Scotch

Laphroaig and Glass

10"x8" oil on canvas panel

What to paint in winter? Thinking about Valentine's Day coming up I got out a bottle of brandy and a couple of glasses. Hopefully you'll see that painting in a few days. I thought I should practice first and so grabbed a bottle of my favorite scotch, Laphroaig, and a single glass.

I set up the still life next to a window, with a black backdrop and a white linen napkin as the base. and took a few photos since the light was changing fast. Here are a few process shots.

Value under painting in yellow ochre and ultramarine blue

 Putting in the darks

First pass of color (note the change to a purple background)

Painting the background a different color than what I could see was of course not such a great idea. I  immediately knew that the bottom of the glass was now too dark. So the next morning I went to JoAnne Fabrics and bought a piece of purple fabric to replace the black.

Notice also that the bottle leans a little in the process photos and the ellipse at the top of the glass is crooked and bigger on the bottom then the top. So I had to fix all that. For a discussion of how to get the ellipse correct in this kind of painting, see this great post by my buddy Carol L. Douglas.

Nauset Marsh

"Nauset Marsh"

8"x10" oil on Raymar panel

Last month I visited Cape Cod with my dear friend Mary. We went gallery hopping and also managed to get out for a beautiful painting session at Fort Hill in Eastham. This is the view from the parking lot across the marsh to Nauset Beach and the old Coast Guard Station.

I've also included a photo of the painting at the end of that session. You can see that I had some adjustments to make, pulling in the marsh in the foreground and adjusting the values of the marsh grass (lighter) and water (darker). I don't usually modify my plein air paintings, but this one needed it. And if I showed you my original thumbnail, the composition would look a lot more like the finished painting...

Also wonderful on this trip, were the painters that we met. Our first morning, as we headed up Commercial St. in Wellfleet, we saw a fellow painting on the side of the road near Uncle Tim's Bridge. Of course we had to stop and admire his work, and it was well worth admiring. It was Michael Davis, and he very kindly answered our questions about the painting, and told us which galleries to visit to view more of his work. I don't think he has a website, so take a look at his work on the Kiley Court Gallery site (Provincetown) and the Left Bank Gallery site (Wellfleet). What a great painter and nice man!

Green House, Fruitlands

Green House, Fruitlands

8"x10" oil on Raymar panel

 The painting at the end of my first session, and sun is now behind the house.

Last Friday and again on Tuesday I worked on this painting at the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA. Fruitlands is a beautiful park with historic buildings on the site of the unsuccessful utopian community of the 19th century transcendentalists. In addition to the museum exhibits, and a fine restaurant, people come here to walk and to see the wonderful views across to Mount Wachusett and beyond. They have a plein air program, where artists get an annual membership for donating a painting done on the site. Above is the second painting I've done there.

I've been using a new tool that helped me choose this scene and get a good composition. It's called Value Viewer, and I use it on my iphone. My favorite feature is the notan view, which lets you check the composition without the distraction of color or gray-scale nuances. Below is the notan view from Value Viewer of my first composition choice, note how the light lean-to on the right drags your eye out of the picture. A different shot, which includes the shadow side of the lean-to is much better, see bottom image.  Thanks, Haidee-Jo for suggesting this app!

A day on Peaks Island

 "Rocky Shore"

8"x10" oil on Raymar panel

On Monday I took the ferry to Peaks Island from Portland, and what a beautiful day it was. Gorgeous puffy clouds, but still lots of sun, and a nice 65 degrees. After much futzing around checking out locations, learning island history, and finally renting a bike to get to the back side of the island, I set up on a rock overlooking the Atlantic,... and it started to sprinkle. I thought I was back in Brittany with the Wapping guys! I covered everything, took a walk, and it started again. So I just started painting.

 The scene, but of course by this time the tide was much farther in.

 Artist riding the bike with backpack on, tripod and panel carrier in the paniers. Am I sore after all that walking and riding? Yes, but it was a fun day on the island.

"Ocean Point" - OPA Great Paint Out 2012

 "Ocean Point" 10:x8" oil on Raymar panel

The scene.

On Wednesday I painted with the Plein Air Painters of Maine group at Ocean Point in East Boothbay for the Oil Painters of America Great Paint Out 2012. It was a beautiful day and lots of fun. I met some great painters, including one of my heroes, Tony van Hasselt. This kind of day is such a treasure, with winter heading our way.

The painting above was done about 4PM, when everyone else was gone, in the spot where Tony stood in the morning. I was thrilled to have been in his painting. I was closer in at that point, looking into the sun, painting the tree on the right.  I'll post my tree painting and some of my sketches when I get back to my scanner.

Laudholm Marsh

Laudholm Marsh 10"x8" oil on Ampersand Panel

 The platform that solidly held my umbrella

Yesterday I painted at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farm. It's been years since I painted there, I used to very much enjoy their annual wet paint auction. I wish they'd bring it back.

I wanted to paint the marsh near where it goes into the ocean, and was lucky to have this platform to stand on, with an excellent railing on which to clamp my umbrella. It was sunny and a bit windy, so this was a welcome surprise. Umbrellas clamped to tripods often tip over in a breeze, which I know from experience. With this set-up, it wasn't going anywhere.