"Wells Marsh Sunset"

Wells Marsh Sunset

5"x7" oil on Centurion Linen panel

On Monday I painted with the Plein Air Painters of Maine in Wells, on the marsh.  A beautiful afternoon, still warm, though windy on the beach, and we stayed through sunset. I've included a video here, which you may need to click on the title of the post to see, if you are reading this from the email.

"From Mt. Agamenticus"

From the top of Mt. Agamenticus, in York, Maine, around 5PM on Oct. 14

5"x7" oil on Centurion oil primed linen panel

The same view, about 5:30PM

And again around 6PM

On Monday I painted with the Plein Air Painters of Maine southern group, at Mt. Agamenticus State Park on top of the mountain of that name in York. Mary Byrom and I decided to stay and paint the sunset, using an approach she calls "painting into the sunset". First, we painted looking towards where we though the sun would set, just to get our bearings. Then as the sun started to set, we each began a second painting. And we managed to get a third as well. We were painting so fast, it was amazing. The sky was changing even faster though! As I said to Mary, what could be more fun than this?

"Pratt's Brook Marsh"

Pratt's Brook Marsh

9"x12" oil on Raymar panel

Initial Drawing

Not finished, but the light had gone...

End of first session

I had lots of fun at the marsh behind Day's Lobster in Yarmouth, Maine last weekend. It was just before sunset and I'd get an occasional glimpse of the sun, just enough to light up the marsh grass with that wonderful autumn glow. I'm always amazed at how fast the tide moves in the creek bed, it was a challenge to fix one water level in my memory. I wasn't quite finished when the light had gone and so went back a couple of nights later, catching the rising instead of ebbing tide. The finished painting is at the top.

"Downtown Monhegan"

"Downtown Monhegan"

8"x10" oil on linen panel

the painting on the easel, it became overcast as I finished up

the initial drawing

This is my favorite painting from my trip last week to Monhegan Island. And it was the first one that I painted! As I headed towards the Trailing Yew, where I was staying, I noticed the wonderful shade provided by the shed on the right of the middle picture (where all the signs are posted). I wouldn't even need to set up the umbrella! So I quickly got my gear organized and came right out to take advantage of the sun, blue sky, and blissful shade.

Now this is the main drag on Monhegan and the daily tour boats were due in over the next couple of hours, so I knew it wasn't going to be the easiest place to paint. But I've had a photo of this scene taken years ago, with my husband standing in the road, that I've always wanted to paint. So I went at it, and it was such fun. I got lots of comments as people streamed by, and enjoyed listening to bird watchers commenting on the warblers in the bush behind me. I didn't include any figures, I'll tackle them in a larger studio version.

Monhegan Black Head Plein Air

Monhegan Black Head - Plein Air Study

8"x6" oil on Raymar Panel

$100 - email me for a PayPal invoice if you are interested

Here I am enjoying the plein air experience, and who wouldn't in this gorgeous spot!

The finished painting, with the cliff behind, and a birder enjoying the season.

I've had a wonderful week of painting, and no time to post! On Tuesday, I painted with Mary Byrom at Hamilton House in South Berwick, ME. What a totally gorgeous spot. Unfortunately, my painting wasn't gorgeous, and is no more. But things got MUCH better later in the week, and Mary and I had a great time talking art. On Wednesday, the Plein Air Painters of Maine went to Fisherman's Island, off Boothbay Harbor, as guests of the owners. I'll save the two paintings I did there for another post.

On Thursday and Friday, I was on Monhegan Island, and what a treat it was. Above is my second painting from Thursday. I'm posting it first, because I painted it in response to last week's challenge on the dailypaintworks.com site, from my friend Bruce McMillan. Take a look here to see all the paintings done from Bruce's photograph. I was fortunate to be able to paint looking at the real thing. And while doing so, a Minke whale serenaded me, birders came by and I heard them name the birds as the flew by, it was a dream come true. The sun came out just often enough for me to be able to paint a sunny view, but not enough to get a good photo with it shining.

"Two Sunflowers"

"Two Sunflowers"

8"x8" oil on Raymar panel

SOLD

I love sunflowers, and buy them at the farmer's market and the grocery store. I've had a couple of beautiful bunches in vases here for the last couple of weeks, but last weekend at the farmer's market there were no more.

"Time To Bale"

 

"Time to Bale"

8"x10" oil on Raymar Panel

 

At the end of the session - note the shadows have gone

I went off this morning in search of hay bales, and found them between Freeport and Brunswick (Maine).  What a pleasure to stand in a field of newly mown hay on a cool sunny morning and paint. Lots of dog walkers, runners, and cyclists passed by, and I got a few encouraging comments. One poor guy asked me if I'd seen his dog, which sadly, I hadn't.

Marc Hanson Workshop Day 5

The Barn - the second time

8"x10" 

oil

The Barn - the first time

8"x10"

oil

On the last workshop morning, we gathered at the Agricultural Heritage Center in Longmont for a very interesting exercise. The first painting is shown on the bottom, above: we had four 15 minute periods, each divided into 5 minutes to view our scene, and 10 minutes to paint the scene without looking at it. I was kind of freaked out, worried about getting the most out of the viewing time; and trying to remember what I had seen during the painting time. But I learned from some of my mistakes for the second painting (above top), where we had an hour to paint while viewing the scene, and was pretty comfortable painting it. Marc told us that often people find their first painting more appealing because they have not been able to get too detailed. Which one of mine do you like best?

Marc Hanson Workshop Day 4

Brainard Lake

8"x10"

oil

Sorry for the delay, but I didn't get a really good image of this one when I was in Colorado. Now that I'm back home maybe I can do better. On day 4 of Marc's workshop, we visited beautiful Brainard Lake, part of the US Forest Service in Ward, CO. Totally wow is the only way I can describe it, mountains, the lake, tall spiky trees, clean fresh air, you get the picture. We all did a painting, and then Marc painted a marvelous demo. I'd like to try mine (above) again, using what I learned watching Marc. Take a look at this on Marc's facebook page for a glimpse.

Marc Hanson Workshop Day 3

Buckingham Park 

6"x8" oil

On day three of the Marc Hanson workshop we went to Buckingham Park in Left Hand canyon, beautiful stream and lovely foothills. We were to work on maintaining our "concept" for the piece all through the painting process. I understand that better now than I did yesterday when I painted this. Any guesses as to my original concept (what grabbed me about the scene)?

The highlight of the day was a pastel demo by Marc, simply amazing.