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

L'Esprit

 L'Esprit

8"x6" oil on Raymar panel

I had a blast today at Great Bay Boatyard painting this little gem. I love red boats, and when you add some flags, which started fluttering just when I got that stage of the painting, it was irresistible!

Rocks at Cove Road

"Rocks at Cove Road"

5"x7" oil on linen panel

It was so beautiful outside, and nice and cool this morning, so off I went with my plein air gear. My first stop was South Freeport Harbor, where I spent a couple of hours making a mess (which I wiped off). I was painting on a pier, and the best I can say is that I didn't drop anything in. Next, off to Cove Road, where I was attracted to the rocks that make up the rip rap keeping this little peninsula from being eroded into the Harraseeket River. And of course the view beyond them is nothing to sneeze at!

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.

"Stonington Green"

"Stonington Green"

8"x16" oil on Raymar panel

 Under painting for "Stonington Green"

Note that I widened the lobster shack and the pier and added the lobster boat.

There are a number of iconic scenes in Stonington, Maine, at the bottom of Deer Isle. Many painters have enjoyed painting them, and they hang in fortunate houses across our country. It’s a beautiful place to visit, and I feel lucky that my first few visits were by boat. That’s the way life should be.

This house, with its green paint and matching lobster shack on its wharf is one of those scenes. This particular view is from the shore side, and you can see it if you walk from Billings Marine into town as we often do. I have a lovely painting of it by Alec Richardson. He stood out on the rocks a bit to the right of this view. I started this painting over a year ago, toned the canvas and did a pencil drawing. And it sat. And I looked at the view again as I walked by last summer. And the other day it reached out to me and said “It’s my turn! Paint me.” And so I did.

Painting "My Dream of Maine"

Everyone has a dream of what Maine means to them. For some it’s the lakes, for some it’s Katahdin, for others it’s the shore. For me, it’s the boats and harbors. The first time I saw these houses in Cozy Harbor, I’d been to a paint out with the Plein Air Painters of Maine and the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast. Plein air painting, popularized by the impressionists, means painting outside in the landscape, painting the scenes around you. We’d had a great time doing just that at Hendricks Head Light on Southport Island, near Boothbay Harbor. Someone remembered Oliver’s Restaurant in Cozy Harbor, and so we headed over there for lunch. Oliver’s is great, I recommend it.

One of the great things about painters getting together is the sharing of not only ideas about painting, but also places to paint. And so we moved on to a part of Cozy Harbor I wasn’t familiar with, the road that goes to Pratt’s Island. And once over the bridge to the island, looking back we saw the red lobster shack and houses. Several paintings were done on the spot, but there wasn’t room for all of us. I came back the next week, and set up my gear. My first painting focused on the red lobster shack.

 “Cozy Harbor Inlet”

11”X14”, oil on linen panel, 2014

Sold

As I was finishing my first day’s session, the most beautiful gaff rigged catboat sailed up to the little dock. And it had a red sail! I snapped a quick photo, and I knew I was going to have to do another painting of this scene, and include the boat.

“Bright Sail, Cozy Harbor”

16”X20”, oil on linen panel, 2015

Sold

I love this scene. The houses on pilings, the reflections of the pilings, the abstract arrangement of the roofs, the little red shack, the idea of boats coming by, people getting on with their daily work, and enjoying living by the sea. So last fall, I started looking for another view, and found it while standing on the bridge. Only quick photos were available from that vantage point, and I came back several times to view it at different tide levels. Armed with the previous paintings, and my new reference photos, I painted a third version, and I’m not sure that I don’t like it best of all. I’ll probably be back there again this summer, and who knows what might happen?

“My Dream of Maine”

20”X24”, oil on canvas, 2016

 

What's in a Name?

"Promise of Adventure"

10"x10" oil on canvas panel

Value under painting

I feel like this painting turned into a saga! It was done from a photo, and a pretty over-exposed one at that. The drawing was tricky, and finally after lots of grid lines and measuring of angles, Rob Abele gave me a great suggestion. I printed the section with the kayak on paper and cut it out, including the opening, and laid it over the dry painting and then traced the outline of the kayak over the one I'd already painted. Some adjustment was definitely needed! You can see the difference between the value under painting (above) and the nearly done version (below).

Nearly done, what's wrong?

I still wasn't satisfied. I felt that the kayak looked glued on, since it was much lighter than anything else in the painting. The fix was lightening the sand to be closer to the value of the kayak. I think it works much better with the lighter sand (top image).

Finally the painting was done, but I couldn't think of a better name than "Yellow Kayak". So I reached out to my Facebook friends and asked for some help, and got over 40 responses! Many of the names were just great and  I'll probably be able to use them for future paintings. Here's the list, which one do you like best?

Waiting

Arrangement in Yellow and Green

Sunshine Waiting

Low tide
The Promise of Adventure

Hope

Awaiting High Tide

Waiting on High Tide

After the Lake

Summer Respite  (2)

At the Ready

Waiting for a Friend

At Rest

New England Ready

Landlubber

Ready to Roll (2)

Where’d You Go?

Yellow Kayak (3)

Waiting For You

Floating Bliss

Relaxation Station

Low Tide (3)

Invitation

Temptation

Ready for an Outing

Whatever the name of the boat is

Tethered

Homestead Mooring

Four Steps Down

Lemon Drop

Grounded

Dry Dock

Sunday Nap

Waiting

Lemon Wants to Go for a Ride

Still Life with Kayak

Moored

Anticipation

Mellow Yellow

Dry Ground

Waiting for Adventure

After a Long Day's Journey

Above the Tide Line

Waiting in the Tide

Banana Boat

Ocean Blues

 "Ocean Blues"

24"x24" acrylic on gallery wrap canvas

"Ocean Hues"

16"x16" acrylic on canvas

SOLD

I've been having fun experimenting with acrylics on big canvases. Last year I painted Ocean Hues (bottom - 18"x18"), and very much enjoyed it, so I wanted to continue the theme. This one is called "Ocean Blues" (top - 24"x24"). As I worked on it, it became a bit less abstract than my original intention, but it's about going where the painting wants to go, isn't it?

I'm off to the Plein Air Convention later this week. If any of you are going, please let me know, I'd love to meet up.

A Judicious Crop

Tidewater Reflection left cropped

Tidewater Reflection top/bottom cropped

Tidewater Reflection as painted

5"x5" oil on treated paper

One thing about painting on paper, if you don't like the result you can always do some cropping. Which one do you like best?

Cirrus Over Tidewater

Cirrus Over Tidewater

5"x5" oil on acrylic on treated paper

$50 (includes 8"x8" mat for framing)

click here to purchase

I think I'll close out September with a couple more of the Tidewater paintings for which I've already done the under paintings. I wanted this one to be about the sky, and how better to make that happen than with the cirrus clouds (from a previous cloud study) that are with us so often this time of year?

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.

Islands Again

Islands II

6"x8" acrylic on paper

$50, click here to purchase

After painting the Islands in pastel, I wanted to try it in acrylic, to see of I could get the same effect using a palette knife. What do you think? I'm thinking it might be kind of nice on a great big canvas...

Tidewater Greens

Tidewater Greens

5"x5" oil on treated paper
$50 (includes 8"x8" mat for framing)

click here to purchase

I'm fascinated with this vista at Tidewater Farm. And the shady white pine and the breeze from the water make for a very pleasant painting experience. Here's the first of a series of color explorations of this scene. I added sap green and very little phthalo green to my normal limited palette.

Marsh at Tidewater Farm

Marsh at Tidewater Farm

6"x9" oil on treated paper
$50
click here to purchase

This is a demo I did for my plein air class at Tidewater Farm earlier this month. Underneath is a value painting in burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, and white acrylic. The color layer on top is oil paint. Just a quick thing, but so fun to do! We all agreed we could do a lot of paintings of this view, standing under the shady white pine tree.

Yarmouth Harbor

Yarmouth Harbor

9"x12" oil on linen panel

Yesterday we had a fun paint out in Yarmouth to honor the late Alfred (Chip) Chadbourn, our most famous local painter. I admire his work tremendously. Google "alfred chip chadbourn paintings" and you can see some of his work.

The work from the 30 artists who participated in the paint out will be on view (and for sale) from September 18 through October 31 at 317 Main Street in Yarmouth. For more information, look here.

Boothbay Harborfest and OPA Paint Out

Sentinels

6"x8" oil on canvas on board

Today was the annual Oil Painters of America Paint Out for the Plein Air Painters of Maine group. Added to that, the Boothbay Harborfest Stroke of Art is on, so we had a big group painting together at Grimes Cove. It's was lots of fun. I started this painting in the fog, and was happy to see it go away early enough that I could paint the sunshine version.

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.

"On The Beach" Painting

"On The Beach"

6"x8" oil on Raymar panel

$150
Click here to purchase

 iPad version of On the Beach

Today I started painting using my iPad paintings as a reference. This is my first effort, and it's not a great photo, I'll try to get a better one. I might still tweak it a little, but I don't want to loose the initial freshness, which so often happens. The most obvious thing that hit me is that the zoom on the iPad isn't in my brushes! I think a larger version will be needed to fully use the iPad version information.

I've added a process photo to yesterday's post. There I did an initial sketch and block-in with a higher transparency setting, hoping that it would show through and make the final a little softer. I'll be exploring other ways to do that.