Eastport Cliffs

Eastport Cliffs

This drawing was inspired by the view from the outside deck of a restaurant in Eastport.  As I've mentioned before throughout this blog, my love of nature fuels my art, but often requires some adjustments to create a composition for a painting. 

This scene is calm, as the sea was calm.  Still, for me the calm the cliff with the tree creates a tension.  How many more storms will the tree last?  Will it grow too large for its roots to support or will the foundation of rock tumble into the sea taking the tree with it.

In this case while remaining true to the subject:

I've moved the house down the hill toward the cliffs and moved the houses chimney to reduce distraction.  

The islands in the distance did exist, but I've added a channel in between to add distance as a landmass across the picture would stop the eye from moving into the painting.

The cliffs existed, some of the patterns of of the rocks and shadows were altered for composition to lead the eye into the drawing.

The tree existed as well and drew me to the subject in the first place.  I've emphasized and enlarged the tree slightly.

In a conversation with another artist who was readying for a show of abstract art, but who often sketched from nature, we each discussed how our preferred style stretched our creativity.  It was very respectful conversation despite our very different perspectives.  While he saw value in sketching and drawing from life, his view was not to change anything, but to accurately record what was in front of him.  While he found abstract painting to be a far more of a creative exercise.  

For me, trying to capture a moment in time and to interpret nature in two dimensions is far from constraining.   Just the opposite actually.  I find that pulling and rearranging elements that I've experienced first hand into a new composition to be as rewarding as being able to capture those elusive moments in nature that too many of us regularly pass by without noticing. 

I will most likely do a variation of this subject during a storm with a tighter focus on the cliffs, tree, and house.  I've often visited the coast during storms.  I find the ocean to be mesmerizing in all its moods and colors.   This idea occurred to me while working on the cliffs.  Adding the water effects on the rocks during a storm will be an enjoyable stretch.