"Normandy Fields"

"Normandy Fields"

8"x6" oil on Raymar panel

This is another of the paintings done on our recent painting trip to Normandy which will be in the show at the Yarmouth Frameshop in February.

"Normandy Sky"

"Normandy Sky"

8"x6" oil on Raymar panel

I've just returned from a painting workshop in Normandy taught by Carolyn Walton, run by my friend Joelle Feldman. What a great time we had! This is my first painting of the field next to the house we rented in Pont L'Eveque. We had the most beautiful skys, accompanied by some rain. Carolyn is a master of clouds, and I learned a lot from her demo and mentoring on this one.

Joelle, Suzanne deLesseps, and I will have a show of the paintings from this trip in February at the Yarmouth Frameshop and Gallery in Yarmouth, ME in February. I'll keep you posted as to the date.

Liz Wilten Workshop Days 2 and 3

My composition exercise with 4 values - SOLD

Liz's block-in plus 25 strokes demo

I loved doing the 4 value design exercise on day 2 of Liz's workshop. You can see her version on her blogpost. The fly specs you see on mine are the reminders of a very hot day in the blazing sun. Liz always used her umbrella, to shade both the painting and her palette.

The bottom image is a demo that Liz did on day 3. This exercise was the last of the workshop. Preceded by a painting done with only 50 strokes, in this exercise Liz did a basic block-in, and then finished the painting with only 25 strokes. I think she was roughly on stroke 12 when I took this photo.

This was a great workshop, and I enjoyed hosting it. If you can't make the trip to the workshop of your dreams, consider hosting the instructor yourself.

Liz Wilten Workshop Day 1

Barnacle Rocks - my block-in

Liz doing a demo on Cousin's Island

As I sit here with Hurrican Irene raging outside, it's nice to think back on the wonderful plein air workshop we had last weekend with Liz Wiltzen in South Freeport, ME. I asked Liz to travel from her home in Banff, Canada, to work with a dozen of us, and everyone thought it was an amazing workshop.

Liz began by stating categorically, this workshop is not about painting pretty paintings, you aren't going to get anything you'll want to hang on the wall. It's about exercises to build your skill. And they did, organized to build on one another, they pulled us through the basics of blocking in, design and composition, and use of minimal strokes/time boxing to focus on the essentials.

I learned a lot the day before the workshop, when I took Liz to my favorite painting spots so she could select venues for the workshop. Liz was looking for views with a more defined foreground, mid, and backround, than I had done. We had to work hard to find spots with interesting foregrounds, that weren't going to be covered with high tide during the workshop hours. So now, I have some more good places to paint!

Above is my block-in from the first afternoon, I probably took it a bit too far, but you get the idea. And a photo of Liz doing a demo the second morning at the beach on Cousin's Island.

"Blue Boat" - SOLD

"Blue Boat"

8"x6" oil on Raymar panel

I've had a month of too many distractions and too many wipe-offs and so no posts. It's good to be back and to spend some time painting. I painted this one Sunday morning at the Yarmouth town landing. I enjoy weekend mornings there, with all the boat launch action and the occasional lobster boat coming and going.

"Yellow Meadow"

"Yellow Meadow"

6"x8" oil on Raymar panel

It's wonderful to be able to paint outdoors. Long live summer!

Sketchbook Girls

Pose 1

Pose 2

Pose 3

Pose 4

On Sunday the kids went down to the dock to get away from the heat. I took four quick photos and chose this young lady to draw from each photo. What a great pose.

"Summer Lupines"

"Summer Lupines"

8"x6" oil on Raymar panel

Summer Lupines in process

The lupines are in bloom at Great Brook State Park and they are gorgeous. I've been struggling this last week, with lots of wipers to my credit. On this one, I wiped off the whole bottom half of the painting and made a second try, which you see here. The bottom photo shows my approach on the second pass, to cover the grass and flower area with blocks of color giving the basic composition. Then I came back in with strokes of color on top, first with the lupines and then using the green to shape the negative space around them. In version one, too much of the orangey-yellow background was showing through.

"Farm Pines Again"

"Farm Pines Again"

8"x6"

oil on Raymar panel

It was wonderful to be out this morning at Great Brook Farm painting this wonderful group of trees above the pond. There was a big bullfrog serenading me and hopefully getting his fill of the mosquitos that my bug dope scared away. I am so glad to see the sun!

Fellow Passengers Sketches

On a tour boat in New York Harbor last weekend, I did a few sketches of my fellow passengers.