with canvas and paint oil or acrylic so she was able to pass on a few tips to help me along the way.
It's amazing how different we all are with choices of colour and style. Jo has the added advantage of being able to draw by eye and come up with a perfect composition. 

Main Street Christmas by John

Professor by Babs

John very different and sort of maps things out while I am in a corner complaining away and not enjoying the experience too much.
Never mind faint heart never won fair lady, so I will endeavor to improve during the winter months and catch up on the craft.

All in all it was good to have the other member of WIP with us we have learned a lot, Jo gone home to concentrate on Portraits, John will be doing Street and events in the area of our Main St and I will practice and hope to do animal paintings.
All of us wanting to show our new ideas on our blog and hope people will enjoy our efforts soon.  

Now that Autumn has arrived with a blast of heavy rain with gusts of wind it really feels like a time to settle in and eat turkey stew from Thanks Giving and work out our next WIP pictures to show and think about our latest attempts of being Artists!  

This weeks work by Jo

"Strawberry, Vanilla, & Chocolate" 8x10 Oil on board

Three children on a bench Or strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. 
Still in Canada enjoying the experience of painting with sister and bro in law, each to our own thing, found a snap of children enjoying ice cream and thought it would make a charming painting depicting innocent enjoyment in the sunshine. Usual mistake, didn't take enough care selecting the painting surface so it was rough going and hard work to get any detail in so took longer than usual.  Next time gesso and sand at least three times!!

"Lady under Hat" 8x8 oil on board

Lady with hat. 
This from a photo taken whilst in France earlier this year - tells a story of a lady waiting or “Where the hell has a he got to now?” and maybe tired and a little bored having traipsed around a tourist spot under the hot sun. Oils on a very smooth board which made painting the ancient weather beaten stones a real pleasure.

Painting a Face

From Jo

"Rachel" by Jo 16 x20 oil

This is my first attempt at painting my daughter, Rachel and upon presenting the yet unfinished portrait to my art teacher, Martin Smith, he reserved judgment and merely recommended I look up a portrait of Matisse painted by Andre Derain.
Now on holiday with my sister Barbara and her husband John we had the opportunity to do this project together intending to learn what Fauvism was all about.   The penny had dropped! I can see that I need to be aware of contrasts  (Martin's mantra is ' complimentaries are our friends')  and  to cease being so obsessed with blending.
Martin can be seen here: Martin Smith

From Babs
Jo's practice piece I decided to keep Jo company, we both have a tendency to be far too detailed with our painting. I know my brain tends to talk to me while I have the brush in my hand every stroke is far too fussy. this was an opportunity to try something out of the box. the painting style is called Fauvism extremely loose and colours I would never choose for a face, but, the amazing thing was as we used similar complimentary colours  my piece grew, very quickly. I was intrigued to see the outcome when I finished, the face certainly isn't correct one eye isn't in the right place and colours not correct,but, all in all a great experience and enjoyable and I learned a lot. thank Mr Smith !

Matisse by Derain

Copy by Babs

Copy by Jo

The "Grackle Coffee Shop"

"Grackle Coffee Shop" 11x14 oil on board SOLD

From a photo I took mid July. The lady and the dog have been moved over to improve the composition.
This was a fun painting to do lots of looseness combined with some sign writing.
I tried hard to not let the sign dominate, and think I succeeded.
As I worked on this it made me appreciate the charm of Main Street Schomberg, especially if you squint!
Lots of lovely foliage and no parked cars. How different the reality.
Grackle Coffee is a delightful place, wonderful service, splendid rich coffee and a great supporter of Main Street and local artists.

Grackle Coffee Company

John

See this and the Schomberg Series of Paintings now on sale at the Grackle Coffee Company

Valentino Rossi & a Ducati

"Rossi with a Ducati" 16x20 acrylic on canvas

Lesson learned, when there is so much detail to be painted choose the smoothest canvas 'cos you can't signwrite accurately on bumpy stuff.  It's been with me for a matter of months but feels like a lifetime. The early preparatory stage was enjoyable, it just got more challenging as it went along, and of course there are parts I'd like to re-do but have been persuaded to call it finished. The client is satisfied and that's good enough. So goodbye Valentino Rossi, I shall miss you!

Jo

Orange & Bottle

Orange & Bottle oil on10x10 Taler board

This subject was chosen by teacher from a selection of printouts I took to class to copy as my first oil painting.   Qiang Huang's work is very attractive and learning from this example was enjoyable.  It's my first effort painting 'loose' which seems to be favoured by art classes these days.

I'm looking forward to gaining experience from other artist's work and eventually developing a 'style' of my own.

See Qiang Huang's work is here :

http://qiang-huang.blogspot.com

Jo

The Natures Arrangement Challenge

Hortensia By Jo 6x6 acrylic on board

From Daily PaintWorks 


This Challenge was to paint out doors with a very limited palette.

Jo's  "Hortensia"

Having just 'tidied' the garden, the hydrangea was the only one left unmolested with a small pathetic example of a flower left intact.  Sat myself on a garden chair with permitted colours and worked in several short bursts as the acrylic paint dried quickly in the very hot sun. Stuck to the allotted time and avoided the temptation to 'go back in'.
Surprisingly enjoyable exercise!

"Daisies in the Weeds" by Babs, 6x6 Oil on board

Bab's "Daisies in the Weeds"

At first, when I chose the subject white daises,
and realizing white had to be used sparingly
I was going to be in trouble, but, to my surprise as I worked on the background then putting in the made up green it all fell into place. I was really pleased with the effort and now understand less is more!
A neat bit of info!

Bamborough Beach

Bamborough Beach 16x20 oil on Canvas

Bamborough beach is in Northumberland, just below Bamborough Castle in the UK
This is from a photo taken by Brian Bond

I have always painted very light colours, and I'm beginning to understand more how important to squint and see that grasses particularly long grasses have many colours in them including swathes of dark patches as the wind takes them.
The sky and clouds were fun to do, perhaps the water should have been a little darker not enough squinting!

Babs

Schomberg Main Street in Morning Light

Schomberg Main Street in Morning Light , oil on canvas 14x18

From a photo taken on the morning after Canada Day, July 1st. I wanted the contrast between the shadows made by the buildings on east side of the street to emphasize the morning sun lighting the buildings on the west side.
Being early morning there were only two cars parked, (I only showed one). Later in the day the road would be packed with vehicles. Unfortunately there were no pedestrians, all the dog walkers were already home or not yet started, I thought of adding a couple but never did.
A fun scene to paint and only spoiled by the abundance of overhead wires, so I left a lot of those out!
John

"Warming Up"

"Warming Up" 11x14 oil on board

 Warming up for a horse jumping event at the "Will-O-Wind Farm" on a hot July day, granddaughter Emma and her friend.
This painting was a lot of fun I changed the backgound a lot to get rid of other horses and jumps and demolished some young saplings that were too close to the riders. Horses are strange beasts to paint, your left brain keeps telling you the legs aren't big enough to bear the weight but the right brain tells the left to shut up and paint what you see not what you think!
The original photo was taken around noon so the light is very strong and overhead so the shadows are minimal.
Must find another similar subject nothing like having fun whilst painting
John

The Colour of Music Challenge

"Are you going to Scarborough Fair" by John 

"Cherry Ripe" oil on board 6x6 by Babs

The Color of Music Challenge
from Daily PaintWorks
"Your challenge this week is to paint a favorite piece of music. Interpret what you hear with pigment. Be creative. Let the music move you! Options range from rhythmic abstracts to illustration, and everything in between. The only rule is that you must tell us the title of the song you painted."

Lots of fun and a good job we didn't paint them at the same time, "Cherry Ripe" from one voice and "Scarborough Fair" from the other!

The Old Mill Challenge

We forgot to post this a couple of weeks ago:
The Old Mill Challenge

Originally posted by Jean Nelson, the Challenge was: "Often we encounter a scene when either en plein air painting, or from a photo that has potential to be a nice painting. But it needs to be cleaned up a bit, maybe a seasonal change, information deleted or added, cropping, etc.. This photo is just that kind of challenge. It has potential, but needs the imagination of the artist to make it an interesting painting. The only time you can see it well enough to photograph is in the winter when trees are bare."

To meet the challenge Babs changed theseason to Spring and added a canoeist, I chose Autumn and added a painter. Not easy additions painting on a 6x6 board with big brushes, but it was satisfying accomplishment!

Comments we got on the Challenge web site: Babs paints in the style of Cezanne and I paint in the style of Van Gogh! We wish.

Both painted with oil and both completed in less than an hour, plus for me an additional hour to clean the paint of my arms and face!
John

What you Paint with Challenge

This Weeks Challenge is "Paint what you Paint With"

Babs' Palette 6x6 Oil on board

Babs

I sat in front of the easel wondering if I could work it out,in the end I chose three paintbrushes with paint on each brush not very exciting but, I. managed to achieve the brushes looking reasonable had the idea of each brush that had paint on and slashed the identical colour to show on each brush, I had some success
as I finished within the hour, I believe that is a first! 

 

John's palette 6x6 Oil on Board

John:
I painted this by looking at the actual palette and painted what I saw, after some delicate and sophisticated arrangement of paint, tube brush & scraper.
It really is a good exercise painting from life instead of from a photo. I didn't get the shine on the scraper right but with these challenges I give myself a goal of one hour max and as few paint strokes as possible. I did however use 6 brushes and had to wash my arms and face after!

Storm Brewing on Lake Simcoe

Storm brewing on lake Simcoe Oil on Canvas 12 x24

This is from a photo I took in September of 2010. It has gone through many changes, in the first iteration I concentrated on painting a very dramatic sky, and liked the effect, but sensed something was wrong, and after listening to the advice of other artists (a rare thing for me!) I realized the truth of what they said, the eye couldn't settle "make it a painting of boats on a lake or make it a painting of a stormy sky"
So I reworked the sky which has brightened up the boats and made them more important.
A lesson learned listen to your eyes (and other artists).
your comments would be appreciated
John

The upside down challenge

Another Challenge from Daily PaintWorks:

The Upside Down Challenge

At first when looking at the picture and the thought of painting upside down, I almost past it up then after a little thought I realized I had to at least try.

I must admit I really enjoyed the experience, although it took me a while for my brain to stop saying It's Upside Down.

I settled down to the task and concentrated. I took my time and things came together quite well. To my surprise it turned out even better when I turned it the right way! 
I didn't cheat.

I am hoping it will improve my painting technique along the way, I look forward to the  weekly Challenges and it gives me the opportunity to become a better painter and enjoy this experience.

Babs

(incidentally the picture above is not upside down!)

Spring in Northern Ontario

Spring in Northern Ontario 11x14 Oil on panel

This was painted from a photograph taken by a friend of ours who spends a lot of time in the Timmins area.
I was attracted to the warm evening sun contrasting to the cold blue ice on the creek, and the trees almost fidgeting to get back to growing and producing.

I tried to paint it as though I was sitting there and had to get 'er done as fast as possible. Almost succeeded but still needed a few touch ups the next day.

Trouble is touch ups quite often subdue the spontaneity, but lessons were learned:

• I like painting fast and loose.
• I want to paint plein air
• Wonder if acrylics would have been easier.

John

Recent Paintings

The Outside Your Window Challenge:


The challenge here was to do a painting of the view from a window.
Babs' View:

"From the bedroom Window" 6x6 oil on board

This is from our bedroom window, I like the colours of Spring, the Lilac and other blossoms, the fresh green grass and the occasional dandelion.
The houses on our street are all of a different style and I think that adds to the charm.


john's View:

"Across the road in the Morning Light" oil on board 6x6

I tried to capture the morning light shining on a neigbour's house, unlike many of the contributors to the challenge I had to have the window as well. The car was a "should I or should I not" but reality won.
The lace curtains were a challenge for me and someone asked if it was a stain glass window!
But we got 'er done. (As they say round here).


Jo's View
Jo is wandering through France at the present and is having difficulty connecting to a Wi-fi

We Wannabe Artists

Pictures on the wall

My sister Jo had bought two of Carol Marine’s orange paintings last Fall and took them back to the UK with her. That started our adventure into furthering our interest.
Three painters and three different styles and we have gained more experience and interest in the last few months since finding Carol and David Marines blog. We find they have developed a really interesting approach, and so encouraging: the Weekly Challenge Paintings.

We have found many tips along the way, and the other Artist that participate have given us the courage to continue, we each have our favorite artists we like to follow, of course Carol being first on the list I could kill to achieve her use of brush strokes and colour, making it look so easy.

The three of us want to thank Carol for her sense of humor and inspiration though her deft brush strokes and David for all his background work.

Jo's Color of White Challenge
Was sold to raise money for charity in USA

It has given us a wonderful opportunity to have a lot of pleasure and really take notice that creativity is LIFE and helps the soul have a moment to enjoy, get frustrated, give up and pick up the brush the next day as Carol has something different every day! and off we go again with another challenge.
Even though Jo my sister lives in London we have been able to share our blog and keep in touch on a daily basis, which is fun.

Babs' Vegetable Challenge

We find all sorts of neat things on blogs, the latest is mongoose brushes made in Yorkshire U K. all of us started with basic materials from paint, canvas, board you name it, so it is quite the learning curve and fun sussing out information between Canada US and U.K. for the better equipment and techniques to use. All in all Carol and David have given us a lovely gift and don't even know it!

CHEERS you guys.

John's "Whole Cat..." Challenge

See more here: Daily paintworks
Babs

The Cat & Kaboodle Challenge

This was posted on The DPW painting Challenge on May 14th, and here is what we did in chronological order:

Babs

Cat by Babs

Looking back at the cat challenge I found painting with oils does make it difficult to bring out the cats whiskers, I must find out a way to work that one out, also found I painted  the cat a bit too small. It was Fun to work with all the different colours of fur and getting the expression in the eyes.
It needed a bit more thought than I thought!
Babs

Jo

Cat by Jo

I don't have a cat of my own, so used the photo provided. I started with the general outline and made sure the angles were right. Needing a point to focus around, the eyes and nose were lightly indicated then I could leave the cat while I concentrated on the chair. Got out my new best friend - a mongoose filbert - and really enjoyed laying in the colour! Once dry back with a size 000 to heighten the individual strands of fur and whiskers and put the glint in her eyes. Then a tiny hint of vermillion for the ear, nose and mouth.  Have to admit that getting the facial markings made me go cross-eyed but once the eyes start looking back you have to finish!

Jo

John

Cat by John

When I look at the final result of this cat painting it reminds me of the self portrait I did a few weeks ago, mouth partly open, eyes bulging, generally an expression of frustration, and that is what these challenges are , they push us into areas we don’t normally explore.

On this one I learned how to crawl in a sea of muddy paint and make some sense of it somehow.
The final painting looks better than the photo here- honestly!

John

All three paintings are 6x6 inches

The Vegetable Challenge

The Vegetable Challenge was organised by Daily Paintworks.
Carol Marine asked that we:  “Pick a vegetable and paint it from life. Direct painting. Take a break from those photos for now”

So here is what we accomplished:

Babs Comments
I enjoyed the veg challenge, but, found the highlights on the pepper difficult to make them look right. I also find I get stumped re background and grounding with shadow. I think I don't take time enough to see a lot of the details. Will  try and slow down and take the time and be more careful.

B.

Jo’s Comments
I like celery, so when the Vegetable Challenge came up I thought it a worthy subject to paint and, as is the intention, a lot was learned about this versatile veg which hadn't been noticed before! The solid bits, the leafy bits, the unique texture, was enough to get on with.
Backgrounds are my weak point so to make things more colourful I placed it on a dishcloth with a salt cellar to add a bit of interest
... and a lot more was learned - mainly not to get so ambitious!!
Jo

John’s Comments
It is a long time since I painted from life and I realise now that it’s easier to paint from a  flat photograph but not as much fun and satisfying as painting from the multi dimensions of life.
Now some might say that two rotting  potatoes and almost mouldy carrots, are hardly inspiring but they are life and as I looked at these humble roots I enjoyed them,
Didn’t eat them afterwards though .
The difficulty was moving my head all the time and seeing it from many angles and in the end result I can see the cutting board was painted from a different angle that the veges, but to heck it’s a bit of fun and made me smile

From all of us thanks to Carol & David Marine for these challenges that are getting us there!