Finally I'm painting again

I have been busy working away at the background to this painting over the last few days. Its nothing like the background in the reference photo I am using which was taken at the TWSA celebration weekend a month or so ago. I have kept the lighting direction the same but wanted to create a very different feel for this painting.

My subject? Well, can anyone guess who it is from the outline?

Ona

Featured Artist

I'm the featured artist on 'Art on the Hill' today. Click on the  link to read my feature and find out how I got started in the world of art, who my inspiration as an artist has been, what colours best describe me and the answers to several more fun questions.

Book the dates 19th and 20th of October in your calenders too because I will be part of the Richmond Hill Studio Tour again this year and will have many of my paintings on display at Boynton House in Richmond Hill that weekend. 

Ona

Framing Little and Large paintings

Sorry for the silence over the last 3 weeks or so. I had my parents staying so spent a lot of time with them. I have been working on several ideas for paintings too though, just nothing yet that I can really share. I am nearly at the outline stage with a large portrait and ideas for my last two Ted paintings in the series are happily progressing too, so hopefully I will have something to share with you soon.

James and I have also been framing a couple of paintings that need to be shipped off to exhibitions next month and while we were doing this I couldn't resist framing one of the miniature Teds too. The two paintings make quite a contrast when seen together don't they.

Ona

Rhythm 'n' Blues

The saxophone dances the rhythm of her notes across the air and between these notes, our heart and soul beats to her sound.

The painting certainly provided challenges... Working with such a limited palette meant that the awareness of values was a very important key to the success of the painting. It also involved a play with warmth and coolness of colour, not just in the contrast between the golden yellows and the cool misty blues but also within the individual colour ranges. It's hard to see from the jpg (apologies for this) but the blues in the background warm up nearer to the source of the light and there is also graduation  between the warmer and cooler blues on the shirt, getting cooler as you move away from the saxophone. Lastly I had to battle with all the fiddly keys and levers on the saxophone to give the impression of reality but not too much so that it becomes the total sole focus of the painting. I wanted it instead to be more part of the whole... almost an extension of the person. The use of warmth in the hands and face mirroring the warmth in the saxophone hopefully helps with this too.

Ona

More good news!

I had another e mail today to say my painting Craft-Ted with Love has been accepted into the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour CSPWC Open Water International Exhibition which will take place at the Leighton Centre in Calgary Alberta this fall.

Yay!!! Another Ted will be off on his travels :)

Ona

Pennsylvania Watercolor Society Exhibition Acceptance

I am pleased to be able to tell you that 'Coded Thoughts' has been accepted into The Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s Annual International Juried Exhibition

The exhibition will take place at the Crary Art Gallery, 511 Market Street, Warren, PA from October 5 – November 15, 2013

Ona

Rhythm 'n' Blues WIP 2

I'm slowly working my way down the saxophone. Its taking a while to paint in all the keys and levers. There was a sense of achievement when I got down below the first hand though. 

I still have the golden wash to glaze over on the area immediately adjacent to and slightly below the hand so this area still looks a little orangy red at the moment. This will be my next step and then I can continue on down towards the second hand. 

Ona

June's Tip of the Month...Painting Fur

I have had many e mails over the last few months asking me how I paint the fur on my Teds so for my June tip of the month here is a simple exercise to teach you one easy way to paint fur.

Please feel free to try the step by step below. 

The usual copyright rules do not apply to this exercise

 Painting a furry Cube

 Paint in washes of color on the cube. I have used quin red, quin gold and ultramarine blue for my cube but you can use any colours you would like. Apply a wash wet on damp on one side of the cube. Don't worry about getting a uniform covering. Once it is dry repeat this step on the other two sides.

Using a fine brush and moderately juicy paint, begin painting in the fur. Begin at the bottom of each section and work backwards following the direction of the fur. Unlike cotton like material, the fibers do not go neatly in one direction, so you can be haphazard with your brush as long as the general direction is similar.

 The effect of the fur develops with layering, so gradually add more layers with slightly different tones of paint or using a very similar pigment, e.g, for the red I used quin red and perylene maroon, for the blue, I used French Ultramarine blue and an indanthrene/ ultramarine violet mix. You can wash over the fur with a clear wash of water between layers to soften the look. Just make sure you really let the paper dry before adding the next layer of fur.


Repeat with each side of the cube...

...until you have finished

Happy Painting!

Rhythm 'n' blues WIP1

I'm working on a portrait at the moment of my husband James. I've painted my children several times but James mostly likes to hide behind the camera so until recently I didn't have a photo to work from. I must say its far easier when James can help me with the reference photo from behind the camera instead of in front but we managed.

James has always loved music,  it was also through music that we both met so it seemed fitting to paint him with a musical theme. I am still working on his beard and have a lot of work on to do on his hair but his face is beginning to take shape...and yes I do use a tiny brush for a lot of the detail.

The painting is still in its early stages and the camera is struggling a bit with the blues and lylacs in the background.  Hopefully it will get easier to get a good photo as more colour and detail gets added.

Ona

TWSA Celebration weekend 2013

I've just got back home after attending the TWSA Celebration weekend in Kenosha Winsconsin. It was an amazing weekend filled with spectacular artwork, awesome artists and much laughter and fun.

Here are just a couple photos of the event for you.

Me beside my award winning painting 'Bookworm Breakfast'

Me, with Frank Eber and Chris Beck

The Art Colony Girls: Mary Jansen, Marilyn Wear, Kaaren Oreck, Chris Beck, Jane Freeman, me and  Chihiro Yabe

Having fun together

All the attending exhibiting Artists

Thank you to TWSA for organising such an awesome weekend.

Ona

www.onak.ca is now updated!

Over the last week I've been busy updating my website www.onak.ca.

All my paintings are now grouped into galleries. Visit the main gallery page by clicking on Galleries in the tool bar on the left of the screen to easily view them. Here is a screen shot of just the first few galleries.

 You can then click on the gallery of your choice to see an overview of the paintings in that gallery.

In the picture below you can see the first few watercolours on my Family life gallery page

From here you can then click on either the pictures or titles to go to the individual painting pages where you can read about each painting and find information about the price and shipping.

Hope you enjoy looking at all the different galleries. Don't forget to have a look at the new Open Edition Prints page and Card Shop too. Lots of great gift ideas here for yourselves and well as your friends :)

Let me know what you think.

Ona

Distort-Ted

I don't know if you all do the same but when I'm setting up a still life I tend to 'live with it' for a day or two, changing things until I'm happy with it... well I came back to it one time and found that my Ted's who live in my studio had 'found' my set up :)

The distortion in the glass certainly provided amusement for these curious Ted's. Hope it does for you too.

                                                   Transparent Watercolour13.5 by 25 inches

Congratulations to Mary for guessing the correct number of Ted's in the painting. A card will be on it's way to you tomorrow.

 Ona

Distort-Ted WIP 4

Several of you have e mailed asking for an update so you can see what was behind the orange glass that I was painting in the last post I made. Thank you all for your interest.  I hope you like little Distort-Ted...

 ...He makes my husband and I smile each time we look at him with his tiny paws poking out of the sides of the glass and his face peering through at us.

 I am now working on the next Ted who will be investigating the glass bowl in front of him. Any guesses what he is doing?

Ona

Distort-Ted WIP 3

I am still working my way along the line of glass objects.  I am having lots of fun distorting things that are inside or behind the glass bottles and vases. I think the orange bottle I am painting at the moment will be the most fun to do. Look either side of the bottle at its base for the clue as to what will be distorted in this one.

Have you guessed?

I love how the light reflects the colour of the glass onto surrounding objects. The vase to the left of the bottle I am currently painting glows with orange. I'm looking forward to painting the Ted to the right of the blue bottle for the same reason too.

Ona

Distort-Ted WIP 2

I loved reading all your guesses about the number of Ted's you thought might be in the painting. Thank you for e mailing them to me. As you can see by today's update there is definitely one Ted. I'm going to keep you in suspense a while longer though for the finished number of Ted's. Most people who e mailed seemed to think there were three but a few thought there were more. I wonder who will be correct.

I am now working my way along painting the different glass objects some of which are orange, others are blue and a couple are clear. I'm pleased with how it's going so far. Glass is certainly fun to paint.

Ona