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Showing posts from February, 2017

Inspiration - better late than never.

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I've had so many wonderful encounters on my artistic journey.  One of my first inspirations was my wife's grandfather - Ed LaSalle (nee Lassell).  I remember my first trip to Ed's house when I was dating Julie.  We walked into the living room and I was immediately struck by the paintings which were hung with care throughout the living room and music room. The first painting I saw was a large fall scene of Tumbledown Mountain.  I can't find a photograph of that painting at the moment. The painting below was hanging behind the living room couch.  This lighting isn't the best, but it was a large western (3' x 5')  Unfinished, but still very beautiful.  Ed was an illustrator in the 1930's - 1940's and painted landscapes on location well into his 80's.  More on that for another time. I asked Julie about the paintings.  Never expecting to hear it so casually mentioned that her grandfather,and her grandmother were responsible for the art whic

Approaching Abstraction?

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One of the experiences I enjoy about painting on location is how strong an impression spending time observing nature leaves on me.  I've written before about how what I observe can outpace what I'm able to achieve at the moment.  This is especially true in unfamiliar locations. What I've learned over time, is that there are two main things that I just need to let happen.  Time - Time to interpret what I've seen, time to continue to develop my painting skills. On location, there is a time pressure.  Conditions change.  The light changes dramatically in as little as half an hour.  A change in light equals a change in colors.    I choose to view these potential constraints as a benefit.  It forces me to simplify the scenes.  To emphasize what is essential, to subordinate what is not.  If I were to compare this to writing, I'd say that painting on location is to studio paitning, what writing poetry or a short story is to writing a novel. I've written before ab

Fishing the rapids

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This painting is a rare one for me - totally a studio painting.  It has been inspired by many trips along brooks in the Maine woods, including one very close to home in Lisbon Falls. From time to time, I'll block in the bulk of a painting in one session and then I'll let it sit for awhile. Sometimes out of sight, sometimes on the easel for further consideration while I move on to other subjects. The original pass at the painting prevented me from going into the painting.  Today's pass at the painting works better in that regard.  There was also something else troubling me but I couldn't quite pick it out at the time.  Then it hit me.  A rookie mistake. A common error in painting, for me at least when I started, was to think that the sky is always blue and that water is blue, trees were always green et cetera.  In on location painting, the colors are right in front of you.  In some cases there is no blue in the brook- it depends on the sky and surrounding ve

Long Island Sunset (Maine)

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Long Island Maine, Sunset My wife, then girlfriend, introduced me to Long Island Maine.  It's a small, but beautiful island, formally part of Portland, ME but it has since seceeded and become its own town.  We went out by mailboat and then walked to the other side of the island to a beautiful beach facing the open Atlantic. I found the water there to be very bracing compared to the beaches on the mainland. There's a lot more history to explore on this island - it was a gathering and refueling point for convoys in World War II but that is a story for another time. At the far end of the beach beyond the sand dunes and rocks is a beautiful house that has always captured my attention. This was a very early drawing (charcoal pencil) Years later, while chaperoning an 8th grade class trip to Long Island I completed the following two sketches for future reference, using the later as reference for the sunset watercolor. The two sketches below were done on

After the Storm, Lisbon Falls

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After the Storm, Lisbon Falls Acrylic 12" x 16" This acrylic was painted the same day I completed an on location sketch - while the composition and colors were fresh in my mind.  This was from a winter or two ago.  Big storm coming in, up to another two feet of snow.  Am looking forward to seeing the results of the storm (but not to shoveling out). I was struck by the color of the ice and the trees all being weighed down by snow and ice.  The scene changed quite quickly once the sun worked its way through the clouds melting the ice and snow. Another thing that I enjoy about painting on location is that I observe things that I wouldn't know to make up or to include in a purely studio based painting.  For instance, in the painting the lines of snow (cracks in the ice) help compositionaly, but it also indicates how hard the wind had been blowing (snow off the ice) and also that the ice freezes in different locations at different times.   

Night in Windham

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Night in Windham Acrylic 12" x 16" This is my first attempt at an on location painting at night.  I learned a lot - the usual mixture of things to do and things not to do next time.  I'm sure I broke pretty much every "rule" about painting night scenes - but I had a blast.  Overall the picture came out too dark.   I'll definately use this painting as the basis of numerous other subjects - combining elements that were present in the scene or others that I've witnessed in other settings.  I'll do some thumbnail sketches to try different compositions and then perhaps some tonal sketches before developing ideas further.  This type of studio work after doing on location paintings I've grown to enjoy very much.   Some examples include - a barn with a snow covered roof catching the light of the moon;  The acutal barn is a quanset hut, but I would change that to an old barn (many different styles to choose from); A scene with the

Tumbledown, Fall

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Tumbledown Mountain, Weld Maine Fall is unquestioningly my favorite time of year.  This is an on location watercolor sketch completed years ago.  This was completed in one setting.  At the time I was very interested in capturing the brilliant fall colors, in particular the color showing through the trees between me and the mountain.    As I’ve mentioned in other posts, sometimes when painting on location I find it easy to get lost in the subject in front of me.  Particularly in earlier years.  I would, and perhaps I will, rearrange the elements in this painting differently to strengthen the composition while maintaining the integrity or the sense of the place. If you’ve never tried painting on location, please do.  It is challenging and such a joy.  I was incredibly fortunate to be introduced to drawing and painting outdoors when I was introduced to art. I’ve never known anything else.  One of the gifts of painting on location, and there are many, is the stren

Stockbridge River Sketch

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Stockbridge River – Acyrlic on Canvas 12” x 16” I set up on a small bridge near tumbledown mountain years ago to complete this on location sketch in early spring years ago.  Some of my on location paintings are quite complete – others are very rough.  It depends on a number of factors from time, subject, weather conditions, and my reason for painting the particular subject.  If I’m experimenting with a new medium, new technique, et cetera, I’m not very concerned about producing a “finished” painting.  Though unfinished, this painting is one of my favorites because of the memories of the day with my father in law. The spring runoff from the mountain was roaring on this particular day, and being on the bridge in the shade of the valley and trees was very  cold.  I hardly noticed how cold I was until I did the trees in the closest forground.  The broken paint strokes were as much a physical response as a stylistic one.  I’d planned to complete the birches with black spots thr

A Work in Progress

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Mechanicsberg Penn - on location I've come to learn that every painting, successful or not, has helped me continue forward in my journey to capture my impressions of the landscape.  Occasaionally I'll have a reason to revisit past efforts - in this case in preparation for entering a juried plein air exhibition in Southern Maine. This sketch was started and completed on location during a family trip to Pennsylvania years ago. I took some time to explore a nearby park and was captivated by this river. There are a number of things I would change about this painting, but at the time I was most interested in studying the effects of the water with the limited time I had.  What would I change? A number of elements of the composition (the tree in the center of the river in the center of the painting) as well as the solid trees in the background.  Although this is as the composition was, it doesn't make the best composition for a painting.    Next I did some c