Sunday, April 27, 2008

Spreading lawn fertilizer


My mother got bored and wanted to do something outdoor. She helped us with spreading the fertilizer from a small ice cream pail in our backyard in the late afternoon while a robin landed right in front of her.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

A glimpse of the path on Balmoral Bay

Still quite chilly in the morning when I came to the same old spot to paint this view on Balmoral bay.

Friday, April 25, 2008

A glimpse from the back alley


Painted this view again from the back alley in the late afternoon where my mother helped with raking the dead leaves from last fall and bagging them up.

Monday, April 21, 2008

A glimpse of the evening sky


It was really cold despite the warm appearance of the sunlight against the evening sky. The warm light contrasted quite dramatically with the dark clouds that swept through the sky.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

A glimpse from our front yard


Painted this view again from our front yard againtst the sunlight. It was a bit cloudy arount noon.

A glimpse of our shed


A little shimmering color appeared on the willow trees behind our shed beyond the hedges. Painted this view around noon.

Friday, April 18, 2008

A glimpse of our backyard


A glimpse of our backyard on a quiet afternoon where the bags of dead leaves casting a long shadow and the bench used to trim our hedges standing there patiently waiting for the spring.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Embracing trees

Turning my easel around from the empty lot after finishing the first painting and was so impressed by the view of the two big trees from both sides of the fence reaching out to each other.

A glimpse of a red house


There is an empty lot on Balmoral Bay where I got a glimpse of a house very impressive with red paint in the afternoon sun.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

From the other side of the hedges



Turning my easel around on the same spot I painted a quick view of sunlight pouring over the roof top of our house and lighting up our drive way where Fengping had just returned from work with the car.

Mark's house


On my way home I stopped to paint our neighbour's house across the street.

A house facing Balmoral Bay


Painted this house on last fall and here again I came to paint it at the end of winter on Saturday after I finished the first painting.

Balmoral Bay in the morning


Woke up to a beautiful morning and hurried outside to try to capture the beautiful moment after setting up my easel right beside south side of the house.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Assiniboine River remain frozen


Drove to the spot behind the River Bank Discovery Centre only to find the river still frozen. However, I could feel the warm undercurrent beneath the frozen ice starting to break through.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Over the hedges


A bit cloudy toward the late afternoon. Could see the shimmering color of the willow trees lining up against the fence on the back alley.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Sunset


Standing on the deck to watch the sunset and painted a quick view of it over the neighbour's backyard.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

A glimpse of a front yard on Balmoral Bay


Shadows of the birch, elm and spruce across the front yard and a puddle of water reflecting the trees are what attracted me to this spot for this painting on Balmoral Bay at 4 p.m.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Light over the fence


Receding sunlight poured over the fence along the path leading to Balmoral Bay, lighting up the remaining patch of snow in the late afternoon.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Old willow trees


Turning my easel around after the first painting I painted again the old willow tree in John's backyard.

Crab apple tree in Mr. Gross's backyard


Well, it was a totally different season when I found myself in the backyard of John Gross's where snow still covered every inch of the ground deep and thick. The azure sky contrasted so dramatically with the white expanse of snow in the afternoon.

Shadow of the tree


Shadow of the tree over the exposed lawn and the remaining patch of snow on our front yard was painted around noon.

Last patch of snow


Came home from work to find the last patch of snow catching the last ray of sunlight in our backyard.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Friday, April 4, 2008

Shed on the back alley


It was about 2 mp when I started to paint this view on the back lane again. The blue sky and the warm shimmering colours of the trees complement beautifully in the afternoon sun.

Balmoral Bay

After the first painting for the day, I looked down the street from this direction and painted this view of Balmoral bay without moving my easel.

The big house on Balmoral Bay


It was already around 11 when I got out to paint today. I went across the street to try to paint the big house on our right. It was a bit cloudy and chilly.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Trees and hedges


Finally, I turned my easel around again to face the wooded spot right besides our house and painted the trees and hedges and the remaining patches of snow.

Junipers and patch of snow


After that, I simply turned my easel around to try to capture the view of the junipers drenched in the early afternoon sunlight with the only patch of snow catching their cool shadows.

Yenning for planting

Then, I moved my easel into the backyard. Now our flower bed finally free of snow, seemed to be begging for plants.

A view between two houses


After the first painting, I simply moved my easel a few feet away and painted the view between my house and my neighbour's. It was about 11 am.

In bright morning sunlight

Tried to capture the light effect from high above on the house , the trees across the street and the junipers right in front of our house. It was about 10 in the morning.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

A glimpse of Mark's house across the street


It was about 2 in the afternoon when the sun was shining brightly in the sky and the big tree in Mark's backyard looked so majestic against the azure spring sky.

John Gross's house


The sun came out of the clouds again when I started the fifth painting of the day. It was mail delivery time again. I captured the mail man on his way to deliver the mail .

Mark's truck parked on the street


It was even more cloudy when I started the fourth painting of the day by just moving my easel across the street.

Three spruces standing around the corner

Just turning my easel in a different direction without much moving, I painted again the spruces on the corner. It was getting much more cloudy by then.

Our house


It was getting a bit cloudy just few minutes into the painting of our house viewed from across the street this morning

A window view at dawn


Pulled up the curtain, and painted this view at 8:00 AM today.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Sign of spring?


Nothing could be of more of a reminder of spring than this draining pipe over our flower bed, I guess. This is the fourth painting of the day.

A glimpse of our next door neighbour's house


It was time for the post man to come to the door when I started the third painting, and when the gentelman did come to my door, he asked me if he walked slowly ,would I catch him in the painting. I tried when he was almost out of my sight.

Stretching out into the spring sky


After the first painting, I looked up into the sky and almost could feel the breath of spring. This is the second painting.

Quite warm when I set up the easel on our front yard , and could hear the dripping of the melted snow over our eaves. I did 4 paintings in a row on the first day of April.