I picked up a bunch of flowers for half price and much to my delight there was a stem of lilium in the centre with unopened buds. With a bit of encouragement 4 of the 5 opened up into the most glorious yellow blooms. Conveying the volume of flowers is a challenge… just need to keep at it.
It was a dreary gray day with an unexpected amount of snow accumulation. But, thanks to encouragement from Shari Blaukopf, and following her limited palette wisdom, I undertook a sketch of the view from my living room. Painted in the fading light, finished the next day — by which time there was blue sky and twinkling ice in the trees — when dreary had turned to cheery. That will be a separate sketch.
Inspired by the deceptively simple and beautiful illustrations by Ian Sidaway in a wee book of recipes for root vegetables (Shown below), I pulled out a terracotta tapas dish and opted for lemons. Many lessons learned by tackling the subject repeatedly.
This splash of colour indoors is a welcome contrast to the monochrome landscape. As usual when I tackle a bouquet, some parts turned out ok, others less so. But, it’s always a treat to gaze at flowers.
I got away from winter’s snow and wind with a visit to the Allan Gardens greenhouses while in Toronto. The colourful blooms, tropical plants and warm moist air made the experience almost spa-like. I found a seat in the cactus house to sketch this large specimen.
There are many interesting (to me at least) clusters of farm buildings in my area. I pass this one regularly and have wanted to paint it for ages. This was done based on photos. Come Spring I’ll be able to paint it en plein air.
Painted with a fairly limited palette on Fluid 9 x 12 block.
Our local café and lunch spot has been very accommodating and welcoming of our local sketching group (in North Glengarry, Ontario). Today’s gathering saw nine of us drawing everything from indoor blooms to outdoor facades. I did a warm-up sketch of the delicious breakfast sandwich, then settled in to study the sandwich case.
In April we hope to the weather will cooperate so we can sketch plein air.
