Sargent Watercolors

I saw a major show of John Singer Sargent's many years ago at the Boston Musuem of Art.  It included portraits and some of his work from World War One.  As is always the case, the original artworks were stunning beyond description - no matter how good the quality of reproductions.

In some cases, even in larger than life canvases - a single brushstroke "made the painting" come alive with light or shadow.

Personally, I've always been attracted to John Singer Sargent's watercolors from his travels thoughout the world.  In particular, his ability to capture a sense of light and atmosphere.  I have no idea of whether or not he ever intended to show his watercolors or if they were simply done for enjoyment or study purposes - I'm just glad that they have been preserved.

Even a mundane (or potentially mundane) subject comes to life under his brush.  A simple white building sparkles with light as seen below.

Bedouins

His ability to render whites in watercolor seems effortless - which no doubt came from years and years of study and experience plein air painting.

Like another artist I admire, Aiden Lassell Ripley, John Singer Sargent was not "stuck" on tradition. Even though much of thier commissioned work would likely be considered to be traditional, when traveling or painting for their own enjoyment, both artists painted beautiful yet substantial impressionistic watercolors.    Although the bulk of his watercolors appear to be translucent in nature, both Sargent and Ripley did utilize opaque watercolor (gouache) to achieve the highlights they desired.  It was the effect that was important - not the rules for getting "there."

Courtney Allen

One of the reason I love ducking into antique stores is that you never know what you are going to find.

My introduction to art was primarily though the illustrators of the golden age through my wife's family of artists as I wrote about here.  Inspiration better late than never

I came across this illustration study for a dust jacket by Courtney Allen a couple of weeks ago and I picked it up earlier today..

This painting was a preliminary study for the book cover for the book "Gold Mountain" by Charlotte Paul issued by the Peoples Book Club of Chicago in 1953.

It's roughly 9" x 12" and appears to be ink and watercolor/gouache.  Historical interest aside, I love the freedom and confidence of the execution of this painting.  One of the things that I enjoy about these types of paintings is that you can see the artists thought process.  How the eye is led into the center of interst - the figures disembarking in search of gold and , perhaps, a little romance.

I look forward to finding the original / finished dust jacket to examine the differences between these initial paintings and the final "product."  

Courtney Allen was a contemporary of my wife's great uncle (Charles La Salle) and the two most likely knew one another professionally as well as personally.  They were both friends and colleagues of the top illustrators in the country including Norman Rockwell.  They both lived and had studios in New Rochelle in the early 20's and worked for the major magazines of the day including Cosmopolitan, Colliers, The Saturday Evening Post, This Week, and True magazines to name a few.

I look forward to learning more about Courtney Allen and his life and career.  

Scarborough Barn

This sketch is an elaboration of an on location watercolor completed in Scarborough Maine more than a decade ago.  This is one example of why I do enjoy the challenges of studio work from on location paintings.  

I hope to be able to take various elements that do exist (though not in this exact composition) in a place and bring them together into a scene that people feel as though they've been there.  In this case, the ocen in the distance with a small peninsula and a barn on a sloping hill tucked amongst elm, spruce, and other hard and softwoods encroaching on what was, at one time, a working farm.

The trees existed, but for the purposes of the picture I reversed them.  I'll do another color study as the original painting was done in the fall.  The Ocean was not viewable in the acutal setting due to the heighth of the surrounding forest but it would have been where I've indicated it in the drawing.

Pemaquid Beach

I've managed to explore much of the coast of Maine, but somehow I'd never made it to Pemaquid before.  Julie, Ari, and I had a wonderful day at Pemaquid.  Before we left for the day, I decided to reorganize my paint box to strictly watercolor so that all the materials that I'd need would fit in my paintbox.  Brushes, paper, paint, water, palette,  tape, pencils, sketch pad, sponges, razor blades, pencils.   I wanted to reduce things so that I wouldn't need anything beyond the paint box.  Still a couple of things to iron out - but all in all I was pleased.  What I think I'll do next is get another paint box to prepare for acrylics and related materials.

After exploring and finding some sea glass.  I did this pen and ink first.  I finished the day doing a quick watercolor study of this same scene.  I'll use both of these to do a finished work eventually.

The next work was this watercolor.

Sometime I'm so caught up in the moment, trying to capture colors and the other elements of the subject that catch my attention, I forget to keep overall composition in mind.  All in all I was pleased with how the watercolor captured the mood of the day.  I continue to be amazed at how differnt the ocean looks both in terms of color and structure of waves and wind.  For the next trip I want to paint from the rocks at the light house.  The surf and mood was so different in the short distance from the beach to the lighthouse.

On a side note, my paint box was a gift from my father in law for Christmas of 1994.  It has literally been on all of our family adventure days and is nearly three years older than Ari.  I can look at the scars, scapes, and paint on the box and they bring me back to each adventure.  Another post for another day.

Nana's House

I recently took a trip Down East with family.  This post was from more than a year ago.  A picture drawn from strong childhood memories.  I was watering plants in the backyard yesterday, including a cutting from the lilac tree in front of the house (to the right outside this picture)

I hope you enjoy the picture and poem.

Pembroke

A few half buried fieldstones are all that remain

The house is gone

The Barn and Shed…

Gone

Gone. Not forgotten

I see Nana’s house

In abandoned farmhouses 

In bowed barns

In my dreams

I remember walking up the dirt road from one adventure or another

Taking the short cut up the hill toward the house

Avoiding the old well (Not really – Sorry Mom)

The tall grass tickling my hands

was laced with animal trails

At the top of the hill

The horses were shuffling in their stalls

Anxious to get out

The shed

A large barn connecting the barn to the kitchen

A magical place to me

Could that have been Santa’s sled?

Why one barn was “the barn”

The other the “shed”

I don’t know – it just was

The geese tap at the low kitchen windows

Hoping for some of our breakfast

Grampie looks up from his coffee

Shaking his head “No” at the geese

Morning ritual complete

The geese move on

The memory remains

I wasn’t yet six and he was gone

I prefer this memory

To those from the nursing home

Back to Pembroke, Masonic Lane

Dining Room

Sloping floors

Great for marbles and Matchbox cars

Enough room for seven story baseball card forts

As much fun to take down as to build

From kitchen to bedroom

Stairs narrow and steep

There was always a chill in the air upstairs

The only source of heat radiated from downstairs (or so I was told)

I’ve never gotten dressed and undressed indoors as quickly

Before or since

It was so quiet

You could hear yourself think

No T.V.

No Streetlights

Few cars

Lots of cats and dogs

Bald Eagles nesting by the river

The wind rattled the windows

Full of imperfections

Creating unique views and

Moonshadows on the wall

The house spoke in soft whispers and groans

As I drifted off to sleep

When my brother speaks

to his girls (Geese) and his pugs

I sometimes hear Nana’s voice.

The lilac in her dooryard has spread

To each of our homes

So has her hardy laugh

And her fierce spirit

The house is gone

So much more remains

Georgetown Inlet

This watercolor sketch of an inlet in Georgetown, Maine serves a couple of purposes for me.

One, I'd been so focused on pen and ink drawings I missed painting.  In addition to composition and design, I truly enjoy working with  color and paint- watercolors in particular.  For whatever reason, I find it more enjoyable (and more efficient) to experiment with watercolor than the other mediums I work with (Acrylic, Oil, Goache, Charcoal, Pencil).  The medium of watercolor itself, I find it to be the quickest medium to get ideas to paper.   Some of that is simple physics - water flows quickly and smoothly.  Another reason is the ease of transport and clean up of watercolor.  I also began my artistic journey with watercolor so that is the medium I've worked with the longest.

One piece of advice I would give, is take whatever advice that is given to you for what it is worth for your journey - not as gospel.  One of the most common pieces of advice that I recieved is that watercolor is very difficult to work with.  That once you make a "mistake" you cannot correct it.  If we go into anything convinced that we cannot correct mistakes, that we must be "perfect" - we are unlikely to try in the first place or to persevere when we encounter the inevitiable challenges that go hand and hand with learning.

Don't get me wrong, classes or advice from those more experienced can be incredibly valuable and can save you a lot of learning time.  Just don't be afraid to forge your own path.

This studio sketch (living room actually) was an interpretation of a sketching trip Julie and I took to Georgetown Months ago.  I look forward for going

It was a grey day when I was sketching on location but for the purposes of the watercolor I wanted I experiment with different effects that sunlight would have.  This sketch has also given me some different compositional ideas.

What I've started doing now is storing sketches and paintings (when possible due to size) together for future reference.  For now, my pen and ink sketches are all still in the original sketchbook as I often find when sketching on location I'll find a subject for a quick margin sketch that fits with other subjects (such as one page of reflections) for potential future development.

The Georgetown area is so beautiful, I can not wait to go back.  And talk about having a magnificent "office!"  We are so lucky to live in Maine.

Lands End

As I was leaving Bailey Island I was struck by the contrasts in the fading light with the fog rolling in after sunset.  The water was capturing and reflecting all the light it could, creating striking silhouettes of figures as well as the house.  

I've always enjoyed monochrome painting and experimenting with different values.  My early reserach into Charles La Salle and his circle of friends and colleagues from the "golden age" of illustration I was struck by their mastery of charcoal.  "If a picture doesn't work in black and white - color won't save it."  Blunt but accurate I think.  Color can mask a bit, but won't hide a weak composition.  I also experimented with drybrush technique on this painting.  I recieved so much encouragement and advice from the late Bob Harris who was a very successsful illustrator and portraitist.  I still can hear his voice and chuckle about him talking about knowing when a painting is done before it is "finished."

I learned quite a bit from this sketch and will do some additional compositional sketches with paint before executing a large scale charcoal and then a finished painting.  I've settled on this working method over many years.  I quite like it because I enjoy working in different media on different scales and it allows me to combine my love of outdoor painting (Plein Air) with the creative challenges of design and composition.    I can also have many subjects going at once in different stages of development.

Sometimes I paint outdoors just to get outdoors - but I may not have a great or interesting subject for a finished painting.  However, no matter what , the practice of painting and observing always comes in handy and helps inform future paintings and drawings either through a successful painting or parts thereof or in the experience of learning not to repeat a mistake or series of mistakes.

I'm never stuck in the pattern of start to finish in any set order.  Some ideas are simply set aside for further consideration.  Sometimes years go by until I revisit a subject.  I find it satisfying to have a body of paintings waiting for further develoipment that I can go down into the studio after a long day or on a night when the weather forces me indoors.  It helps me work on my favorite painting - my next one.