Beaver Brook Winter

Beaver Brook Winter

8"x10" oil on canvas panel

We had our first snow of the season today. And to prepare for it, I painted this a couple of weeks ago in my class with Robert Abele. A bunch of us were trying out a limited palette of yellow ochre, cadmium red, black, and white. The gray mixtures turn almost blue with this approach. Perhaps this year I'll be able to paint in the snow at Beaver Brook. Looking forward to that, maybe there will even be a little blue sky.

Cloud Study I

 Cloud Study Final

8"x10" oil on canvas panel

A teacher once said to me, a sky without clouds is a missed opportunity. They can be a great device for composition, and are beautiful in themselves. Here's a sky study done from a photo (through a spray spattered windshield on a windy day).

The process I used is recommended by my teacher Rob Abele. Tone the canvas, do a quick sketch, and then do a first pass in thin paint as fast as you can. Lightly scrape that, to remove any high points (which contain solvent). Repaint, paying attention to your reference. This is where I have a tendency to fall down, and just fill in the ghost. I get a much better result if I go back to the reference. Finally, in this case, I used my finger to blend the transitions between the different colors and values (top image).

Apologies for the different colors. Each pass was photographed with a different light source, and I couldn't bring them all to the same place in Photoshop. The top image was taken outside and so is probably the best.

First pass

After scraping the first pass, and painting over it, except blue sky is still at the scraped stage

 Reference Photo

Passage to Seal Bay

"Passage to Seal Bay"

8"x10"

oil on canvas panel

Seal Bay is a beautiful unspoiled part of Vinalhaven Island in Penobscot Bay. It's a must stop for us on our annual boat trip to the area. At high tide, a small boat can make it through this passage into Vinal Cove, and near the end of the cove there is a reversing tidal falls, which everyone loves to go up and down in their dinghies. This year the tide was a bit high when we went through, so there was no falls action. This painting was done from a photo taken as we headed back through the passage to Seal Bay where our boat was anchored.

Red White And Blue

Red White and Blue

8"x10" oil on canvas panel

Sometimes I look back through finished paintings to see if there are any that could be improved. This one was a good example, and it includes a couple of mooring buoys. Below is the previous version. Which one do you like better?

Thanks to Suzanne and Gail for good suggestions.

40 Strokes Exercise

Boats in 40 Strokes

8"x10" oil on canvas

Anne Blair Brown's Brushstroke workshop was excellent. The 40 brush stroke exercise was where most of us made the most progress. This is mine, 38 brush strokes in total, you can see them marked off at the top. Oh, the lost opportunities to use fewer strokes! You really have to pay attention to what's on top of what. It's actually little bit like a reduction woodcut in the thought process.

House on Monhegan

House on Monhegan (finished)

8"x10" oil on canvas panel
$125
click here to buy

How she looked when I left Monhegan

At the end of class last Wednesday

That's me

A couple of weeks ago I painted on Monhegan Island with Mary Sheehan Winn and Carol Douglas. What a blast we had! I completed a couple of small oil on paper sketches and two paintings on the island, but I wiped one of the paintings and should have done the same with the other one. I brought back three unfinished paintings to work on at home. Henry Isaacs once said that starting a painting on location is the most important thing. I can see his point. If you can stop before you loose the freshness, you can regain the wonder that began the painting and hopefully not overwork it when you aren’t pressured for time.

This was my last painting of the trip, started while we waited for the ferry to take us home.

The top image is the finished painting, the second image shows my initial work on Monhegan, and the bottom painting image shows work on the painting during last week’s painting class with Rob Abele (see previous post about Rob). I finished it the next day.

A visit to Monhegan is in some ways a trip back in time, as there are few vehicles on the island beyond the pickups used by the inns and lobstermen. And even fewer televisions available to guests. There are only a few places to get something to eat, and only the Island Inn and the Trailing Yew serve dinner on weekdays. To finish my tourist guide, my favorite place to stay is Monhegan House. It’s a historic rooming house, absolutely charming, one of the cleanest places I’ve ever stayed, and they have a fabulous breakfast. And it’s a great bargain. If you are heading to the island alone, do ask for one of the rooms on the 4th floor, the garrets as Mary calls them. Wonderful!

Sparkle

Sparkle

8"x10" oil on canvas panel

There are some things that are hard to paint from life, and this is an example. Even if I was able to set my painting gear in a boat running parallel to these guys, they’d surely tack and head off in another direction before I finished the painting. So this one was painted from a photo. And more important, it was painted upside down. Turning a photo upside down is a time-honored approach artists use to paint shapes rather than “things”. And it works.

Here’s a progress shot of my second attempt at this painting, which was done right-side up. At this point, I wiped it off, it just wasn’t good enough. The first attempt had been wiped off at the drawing stage. And the third attempt also. That’s when I turned the whole thing upside down. What a difference, don’t you agree?

Second try at Sparkle

Painting Out West

"Pusch Ridge", Tucson
8"x10" oil on linen panel

"Saguaro Near Picacho Peak"
10"x8" oil on linen panel

Last week I was in Arizona for the 5th annual Plein Air Convention. It was amazing to listen to and to watch fabulous painters show us how they work. Some that I particularly enjoyed were Jove Wang, Matt Smith, Paul Kratter, and Lori Putnam. Bryan Mark Taylor gave a wonderful presentation on how we learn, and how one can learn to paint better, faster. Fascinating.

When circling to land, I was dismayed to see what looked like mountains made of dirt, which isn't too far from reality. But the plant life is so interesting, I didn't wish for granite rocks. We all fell in love with Saguaro Cactus. It takes 50 - 100 years for one of these guys to grow their first arm. Wow.

Each day there were paint outs as well as presentations. Above are my two paintings. Karen Ann Hitt and Bill Anton gave me advice on the second, and the painting is better for it!

Katahdin from Twin Pines

Katahdin from Twin Pines

8"x10" oil on linen panel

The initial drawing in paint with sky test dabs

On Friday I painted sitting in an Adirondack chair at the Twin Pines resort enjoying a beautiful view of Mount Katahdin. And had lunch in their nice restaurant. Some days it's so much fun to be a plein air painter!

I very much enjoyed my stay in Millinocket and environs. I highly recommend the Young House B and B, located around the corner from North Light Gallery. It's very comfortable and well appointed, and they have a great breakfast. I also enjoyed dinner at the Appalachian Trail Cafe, where I was able to find my friend Jim's trail name on the ceiling, where through hikers record their finish. And the food was great too.

For wonderful views of the mountain, take Millinocket Lake Road out of town toward the park. Just before Millinocket Lake, there's a road to the right for the Twin Pines resort, with the view in the painting above. Or, beyond the lake, take the Golden Road. It's dirt, so drive carefully and look out for fast moving logging trucks. Just after Abol Bridge, there's a parking lot on the left, with a road out the back that goes along the west branch of the Penobscot River. Along the left side of this road there are nice views of the mountain over the rushing river. Back on the Golden Road heading northwest, there are many places to view the mountain. Particularly nice, with the rushing river in the foreground, is the Cribworks, just of the Golden Road on Telos Road, where the painting from my last post was done. This is an area active with white water rafters in the summer. I'm sorry we were too late to see them.

The Katahdin area is beautiful, even without going into Baxter State Park. I'm looking forward to my next visit.

Artist Paints the Falls

Artist Paints the Falls

8"x10" oil on linen panel

Value under painting

The scene at the Cribworks

On Wednesday I drove to Millinocket Maine, to participate in the Katahdin Paint Out sponsored by Marsha Donahue and the North Light Gallery. I'd never been there before, and hadn't seen the mountain that I'd heard so much about. More about that tomorrow!

Marsha did such a good job for us, with organization, food and drink, and teaming those of us from away with local painters. Yesterday I went on a great tour with Candy McKellar and Peter Yesis, thanks Candy! We saw some beautiful places to paint, and spent some quality painting time at the Cribworks on the Golden Road. I was a bit overwhelmed by the scene, with the mountain, the cliffs, the trees, and the rushing water. People are not so intimating! So I quickly sketched in one of the other painters and did a value under painting. It only took a few minutes to paint the figure, but the rest was another story. Especially the foamy rushing water. I think I finally pulled it together.

Tidewater

Tidewater in progress

8"x10" oil

Do you ever quickly block in a painting and then not want to ruin it? That's where I am with this one. I was just playing around at the end of a teaching session, and wiped off the bottom at least once, but now I kind of like it. But I know it's not finished.

Note the barely visible grid marks I used to make sure I got the drawing flat enough. It's very easy in this kind of painting to make the water/mud part take up too much vertical space.

Boothbay Farmer's Market

Farmer's Market

8"x10" oil on linen panel

Today for the Boothbay Harbor Stroke of Art event, we had a quick draw at the local Farmer's Market. Lots of us were drawn to the flower stall, and after checking with the owner about how long the flower's would last, I was in. We had 2 hours for the quick draw, and while I often do a small painting in 2 hours, being timed made it pretty intense. I was fortunate to have a couple of people willing to pose for a minute or two so that I could do a some drawings in my sketchbook for use in the painting. Thanks Debbie and the lady in the purple top!

Islands

Islands
8"x10" pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord

This may seem strange, but despite the tonalist approach to skies that I'm currently studying, I really love color and abstraction. So here's a little escape into that world, loosely based on an oil painting of the islands in Maquoit Bay.

"Fish Beach Monhegan"

"Fish Beach Monhegan"

8"x10" oil on linen panel

Fish Beach after the plein air session

I worked again today on this painting of Fish Beach on Monhegan. The bottom image shows the painting at the end of a couple of hours on site and some edits in charcoal. What do you think about the revised version (image at top)? Which version do you like better?

"Red House Monhegan"

"Red House Monhegan"

8"x10" oil on linen panel

NFS

Red House Value underpainting

Red House photo in ValueViewer

Red Houses

Today, our last day on Monhegan, I tackled the famous Red House. I used ValueViewer on the levels setting to show me the scene in 3 values with a 4x4 grid. I don't measure the grid on the panel, but just estimate it by dividing each side of the panel in two, and then in two again. I used the grid to place the most important corners, then estimated the rest of the drawing from that. The value block in came next, and then the color on top of that. I can see posting this that I was chasing the light at the end. I might use the photo of the value painting and the Value View to fix things a bit, but I was happy with what I did. Especially after yesterday afternoon, when I had trouble on Fish Beach. But not as much trouble as the lobsterman who had beached his boat and was then worried about it tipping over as the tide came back in. You can learn a lot plein air painting!

Monhegan Dock

Monhegan Dock

8"x10" oil on linen panel

NFS

I'm on Monhegan with Mary Sheehan Winn, such fun! Yesterday was gray and sprinkling when we arrived and I didn't post my lackluster effort, but today was bright, sunny, and warm. I stood near the dock for three ferry arrivals and captured the trucks as they came and went.

"Hendricks Head"

Hendricks Head

8"x10" oil on linen panel

$280

This last week the Plein Air Painters of Maine have been hosting the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast in Boothbay. Lots of paintings were created, and it was great fun. I painted three of the days, this painting is from Hendricks Head on Southport Island. Visit Pamela B Padgett Studio on Facebook to see PAPSE member, Pam Padgett's, version.

Green Island Studies

Green Island, burnt sienna block in

8"x10" oil on canvas panel

Green Island, block in on yellow underpainting

6"x8" oil on canvas panel

In Anne Blair Brown's class last week our first exercise was a plein air burnt sienna block in, which Anne adjusted for each student. On mine she added the dark sideways "V" in the left foreground to balance the island in the upper right. Yesterday I did a quick block in of the same subject over yellow, thinking that would work nicely with the fog that had been descending since morning, but I'd hardly gotten started when the fog completely obscured the island!

Tree Study Process

Tree Study

8"x10" oil on canvas panel

NFS

Tree Study: shapes within shapes

Tree Study - color block in

Tree Study: values

Today I worked on a tree study using the method we learned last week from Anne Blair Brown. I am missing the initial step in these posts, which is a set of four small value studies in my sketchbook in pen or marker. I did them, but just keep forgetting to take a photo.

I got a question on yesterday's post on this approach, which was "how do you keep from picking up the underlying burnt sienna?" There are several factors involved: using enough paint, lightness of touch in going over the value study, and consistency of the paint. Initially I thought it was all about the consistency of the second layer, but I now think that the first two are more important. Anne had us mix pools of paint for the color block in, with an emphasis on making big pools. Try this: Paint a stripe of dark burnt sienna (add a little ultramarine blue to darken it), and then with a good bit of paint and a light touch, paint a stripe over it of another color. Try medium or gamsol to vary the consistency of the upper layer, and I think you'll find a way to make this work.

"Penobscot Bay"

"Penobscot Bay"

8"x10" oil on linen panel
$200

Minivan packed for Castine; 2 boxes of frames, paint box, tripod, backpack, panels, plastic box for racking wet paintings

 Rails with paintings

Rails without paintings

"Penobscot Bay" was painted during the Castine Plein Air Festival last month. As I was packing it up for a show, I realized that I hadn't posted it, so here you go. And along with it are a few photos of gear. The back of the minivan turned out to be very useful. Not only did everything fit easily (and there are two tripods and paintboxes in there, I like to have a backup), but when it rained the first morning, I set up the easel inside the back, and stood underneath the open lid. The painting and I were both dry. Another useful thing are these little rails from Artwork Essentials, who make the EasyL box that I used at the festival. For this trip I took a large plastic box to set the rails inside of. On trips by plane, I pick up a cardboard box at the grocery store after I get there. Using these, the paintings are safe and get a chance to dry.