Buoy #7

Buoy #7 Pink ad Yellow Flag

6"x6" oil on Raymar panel

Here's another buoy with a flag, pink is apparently a popular color for buoy flags. Sometimes I change the color of the buoys (always risky, because it's easy to miss how the water impacts the various reflections), but this time I loved all the colors the lobsterman choose, and have tried to show you his palette.

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

Owls Head Harbor

 

Owls Head Harbor 

6"x8" oil on canvas panel

My last painting from the Anne Blair Brown class was painted at Owls Head Harbor. Through the class I came to rely more and more on my Notan thumbnails (see below). That was particularly important here, because the boats swung around while I was squeezing out my paint. So I used the Notan for the composition and glances at each boat to grab their dark light patterns as they swung. Then, when I got home, I broke my rule number 1 of plein air painting "Don't muck with it when you get home".  I simplified a few things, and sadly I don't have a picture of the original. Lesson leaned!

The Notan I used for the above painting.

Other Notans of this scene, where I didn't think the composition was as strong.

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.

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

 

Off to France and Upcoming Show

"Boatyard"

10"x10" oil on Raymar panel

Lucky Lady

10"x10" oil on Raymar panel

Sunset at Minsterial Island

6"x12" oil on Ramar panel

Millpond

16"x16" oil on canvas

Above are a few of my recent paintings that will be part of the upcoming show at Yarmouth Frame and Gallery in June and July. We'll have an opening from 4-7 at the gallery on Saturday, June 1, and I'd love to see you there.

Tomorrow evening I'm off to France for a few days in Vaison-la-Romaine, and then a week of studying with Julian Merrow-Smith, of Postcards from Provence fame. I am so excited about this trip, and will be posting as I go. What a fabulous opportunity, to study with Julian. And an interestingly organized workshop, with everything provided for the students, all materials and equipment. We students are saying at La Madelene, where the food and will wine will no doubt be superb. What could be more fun?

"Casco Bay Clouds"

 

"Casco Bay Clouds"

11"x14" oil on canvas

The view from Princes Point in Yarmouth of the small island we call the Nubbin. Basket Island on the left, Sturdevant on the right, with Clapboard behind it, and Portland in the far distance.

Mill Pond

Mill Pond (#4)

16"x16" oil on canvas

#3

# 2

(for # 1 go here)

I've finished "Mill Pond", a studio painting based on an earlier 6"x6" plein air study. I worked on the painting for an hour or two in each of 4 sessions of my class with Marais Platais, the first was described in an earlier post. Hopefully you can see how things went with the process photos above. A couple of things I learned:
- When I got into a mess between #2 and #3 in the trees on the right, scraping it off and re-drawing with the brush was the answer.
- I was concerned about the bright yellows on the right edge in #3, and asked Marais whether I should darken them. He gave me another alternative, to bring some of the bright yellow over to the left. What a great idea!

I'm pretty happy with this new version of the Mill Pond and with what I learned about going from a plein air study to a studio painting (thank you, Marais!). And I'm not yet tired of the pond. If we get some more snow, maybe I'll be able to do a winter version.

From plein air to studio

Russell Millpond
plein air

6"x6" oil on Raymar panel

A task I've assigned myself this winter is to learn how to make compelling paintings from plein air studies. The idea is not to simply take a larger brush and do the same thing bigger, but to make a new painting, expressing my feel for the place in a different way. I took this problem to a class I'm taking with Marais Platais at the Concord Art Association. I painted Russell Millpond in the spring of 2010.

the studio version after an hour or so

16"x16" oil on canvas

So, of course, in the first session, I did exactly what I said I wasn't going to do, and reproduced the smaller painting's version of the big trees on the right.  I took it home, starting wiping away, and tried to remember what Marais had told me. I'm sure he said more and said it better, but this is what sunk in:
- Use both the plein air painting and any reference photos to gather information.

- Remember that for each brush stroke in the small painting, there will be several of different sizes in the larger one.  

- Think of the whole tree in the small painting as the top of the same tree in the larger painting. 

- Don't paint a copy of the reference photo, another thing I wanted to avoid, but zoom in (thank you, ipad) on areas to see patterns and color variations that could be useful in the larger painting. 

I like this result much better than my first attempt.

A day on Peaks Island

 "Rocky Shore"

8"x10" oil on Raymar panel

On Monday I took the ferry to Peaks Island from Portland, and what a beautiful day it was. Gorgeous puffy clouds, but still lots of sun, and a nice 65 degrees. After much futzing around checking out locations, learning island history, and finally renting a bike to get to the back side of the island, I set up on a rock overlooking the Atlantic,... and it started to sprinkle. I thought I was back in Brittany with the Wapping guys! I covered everything, took a walk, and it started again. So I just started painting.

 The scene, but of course by this time the tide was much farther in.

 Artist riding the bike with backpack on, tripod and panel carrier in the paniers. Am I sore after all that walking and riding? Yes, but it was a fun day on the island.

Peggi Kroll Roberts Workshop 2

High Key Study (#11)

Value and Color (#15)

Value and Color (#16)

These are more examples of the exercises we did last weekend in the Peggi Kroll Roberts Workshop in Atlanta. #11 is a high key exercise, where all values are supposed to be on the lighter half of the value scale, using only two values, just different colors (not counting the background). I enjoyed this one. For #'s 15 and 16 we went back to the full spectrum of values, if required by the scene. Once again, I was trying for two value paintings. This is where I'll need to spend a lot of time practicing.

I can't say enough about what a great workshop this was. And what fun it is to work with excellent models. Thank you Ann, Kathryn, and Annie!

"Apples and Calvados"

"Apples and Calvados"

11"x14" oil on canvas

This painting is one of my favorites for the upcoming French Show at the Yarmouth Frameshop and Gallery. Like this one from Tina Ingraham's class, the calligraphy is the last step, which is really fun. I love drawing, and it's drawing on your painting. In fact, I was kind of frustrated with the painting, especially the mustard jar which I had taken 4 runs at, wondering if the whole thing was going to resolve. So I thought, OK, calligraphy time, let's see what happens. And basically everything happened. You've heard people say "the painting will tell you what it needs". I would say it told me what it liked, as I tried various marks, wiped them off and tried again.

Please join us at the show opening, 4-7PM on Saturday, at the Yarmouth Frameshop and Gallery, 720 US Route One, Yarmouth, ME.