Orvieto

This was painted after returning from a trip to Italy in late October. I was looking for compositions based on the architecture of the old towns; narrow streets, with the sunlight cutting between the buildings.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't  very co-operative. It was cloudy, wet and chilly most of the time!

"En Plein Air"

This watercolour is called "En Plein Air" and was painted from a photo that I took (oops, did I cheat?) of a fellow artist painting en plein air at the "A Brush with the Highlands" event, an anual event held at the beginning of August in the Haliburton Highlands north of Toronto.

I am quite pleased with it and think it is one of the best ones to date.

Portrait of a Young Woman

This is a recent watercolour portrait, painted from life, of a young woman.

"Summer"

This was the second of the large (full sheet 22 x 30 inches floral watercolours in my Summer Series. These are bolder and more colourful and looser than my first large watercolour shown below which is in a more traditional style.

Hew Series of Paintings

Here is the most recent example of a new series of watercolours that I have called The Summer Series. They are large (full sheet 22 by 30 inches) paintings of floral scenes. So far they consist of Phlox and Black-eyed Susans, but I plan some more using other types of flowers. It just seems to me that you can't beat the combination of the purple-pink of the phlox and the yellow of the blak-eyed susans!

Waterclour Show - Faces and Figures

I am pleased to announce that I will be having a show of my portraits and figure paintings in Watercolour at the Riverdale Artists' Network's Hang Man Gallery here in Toronto. As you can see from my previous posts I have a loose and impressionistic approach to the medium. I find that painting the human form is both challenging and satisfying and even though it can a battle I find it most enjoyable.

The Hangman Gallery is located at:

756 Queen Street East

Toronto, Ontario

(416) 465-0302

The show will run from February 15 to March 6 and the hours are Tuesday to Sunday 12 to 5 pm.

Figure Breakthrough

A couple of 20 min. figure sketches done several weeks ago. I felt that I was beginning to understand some techniques; such as hard and soft edges and being able to effectively soften edges to create the feeling of light passing over form particularly in the face area.

In watercolour it is so important to keep going, to have faith that improvement will come. Practice not only improves technique and skill it also promotes understanding; the "Ah-ha" moment.