Chambers Gorge

Although not perfect the image for todays update is much closer to the real life colour of the Chambers Gorge Rock Pool, where as yesterdays was saturated with a lot of red.Todays progress consists of more glazing over the still water along with grasses amongst the rocks. Also another layer added to the foliage of the trees in the background along with some timber. More flicks of colour were added to the mat of grass in the middle ground.Strangely enough the more I do to this painting; another area then needs to be worked on. It is like playing 'catch up' at all times and yep that means I will be catching you with another post once more on this subject. Quick links:Free Subscription to Arts & Stuff by Email technorati tags: oil, wip, grisaille, landscape, art, artist, landscape artistArts & Stuff with Susan Borgas SnapShots

Finely a long overdue update for you to scrutinise. Having never used this grisaille technique before I have to admit to being out of the comfort zone, especially when working on a painting of this size.The addition of flora as well as glazes over the water area is now starting to really breath life into the painting that I can now see the long awaited finish line approaching.The image colours are not quite correct with the reds coming through a little strong on the right as well the shadow colour in the rocks are brighter than they should be. In real life it does look much better but with a dark dreary day here for photos and wanting to post to my blog; this photo is it for today.What next? More glazes along with flicks and dabs to refine areas that need attention, so until then I have plans for another update tomorrow..... grrrr and watch out who ever gets in my way of this happening! Quick links:Free Subscription to Arts & Stuff by Email technorati tags: oil, wip, grisaille,

I am soooo enjoying this stage of the oil painting. All the hard work has been done working out the tonal map with the grisaille technique that I can now just add my layers of colour.Because it is a landscape I have some flat darker colour in some areas where vegetation will be placed over the top giving the grasses and shrubbery depth. You didn't think I was going to paint every blade of grass did ya? This image isn't the best as the yellow for some reason wants to be dominant and yet the painting has very little left from the under painting. The rocks in fact do have a very pale wash of Burnt Sienna over them. Maybe the camera is picking up the yellow from that. I don't really have the time to spare to play around with the image too much so this one is it folks!I am hoping for a translucent sky, which already has two glazes of colour with more to come. I am unable to add the shrubbery that will come up above the skyline until this area is completed with glazes.Did I say I am enjoy

Just a very quick post today showing you the landscape painting that I am working on as is in my studio.Today I actually worked all over the painting, refining some of the tonal values with glazes along with catching other areas up.Back to the studio I go..... [imagine waving smiley here]Quick links:Free Subscription to Arts & Stuff by Email technorati tags: Wip Chambers Gorge studio shot landscape oil painting, grisailleArts & Stuff with Susan Borgas SnapShots

Did some more work on this grisaille today and made sure a photo was taken this time. The yellow is showing up stronger than it really is. Not sure if it is my camera or the light conditions the photo was taken under.Yesterday was spent cleaning up in my garden, which I haven't done for twelve months or more and that is my excuse that I never posted to this blog yesterday.At the moment the weather is so beautiful here that my garden is just begging me to give it some tender loving care. Hopefully with some more rain in the near future, my garden will bounce back to its former glory. I may then come up with a garden painting if the area is pretty enough. Quick links:Free Subscription to Arts & Stuff by Email technorati tags: grisaille, oil, landscape, garden, photo, blogArts & Stuff with Susan Borgas SnapShots

Nope the grisaille isn't finished much to my own disgust. Never mind it will be waiting for me when I get back from a two week break in New South Wales. Hubby and I are leaving tomorrow morning with our caravan in tow.Some of the areas called Outback and Heart of Country in New South Wales are the places Malcolm and myself will be visiting. I wish we could visit all the clickable areas on the map but it just will not happen because two weeks isn't enough time to do so, which is approximately the time we are taking away from home for this caravanning holiday.Thankfully we have a son and his partner that will look after the farm while we are away. It is very handy having them living a stones throw away.Well dear friends, this is the last post until my return. Take care and I will catch you all on Arts and Stuff when I arrive home. Oh yes and it isn't impossible that I may post a snapshot over on my other blog while we are away. Quick links:Free Subscription to Arts & Stuff by Emai

Steal a 648k snapshotIt is getting late and while Malcolm waits patiently in the Patrol I happily snap away to get some more photos as I know it will be quite some time before we visit this area again.It wasn't until after I posted the first photo of this area to SnapShots that I regretted not starting from the very beginning of the trip by way of telling a story for the whole day. It is something for me to remember to do in future.This last photo of the sun setting over Wilpena Pound was taken to close our daylight hours to a very big day on the road. This was the only stop that we made as the later the day became the more kangaroos we had to avoid hitting as they came out to feed. It was quite a relief to get back to Wilpena Pound caravan and camp grounds where we were staying at the time I was artist in residence.Steal a 323k snapshotFor those that are not familiar with Blog Feeds I have made it easy for you to subscribe to updates by using an email subscription. This way any upda

The grisaille is coming along really well but slowly as there are so many variants of tones to consider. One thing that surprises me, at this stage there is little paint used.Because I am not working the whole painting at once I am able to sit, which is good for my leg that is still giving me trouble although on the mend as long as I rest it. Maybe trying my hand out with a grisaille technique is timely to keep me off my feet.Not really sure when my next post will be. Once more there is a trip to Port Pirie tomorrow. This time it is in preparation with a two week trip interstate so need to get our vehicle serviced plus tucker shopping and other odds and ends done. Sadly we have a funeral to attend this week as well.Anyway Malcolm (husband) and I are not heading off with our van in tow for another week yet. With a bit of luck I hope to get the grisaille stage of this painting finished before we leave so that it dries properly before I start adding colour.Well I better go and clean my br

Click and steal a 642k SnapshotThis is another snapshot from deep in Chambers Gorge. I have to admit to being a little disappointed when Malcolm and I found the water hole, as it was just basically lower area of the creek bed without any vegetation growing around it; well other than the tree growing out of the side of the rock as you see in this image. The eucalyptus tree is certainly a very tough one!The waterhole wasn't all that big although there seemed plenty of depth to it, which I couldn't see because the breeze was coming down the gorge constantly in this area and rippling the water. I would have loved to have been able to take a photo of reflections in the water but knowing that we had to head back from where we had come, which was quite a distance and the time waiting for the water to level out wasn't available.There is photos to come from this area so watch out for them.If you haven't done so, check out the oil painting that I am working on at my Arts & Stuff blog. It is

My studio has an atmosphere of the outdoors today. No air-conditioner needed to cool things down so my door and large window is open to the East. The Magpie also is warbling a beautiful song just outside of my window as I paint.Because this work is so big (840 x 960 mm canvas) I am more comfortable getting the rock areas worked up ahead of the rest of the Grisaille. That is one of the reasons that I didn’t post yesterday, it was along day and yet I felt there wasn’t a lot to show and tell from the previous post.For those that are wondering what my paint mix is, it is equal parts of Raw Umber and Ivory Black which makes a lovely dark.Uh oh, there is a family domestic going on now amongst the magpies, now that is not relaxing!I am now getting right into the swing of the Grisaille knowing that the tonal map will be completed before I start adding colour and basically all the hard work will be done. I am fully aware that Grisaille are best suited for a Still Life and because of this, w

Ok.... on with the chambers gorge series of photos. By the time Malcolm (husband) and I had reached this area the flies were driving us nuts and that is an understatement! To get to this area we pushed through some thick native vegetation and even met a couple of university students who were cataloging the species of plants found in this area.We didn't walk through the gap as time was against us. The students had informed us that there was indeed a spring in this area which we found. That photo will be posted next.The rock pool painting from the Chambers Gorge area that I am presently working on isn't going to be posted today even though I have worked most of today on it. To see my first post of the work in progress, click here.Click and steal a 590k snapshotQuick links:Free Subscription to SnapShots by Email Take a look at my Arts & Stuff Blog technorati tags: chambers gorge, flies, painting, image, photo, snapshots

Jeepers I must be mad!!! I have never done a Grisaille with oil before and I go and do a large one. As you can see I haven’t finished the first layer and yet more to be done. The correct values will be that much closer to what I want in the next pass and fined tuned in the third.The board was already primed with the yellow background so went with it for the Grisaille as that was all I had. The yellow has been very successful with my drier technique with oils so we will see how it goes with glazes.Well I better post this and then go and clean my brushes and pack my paints away…… catch ya tomorrow!Quick links:Free Subscription to Arts & Stuff by Email technorati tags: Grisaille, chambers gorge, oil landscape, art, artist, landscape Arts & Stuff with Susan Borgas SnapShots

Looking back from where we had come, this Snapshot shows the rock that my husband and I scrambled over when heading into Chambers Gorge. See the links at the bottom of the post for previous images of this area in the Flinders Ranges.Click and steal a 689kb SnapShotRelated PostsChambers GorgeChambers Gorge Snapshot with waterQuick links:Free Subscription to SnapShots by Email technorati tags: Snapshot, image, photo, landscape, Chambers Gorge, Flinders Ranges

Yesterdays post showed a face of the cliff leading up to this area in todays snapshot of Chambers Gorge. The area is quite rugged and my husband and I found ourselves scrambling over rocks, avoiding stepping in water plus a watchful eye out for snakes and yes we did see one snake; don't know how many saw us though!Click here to steal a 680kb snapshotQuick links:Free Subscription to SnapShots by Emailfirst post for Chambers Gorge technorati tags: Snapshot, image, photo, landscape, chambers Gorge, water, rugged, snakes

The next painting that I would like to tackle is from the area known as Chambers Gorge in the Flinders Ranges. There are massive creeks that run into this area and look out if you get caught in a flash food. These floods have been know to bury Four Wheel Drives in this Gorge.Click for 652kb snapshotQuick links:Free Subscription to SnapShots by Email Take a look at my Arts & Stuff BlogArts and Stuff with Susan Borgas website technorati tags: Snapshots, chambers gorge, flash flood, flinders, flinders ranges, images, photos, free, free snapshots, free photos, free images