Snow-covered open field on the last day of the year

Today is the last day of the year 2007. I sopped at the conjunction where the first street meets Aberdeen Avenue on the southend of the city, and painted this wooded open field in the early afternoon.

Snow covered hedges

Looking out of the window I was again attracted to the sight of the snow on the top of our hedges in the backyard.

A red house on Prinecess Avenue East

Over night the frosty weather turned every tree into a picture of crystal chandeliers. I came to the spot where a red house stood against the crystal clear sky and painted this view.

A window view

Always enjoy the view from our window in the afternoon when the sunlight starts to give way to the cool later afternoon shadow.

Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba

Commissioned by Mrs Gardner, the fine art teacher from Crocus Plains High School, I drove out to paint the old exhibition building on Keystone Grounds on Sunday afternoon. This painting was commissioned for her friend Anna Hunt-Binkley from British Columbia. However, instead of painting as it is I was asked to make it look like a fall scene instead of a winter one.

A distant view of North Hill of Brandon

Got a glimpse of North Hill from downtown Brandon in the afternoon.

Snow-covered front yard

It was not too cold and I painted this view standing on our driveway around noon on Sunday.

A glimpse of an authodox church on Stickney Street

Painted this view on a snowy afternoon.

A view from the open door

I painted this view through the half -opened door around noon.

Snow covered hedge

Came back from work and seeing the dazzling snow on the hedge in the afternoon sunlight I took our my easel and painted this view.

A glimpse of our next-door neighbour's front yard

Came back from church and before stopping the car on the drive way, I caught a glimpse of this view through the gap in our hedge and decided to paint it from the car.

Song of winter

Painted our snow-covered hedge at noon from the window. I am always intrigued the light and color of the dazzling snow on the hedge.

Frozen Assiniboine River

Came to this spot again and painted this view of winter river from my car.

A window view in the late afternoon

Winter snow and the late afternoon light has transformed what appears to be such an ordinary view into a winter wonderland. Painted this view from our living room window before supper.

The old Manitoba Exhibition Hall

Drove to Keystone Grounds at noon to paint this old building but before I finished it my view of it was totally blocked by all those cars and trucks which came to park there for the game.

Winter Balmoral Bay

There is no question about how deep we are already into this cold and long winter now. A view on Balmoral Bay in the afternoon.

A self-portrait

Painted myself standing in front of a mirror.

An open field on a winter afternoon

It was gloomy and cold but when I found myself on the parking lot of the curling center on the south end close to Crocus Plains High School, the sunlight started to break out of the clouds. Skethed this view in oils from my car.

After the first snow fall

Sketched this view from our drive way after the first heavy fall of snow in the morning.

Painting a portrait

For the last painting class, students in my class were trying their hands at painting a portrait. I did a demonstration of painting Kinsley painting at the studio of the Gallery.

A glimpse of Brandon Cemetery

Caught a glimpse of Brandon Cemetery from the parking lot of Sobbeys and decided to paint it right there against glaring late afternoon sun

Brandon University Original Building

Drove to the conjunction of 18Th Street and Lorne Avenue and sketched BU in oils . I remember this image on the cover of BU calendar book I first received it back in China 16 years ago.

On the edge of Brandon cemetery

I drove to Brandon Cemetery today to paint. It was very cloudy and cold typical of the weather around Remembrance Day each year. I found a spot there to paint, and only to discover  that  most of the bushes there had been cleared out for land development. I could hear and see the work was being carried out right there down the path to prepare the land for building more houses. Soon the landscape that  I was painting right there would also vanish.

Memory of a birch wood in Northwestern China

Also a studio work using photo reference. Here again I am trying to portrait a birch wood in the late fall recalling from my childhood memory of the ubiquitous birch woods in the far northwestern China.

Memory of Southern China

This is a studio work using photo reference. I am trying to depict a moment when the night was giving way to the dawn over a small town south of Yangtze River

Painting a Brandon Landscape

Using two of my plein air works I did over the summer I painted this landscape of Brandon depicting the moment when I took my outdoor painting class to Brandon Dinsdale Park on the Assinibone River in May 2007.

A Path

I do not know how many time I have painted from this path between Balmoral Bay and Cornwallis Cresent. Anyway, I painted again this view against the fast receding sunlight.

Assiniboine River

I intended to paint on the grounds of Brandon Mental Health Center. However, when I got there, and was about to unload my easel to paint, I was approached by the security guard there to ask for my written permit to paint there. Reluctantly I had to leave and found myself painting away instead on the bank of Assiniboine River from Brandon Dinsdale Park.

A red brick house on 14th Street and Victoria Avenue

I was attracted by the warm color of the house on Victoria Avenue and the long and cool shadows cast by the big elm trees. Painted this view on a very cold afternoon.

Our patio in the late afternoon sunlight

Painted this view of our patio from our backyard against the receding sunlight. Noticed how the part of the patio and the junipers were brightly lit by the the remaining sunlight.

Cleaning up the remaining leaves

Painted this view while our next-door- neighbour was cleaning up the fallen leaves using her newly purchased machine against the receding sunlight in the afternoon

In the remaining afternoon sunlight

Painted this view of our house on Balmoral Bay from Mark's front yard across the bay. What struck me most visually was the bright color of our hedges along our driveway and the cast shadows from the leafless trees crisscrossing on the ground

Ready for the Halloween

Nothing can be more of a reminder of the season than the orange colored garbage bags crammed with fallen leaves. I painted this simple Halloween set up on our neighbour's front yard on an October afternoon when the late afternoon sunlight shown so brightly on Mark's front yard.

Morning after a shower of rain

Waking up on a beautiful autumn morning when the rain stopped, the sun came out of the clouds, and the air was so fresh, I rushed outside with my easel and brush,and painted this view from our driveway

A house in the neighbourhood of Balmoral Bay

The brilliant color of a big birch tree caught my eyes. I painted this view while the owner of the house came out to check on her plants growing at the bottom of the tree.

Balmoral Bay in the late afternoon

The wooded front yard of our next-door neighbour offered a unique view in the late afternoon when the sun was breaking out of the clouds transfiguring all of a sudden the view in front of me into something beyond verbal descriptions.

A Beautiful Restoration

Our neighbour has restored this old vintage car to its original condition with such a craftsmanship. I just felt sorry that I was unable to match his skill with my painting skills. I sketched in oils his beautiful car on a partially cloudy morning when it was parked in front of his garage on a back alley on Balmoral Bay, Brandon.

Back Alley on Balmoral Bay

Sketched this view of a back lane on Balmoral Bay.

Our neighbour across the street

Painted this view across the street from our front yard around noon. The vibrant red color of the tree is just so breathtakingly beautiful under the blue autumn sky and in the bright sunlight.

Poplars

The vibrant colours of the poplars standing like a sentry from a backyard of house on Cornwallis Crescent in the late afternoon

The Nursers' Residence Building of the former Brandon Mental Health Centre

I finally got a chance to come to the grounds of the former Brandon Mental Health Center on a Saturday afternoon. The old nurses' building has been converted to a Culinary Art Teaching Center for Assiniboine Community College now. I painted against receding afternoon sunlight and finished it in two hours.

My Wood

Can I claim this wood as my own? I have painted here so many times now. The wooded area next to our house is getting smaller with fewer and fewer trees remaining standing there now. Each year we see more of them gone due to weather and their age. Painted this after work in a rush.

Dark clouds looming large in the distance

Painted this view of the dark cloudy sky from the abandoned open play ground in the neighbourhood of Cornwallis Crescent. A few native kids were running towards me when they spotted me painting there.

Balmoral Bay in the late afternoon sunlight

I painted this view again when the receding sunlight was lighting up the south side wall of my house as well as part of the remaining foliage of the trees in front of our neighbour's front yard

The sun setting on Balmoral Bay

The setting sun light has transfigured a mondane grove of trees behind our hedges in the late afternoon.

Harvest Moon

Moon is rising over Balmoral Bay just before the sun set below the horizon completely.

Assiniboine River

I do not know how many time I have come here to paint on the spot from Dinsdale Park in Brandon. Here I am again painting this view on a late fall afternoon.

Raining heavily on Rosser Avenue East

It was raining heavily on Thanks Giving Weekend Sunday when I drove to Rosser Avenue East,stopped there and painted this view from inside my car.

Brandon Court House

It was partially cloudy on Sunday when I came to sketch in oils the court house on Princess Avenue.

A view on Clark Street

An impressive view on Clark Street in Brandon in the fall.