Happy Holidays!

"Strawberry Banke"

6"x8" oil on Canson paper
SOLD

Happy Holidays to you all, and a safe and prosperous New Year!

Last week on Wednesday, I painted with the Plein Air Painters of Maine in Portsmouth, at the Strawberry Banke Museum parking lot. We'd had a lot of snow, but the sun was shining and it was a great time. Here's to more of that next year!

"The Irish Piper"

"The Irish Piper" 

11"x9"

reduction woodcut on paper

I'm excited to finally show my finished woodcut from last week. See number 4 of the series of 8 above. It's a three color reduction woodcut, with a small amount of the white of paper used as well, of the Irish Piper. She's a fishing boat that lives near our cottage in Maine.

It was such a great experience working with Don Gorvett. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would love to do more woodcuts. I was disappointed on Friday when I realized I had forgotten to take a photo of the final prints! It was great to go back today and bring home the finished product.

Woodcut Progress

A print after the blue layer, which is green due to the yellow layer underneath. A little white shows on the boat cabin, from cuts prior to printing the yellow layer.

The block after an initial print of the blue layer, with additional cutting (the light areas).

Today was day 3 of working on my woodcut project with Don Gorvett. On the first day, I transferred my drawing to the board. On day two, I made just a few cuts that would show the white of the paper, and printed the yellow layer. I'm not showing a photo of that, it's really pretty hard to see anything but yellow! Today I did a lot of cutting, to expose everything that would be left yellow. The top photo shows one of today's prints. The blue came out pretty green, due to the yellow layer showing through. I was able to vary that from print to print, some are more blue. The bottom photo is the block after an initial print, just to get an idea, and then some additional cutting. The print above was done with the block in this condition. One more day and it will be done, a reduction woodcut series of eight prints.

Reduction Woodcut Printing with Don Gorvett - Day 1

Drawing with three values

Wood block, with channel and registration pins on the left

I'm fortunate this week to be studying print making with Don Gorvett. What Don does is called reduction woodcut printing, because the image is cut into a wood block, and more of the wood is cut away as each layer of ink is applied to the prints. The result is as dramatic as it is beautiful.

The top image is a drawing in three values that I made before heading to Don's studio this afternoon. I painted this scene earlier this year, and still love it. It seemed like it would make a good woodcut print. Don showed me how to transfer the drawing to the block he prepared for me, and how to put in the registration pins (sticking through the gray tabs at the left end). Tomorrow we are going to print the first color, I'm still thinking about whether there will be 3 plus white or just three colors. It's really fun!

Holiday Sale!

Looking for something for the art lover on your Christmas list? Or do you need a nice little painting for the guest room or that empty space in the hall? Maybe I can help, I'm having a Holiday Sale! 

Check it out for some really nice paintings at great prices.  Shipping is free within the US.
 

The Holiday Sale can be found on my blog as a new tab, called Holiday Sale, to the right of the Home tab. Or use the link above.

The Holiday Sale runs through December.

Current Shows

I hope you've all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We certainly did at our house. Just a quick post here to let you know about my holiday shows this season.

The River Arts "Celebrating Color" Exhibit runs through Dec. 12 in Damariscotta, ME. I've got these two framed paintings in the show:

Peppers

6"x8"

$250

Two Tomatoes

6"x6"

$200

Dec. 4 through 20, the Concord Art Association has its "Small Originals" show, with an opening Dec. 8,  from 2 - 4 PM, in Concord, MA. These are my framed paintings in this show:

Distant Pink

6"x6"

$200

Diligence

6"x6"

$200

December 3 through the end of February is the Yarmouth Frame and Gallery "Small Works Holiday Show", with an opening on Dec. 7, 4 - 7 PM, in Yarmouth, ME. I'll be there, and would love to see you. I've got some of my recent plein air sunset paintings in this show, all beautifully framed.

From Mt. Agamenticus

5"x7"

$200

November Sunset

5"x7"

$200

Wells Marsh Sunset

5"x7"

$200

"Sunset Stripes"

 "Sunset Stripes"

5"x7" oil on linen panel

a little movie of the scene after the painting was done

Yesterday I was back in Harvard, MA, at my favorite sunset painting spot. It's just so nice to be painting outside this time of year, and not freezing. I've been painting out for the last 4 days, and only Tuesday was really cold, in the marsh in the Rachel Carson preserve in southern Maine. I hope to get in a few more days before it's really cold.

"Sky Magic"

"Sky Magic"

5"x7" oil on Centurion linen panel

I was back in Harvard, MA this afternoon, painting into the sunset. Here's the first of the two paintings I managed before it got too dark to see. Next time I'll bring my two headed book light! A video of the scene is below. For those reading this in email, click here to go to my blog in a browser where you'll be able to see the video.

Sketching the orange lobster boat

Oil sketches of the orange lobster boat on 7"x12" Canson canva-paper

Lots of fun this afternoon with the Plein Air Painters of Maine in the Puddledock section of Portsmouth; bright sunshine, relative warmth, and a gorgeous orange lobster boat off Round Island. I did a couple of oil sketches of the boat as it swung back and forth on its mooring, on a piece of Canson Canva-paper, which I like a lot. What do you think?

PAPME Show at the BRAF Gallery

"Time to Bale"

8"x10" oil on Raymar panel

$325 framed

"From Mt. Agamenticus"

5"x7" oil on Centurion oil primed linen panel

$200 framed

I'm pleased to have two paintings in the annual Plein Air Painters of Maine show at the BRAF Gallery in Boothbay Harbor. The show runs through November 25th and all paintings in the show were painted en plein air. My "Time to Bale" was painted between Freeport and Brunswick on a beautiful Sunday morning in September. "From Mt. Agamenticus" was painted on a sunny warm afternoon in October with the Plein Air Painters of Maine (PAPME) southern group in York. It's great fun to paint with PAPME, which has four sub groups, divided by region: southern, Boothbay, northern, and western. An email is sent out once a week with the locations for each group for that week. Take a look at the PAPME blog if you'd like to join us.

"November Sunset"

"November Sunset"

5"x7" oil on linen panel

$100

Here's the second painting I did yesterday, sunset in the balmy temperatures of early November in Massachusetts. That's Mt. Wachusett in the distance. I made a short video at the end of the previous painting, which you can see below in this post, or view here from the email. It's such fun painting into the sunset.

"Wachusett Late Afternoon"

 

 "Wachusett Late Afternoon"

5"x7" oil on Centurion linen panel

SOLD

This afternoon it was 60 degrees! I couldn't resist the warmth and sunny sky, and was off to capture the 4:35PM sunset in Harvard, MA, looking towards Mount Wachusett. I started with the above late afternoon version to warm up. I'll post a later video tomorrow and the second painting, of the sunset.

"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.

Marc Hanson Workshop Day 2

From value to color

This has been my favorite exercise so far at the Marc Hanson workshop. The idea was to paint a simplified three value study (upper left), then do the same thing again, but continue with a few half-tones and dark and light accents (upper right). I found that the simplification showed up flaws in my design, and I was able to correct them.

The next step was to mix colors for the three values, and for this scene we mixed two colors of the mid value (the blue and the lighter green). This is what I wanted to learn, how to mix the color with the right value. And Marc showed us a trick; put a dot of your color on the value painting, squint, and you can see if it is too dark or light. It really works, can you see my color dots on the upper left painting?

I got so much out if this exercise, I'd like to include it in my process for a while. You've got to work fast though, to do a value study and color study before the light changes.

Marc Hanson Workshop Day 1

Colorado Tamarisks Value Study 6"x8" oil

I'm in Longmont, CO, attending a superb workshop with Marc Hanson. On Monday we did value studies, and enjoyed two excellent demos. Today we worked on taking the values to color, and I loved it. I'll post those results tomorrow. If you want to get more of a flavor for Marc's workshops, take a look at his facebook page, there are some good photos.

Cozy Harbor

Cozy Harbor Boats
8"x10" oil on Raymar panel

Yesterday I went back to Cozy Harbor and finished the lobster boat painting. I can see a few things I might fix before putting it into a frame, but I've got the feeling that I was looking for. 

I'm off on Sunday to Colorado for a workshop with Marc Hanson. I'm looking forward to that!

Painting at Cozy Harbor

I found a wonderful harbor for those of you who like to paint boats. Susan Henry recommended it to me and it's just beautiful, a Maine classic. Called Cosy Harbor, it's on Southport Island just outside of Boothbay Harbor. There is a new large pier, shared by the town, the yacht club, and Oliver's restaurant, where I enjoyed my lunch. It's busy there once Oliver's opens at 11:30, but earlier it's quiet, and there are some lovely lobster and pleasure boats. I've got more work to do (or should I say undo?) on this painting. The picture was taken fairly early in today's session.

Thanks to Haidee-Jo Summers for telling me how to post this via email!

"Bunganuc Afternoon"

"Bunganuc Afternoon"

8"x10" oil on Raymar panel

Suzanne and I were back at Bunganuc this afternoon, or the corner of Bunganuc and Macouit Roads to be exact.  A local explained that Bunganuc itself is where the creek of that name enters the bay, to the right in the painting. I stared this one two weeks ago, but didn't get quite done, so back this afternoon when the tide and sun were the same to finish it up. There's a wonderful tree to stand under, but today it was dropping bugs like mad. I got one in my shirt and was literally hopping up and down trying to get it out. Creepy.

"Bunganuc Morning"

"Bunganuc Morning" 

4"x10" oil on Raymar panel

We've had some nice plein air painting days, but also some rain, today it was pouring. I did this painting last Sunday morning, a little north of Freeport along the coast, at a place called Bunganuc. A new favorite, and not just with me, as you can see above.