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.