The view from my studio

Posted: August 3, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 18 Comments

We’ve had a lot of rain over the past two days. So much that my hydrangeas are flopping over and blocking the view from my studio window. It was my intention to paint the old bottles on the window sill today, but when I saw the hydrangeas, I thought I would incorporate them into my painting. It was a bit of an odd experiment because usually things outside the window are further away and often lighter in value, or at least treated with a lighter range of values to separate inside and outside. But in this case they were right up against the glass so I incorporated lots of darks.

Painted on a quarter sheet of Saunders Waterford, CP, 140 lb, using a limited palette of Burnt Sienna, Quinacridone Gold, Payne’s Grey and Carbazole Violet. And a bit of Titanium White at the very end for highlights.

Hydrangeas in four colours

Posted: November 2, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 22 Comments

Besides watching baseball, this was the weekend to finish up the garden cleanup. I had a list of things that needed to be done — mainly cutting down perennials and shrubs. The biggest of the tasks on my list was to trim the hydrangeas. As I trimmed and discarded the cuttings, I noticed the beautiful, fading colours of each of the different varieties. I set aside one branch from each plant, and when I was done, my reward was to paint them.

You don’t need many colours to paint faded blooms. For these hydrangeas, I chose Carmine and Raw Sienna for the flowers, and Sap Green and Payne’s Grey for the leaves. I love the brownish hues you get when you mix green and red together, so that was my mix for the darks.

This was a great warm-up exercise for my one-day “Plants and Flowers in your Sketchbook” workshop in Hudson, Quebec, coming up this week. This session is full, but I’m holding another one on November 20th and I have a few spots left. If you are interested, drop me a line.