Painting with a Master - Conclusion

Guennadi suggested that a good way to learn to paint was to copy a painting by a favourite artist.  This Tom Thomson painting would have been easier to copy if I had one of his boards and his pigments but I didn't so I toned a canvas light brown and agonized over matching his colours. As it turns out there is a much to be learned by attempting to copy a painting by another artist and when that artist is Tom Thomson it is easy to learn because I can see all his brush strokes.

In the process of copying his painting I was constantly trying to analyze why he chose the colours he did and why he put strokes of paint where he did.  I also became acutely aware of how he used his background colours to tint the snow which gave a sense of unity to the painting.  My trees need to be less perfect lines and more broken up but hey I am proud of this anyway.



The top painting is mine and the bottom one Tom's,  My colours are closer to his than this looks.  

I am loving oil painting.

I am Loving Guennadi's Class and Oils

This was week two painting with oils and I am having a blast.  Guennadi Kalanine is a great instructor and seems to know just what instruction/criticism I need to get to the next stage.

I continued to work on the still life that I started last week.  It took me a whole class to get everything painted and then a second class to refine it.  I am very pleased with it as my first painting.

I need to get more aggressive and work more quickly if I am going to take my oils outside.    I suspect that "Alla prima" oil painting especially if done "en plein air" isn't for cowards.

I am excited and nervous at the same time

I  am really excited about this.  Because watercolours freeze outside in the winter I decided to take a beginner oil painting course.  I did an oil painting when I was about 14 and a colour chart about a week ago.  That is the total of my oil painting experience.  Until today.


Last week was taken up with discussions of materials and safety.  No painting.  This week Guennadi did a demo of this painting to quickly show us how it is done and then he set us loose to try it ourselves.  He then walked around helping us out.  I have not been this excited in a long while.   It was as much fun as playing in the mud.  I have a lot of learning to go but I am really stoked about where this is going to take me.  I am very proud of this considering it is really my first ever oil painting and I have never liked doing a "still life" before.

Therein lies my conundrum.  I am a watercolourist.  My site says that, my cards say that and everyone knows that is what I do.  I may have to completely redesign my website after this.

It might be worth it though.  Anyone have any thoughts?

Yet Another Great Day in Paradise

It was another fantastic day to paint outside.     There were a number of artists from the Burlington Fine Arts Guild painting at the RBG today but John and I didn't manage to hook up with them.  I suspect that they stayed up top and didn't venture down the slippery slope to the waters edge.  


We had sun overhead, snow on the ground and enough warmth that my watercolours didn't freeze on me so it was a perfect day.  I am happy with this.  There is a lot that I would do differently next time but I am okay with it. The sun reflected off the ice of Coote's Paradise was almost blinding but it gave us nice long shadows and warmth as well.


I love watercolours however I am looking forward to much colder weather as an excuse to play with oils for a while.  I am trying too hard with the watercolours and I think that a change will be good for me.

RBG Sycamore again.

Four of us met at the RBG and I made another attempt to paint the old sycamore tree down by the marsh.  It was a very damp and drab day but the sections of the sycamore where the bark is peeled off glowed as usual.  I have some problems with this version but it is much better than the first try.  I may try to soften the hard edges at the top of the treeline and at the top of the grass behind the tree.  They don't look quite so sharp in real life so I may just leave them.

I couldn't shake the impression of the Group of Seven show at the Mcmichael Gallery so I enrolled in a beginners oil painting class at the Dundas Valley School of art.  Maybe a change will be as good as a rest.

RBG Willow

John and I met at the RBG again today.  When we got there it was just above freezing but the sun was warm and by the time we hiked down to the shore and found good painting spots we were toasty warm.  By the time we left it was up to 8 degrees C and very warm in the sun.

The sun was causing this willow and the reeds to just glow but I lost it.  I need to rethink my palette.  Burnt Sienna and Cobalt blue make wonderful mud colour but are too muddy for the background.  This is another painting that I am not overjoyed with but there are some parts that I like and it was another glorious day to be outside painting.

The bay were the willow is was all mud with a few puddles but straight out from shore there was water with a thin crust of ice on it.  Two paddlers in two canoes were taking advantage of the low water levels to attempt to herd some Koi to chase them out of Coote's Paradise.  They had to break through the ice for about 50 feet to get to open water.

Centre Lake in the Studio

I painted this same scene en plein air in the summer while at A Brush with the Highlands in Wilberforce Ontario.  I took a photo of the same scene in the fall while we were staying at my parents home on Paudash Lake and I painted this from that photo.


I am not sure whether I am happy with the painting or not but Debbie likes it so I will hold off judgement for a while.  It is an 11" X 15" watercolour.

Debbie and I went to the McMichael Gallery to see the "Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven" exhibition.  The gallery has a fantastic Group of Seven collection however this show was put together with paintings from their collection, the National Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario and some private collections never before shown in public. It was shown in Britain and Europe and this is the only Canadian showing. In many cases the plein air sketch was hanging beside the studio painting.  It was brilliant and very worth the trip.

I am very tempted to take up oils.