Saturday, July 23, 2016

The Old City Hall view from Toronto City Hall Green Roof


I didn't know there is such a nice place on the 2nd floor at The City Hall. You can walk around and see different views around The City Hall. Lots of high rises there. I picked The Old City Hall to sketch. It is the only old building in the middle of the high rises and seems that the time has frozen there no matter how the surroundings change. It was really hot today, but we found shades and stayed there for sketching. There were not many visitors and was very tranquil. If you have found the ground was too noisy and crowded, the green roof definitely is a nice and quiet place to visit.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

McMichael Plein Air Painting Competition


I always want to paint at McMichael and didn't think that the first time I painted here was in a competition. We were about 50-60 artists painting on location during the weekend. We had a sunny but not very warm day unless you stayed under the sun without shades.

The arrangement was simple and easy to follow. McMichael staff and volunteers provided the artists fruits, coffee and water twice a day, one by one! We scattered around McMichael and Kleinburg area, it was not easy for them to find us. Thank you!

The first day I painted the gallery building because I wanted to paint this building. I loved the sunlight behind the cloud and put more trees behind the gallery. I had not enough sleep the night before and planned to work faster so that I could go home and sleep. However, I was very tired and worked very very slowly. When I got home around 4 pm, I threw myself on the couch and slept right away.

On Sunday, I went to Kleinburg, a beautiful town, to paint one of the beautiful houses made of logs and this painting was selected to be the 3rd place in the group 11" x 14"

Some of my artist friends won too. I was so happy for them. I met many talented artists there and saw their wonderful works, different styles. It is always amazing to see different approaches, styles while everyone is painting at the same places and similar scenes.


曾去過McMichael幾次看展覽,時常想去寫生。想不到第一次在這裡寫生是參加這裡所舉辦的寫生比賽。這次比賽大約有五六十位畫家參加,可用任何媒體。這兩天雖陽光充足,但不算非常熱。

大會的安排很簡單,他們並安排了工作人員和義工到各個地點送上水果及水給我們,由於各人寫生的地點不一樣,散佈不同的角落,也真的不容易找到,真的謝謝他們。

第一天是星期六,我當然要畫展覽館建築物。我被背光的雲朵吸引,在展覽館後也添加了些樹木。由於星期五只睡了幾小時,一心想快快畫完便回家睡,可是我畫得非常之慢,沒法加速,回到家差不多四時多,一入門便跳上沙發睡着了。

星期天我在Kleinburg的小鎮,找了一幢很有特色的小木屋,畫了一會,遇到了一位舊畫友,閒聊間她也把她的東西搬過來一起畫,差不多到午飯時間,我們便去交畫,並在McMichael入的餐廳吃了個午餐,我叫了一個沙律,牛角包中間夾了些露筍,蔬菜把牛角包埋𢫾掉,很奇怪的組合,不過也挺好味,估不到在美術館內的餐廳也相當有創意。

在四時多左右,我們到了會場,看到其他參賽畫家的作品,非常有水準,雖然大家所描繪的地點都是差不多,但不同的手法和構圖真的令大家大開眼界。我的其中一幅作品在11" x 14"的組別獲得了第三名,我認識的一些畫友亦獲得獎項。大家都過了一個充實的週末。


Friday, July 1, 2016

Unionville - A house on Carlton Road

I have done many plein air paintings in Unionville but all are at Too Pond Pond. Today was Monday, less people on the Main Street. It was very tempting to paint the houses there. However, it was a hot steamy day, I decided to paint a house near the place I parked my car and under the shade.

來過這裡很多次寫生,但每次都是畫Too Good Pond.今天是星期一,早上在Main Street人不多,很想畫那裡有特色的房屋,可是今天實在太熱,我還是選擇畫一幢在我泊車的停車場附近的樹蔭下畫了這幢漂亮的屋子.