Sarah's Painting Journal

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 othe…

7″X5″ Acrylic on boardI never seem to have my camera with me on the best days, when the air is so still that the water is like a mirror. This one wasn’t bad, there was no sun but the reflections were good.

16″X20″ Oil on board
This one is a couple of years old. The scene caught my eye one day driving over the Glendale bridge. The sky was almost black but the evening sun had just managed to find its way under the clouds to illuminate Lock Four to the Sou…

5″X7″ Acrylic on board

I seem to be doing a lot of acrylics recently. Am I getting the hang of them yet? I am not sure, I am getting better at the colour mixing I think, but am still not used to the lack of blendability. The clean up is certainly a…

5.5″X3.5″ Pen & WC pencil on paper

To be “bridged” is a local term which refers to the state of being delayed at the canal while a laker makes its way through one of the lift bridges. Such was my condition this morning.
Instead of playing the g…

5″X7″ Oil on panel
The Welland Canal is endlessly fascinating. The current canal is the fourth and was completed in 1932. The first canal, completed in 1829, was much longer and more meandering, it joined Twelve Mile Creek and the Welland River with a flight of 40 locks which were all constructed from wood. The climb [...]

7″X5″ WC pencil on paper
Usually by the time it gets this cold the canal has been drained, but the boats are still trying to get through the Seaway before it closes. The water is gelid, so cold that it barely ripples with the breeze. Tonight we are supposed to get a major storm. Everyone is [...]

7″X5″ Watercolour & pencil on paper
These gulls sit here every day, winter and summer, I am not sure what they are waiting for.

7″X5″ Acrylic on paper
I got caught at the bridge this morning, so I took some pictures. I am always attracted by these dark autumn skies, especially when the middle-ground is lit up by the early sun like this.
I am still struggling with the acrylics but they do have some distinct advantages. It is certainly [...]

10″X3.5″ Pencil on paper
The giant lakers moving up and down the canal are an unending source of fascination for me. Here is one just coming out of the lock. Because the land is so flat around here, many of the landscape views would work better as panoramas, I think. I am going to try [...]