Brushes with the Landscape

Julie and I aattended a woderful opening reception at the Crooker Gallery, Thopsham Public Library in Topsham Maine this afternoon.  It's always enjoyable to meet other artists and supporters of the arts and to see the many different expressions from different artists.  This Gallery and event is where I took my first steps to show my work outside the family (four years ago) and the staff was as warm, encouraging, and as welcoming as ever. I entered two pieces in this juried exhibition.  A watercolor (Moonlight, Ice Out, Androscoggin) and an acrylic (Midcoast Marsh). My watercolor, "Moonlight, Ice Out, Androscoggin" won first prize in the watercolor division. I was speaking with another artist about her landscape painting, which I particularly admired, when a couple stopped by to listen to the conversation.  We spoke of the joys and challenges of painting on location and how it informs our work.   The couple asked me what paintings I had entered in t

Do you have a favorite painting or drawing? Here is my latest work in progress.  It's a small country church based on the watercolor below, which was completed on location years ago in Bowdoinham, Maine.   It's at a stage where I'll set aside awhile to see if there is anything else I'd like to add when I look at it with "fresh eyes" so to speak. I had the good fortune to strike up a friendship and correspondence with the illustrator Bob Harris for the last decade of his life.  He was so generous with his advice and so encouraging.  He'd often laugh and say how difficult it was and how important it was  to know when a painting was done - before it was finished!  It's so easy to overcomplicate subjects and to leave little to the imagination for the viewer. "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."   Edgar Degas I really do like this watercolor sketch below, not because of how it turned out or any technical learning f

Here is a picutre of my charcoal "Stroudwater Colonial" which was accepted for the River Arts Gallery Exhibition - Black and White - Currently on display in Damriscotta. My wife, Julie, also had two works accepted for this show - Her first juried exhibition!!  Congratulations honey!  Julie is gifted at avoiding having her picture taken, but that is another story.  It was a wonderful evening with family and new friends! I'm submitting two paintings for jurying at the Crooker gallery in Topsham later this week. Adroscoggin River, Ice Breaking by moonlight (watercolor) Midcoast Marsh - Acrylic on Canvas Board