"A" Pencil portraits...OK, a lot of these are charcoal, not graphite pencil, but the idea is the same.  I try to draw a charcoal or graphite portrait sketch every day.  I'm hoping it will help my ability to closely observe people and other images and then render a good likeness.  So these are essentially practice sketches from my notebooks although I sometimes snip them out and give them to the subject people.  The ones that look more like their cousin than the actual subject, stay in the notebook.  My computer organizes them alphabetically, so here are some of the "A" listers.

AL and RL-  A mother/daughter pair- dyed in the wool Cape Bretoners!  Graphite pencil on sketch paper

AD was at her sister's wedding when I snapped a photo for this sketch.  Graphite on sketch paper

A and S- A lovely, young couple who live in our neighbourhood.  Both very athletic, he was an olympic athlete for Canada at the Beijing games.  Charcoal on drawing paper.

AMS - Flowers in her hair.  She too, was at HER sister's wedding. Charcoal on toned drawing paper.

City of Lakes

This little city of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, part of the municipality of Halifax, has almost two dozen lakes and a goodly chunk of harbour and Atlantic Ocean coast line.  Here are a few pictures featuring those waters.



In Friendship We Grow-  The motto of Dartmouth  (In Amicitius Crescimus).  This unique piece was created for the kitchen of some friends.  One of them is Irish so the pottery is Carrigaline earthenware as made in County Cork.  The red and white stripes are a generating station over the hill in Tufts Cove, near where the Halifax explosion occurred in 1917- the largest pre-atomic manmade explosion.  The ship represents our Coast Guard base.  Acrylic on canvas.

Don't Look Back-  Paddling, canoeing and kayaking are big sports in Dartmouth, where we have hosted many national. international and three world championship regattas, one juniors and two seniors.  Half way down the course the temptation is always there to check on the opposition.  Acrylic on Canvas

Sullivan's Regatta-  Some of the regattas here are crewless.  Radio-controlled sailboats are raced every Sunday on Sullivan's Pond, part of a canal system which runs across Nova Scotia, connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Bay of Fundy.  Home of the world's highest tides.  Watercolour on 200 lb Curry's paper

Bobbing for Shriners-  Still on Sullivan's Pond you can see these large fez-shaped stone structures which were canal markers showing the entrance to the locks at the upper end of the pond.  A dozen geese and dozens of ducks, mergansers, terns and you name it are always about scrounging for food.  St Peter church is in the background.  The shady stripe down the middle was a gift of our old scanner, now in electro-heaven.  Watercolour on 300 lb Arches paper

Moonrise over the Coast Guard Base-  For over 100 years there has been a base for the icebreakers, search and rescue and navigational aids vessels of the Canadian Coast Guard at Dartmouth Cove.  The tiny boats are fast rescue craft heading out for a nighttime exercise.  Acrylic on Canvas

Osprey at CCG Base-  A repeated pic here, but I thought I'd include it in this water-based entry.  The Osprey is the provincial bird of Nova Scotia and they can be seen around the lakes and harbour any day once the snow disappears in the spring.  Acrylic on Canvas

MEM at Lawrencetown-  The beautiful ocean beaches at Lawrencetown, Cole Harbour and Cow Bay are all only a few minutes from Dartmouth.  Swimming in the summer and surfing year-round mean there's always something paintworthy going on out there.  Acrylic on tiny canvas (5"X5")

R's First Masters' First-  Back to Lake Banook to finish our tour.  When paddlers get into their twenties, they usually stop paddling in the national events which lead to the olympics where a number of our Dartmouth athletes have done well.  Many then take up the sport as masters, a great way to keep having fun and staying fit with your friends.  This was R's first, first place finish as a Master.  Watercolour on 300 lb. Arches paper