Brushes with the Landscape

I am continuing to experiment with seascapes.  Despite spending many years along the coast, I still have a great deal of study to do to capture the power and movement and color of the sea.  This is a small watercolor with some use of chinese white as well as scaping with a razor blade to achieve some of the whites This painting is not of an actual location, but is patterned after the rocks along the coast near Two Lights State Park in Cape Elizabeth Maine and Prouts Neck in Scarborogh, Maine.   I've had the privilige of seeing a number of Winslow Homer's original paintings at the Portland Museum of Art as well as in Boston.  His seascapes are incredibly powerful - and make you feel as though you are really there on the cliffs by the sea. Winslow Homer's studio is now owned by the Portland Museum of Art and tours are conducted on a regular basis.  The cliff walk around Prouts Neck is also open to the public.  Like many places in Maine, the trick is to find a

This was the first pass (in charcoal) of a subject that began nearly two decade's ago.   It is not an exact representation of the subject but a composition of design elements that do exist, just not exactly in this configuration. The process of choosing a subject, for me at least, is almost unconscious.  Sometimes it's an instant connection with a scene - often related to lighting, color or other effects of nature.   More often, its a place that I have a connection with through family, friends, or that I have visited or explored on my own. This is a subject that began first as on location watercolor sketch.  Once the sketch was done, I set it aside as I often do.  I am energized by painting on location and this also gives me a backlog of subjects to explore further when getting out on location is not possible.  It is also just good practice of both oberservational skills as well as painting skills. Yesterday, while Julie was shopping, I did a couple of studies (rough

One of my favorite artists, Aiden Lassell Ripley, spent some of his formative years studying the work of Velasquez and Hals while traveling throughout Western Europe, Spain in particular, and North Africa on the Paige Travelling Scholarship from the Musuem School in Boston at the turn of the century. It is amazing what you can learn from studying other artists.  I much prefer to paint directly from nature, but there are times when studio work is the order of the afternoon. This is a watercolor I did today, based on Aiden's work.  A poor imitation, but I learned a lot about composition and depth from this excersize.  A fun way to spend a little time between projects.  I If you've never seen Aiden Lassell Ripley's work, check it out.  I am still amazed at the effects he was able to achieve in watercolor.

I've always loved the ocean.  The salt air, the sound of waves crashing on the rocks, the waves retreating back into the ocean rolling the rocks and sand.  A steady rythm, power,  and a vastness that seem to make everything else feel insignificant. There are so many colors, both pure and reflected, and design elements that one could paint the same area of the coast day after day and never paint the same picture twice.  I particularly enjoy the coast during storms and other "off times."   Though it has been many years, I still remember the power of the ocean when body surfing.  Literally being carried along, surprisingly fast by waves.  Learning to be patient and not to panic when held underwater by the power of the breaking waves.  The sting of salt water in my eyes and nose and the loud roar of the water of the breaker and the hiss of the wave stopping on the beach and retreating into the coming waves. Below is a plein air seascape that I completed in Ca

This watercolor was created from an on location drawing trip to the neighboring town of Bowdoin. I was struck by the hill rising and disappearing to the left - begging the question of what is around the bend and the contrast of the shadows spilling across the road and the field in the process of being plowed. One of the things I've noticed in my travels throughout New England is how land is, or was, not wasted.  Rocky, sloping, and steep hilled land was, and in some cases still is farmed.  Toughness and persistence is required to earn a living in these conditions and climates.  I sense its far more of a calling than a business decision. In Pennsylvania there is farmland as far as the eye can see.  So to it is here in Maine - the difference is the miles one can see in PA is so much greater as the land is so flat.  In Maine, in many places you will see a hayfield tucked in a corner of a property where the Spruce haven't yet found their way to the edge of a road. The S