First Plein Air of 2014

This 8 x 10 oil was painted in June of the inner harbour on Wards Island, part of the Toronto Islands in Lake Ontario. This was at a paint out sponsored by the Ontario Plein Air Society (OPAS).

I wasn't particularly happy with the sky when I brought it home. Lately I have been painting the trees before painting the sky which allows me to control the edges there, getting both soft and hard which helps to connect the two; adding depth and avoiding a "pasted on" look. As I am new to doing it this way it is easy for the situation to get out of control. So I waited for it to dry a bit and then repainted the sky area back in the studio.

Brush with the Highlands 2012 III

Again an 8 x 10 oil painting on panel of a pine tree catching the morning light. Also see below my easel set up before the subject. In order to get the fine lines of
the branches in the light I borrowed a trick from watercolour
and scratched the paint of the panel with the back of the brush.

Brush with the Highlands 2012 II

This 8 x 10 painting was done at the same location as the first (see Brush with the Highlands 2012 below) at the end of the first day but looking in the opposite direction. The location was an old summer camp that is now privately owned and is no longer used as a camp. There was a stream that connected two small bodies of water. The earlier painting was looking south so the light morning sun is on the left,  this is looking north so again the light is coming from the left.

Brush with the Highlands 2012

This painting, an 8" x 10" oil called "Morning Light" was the first one I did at this past years plein air painting festival in the Haliburton Highlands north of Toronto. The photo on the right is my easel set up in front of the scene.

This popular festival, now in its fourth year, was attended by 40 artists and is a lot of fun for the public and the artists alike and I for one hope that it will continue and grow in the future.

Rouge River

This was painted as part of a paint-out sponsored by the Ontario Plein Air Society (OPAS) held annually in the Rouge River Valley which is part of a large park in Scarborough on the eastern edge of Toronto.

It is 9 by 12 inches on a MDF panel primed with orange shellac.

Below is the painting in progress on my easel.