Sarah's Painting Journal

5.5"X3.5" pencil in moleskine


Every day the "Yellow-eyed-fruit-demander" comes and perches on the balcony railing expecting to be fed. Papaya seems to be his favourite but he is also very fond of bananas and quite partial to avocado. I expect he likes mango too, but they aren't in season until the summer. If his habit isn't catered to he will fly right into the kitchen and squawk at whoever is around. He has also been known to help himself to whatever has inadvertently been left out on the counter or in the hanging baskets. These baskets are of course designed to be rodent and ant proof, but birds weren't taken into account.
This sketch was fast and not completely accurate, I took lots of pictures of him and his mate so I will try to paint him sometime soon. I think he is a Caribbean Thrasher, a close relative of catbirds and mockingbirds and sharing many of their characteristics. They are omnivorous and I would sometimes see him on the tree outside my window with bug or small lizard in his mouth.

Just a mention that my seagull painting was included in an Etsy Treasury today. This treasury was put together to promote the “Niagara Etsy Artisan Team”. Lots of great talent here, check it out.

From Sarah Lynch

7"X5.5" Pen and wash (no pun intended)

It is a good job that the washing dries pretty fast in the tropics because it was kinda spoiling the view. Behind this line is a wonderful view of the ocean but that is for another day.

5.5"X3.5" Pencil in moleskine

Well I am back from my travels and ready to start posting again. I did some sketching in Puerto Rico and took hundreds of photographs, both with my Canon EOS and with my new toy. I bought a very cheap ($100) mini-camcorder before I left. It has 5 Megapixels, an 8 Gigabyte SD card and a lithium-ion battery which can be recharged with a usb cable. The lens is, needless to say, not very good and there is no optical zoom, only digital. It takes both videos and stills, I had enormous fun with it and took video clips with it like they were snapshots. I still have to find a way to edit them into something manageable, but I have hours of reference material and will start working on it soon.
I will post some of my sketches first, more-or-less in order, and then some paintings as I work on them. This first drawing was just one of my fellow travellers at the airport.

I will be away for a couple of weeks and probably out of network range, so I doubt that I will post very much. However, I hope to be painting, or at least collecting lots of material and will be back, refreshed and renewed at the beginning of March.

I found a cool new tool for Etsy sellers.

12"X12" Oil on canvas


I delivered this commission a few days ago but forgot to take a final photo before I let it go. I went over tonight and took a picture, not a very good reproduction because I had to adjust for the tungsten light. They say that they like it but it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I am not keen on commissions anyway, I tend to agonize too much. This one was especially hard because I had no good reference photos, just a bunch of snapshots, none of them showing the animals together. These are also the only "children" of a childless couple, so the pressure was really on.
I already see lots of things I shold have done differently, but it is done now, thank heavens!
To see WIP go here and here

8"X6" Oil on board

I am not getting very good reproductions, one of the problems with using oil on these short winter days. I can't scan them and by the time I am ready to photograph them there is so little light the results aren't good. The days are starting to get a little longer but it is hard to tell. We have been getting some real Canadian winter weather, overcast and snowing all day with temperatures around -9C.

I go back to work tomorrow and am not looking forward to the drive, it is around 20 kilometres (12 miles) on rural roads, white knuckles all the way.

I finally delivered my pet portrait commission today but I was in such a hurry to get it out of the house before I changed my mind that I forgot to photograph the final version so I will have to go and visit it sometime to record it. They seemed to be pleased with it, so maybe I got it right after all. For the work-in-progress see here & here.

7"X5" Acrylic on board

A familiar sight to anyone who tries to cross the canal on the Lakeshore Road at about 5:30 on a late winter evening. One of those situations where the visor really doesn't help. You have to drive one-handed while using the other one to try to block the sun without actually blocking your view of the road completely.