Moments of abstraction

Androscoggin River Sketch 2

Acrylic on Paper

This sketch was executed rapidly, like most of my paintings.  A pattern in most of my on location work or series studio work is a trend toward abstraction in my third or later paintings in a day.  Sometimes caused by vanishing light.  At other times caused by the beauty of the abstract patterns and color combinations in nature itself.

My preference is toward the impressionistic, but more often than not, I'm simply trying to capture the emotion or mood of a moment in time.  The shadows of the trees on the far shore juxtaposed with the light reflections and color patterns in the water were what drew me to this scene.  I also enjoyed experimenting with different blues to achieve warmer and cooler shadows and greens on the far bank and in the reflections.

Below are two other abstractions - the one immediately below done on location more than twenty years ago.  This was executed at the end of a day of exploring in and around bear notch road in NH.  The mountain was reflected in the water until the gentlest of breezes rippled the surface of the water.  It's a subject and a motif that I will return to.

Bear Notch Reflections

The subject below was born from yankee thrift.  I had some paints left over and I try to never waste or throw out any paint.  Aiden Lassell Ripley, a distant relative of my wife, is an artist I admire so this very pale imitation was born in the studio at the end of a day of painting.  It's rather liberating to simply experiment with different ideas and materials.  This painting is acrylic paint on tracing paper.

Snow Shadows and Spruce

Eastport Cliffs

Eastport Cliffs

This drawing was inspired by the view from the outside deck of a restaurant in Eastport.  As I've mentioned before throughout this blog, my love of nature fuels my art, but often requires some adjustments to create a composition for a painting. 

This scene is calm, as the sea was calm.  Still, for me the calm the cliff with the tree creates a tension.  How many more storms will the tree last?  Will it grow too large for its roots to support or will the foundation of rock tumble into the sea taking the tree with it.

In this case while remaining true to the subject:

I've moved the house down the hill toward the cliffs and moved the houses chimney to reduce distraction.  

The islands in the distance did exist, but I've added a channel in between to add distance as a landmass across the picture would stop the eye from moving into the painting.

The cliffs existed, some of the patterns of of the rocks and shadows were altered for composition to lead the eye into the drawing.

The tree existed as well and drew me to the subject in the first place.  I've emphasized and enlarged the tree slightly.

In a conversation with another artist who was readying for a show of abstract art, but who often sketched from nature, we each discussed how our preferred style stretched our creativity.  It was very respectful conversation despite our very different perspectives.  While he saw value in sketching and drawing from life, his view was not to change anything, but to accurately record what was in front of him.  While he found abstract painting to be a far more of a creative exercise.  

For me, trying to capture a moment in time and to interpret nature in two dimensions is far from constraining.   Just the opposite actually.  I find that pulling and rearranging elements that I've experienced first hand into a new composition to be as rewarding as being able to capture those elusive moments in nature that too many of us regularly pass by without noticing. 

I will most likely do a variation of this subject during a storm with a tighter focus on the cliffs, tree, and house.  I've often visited the coast during storms.  I find the ocean to be mesmerizing in all its moods and colors.   This idea occurred to me while working on the cliffs.  Adding the water effects on the rocks during a storm will be an enjoyable stretch.