abstract seascape study

Here is another full sheet watercolor study by Elmer L. Ham.   The pictures don't do it justice.  It has an almost abstract quality about it.  It strikes me as another on location study.  Faint pencil lines block in both the major masses of rocks (Feels more like California than Maine to me) as well as of the wave action - see below.

The sense of movement is captured and the white of the paper also is utilized effectively to capture whitecaps as well as foam from waves crashing on rocks.  It all implies to me a familiarity with the ocean as well as this particular location.  That is only reinforced by the deft strokes of a loaded brush throughout the painting.  

This strikes me as a rapidly executed sketch (you have a max of a couple of hours before the light changes too much - and my reality of painting along the coast is that you tend to have a shorter window).  But everything is contained within this first pass to allow the artist to go back at any time to finish the painting or to use this as a basis for a finished painting.

I will show more of his completed seascapes in future posts but I enjoy sharing some of my interpretations of the artists thinking.  They are not complete but , for me, the sense of movement is there and I can hear the surf (it could be the tinnitus but I prefer to think it is the surf)

Elmer Ham Fishing Boats

Sketch of Fishing Boats - Watercolor by Elmer L. Ham

8.5" x 10" Sight Size

11" x 14" Framed

There is a quality about a sketch that I particularly enjoy.  You get to see the artists thinking and focus as they work.  What the artist finishes and what the artist leaves out is often telling. 

To me, this study is one of light, shadow, and reflection.  Note how the shading on the boats add depth and form.   On the near boat, how the shadow and rust on the way below deck add form and substance.  The shadows on the second boat on the fishing nets the shadows from the fishing nets on the small boat in between the larger boats.

Also, note the reflections in the foreground, they are not static.  They are fluid and evoke the feeling of moving water. This is the result of years of observation.  Whether or not this was done on location, I have no proof, but it is too close to the subject to have been done as an exercise or from a photograph.

The pencil lines for rigging again are not perfectly taut but as one would find on a working boat in harbor.  The lines for the wharf also frame the composition nicely.  If the wharf were added, it might well distract from the ships.  This may have well been why the sketch was not completed - but there could also be a hundred other reasons.  I do know, from the paintings I have in my possession, that Ham would often return to a subject to emphasize a different aspect of the painting or to tighten up the composition.  Another plausible explanation of why this subject was not completed could have been that it had simply served its purpose for Ham and he kept it for further reference.

I decided to mat and frame this sketch.  I'll replace the white mat with a colored mat to bring out more of the colors within the boats to tie everything together.

Sketch of Fishing Boats - Watercolor by Elmer L. Ham

8.5" x 10" Sight Size

11" x 14" Framed

Floral Still life Fragment by Elmer Ham

Elmer L Ham Watercolor  5" x 7" framed.

This is a fragment of an unfinished floral watercolor by Elmer L Ham.    In addition to many finished paintings, the portfolios of paintings I purchased had many paintings in various stages of completion.  There were many finished still lives, others that were clearly studies of floral still life in watercolor and pastels and still others that were started but not finished beyond the pencil sketch (outline really) and some areas of finish.  

You can see the faint pencil indications in this sketch - which would be erased partially or completely in finished painting depending on the artists decision on whether the pencil added to or distracted from the desired effect.

I gave much consideration to the uncompleted still lives.  Many studies were on full sheets of watercolor paper - too large to be displayed with so much unfinished and all unsigned.  After studying the paintings intently, I decided to experiment and crop, mat, and frame some of the more finished pieces.  The above painting is one example of those efforts.

I have to admit, still lives had not held much appeal to me - being far more interested in landscapes.  But I'd never taken the opportunity to study so many up close.  I've also been considering doing still lives of items of loved ones no longer with us.  My parents, and my sister Cathy to name a few.  I also found the process of considering different compositions from different paintings to be a very engaging activity.

   

Ham's teacher, Laura Coombs Hills, was and still is very well known for her still life floral paintings in both pastel and oils.  She would summer in the town of her birth, Newburyport Mass, often picking flowers from her own garden and painting them.  She would then move to her winter studio in Boston, Ma. When speaking with the curator of a recent retrospective of Hills, she stated that Hills did teach occasionally and only select students as she was actively painting, exhibiting, and selling through galleries.  There are many other areas where Hills was a recognized expert but that is a subject for another time.

  

     by   Laura Coombs Hills

                                                               Laura Coombs Hills

How and when she met and decided to teach Ham I haven't been able to determine at this time.  She definitely had an influence on him, as evidenced by his exhibition of a floral still life in the Annual Exhibition of New England painters at Jordan Marsh Galleries in Boston in 1946 and the many still life paintings in his portfolios.  

Interestingly, I did find an old newspaper clipping, describing how a young teenage Elmer L Ham left his home in Portsmouth NH to "see the world" (without his parents knowledge).  Ham slept overnight in a barn and was discovered the following night wandering around the Market Square in Newburyport.  Maybe that spirit of adventure was remembered and noted by Hills - as the journey did make the papers.  Ham's father collected him safely the following day, thanking the police for their kindness.

Throughout his life, Ham explored and painted along the Maine, NH, and Massachusetts coast as well as the California coast.  Ham definitely captured the movement of water and the action of waves and mist - which only comes from long study and observation.  His California seascapes capture a different atmosphere that I've never had the pleasure of visiting, but compared with other known California Artists, he's captured the West Coast as surely as he did the East Coast.

Eastport Maine Afternoon Light

Eastport Maine - Abandoned Cannery, Tides Institute

Charcoal and Gouache on paper

This painting is an elaboration of an on location watercolor sketch that I did in Eastport last summer.  The effect of the light striking the abandoned cannery and the strong shadows was what drew me to this subject.   I'll set this aside and go back to it at a later date.

Its also another example to me that I'm never quite sure where a painting is going to lead me.  When I think of Eastport and the coast of Maine in general - I don't think of barely including the ocean in a scene painted on the coast.  

I plan to do five or six variations of this subject, including increasing the space between the buildings to show more of the harbor and the working coast.

While working, I had a visit from one of my studio assistants (Whisper).  I think he likes the painting - but he's not saying.  The cat has his tongue.  

Yellow House

Here is another light filled watercolor landscape painting from the portfolios of Elmer L Ham that I discovered in New Hampshire.  Ham spent much of his long life along the Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachsuetts Seacoast (Portsmouth, Boston, Newburyport, Eliot, and Kittery Point to name a few).  This includes nearly a decade that Ham spent in Los Angeles California.

Although the ocean (or river) is not a large part of this subject, it is important to the composition and color pallette of this painting.  It creates more of sense of light and brings the yellow maple into focus as well.  This is a quintessential New England Scene.

The effects captured in this painting, of light and shadow, of the atmospheric effects of the clouds and sky lend further credence to my belief that Ham spent much of his time observing and painting on location prior to executing these full sheet watercolors.

Another thing that attracts me to these paintings is their sense of spontaneity.  The effects are broad and loose, yet precise and accurate at the same time.  It's a difficult balance to achieve, yet Ham has been able to accomplish that in painting after painting.

Whether these paintings were done for enjoyment, exhibition, or sales in general, I have no evidence.  But a number of the far better known Boston School Painters, including Ham's teacher - Laura Coombs Hills - executed similarly freely painted watercolors which were quite different from their more well known subjects.  Artists such as Aiden Lassell Ripley, John LaValle, and Frank Benson executed impressionistic watercolors throughout their long careers while painting formal portraits, commissions, and still lives as well.

Crashing Surf and Boats in Harbor

Here is another watercolor painting in the portfolio's that I purchased by Elmer L. Ham. The sense of movement and color that he has captured here speaks to me of someone who spent a great deal of time painting on location and observing nature.  I have no evidence to prove that, only conjecture, a lifetime of observing the ocean and twenty plus years painting on location.

This painting is also freely and confidently painted.  The brushstrokes are visible and help define both form and movement without being overworked.

Today, Ham seems largely forgotten.   A quick review of sales records indicate that he seems to be most well known for his pastel still life drawings of flowers which reflect his training by noted Boston and Newburyport artist Laura Coombs Hills.  The watercolor above and paintings I'll share later show his talent and his interest in his surroundings. 

Here is the beginning of what I've been able to find out about Elmer L. Ham.

Early Years :  Portsmouth and Boston

Elmer L Ham was born in Portsmouth New Hampshire on June 18, 1884 to Robert and Sarah Ham.  He had an adventurous spirit as reflected in a September 15, 1897 article in the Portsmouth Herald.  This article recounts his unauthorized journey walking from Portsmouth NH, sleeping in a barn, and then eventually being discovered by the police “wandering around Market Square (Newburyport) late at night.”   Ham was 13 years old at the time of his first trip.  Elmer attended Portsmouth schools and by 1903 (age 19) he was working as a printer’s apprentice in his father’s print shop in Portsmouth New Hampshire.   (1903 City Directory of Portsmouth NH)

By his mid 20’s, Ham had relocated to Boston and was working in a sign painting shop.  According to the 1910 Federal Census Elmer was an Artist / Librarian for a sign painting and catalogue company.  A number of landscape paintings in watercolor and pastel reflect areas nearby his Allston apartment including the nearby Charles River, Harbor, and Boston Public Gardens.  Other identified paintings include the locales of Newton and New Bedford.  Boston City Directories have Ham listed as continuing to work as a commercial artist for sign companies throughout the late 1920’s.

Fishing Boats in Harbor

15" x 21"

Fishing Boats in Harbor - Winter  15.5" by 22"

These two paintings also speak to me of on location observation.  They are not your typical subjects, particularly the winter subject.  These are also both on large/ full sheets of watercolor paper.  Notice the white of the paper is used for effect in both of these sketches.

Tucked Away - Elmer L Ham

I was rummaging around the top floor of an antique store and I saw two black portfolios tucked in a back corner on top of a stack of chairs.  I made my way through the stacks of chairs and pulled the portfolios out to where I could open them up.

I figured there would be a few school sketches and some studies as each portfolio was quite thickly packed (each appprox 2" thick).   There were some studies of still lives, some partially completed watercolors, but things quickly turned even more interesting.

The Fenway, Boston
by Elmer L Ham (1884-1978)

Scores of boldly and confidently painted watercolor's, some signed by Elmer L. Ham, some not signed but clearly by the the same hand.  I've been researching the artist since this find and will share more paintings and information in future posts.

Many of these paintings I will keep, but others I will sell and attach his biography (as much as I can complete it) so that others may rediscover him too.

Mt. Washington and Ammonoosuc River

Had a wonderful three day stay at the Mt Washington House in Bretton Woods New Hampshire.  This pen and ink sketch was done from the conservatory.  I'd woken up early and gone downstairs and pretty much had the room to myself.  Eventually a few other people came into the room and then we had a surprise guest - a red squirrel.  

The patterns of snow and the beginnings of spring were striking.  Natural abstracts actually.  I went for a walk along the Amonoosuc River.  When the trail moved away the river, I went off trail, for about 20 feet.  I went from less than an inch of snow - up to my waist.  I retreated back to the safety of the trail and choose the view below.

I did a rough pencil sketch with a focus on composition and observational notes.  I did the on location watercolor sketch below for color notes and will work on subjects using these as reference. 

My favorite studio!  The great outdoors.

The painting above was the view looking upriver from this spot.