Gate Keeper - Finished at least for now

 The Gate Keeper

My Venetian mascarone ( head carved in stone) is finally finished for now. It is painted on Canson board with Arches 140 lb CP paper. and it is measures 16" X 20".

I had thought of varnishing this painting, as Krista Hasson has done with her latest paintings on this surface. However, I think that I will practice my varnishing some more on smaller paintings. I will mat this painting following the sink mount method recommended by Deb Ward .

I photographed the Gate Keeper inside under artificial lights; consequently, the colors are probably a little bit off. His face is not that reddish:-)  Here it is again with a mat dropped on top of it:

And, again, but without a flash this time. IRL, I would say that the painting is somewhere between the two versions: a bit more golden than below, but with less of a red face than in the fist picture:-)

I really enjoyed painting this guy! I have grown very fond of him:-)

HM Award at the Ottawa Orchid Show

I received a very nice birthday present this weekend : my "Golden Arch" watercolor received an Honorable Mention at the Annual Ottawa Orchid Show. There were 170 works of art on display...and of course, thousands of orchids.

I took about 200 pictures at the show today - what great references for future paintings:-)

I hope that you are all having a great long weekend.
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Gate Keeper - WIP part 3 - still a long way to go

I have been working slowly on my Venetian Gate Keeper. I find this painting quite complex to paint - there are so many different textures: 3 types of marble, stone, rusty ironwork. Furthermore,  the strange perspective is making the painting rather difficult to read as I am working and I keep having to double check where the shadows should be:-) I am gradually getting used to the Canson Arches artboard; the paint dries very quickly on it and I thought that the same would apply to frisket - not at all! I came very close to remove some paper along with the frisket which still retained some moisiture:-(


All in all, I am really enjoying painting this old guy and I am getting fairly fond of him.  The painting is 16" X 20"  and there is still a fair amount to paint or refine. I will try to get it finished this weekend if I don't have too many distractions and if I am disciplined :-)

Have a nice evening!

Gate Keeper-WIP part 2

I am back from my trip to NYC to visit my daughter. Although we were busy non-stop, I have to admit that I missed my painting....my hands kept wanting to hold a brush. Next time I travel, I may at least bring watercolor pencils:-)

I have worked some more on my Mascarone. Not too sure what to think of it. He certainly looks very sad in spite of all the colors on his face:-) What do you think?

There is still a lot of work to do on this painting, but apart from from the eye area, most of the face is done.

I was thrilled to find some mascaroni in NYC:

I wish you a great weekend!

A great surprise: Feature on Red Bubble's Home Page



I woke up to a very nice and surprising email this morning: Red Bubble letting me know that one of my Venice paintings, Roof Top View, had been selected as a Home Page feature by the Red Bubble curators. The odds of this happening are 3 in a thousand according to Red Bubble!.

Thank you Red Bubble!