Geese

Geese

These guys were wondering around Great Brook Farm in Carlisle, MA yesterday. It was literally too hot to paint, so I got in a few minutes of sketching. I need to study the backwards bend in the legs a bit more, but I think these capture their gangly sort of grace.

"Harbor Island"

"Harbor Island"
5"x7" oil on gessobord

Yesterday I drove to Boothbay Harbor to deliver paintings to The Gallery at Boothbay Harbor for the summer season. I couldn't resist heading across the harbor to a wonderful little park with a super view of the working harbor to do a quick plein air painting. Harbor Island only has three houses, two of which you see here. I am lucky to have visited this idyllic island some years ago when a friend owned one of the houses. I'm looking forward to going back to paint some boats from this spot.

"By The Lake"

"By The Lake"

6"x8" oil on canvas panel

I was back by the lake this week, working on this different approach to the reflection. Instead of using the device of a swath of water reflecting the sky, I worked hard to make the reflection darker and more blurry than the actual scene. Compare the above to these previous views of this scene, Houses by the Lake and Lake House Reflections. Which do you think works best?

Scouting Plein Air

"Mill Corner"

"Mill Tower"

This time of year I love to paint outside, usually before work in the morning. I also enjoy going on scouting trips to find places to paint. I scout at lunch or on days when it's dripping or otherwise not good for painting.

Above are a couple of sketches of today's scouting adventure.

So what do I look for on a scouting trip?
- inspiration - for me that usually comes from composition, shapes and colors that grab me. You might think it would be the light, but since I'm painting when the light is optimal, I am usually scouting when it is not.
- light - I use the compass in the car to tell me where the sun will be at painting time (morning or evening) and try and figure out what will be lit. I do pay attention when the sun's out and I see a wonderfully lit subject, and note it for later.
- location - for before work painting, the location can't be too far off my route to work, there just isn't time for travel.
- parking - I want to park close and well off the road, there's no time for hiking either, and I don't want have to worry about myself or the car being hit.
- quiet - quiet is wonderful, but it doesn't compare with beauty - if I like the scene I tune out the traffic or construction or whatever noise there is.

What do I do at the location I'm scouting?
- take pictures to crop later in putting together the exact scene
- sketch for the same purpose - this is far more useful, working through the composition tells me whether it actually is compelling

"Princes Point Houses"

"Princes Point Houses"

6"x6" oil on canvas panel

Continuing the houses theme, I spent a couple of very pleasant hours this morning enjoying beautiful weather on Princes Point in Yarmouth while painting my neighbors houses. Those who are familiar with this scene will realize that something is missing (the dock), which is pretty funny since I was standing on it the whole time.

Tweaks

"Houses at the Lake" top before tweaking, bottom after tweaking

"Marsh at Forge Pond" top before tweaking, bottom after tweaking

I try to step back and review these plein air sketches on site, but often I'm on a tight schedule and don't have time to do it properly. So I'll do a tweak after the sketch dries. Above are two examples. In "Houses At The Lake", I wasn't happy with the house on the right, it felt like a uniform blob of orange. So I added some shadows, lightened the right side, and widened the door to break it up a bit. In "Marsh at Forge Pond", I felt that the bottom of the left most tree had two much contrast, drawing my eye there, and the pattern of light and shadow at the base of the trees was too uniform, like a checkerboard. Both issues were fixed in the tweak. The trick with tweaking is not to do too much and overwork, the freshness of the original is easy to lose.

What do you think? Do the tweaks improve the paintings?

Note: any difference in overall color is due to inconsistent photography, not tweaking.

"Lake Houses Reflections"

"Lake Houses Reflections"
5"x7" oil on canvas panel

I painted this early this morning when the lake was still. It was much warmer than Monday and Tuesday, when I nearly froze. Tuesday's was a whiper, and it was raining yesterday, so I was happy to be able to work this one out. The shapes of the houses and the trees is what keeps bringing me back to this scene, which I have painted before. It's always the shapes and the spots of color that attract me and that's what I try to capture. I'm pleased with this one!

New Puppies Drawings

"Cold Noses"

3"x3" ink on paper

"Nap Time"

3"x3" ink on paper

"All Tired Out"

3"x3" ink on paper

My friends Martha and Marne just got new Jack Russell Terrier puppies, Livy and Lulu. I visited Sunday morning to try and capture them in pen and ink. These are the best three out of seven attempts. They weren't as asleep as they look here, and squirmed, wiggled, and generally were cute as anything. I can't wait to go back for more.

Some notes about this kind of sketch: go fast, do another rather than overwork; less is more, just a few lines do the job; leave out the spots. The versions I'm not showing you are the ones where I didn't follow this advice!

Millpond Reflections in Process

Millpond Reflection Step 1

Millpond Reflection Step 2

I meant to post these last night along with the painting, but it was late... Step 1 is a quick drawing on the toned ground, and step 2 is at the completion of the first pass of color, before dealing with the sky and water. For me it's important to not do detail at this stage, but get the rest of the canvas covered. (When I run into trouble it is usually because I get sucked into the detail here.) The sky and water color has a lot of white, which I don't like to use until the other colors get a first pass. It's used to fix the final shapes of the greenery. Often the painting doesn't look too great at step 2, thenegative space sculpting of the sky/water makes a huge difference. After that I add some more detail to the greenery, and then, with luck, it's done!

"Millpond Reflections"

"Millpond Reflections"

6"x6" oil on canvas panel

I went back this morning to the same pond that I painted a few weeks ago, to see how it looks with later spring foliage. Big changes! And with more wind, the reflections came and went in some nice patterns. It was really cold. I wore my old leather gloves with fingers cut off, which worked great. I really love this spot, and I think my enthusiasm shows in the painting.