Art in Maine Exhibit at the BRAF Gallery

 "Diligence"

6"x6" oil on Raymar panel

"With Pie"

8"x8" oil on Raymar panel

It's been a while guys, and I'm sorry. It's not that I haven't been painting. I've managed to get out at least once most weeks over the last month or so, I just haven't been happy enough with what I've done to show it to you. I guess it's just one of those things I'll have to paint my way through.

But I wanted to let you know that I've got two paintings in the "Art in Maine" exhibit at the BRAF Gallery in Boothbay Harbor. The show runs through November 2nd. I was particularly exited to have my paintings included in this show, because the juror was Connie Hayes, whose work and encouragement of other artists I very much admire.

And interestingly, in my plein air travels from Maine to Cape Cod, I keep meeting the nicest and most talented artists. I'm even thinking of starting another blog to introduce them. Or would you prefer to meet them here?

Green House, Fruitlands

Green House, Fruitlands

8"x10" oil on Raymar panel

 The painting at the end of my first session, and sun is now behind the house.

Last Friday and again on Tuesday I worked on this painting at the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA. Fruitlands is a beautiful park with historic buildings on the site of the unsuccessful utopian community of the 19th century transcendentalists. In addition to the museum exhibits, and a fine restaurant, people come here to walk and to see the wonderful views across to Mount Wachusett and beyond. They have a plein air program, where artists get an annual membership for donating a painting done on the site. Above is the second painting I've done there.

I've been using a new tool that helped me choose this scene and get a good composition. It's called Value Viewer, and I use it on my iphone. My favorite feature is the notan view, which lets you check the composition without the distraction of color or gray-scale nuances. Below is the notan view from Value Viewer of my first composition choice, note how the light lean-to on the right drags your eye out of the picture. A different shot, which includes the shadow side of the lean-to is much better, see bottom image.  Thanks, Haidee-Jo for suggesting this app!

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.

  Ocean Point Pine 6"x8" oil on panel

 

Ocean Point Pine Sketch

 

Sketchbook page

Betsy painting

These are more from my day in East Boothbay last week at the OPA paintout. The top image is my first painting of the day, the same tree as in the painting in the previous post. But here, I'm looking into the sun, or at least it started out that way. My preliminary sketch is the second image, and as is often the case, I like it better than the sketch I did on the panel for the painting. Perhaps a notan would be better preparation for the painting, since it's masses rather than lines that matter. Next time!

I had lots of fun with the drawings, particularly of the other painters. And Betsy did not have two umbrellas.

"Ocean Point" - OPA Great Paint Out 2012

 "Ocean Point" 10:x8" oil on Raymar panel

The scene.

On Wednesday I painted with the Plein Air Painters of Maine group at Ocean Point in East Boothbay for the Oil Painters of America Great Paint Out 2012. It was a beautiful day and lots of fun. I met some great painters, including one of my heroes, Tony van Hasselt. This kind of day is such a treasure, with winter heading our way.

The painting above was done about 4PM, when everyone else was gone, in the spot where Tony stood in the morning. I was thrilled to have been in his painting. I was closer in at that point, looking into the sun, painting the tree on the right.  I'll post my tree painting and some of my sketches when I get back to my scanner.

Corn and Sunflowers

With a forecast for rain all day, I was happy to see clouds moving out around 10AM. I stopped the car for a better look and couldn't resist painting this scene of rows of corn, trees, and other crops. It took 3 sketches before I got what I wanted, and as often happens, I like the composition of the sketch better than that of the painting. Something to work on!

Laudholm Marsh

Laudholm Marsh 10"x8" oil on Ampersand Panel

 The platform that solidly held my umbrella

Yesterday I painted at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farm. It's been years since I painted there, I used to very much enjoy their annual wet paint auction. I wish they'd bring it back.

I wanted to paint the marsh near where it goes into the ocean, and was lucky to have this platform to stand on, with an excellent railing on which to clamp my umbrella. It was sunny and a bit windy, so this was a welcome surprise. Umbrellas clamped to tripods often tip over in a breeze, which I know from experience. With this set-up, it wasn't going anywhere.

My Favorite Model

My Favorite Model

8"x10" oil on Raymar panel

Last week my favorite model (my niece Jessica) was visiting and we managed to grab an hour to do some quick oil sketches. She's very good at holding a pose. I tried to remember all of the Peggi Kroll-Roberts DVDs I've been watching since I took Peggi's class in April. This was the result.

Sketching on the Boat

Last week we got in some sailing, and I used my sketchbook rather than my camera, sketching as we sailed along. The goal was to try and capture the shapes of the sail and lobster boats, particularly while the sailboats were heeling over. I like to use pen for this, going over anything I don't like with something I like better. The extra lines give some depth and movement. What do you think?

Sketching at the beach

Sunbathing Sketch

This week I've been sketching at the beach. In Massachusetts we have beaches on our lakes as well as the ocean, and there are several near my house. I'm pretty sure the sand is imported, but people still love to sunbathe and then run into the water to cool off.

I think this lady was reading a book, which gave me enough time to do a quick sketch. Today I tried some water color and gouache on a similar figure. More experimenting needed there.