Tag Archives: watercolour sketches

February 2019

This month I have donated a painting for the silent auction at the Annual Valentine’s Charity Ball a fundraiser by the Freemasons of Ottawa to take place on February 9th, 2019 at Centurion Conference and Event Centre, Ottawa. There is a wide selection of articles up for grabs. The super grand prize is an African Safari. All proceeds of this auction will be split equally among – the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health- Do it for Daron Initative, Bruyère Foundation and Roger Neilson House. More info at valentines.ottawamasons.ca

Below is my oil painting, gallery sized cotton canvas, 30 inches by 30 inches completed in 2019. To be part of this silent auction on February 9, 2019.

Row boats for Rent, oil, 30×30, 2018

When I am on the road and not in my studio my choice of art tools are a quarter sheet of  watercolour paper, 3 brushes, small metal palette filled with pigments and a collapsible waterproof sac from Hachem art supplies in Quebec.

Here are a few watercolour sketches completed in the last week

Sunflowers, watercolour, 1/4 sheet, 2019

Juice Bar, Mercado, watercolour, 1/4 sheet, 2019

Pork Stall, Mercado, watercolour, 1/4 sheet, 2019

Summer 2018- August

My exhibition at the Galerie 2 Barn Owls, Hudson, QC commences on Friday, Aug. 24 with a vernissage from 5-7pm. Suzy will be my bartender in her converted vintage Rice Horse Trailer. Please come and enjoy. From Aug. 25 until Sept. 2, I will be present at the gallery on Friday and Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 11-4. These are the same opening hours as the 2 Barn Owls. You will enjoy the creative talented works of art by co-owner Mavis and Nancy in the adjacent room.

                                                                                                                                                           

This summer is hot and it was a good choice for vacation time to go to Vancouver island and visit our friends. Here we dined on local food and watched the ocean.

Sushi Ichi in Parksville, is an eatery we visit each time we come to the island. Sushi rolls, tempura, Japanese soup and warm sake.

We always dine at Cuckoo Trattoria in Coombs on the terrasse or inside.The menu has a wide variety of Italian favourite and all are wonderfully good.

At Kingfisher Spa and Resort, Courtenay Comox, we stop for lunch at Aqua Ocean 7.  The vista toward the ocean is spectacular and the food exceptional with choice of mussels, seafood chowder, salmon and many other seasonal local foods.

I have my watercolours and paper with me but did only a few sketches.

 

 

Summer Days, 2016

This past week we visited the exhibition of Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun ( French, 1755-1842) at the National Gallery of Canada which will end this September 11. She is a prominent 18th century painter with more than 600 portraits, 200 landscapes and this is her first retrospective. The Ottawa NGC gallery exhibition stated, “her talent, her extraordinary capacity for work and her social skills” were her outstanding qualities and we see this before our eyes as we walk through each room. Vigée Le Brun painted about thirty portraits of Marie Antoinette but with the start of  the French Revolution ( 1789-99) she fled quickly from France. Her talent and gifted skills continued to give her a portait career in Italy, Austria, Russia and England. She returned to Paris when her name was struck from the list of enemy émigrés.

 

I received a gift of Caran d’Ache, Fancolor 15 from a friend and wholesale distributor of these products. The thin metal container is 11 cm by 28cm by 2.5 cm, is ultra light with a full range of pan water-soluble pigment: 14 in total plus a tube of white gouache, a nice mixing area and a small quality brush. I used it, as I do my regular watercolour pigments on a quarter sheet of Fabriano, cold press, traditional white, gsm 300. For myself, the small light size with a few larger brushes and water container make it an ideal plein air kit.

Plein Air, Coteau du Lac, Caran d'Arch, FANCOLOUR 15

Plein Air, Coteau du Lac, Caran d’Ache, FANCOLOR 15

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Blockhouse, Coteau du lac, Caran d’Ache FANCOLOR 15, 2016

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Mill, Coteau du Lac, Caran d’ache FANCOLOR 15, 2016

Here are some sketches completed during the summer at Linda Drewry’s favourite Tuesday plein air sketching group.

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Pointe du Moulin, Ile Perrot, East/south view, 2016

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Ste Anne de Bellevue Locks, northside, 2016

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Ile des Moulins, water spray on pond,  Terrebone, 2016

Free or almost free, cool places to sketch

This summer in Québec the weather is balmy and usually 30 degrees. No excuse not to get out and sketch. One of my favourite spots is the Sanctuaire in Rigaud, free but accepts donations. Shady, peaceful and usually quiet except for a yell from youngsters finding Pokémon on their screen. It is a place of meditation. Quiet is the command here but miracles do happen and need to be celebrated.

Sanctuaire de Lourdes, Rigaud

Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Qc

Another cool spot, Parc Valois, 331 Avenue St. Charles,Vaudreuil-Dorion on the water has free parking and entrance.

Parc Valois, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Qc

Parc Valois, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Qc

Worth a visit, Parc Historique, Pointe-du-Moulin, Notre-Dame-de-I’Île-Perrot, free on Monday and Tuesday.

La Pointe du Moulin, Notre-Dame-de-I'île-Perrot, Qc

Le Moulin, Notre-Dame-de-I’île-Perrot

As always, the flowers from the garden await brush, pigment and water.

Summer Bouquet

Summer Bouquet

The Red Sail is here

The world’s biggest Viking ship, Draken Harald Fairhair. (Jan Kaare Ness / NTB Scanpix / AFP)

The Draken Harald Hårfagre has left Newfoundland and is sailing up the St. Lawerence. We can follow it thanks to a tracker installed on the ship ( have a look here ) and via Facebook. The ship will arrive June 15 in Quebec City as posted by the Captain on Facebook. Opportunities to see this beautiful ship are coming our way as it heads towards Montréal.

My hope is to see and sketch the ship. For now,  here are some of my sketches from the past two weeks.

Watercolour, Derelict Lock, Soulanges Canal, Pointe Cascades, QC

watercolour, Derelict Lock, Soulanges Canal, Pointe Cascades, QC, 2016

 

watercolour, Pointe Claire Yacht Club, 2016

watercolour, Pointe Claire Yacht Club, Qc, 2016

 

watercolour, Pointe Claire Yacht Club, QC, 2016

watercolour, Pointe Claire Yacht Club, QC, 2016

 

watercolour, Dollard des Ormeaux, Qc, 2016

watercolour, Centennial Park, Dollard des Ormeaux, Qc, 2016