Futuristic Botanical Garden

I've got like... four landscape paintings in progress that I need to finish. In the meantime, though, I'm throwing my hat in the ring for this week's Illustration of the Week topic:

Werewolf Shaman

Fooling around while waiting for the sun to come out.

Whitemud Ravine

This was the first painting I worked on when I got back from the Badlands trip. I got out late, though, and had to cut that session short. I finished it up yesterday from some reference photos I took.

Pumpkin Girl and the Candy Thief

Something based on an old sketch from my sketchbook.

Corner Street Players Final

Mill Creek Skyscape

The last time I went out the clouds were just amazing. I had to get this done quick because the wind was whipping them across the sky.

And then I got rained on.

Barcelona Sketches - Cacti

There is a cactus garden on Montjuic in Barcelona full of nearly every kind of cactus imaginable, just growing outside. It was so great I went there twice.

Corner Street Players

They were playing a lot of CCR at the pub that night.

Pub Faces

Imaginary faces I was sketching at the pub.

Beauty

From Tanith Lee's short story "Wolfland".

Faun

No new paintings until this week's comic pages are done. But I am trying to do a bit more sketching again. I've gotten out of the habit since I don't spend long hours doing nothing much any more.

I was thinking of joining in on Spike's Sketch Bet but I don't think I have the time right now.

Nature Sanctuary

The boardwalk trail at the Clifford E. Lee Nature Sanctuary.

I set up at one of the viewing platforms. The view from it wasn't all that good but it WAS shady and since it was a good 30C outside I felt that was for the best.

At one of the other viewing platforms I got a good look at some coots. Very striking birds! If they'd been closer I might have tried sketching them.

Big Lake

I painted this about two weeks after I came back from the Badlands trip. There is one painting between this one and the previous post, but it's unfinished as I had to cut that session short. I plan to finish it from reference photos the next time there's bad weather on Painting Day.

This was painted at Lois Hole Centennial Park in St. Albert. It was a lovely (if hot) day and I set up at one of the picnic tables.

The trail there is very busy and few people stopped to chat, including a painter who knew some of the ladies who had been at the Badlands workshop. I also saw a great blue heron while I was out there, so the trip was a great success.

Munsen 2

I should have probably circled around to the other side of town and done some painting there but I was pretty keen to get home. I painted some oats backlit against a dark fence while waiting for the instructor to come back.

So I said my goodbyes and drove home. There was a lot of cool stuff on the way and I'm pretty inspired. I plan to go out one or two times a week and paint in various parks around my home town until the weather turns awful.

Munsen

Our last day. I checked out of the hotel and we met at this little town on the highway home.

I wanted to paint something slightly less bright than the first set of fields I did (2-3 posts ago), and I think this painting might be a little better than that one.

Dorothy

We had a late start the next day so that people could wander around town and sleep after the cookout at Dry Island. After lunch we drove out to Dorothy, which is a little ghost town near the Hoodoos. It has one of the few grain elevators still standing in Alberta, a little church and schoolhouse, some shacks and chickens. I didn't quite have time to finish this painting onsite, I did the bottom third back in the studio with the help of photo reference.

I was plagued by bugs all day and it was stupidly hot as usual (better than raining, though) but I think I'd go back and paint there again.

I think my next car is going to be a hatchback. I notice that a number of people paint out of the back of their vehicle and being able to have a canopy that doesn't blow away sounds pretty good. (Although I don't know -- you'd think that the subjects available near roads and parking lots would have been done to death already.)

Dry Island Buffalo Jump 2

In the afternoon we drove down into the valley looking for shade. Some of us waded in the river for a while cooling our feet, then we reassembled to watch a demo. I wanted to do something a little less literal than the morning's effort, something a little more graphical and cartoony:

I had some thoughts about doing the hills with a heavy black outline but I think I'd like to save that for another subject.

Dry Island Buffalo Jump

Well, the fields surrounding it anyway. The light wasn't right for painting the valley as it took us about an hour and a half to get out there.

The first acrylic I did at the workshop. The colours are maybe a bit too strong? I like the brilliant sky and clouds (although I muffed up the bottom bit while trying to soften the horizon). Otherwise it's not too bad considering I haven't played with the acrylics for more than a year.

Anyway, it was a lovely (if scorching) day out, and we sat near the valley drop-off listening to the hum of bees and watching hawks soar out of the valley and hang maybe 20 feet above us, riding the air currents. It was my favourite day and I really would like to go back there next summer for some hiking and painting (and if I can convince Neil someday, some canoeing too.)

Horseshoe Canyon 3

This was the last thing I did in Horseshoe Canyon, a quick exercise in composition. Just to be able to show something for the day that wasn't a total mess.

Horseshoe Canyon 2

The second watercolour I did in Horseshoe Canyon didn't turn out so well, but I was there anyway so I spent some time doing an ink sketch of the same scene before the shadows buggered off.

Horseshoe Canyon

The next day we were out early at Horseshoe Canyon. Well, other people were out early. I can't manage to get anywhere before 09:00 and that's only if I manage to get going before noon at all.

The shadows were going by the time the instructor's demo ended and I wanted to get them down. Unfortunately I think they're the weakest point of the picture. I did another one in the afternoon and that was even worse. The two things I keep wanting to capture, the dark shadows and the stripes on the hills, keep turning out poorly. I'm kinda looking forward to maybe going back next year (probably not with the group, just by myself or with Neil) and giving them another go with acrylics.