Finishing One Painting and Starting Another

With Toula and baby well on their way, today I was ready to dive into my next new painting. Yes, I know I still have a few works in progress around, but as I've mentioned before, I like to have a number of paintings on the go, and starting a new one is always a great boost. I had several comments in favour of painting the photo of Bear Now warming up to work on the training track at Woodbine, and despite probably being the most challenging of the references I posted, I decided to start on it next. This one is on 18 x 14 Raphael linen panel, which I've toned with Burnt Sienna. So far I've just worked on the first layer of straight Burnt Umber, establishing tones. I'm probably going to take this umber layer further than I normally do to keep things headed in the right direction!


Last night I put the finishing touches on another painting, signed it and called it done. I'm sure you remember the two boys, Medz and Mute - not that any of us really want to see snow again! This one is 11 x 14 oil on Fredrix linen panel. My title for it is kind of long so may be the last thing that needs some tweaking: "Here, Let Me Help You With That!" I miss the boys! So does Billy, I think!

Well, the best part about working solely in Burnt Umber is cleanup is easy - better go take care of those brushes.

Making the Best of It

No snow today, just more cold. It's getting kind of repetitious, I know. My days are an ongoing cycle of go out to the barn, freeze, come in, thaw, go out to the barn...and so on. I noted begrudgingly today that it seems as soon as my hands warm up enough that I can actually use them, my feet freeze and I need to come in again!

I started this new painting in one of the "thaw" phases of my day. This is the one I meant to start last Saturday. I had a title for this one before I even took the photo, though I'm not going to reveal it yet. The boys had me laughing and I was glad I caught them with the camera – unlike today, when a very bold/friendly/stupid(?) bird was keeping Gracie and Jubie company. First I saw Gracie following it as it hopped around on the ground, then a bit later it was perched on Jubie's back! By the time I grabbed the camera, of course it had disappeared!


This painting is 11 x 14 oil on Fredrix linen panel. Step one was just starting to work out the drawing with Burnt Umber. Tonight I worked on it some more, still just with Burnt Umber. There are still things that need to be resolved, but I've got the most important stuff worked out. Burnt Umber dries quickly, so I should be able to continue working on it tomorrow.

Now I'm trying to convince myself to take advantage of a bit of an early night! It's only quarter to twelve...that's early for me!