Next Inktober prompt is Roof. For this prompt I have some ideas, thank you to my husband’s photos of many places we visited:) I will add a link to his site.
Firstly, it is the Roof of beautiful Milan’s Cathedral with its graceful spiers and pointed turrets that are directed into the sky, and slightly pinkish marble walls are decorated with many sculptural images. Secondly, an ink drawing of extraordinary roofs in Provence, south of France. The warm and cozy brown, orange and yellowish shades of roofs with background of the blue water of the Mediterranean Sea are one of my coming art project:) Another option, the “roof” of yellow and red colours leaves’ trees in any Ontario places in Canada. The trees’ brushes are like ceillings for roads when you drive or walk. This nature “roof” looks the same in Canada and in my motherland Belarus or any place in Earth. And next idea brings me to the “decision” for this prompt that includes both Roof and Autumn, 2 in 1!:)
For the prompt Roof I am doing an ink drawing of lovely roofs of the pastoral town Rottenburg ob der Tauber in Germany we stayed once in the fall. Here, you can enjoy viewing of the little houses’ roofs with background of golden trees’ leaves that nature itself painted land in the Northen Bavaria. Rothenburg ob der Tauber is the place …its like you are in an alternative universe or you have gone back in time:)
This is the site with images belong to and can be purchased from Vlad Vitsenkou
And I am ready for tomorrow’s Inktober prompt – Pick
This post is a collection of my October daily sketches, but we’re jumping straight to winter. Because why follow a calendar like normal people?
Toronto’s winter is basically nature’s way of saying “time to stay indoors and contemplate your life choices.” Think snow, think wind, think your home suddenly becomes a cozy fortress where you can enjoy the view from your window while secretly judging people who actually venture outside. There’s ice skating (bring your bruises), and a festive Christmas-New Years atmosphere that makes you forget your heating bill exists.
Fair warning: All paintings in this post are refugees from previous seasons. Consider them time travelers.
Ontario Place in winter, immortalized in oil. Pro tip: If you squint really hard at this painting, you can spot the CN Tower looming in the distance—you know, that charming 0.5 km tall landmark that Toronto residents can see from literally everywhere, even from their nightmares.
Spot the CN Tower. No seriously, it’s in there somewhere.
Winter at Toronto Music Garden downtown? Chef’s kiss. Fancy lights everywhere, a stunning CN Tower backdrop, and—here’s the plot twist—a couple of bright yellow summer beach chairs just casually hanging out on the frozen Ontario lake, apparently on strike from summer and refusing to acknowledge they’re in the wrong season.
Beach chairs on ice. Summer is in denial.
Queens Quay West and Spadina: The year is ending, and Toronto’s streetcar is basically in a mad dash to the finish line! This imaginary masterpiece features a Toronto tram hurtling toward the New Year like it’s late for a very important date, complete with Christmas sled deer (yes, deer—stay with me), flying gifts, and a suspiciously placed bucket of champagne just waiting to get obliterated by a speeding tram. What could go wrong? Happy Holidays will be welcoming… especially this year :)
Yet another Toronto Music Garden watercolor! Featuring: one lonesome snowman, striking a philosophical pose with the CN Tower as his existential backdrop, and a shimmering silver Christmas ball judging his life choices. This was painted during a winter when Toronto actually got snow—yes, that rare, mythical phenomenon. Spoiler: snow doesn’t usually crash this far south near Ontario lake. When it does, locals act like they’ve discovered a new planet.
Or maybe it was a family having the time of their lives, engaged in the ancient tradition of hurling snowballs at each other and collaborating on a frosty monument to their own architectural ambitions.
Behold: A breathtakingly frosty twilight of downtown Toronto—complete with the Financial district’s fortress of high-risers, a cameo by the CN Tower, and Thompson Hall photobombing the party. I even threw in some gold powder because subtlety is overrated.
Gold dust included. You’re welcome.Toronto in winter. Beautiful. Cold. Very cold.
Holiday vibes, zero heating bills pictured.
Gold fantasy extravaganza featuring the CN Tower, Thompson Hall, and Christmas balls so large they probably require their own zip codes.
Romantic. Festive. Definitely not freezing.
The romantic holiday painting with the beautiful night view of Toronto, featuring cheerful downtown during the holiday season. Clock counts down minutes to the New Year, Champagne is ready.
…and winter sunset skyline of Toronto downtown with CN Tower and Rogers centre. My dream shows lots of Christmas balls up in the air with my favorite places in Toronto – CN Tower, Rogers centre, Zoo, ROM Museum, Thompson Hall, Union station, AGO Museum, Pearson airport balls. Everybody can find their interesting places and buildings in the city. Watercolour painting with the landmarks and museums of the City on the Christmas balls, impressionism
Blue hour. Deep thoughts. Frozen toes.
The Toronto Music Garden at night, now in moody blue. Very brooding. Very mysterious. Very “I’m contemplating why I’m standing outside in the snow.”
The snowman has seen things. He stares into the void.
Fingers crossed that my Toronto posts successfully convince you that this city is beautiful and welcoming! (The winter part is negotiable.)
Bon voyage! Until the next adventure :) Stay healthy, stay warm, stay away from icy patches.
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission. (Yes, I’m watching.)
Tools used for my painting: Watercolour by Charvin and Van Gogh brands (yes, THE Van Gogh—no big deal), Derwent watercolour pencils that cost more than my rent, and Faber Castell artist pens for the details. Paper by Strathmore Watercolour and Mixed Media albums, 15×20 cm (6×8 in.) – perfect for when you want your masterpieces portable-sized.
Welcome to the grand finale of my daily “travel and art” expedition through my home city Toronto—specifically October, when the weather couldn’t decide if it was summer or fall and everyone just wore a hoodie with the faint hope they’d covered all their bases. This post is about my neighborhood and that delightful little oasis called the Music Garden, where I pretend I’m culturally sophisticated when really I just wanted a place to sketch away from distracting squirrels.
Yes, that lamp is judging you.
The current unusual year with #stayhome and #lockdown is giving me the “opportunity” (read: forced chance) to discover the bright and friendly place I live in. Turns out when you can’t leave your city, you get really creative about appreciating it. Who knew?
The tram that never waited for anyone.
This painting is mostly for fun :) Honestly, the main subject is that bright yellow street sign screaming “Sidewalk maybe slippery” at the pedestrians—because nothing says “artistic endeavor” like immortalizing municipal warnings in watercolor. I may or may not have laughed while painting it.
I used to trudge this way every morning to my office like a regular working human. Not this year! Almost all locals are now professional Zoom dwellers, except for our essential and frontline workers—thank you, seriously! This particular bridge? It’s on Spadina avenue at Front street, where I stand looking artistically contemplative while secretly plotting which coffee shop to revisit.
Nature doing its best impression of a painting.
Still prettier than my apartment.
The Music Garden is still blooming, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that autumn exists. Apparently Mother Nature didn’t get the memo about the seasonal calendar this year, which honestly? Respect.
The garden, unbothered, thriving, iconic.
My fall “travel and art” adventure in October’s Toronto has officially concluded. Turns out there are buckets of lovely places in and around the city if you’re brave enough to venture beyond your kitchen during a lockdown. (Spoiler: I was.)
High Park in fall. No filter needed — but I used one anyway.
I documented some of my daily sketches this month, capturing my “art office” in all its chaotic glory—you know, that corner where I pretend to look professional while surrounded by paint-stained brushes, mysterious crumbs, and at least three empty coffee cups. It’s organized chaos. Mostly chaos.
Bon voyage! Until the next adventure :) Stay healthy—and more importantly, stay creative!
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission. (Yes, I’m protective of my work. You would be too if you’d spent this much time not getting paid for it.)
Tools used for my painting: Watercolor by Charvin and Van Gogh (the fancy stuff that makes you feel fancy for approximately 0.5 seconds before you drip it on your sleeve). Derwent watercolor pencils and Faber Castell artist pens (because I like to mix media and confuse myself). Paper: Strathmore Watercolor and Mixed Media albums, 15×20 cm (6×8 in.)—perfect for when you want to create art but also maintain your sanity by keeping it to a manageable size.
Daily sketches in downtown Toronto with some funny sculptures. In this post I am adding 3 interesting sculptures and architecture that are located at one park, very convenient for the artists, locals and tourists:)
Dog Fountain at Berczy park. 2020 new reality. I saw some disposable masks on the sculptures of dogs. It is still one of the favorite meet point for friends in the city:) I added coolers of sour cream, tobacco and cappuccino to add warmth of the last days of the Indian summer.
Toronto downtown beautiful Flatiron building by architector Derek Besant. It has a narrow angle from one side, but I like its facade on Berczy park, overlooking the square, like the wrapped edges of autumn leaves. I using colors salmon + rose + vanilla
And another weird and fanciful sculpture of hands out of the ground. Maybe they are life-giving hands of the Earth?:) In my painting I used matte and very deep black with indigo, grass is an autumn shade of flax. The background is the peach-colored building Flatiron building at Berczy park.
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission
Tools used for my painting Watercolour used Charvin and Van Gogh brands, Derwent watercolour pencils and Faber Castell artist pens. Paper Strathmore Watercolour and Mixed Media albums, 15×20 cm (6×8 in.)
My “travelling and art” journey in my city of Toronto, and the next chapter is some… weird sculptures:) The idea is to enjoy a city and study its history and architecture while walking around the city and making sketches.
“Between the eyes” Toronto street sculpture, Ontario. We know how the smile of the Cheshire Cat looks like from the book Alice’s Adventures popularized by Lewis Carroll. My guess that the sculpture shows how the Cheshire Cat’s eyes look like:) I added some silver powder to my painting with sea-colored and raspberry paints for the buildings on Yonge street.
Another weird and funny statue is “Rising” in downtown of Toronto, at University avenue. I would say that it is a combination of an animal …maybe an elk or.. a deer or… an elephant in combination with the branches of forest’ trees. The “Rising” like the Atlant carries on himself the whole colossus of a high rise building. I added spicy brown color to the wall that gives some warmth to the cold silver’s colour of the statue.
The next interesting composition called “Fair grounds”, consists of four pairs of stainless chairs in the middle of a street Wellington W. at John st. One pair of the chairs is “looking” in the same direction, representing a “familiar/family” relationship. The 2nd pair is “arguing” as they are set back to back, just like when two people don’t want to look at or talk to each other. The 3rd pair is “friends”: they are set facing each other, just like friends who sit down to have a chat. And the last pair is set near each other but they are looking in different directions – just like “strangers” would.
Some of these chairs are elegant, some are simple, and each has a unique style, just like people… Next time you walk by these, have a seat at this unique composition. It’d be interesting to see which pair of chairs you would chose: “Family”, “Arguing”, “Friends” or “Strangers”?:)
And adding the bright sketch of Red canoe. Why I am adding this drawing to the post with the weird statues? Because this red boat is standing on top of my neighborhood’s hill!:) Nice warm weather is helping for outdoor art. Enjoying the sun and fresh air and local sketching exersises!:)
Bon voyage! Until the next travel:)
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
Tools used for my painting Watercolour used Charvin and Van Gogh brands, Derwent watercolour pencils and Faber Castell artist pens. Paper Strathmore Watercolour and Mixed Media albums, 15×20 cm (6×8 in.)
Ontario Place is an artificially created island park in downtown with recreation area, on the territory of which there are venues for various festivals, an IMAX cinema, a Budweiser concert stage, well this year they are quite empty..
It has a small marina with snow-white yachts, and many pleasant paths for walking and cycling.
Lovely sunset in Ontario Place and its lonely standing windshare. It reminds me about its famous windmills near Amsterdam, or Cervantes Don Quichotte mills in Spain or a flour mill of my grandgrandparents as per our family’s legends in Belarus. Yes, I am missing so much our annual vacation in Europe, hope that this “stayhome” will be over soon…
Toronto’s fall is very soft and warm, so you can enjoy all this beauty, leisurely walking through numerous the local parks and the picturesque waterfront of Lake Ontario.
Beautiful maples, painted in bright red and gold, are planted along the Ontario lake’s parks.
Bon voyage! Until the next travel:)
All paintings belong to the author. No image is to be copied without permission.
Tools used for my painting Watercolour used Charvin and Van Gogh brands, Derwent watercolour pencils and Faber Castell artist pens. Paper Strathmore Watercolour and Mixed Media albums, 15×20 cm (6×8 in.)
Art and travel club 