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.