Sarah's Painting Journal

Summer Flowers 3

Sarah Lynch — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:07:16 +0000

8"X6" Acrylic on board

The garden isn't at its best at this time of year but I managed to find this bunch of assorted daisies, phlox and mallow. There is also a kind of white berry which I remember from my childhood, but can't for the life of me name. I didn't plant it, it seems to have volunteered.

Sketches

Sarah Lynch — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 04:34:30 +0000

Pencil & Watercolour in Moleskine

I just got a new scanner so I have been looking for things to test it with. I found this in my sketchbook from a couple of weeks ago. The building is the Shaw Festival Theatre.

Geraniums on the Patio

Sarah Lynch — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:01:11 +0000

7"X5" Acrylic on board

It has been a busy few weeks, with a daughter getting married and two boys off to first year university. I haven't been very productive.

I have always been very fond of geraniums, especially in pots. I keep them in the basement over the winter, they only need to be watered about once a month and in the spring they have a head start.

These ones are bravely withstanding my tomato plants attempts to take over the world. I am afraid I rather let them get away from me (the tomatoes that is), but they are at last producing fruit and I can't bring myself to discourage them now.

Cuckoo in the nest

Sarah Lynch — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 02:47:41 +0000

7"X5" Oil on board

This year I built a small raised bed by the back door. I filled it with compost, last years leaves, two bags of manure and some peat moss. I planned on a nice orderly vegetable bed with some spinach and some onions, perhaps one or two tomato plants. I bought an aubergine and planted it in the far corner and added onion sets and some spinach seeds. All went well until the tomato seeds in the compost began to sprout. At first I thought I would just let one or two of the healthier plants stay and I diligently weeded most of them out but as the summer progressed I am afraid they have gotten the better of me. I now have a large tomato jungle with at least 3 different varieties, Beefsteak, Roma and Cherries.

The aubergine has long been overgrown and almost hidden at the back of the bed. It didn't seem to be setting any fruit and it was too inaccessible to be hand-pollinated. Today as I was picking my first tomatoes I noticed something on the ground in the far corner, it was large and white and I thought maybe it was a mushroom. I don't remember the variety of eggplant being white, or round, but that seems to be what I have. I have no idea whether it is edible but I intend to give it a try. The tomatoes are delicious!

People

Sarah Lynch — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:20:27 +0000

Sketches in Moleskine

I spent a lot of time watching the passers-by in Mile-End when I stayed in Montreal. I tried to sketch the people from memory because they moved around too much to get any kind of likeness, I tried to just capture some types. The gentleman's hat in the foreground is a little off, although they do wear them right on the top of the head, I haven't quite got the angle right.

I have finally finished painting the back porch and am now determined to take a few weeks off, so maybe I will actually do some more creative painting over the next couple of weeks.

Annual Peach Challenge

Sarah Lynch — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:12:59 +0000

7"X5" Oil on board

Every year I seem to need to torture myself by trying to paint peaches. Maybe if I painted them every day for a week or two, like Julian Merrow-Smith, I would eventually get it right. As it is, I fuss and worry at it for an hour or two and finally give up and call it done. The one in the background gave me the most trouble, for some reason I couldn't seem to maintain the volume.

Anyway, as usual I spent most of the day painting the house. It was the porch floors this weekend. I really am almost done. Maybe I will get some gardening done tomorrow, thank goodness for civic holidays. one of these weekends maybe I will actually take a day off.

Cheskies

Sarah Lynch — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:00:04 +0000

Various sizes in Moleskine

I am still not getting any painting done so, in the interests of keeping this blog alive, I am posting some sketches I did last week in Montreal.

My daughter lives in the "Mile End" region of Montreal, in one of the noisiest apartments I have ever been in. It isn't so bad in the winter, but with no air-conditioning, all the windows are open right now and with a busy street on one side and a rouelle that is used by delivery trucks on another.....

I am not really complaining though. There is constant entertainment, and the bakery across the street is open from around 7:00 am until 11:00 pm, with a steady stream of interesting characters in and out all day long.

Daisies

Sarah Lynch — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:56:30 +0000

5.5"X3.5" Pen & wash in moleskine

Still not very productive, maybe it is the weather but I can't seem to settle to anything. I have been doing some sketching and have just gotten around to scanning some of it, so I may post some over the next few days. I enjoy using this combination of fountain pen and waterbrush with a Staedtler pigment liner. It seems to suit my need for simplicity right now.

I have almost finished painting the house, just finishing the back porch right now. There is still that bathroom dormer that I am trying not to think about. As far as I can see it can only be reached by standing on the 45 degree angle of the roof. It isn't so much the getting up there as the getting down again that bothers me. To paraphrase Rincewind " it isn't so much the heights that bother me as the depths".

Morning House

Sarah Lynch — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 01:24:53 +0000

5.5"X8" WC pencil, pen & wash on paper

Happy July fourth to my American friends!
This is the house just kitty-corner from my house. I used two kinds of pen, a brush pen with permanent ink, and a fountain pen with water soluble ink. I am just getting used to the brush pen, I am still a little clumsy and heavy handed

Tomatoes

Sarah Lynch — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 23:22:31 +0000

8"X6" Oil on board

Another glorious day. I sat out on the porch again but this time attempted a still life. I used to do a lot of these food paintings but they have lost their flavour for me :-).

We don't have any local tomatoes yet, these are the hot-house variety. My plants are big and very healthy, so I should have some of my own before long.