A Host of Farm Animals and More ... or ... More Paintings Soon!!!

Crescent Beach - a small marina

Lovely sky and water reflections

Beautiful peach-colored hollyhock near the old farmhouse

Stewart Farm - heritage site of farm home and outbuildings

Two very photogenic toms

Their chatty lady-friend - she chattered away the entire time I was there taking photos.

Here she is.

The toms were in display the entire time.  Maybe the hen was sweet-talking them???

Then along came the family of Chinese geese. Dad was very protective, so I kept my fingers close to myself! 

The kids

Next door to the geese and turkeys was a huge pig pen.

And almost home, I stopped to take some photos of the local sheep.

I don't do well with a lot of noise and loud people. My landlady was having children, grand-children and great grand-children, and assorted other people, so I decided to head out at dinner time and see if I could get some reference boat photos for a painting I'd like to do. I missed out on the boats, but when driving around, did get lots of animal photos. The turkeys were hilarious, with the hen chattering and chuckling and squeaking to me [or herself], and I was trying to talk turkey back to her. The toms were on constant display, all puffed up, with tails fully flared, looking utterly alien. And the geese were delightful - mom and dad and four goslings. 

The area where I live is farming country - small hobby farms and a lot of wooded areas. And close by [about 10 minutes away] is the ocean, with miles of beaches, piers, boats and a long promenade. So I got a bit of everything today with my camera, and came home a happy camper!

Thank you so much for dropping by!

An Elegant Bird ... or ... Step by Step Painting of an Ameraucana Hen

My drawing with scribbled notes made as I go along in painting.

First, a this wash of quin. burnt orange ...

... some permanent rose ...

... and finally some cobalt blue.

I painted the bright head and neck feathers with quin. sienna.  Body shadows were done with a mix of quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone blue. The legs were painted with a mixture of the same orange and blue, but with permanent rose in lieu of violet- it seemed to give a colder, harder-looking black, which I wanted for the feet.

More quin. sienna, wet in wet, over the front of her body, and some fluff around her beak painted in a soft black. I think the beard is one of the characteristics of this breed.

I did more work with the feathers of her body, using quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone to make both a soft brown and a black.

More work on the feathers ...

... and I believe she is pretty much done.
I painted almost the entire work in a wet-in-wet technique. I wanted to keep her feathers looking softer and fluffier [and I had no desire to render each individual feather!] 

I was more ambitious [or foolish] with this hen I painted about ten years ago. She was sent off to Washington state to be part of a charity auction for a horse rescue group.

Life has been somewhat rough lately, and I haven't felt like blogging or painting much. Seems to be improving, so I hope to be able to post about once a week.

Thank you so much for dropping by!

No ... I Have Not Disappeared into a Black Hole ... or ... Some Works in Progress

What is on the go ...

The peony is done, trimmed, and ready to be mounted on a cradled frame I have prepared.

The geese are waiting, too.

Reference photo for latest work.

I masked the flowers and stems, and laid in two washes of phthalo blue for the background.

The stems were aureolin, quin. gold and phthalo green, The flowers started with some permanent rose.

I decided to finish the stem on the right first. I used the pink, and mixtures of aureolin, pink and cobalt blue for the various greys of the shadows.

More glazing, and eventually a lot of dry brush work.

I used a bit more of the intense, staining colors for the flowers on the left, as well as the softer greys I had mixed earlier. This is a 9 x 12 inch work, and will be varnished, and mounted on a cradled frame as well.

Miss Pumpkin
She came here about seven years ago. She already had some sort of abdominal hernia. It became much worse over the last two months. Surgery would be horribly expensive, and with low probability of success. So I asked my horse vet if he would euthanize her, and she passed on quietly on Monday out in the garden with me and Mario, and the dogs [at a distance].  

We have had some very weird weather here as well. The temperatures have been in the low to mid-30's C, with not a drop of rain for ages. Of course, there have been forest fires as well with the dryness. The above photo shows the sky on Sunday - that is smoke, not cloud. Thankfully, the smoke is clearing today.

Well, that's life on the farm right now. Thank you for visiting!

Everything BUT Painting ... well .... almost ...

It was my lovely niece's high school graduation yesterday. Here she is with my aunt, opening a gift.

Yes, that's me, and I did get out of my usual barn gear when I went to the ceremony.

Here's Paulina with her mom.

Even her brother came out from Ottawa to attend. And Paulina just gave him this haircut! 

Some hibiscus from Steph's garden

These will be painted, and that's my only reference to painting.

I had to take pics of this cool antique car, parked outside the Orpheum Theatre downtown, where the grad ceremony was held.

And life on the farm continues. The baby swallows had their first flying lessons yesterday. 

Some were not as brave ...

... as others. These two managed about 15 feet before they landed.

That's all for now. Thank you so much for dropping by!

Once One Gets Started, It's Not that Bad ... or ... Peony Painting W.I.P.

The model, growing in a small spot near Bruno's Eatery.

It was not meant to get this dark, but by the time I had some colors down, I didn't like how it looked. So on to graded washes of a green/black.

Washes done, masking off ... onward!

First wet-in-wet applications - aureolin, quin.gold, quin. burnt orange and phthalo green [blue shade] for the leaves and stalk. The peony is quin. rose, and a bit of cobalt blue and brilliant orange [Holbein].

Still chugging along, trying to see the petals [not ALL of them!].  I think I am about halfway there ...

Thank you very much for stopping by!

Things Have Become a Bit Darker for Our Feathered Friends ... Geese Painting Continues

I washed on some more indanthrone, and later a black mixture on the left side. Then I started playing with the geese - eyes, more shadowing ... The tree got some detail work, too.

This photo looks somewhat washed out compared to the painting, but here it is.  So far, I think it's all right, but the geese desperately look as if they need something more on which to park their feet. I'm still working on a story for them.

Thank you for dropping by!