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

Aiden Lassell Ripley Illustrations

A special thanks to Alex Chester for inviting me to co-author an article on Aiden Lassell Ripley's illustration work. This is our second published effort together.   Also to Dan Zimmer of illustration magazine for his encouragement and his beautiful handling of the artwork and editing our writing for this latest issue of Illustration Magazine.

If you've never checked out Illustration magazine it is well worth it.  The artwork is beautifully reproduced and each magazine is loaded with history.  I seem to learn something knew every time I reread the articles.  Then again, anything that combines art and history - I'm hooked.

If you are a fan of Aiden Ripley's artwork, there are many reproductions of Aiden's illustrative work as well as of his better known sporting art.  It's a chapter of Aiden's career that has gone largely undocumented.

Illustration Magazine featuring the cover art of Coles Phillips

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.

Cape Cod

I so enjoyed spending some time on Cape Cod with Julie and our dog Doodle Bug last week.  There was so much to see and paint.  Subjects were everywhere.  I remember hearing artists talk about going to places like Venice and having difficulty choosing what to paint due to the sheer number of possible subjects.  I felt a little like that at Cape Cod.  I'm not sure if its because it was all new to me or simply due to the beauty of the Cape.  We stayed in Dennis - and this church (@ 1838) was literally five minutes down the street from our hotel.  There was a cemetery next door, but I didn't want to take the time to dig too deeply in only one or two areas on this trip.

It can often be challenging to find a place to paint a subject based on traffic and such. This morning was not one of those challenging days.  There were a number of benches throughout the church grounds and this is actually the view from one of the benches.  This small watercolor painting was completed on a block of paper.  If you've never tried using watercolor blocks (paper) I'd encourage you to do so.  The paper doesn't need to be taped down and it doesn't buckle while you are working on it.

Watercolor - On location   Dennis MA.

We traveled throughout the Cape - from Dennis to East Orleans, to Hyannis and Hyannis Port, to Brewster, Eastham,  Truro, and Provincetown.   Just some quick impressions that left us wanting to come back for more.


The landscape brought so many images of Edward Hopper's and Aiden Lassell Ripley's Cape Cod paintings to mind.  They absolutely captured the atmosphere and the landscape in their work.

Setting Out by Aiden Lassell Ripley

Watercolor - Private Collection

Edward Hopper

It also reminded us of how lucky we are to live in Maine, where we too have world class beaches, rivers, and more.  During our travels I made mental notes and took a few photos for reference.  I'm transferring as many memories to canvas and paper as quickly as time allows.

Here's a well known Hopper painting of Two Lights in Maine

I also want to give special thanks the owners of Lucky Stone in East Orleans for their incredible warmth and generosity.  It was an art filled week that allowed us to renew old acquaintances, make new friends, and to spend time with our daughter and her extended field hockey family at Brown University in Providence on our way home.    We also had the opportunity to stop and visit briefly with an old friend from my childhood neighborhood to drop off a painting they had purchased - which will be a subject for a future post.

It was a trip I'll not ever forget.

The painting below is an acrylic on canvas board from sketches, memory, and photos.

Lucky Stone - East Orleans, MA

Summertime Opening Night - River Arts

Robert Kahler landscape paintings

5 mins · 

Lisbon Farm, Watercolor This painting was accepted into the Juried exibition "Summertime" at River Arts Gallery in Damriscotta Maine. The opening of the show is tomorrow evening. It's going to be a busy night... Art Show then back to Lisbon for the Moxie Festival Fireworks!!

https://robertkahlerlandscapepaintings.blogspot.com/2018/06/lisbon-farm-charcoal.html

Artists in Studio - Charles LaSalle

I find artist studios fascinating (not that I've been too many in person).  I was looking through some photos of Charlie La Salle at work in his studio in Scottsdale AZ @ 1958 and I found my eye eventually drawn away from the large oil Charlie was working on to the tantalizing glimpses of other paintings and artifacts that Charlie had around his studio.  I wondered about the stories behind each of them.  One of the pictures is below along with a painting by Charlie of his neighbor and one of his closest friends in Arizona - Larry "speed" Richardson.

I also wonder how (or if) an artist's studio reflects the artist, their personality, their working methods.  I think the artists studio must be a reflection of the artist - whether consciously or not.

I then took a quick look around my studio and noticed some of the items that I had around me for inspiration - ranging from mementos from family, close loved ones, as well as professional artists, some of whom took some of their incredibly valuable time to meet and to encourage me on my journey as well as a few I knew only through some of their books and artwork.  The artists that I'll be posting about in the near future include the nationally and internationally known artists:  Charles LaSalle, Robert George Harris, John Stobart, Bill Maudlin, Aiden Lassell Ripley, and Walt Disney.

I'll also be sharing more about those artists that I've been lucky enough to know and love in person and who have enriched my life immeasurably including Aiden LaSalle, Ed LaSalle, Cathy Kahler, and my wife Julie.

Charles LaSalle (Lassell) 1894-1958 - Scottsdale AZ - 1958

Charles LaSalle - A portrait of his neighbor and friend - Speed Richardson

Prints of this were published by Arizona Highways in the 1970's

According to newspaper articles from the 40's as well as interviews with Charlies surviving friends and co-workers his studio was always neat and well organized.  Without a doubt, some of this was necessary for him to be able to juggle the responsibilities of meeting multiple deadlines for illustration work - as he was one of the top contributors to many national magazines (Saturday Evening Post, Liberty, Colliers and many more)  from the 1920's through the 1950's as well as for national advertising accounts for Ford, General Electric, United Airlines and more.  If he'd been disorganized in this sense, despite his clear talent, he would not have been able to meet the necessary deadlines and this would have undoubtedly reduced the high demand for his work.

Some artists prefer to work alone and go to great lengths not to be disturbed. Charlie was not one of those artists.  Charlie moved to New York and shared a studio in the Beaux Art Studio with his life long friend and fellow illustrator Harold Anderson. While this may have started out as a cost saving strategy, the two later shared a studio in Westport Connecticut when they were both highly successful and nationally known.   Socializing was a huge part of the illustration business, but for Charlie it was very much part of his personality.  Gregarious seems to be understatement when used to describe Charlie and his fascination with people and life in general.  He enjoyed company in his studio, friends and family were always welcome.  Jazz music was likely to be playing.  His studio was filled with props related to the subjects he was painting and he would talk while working.  He would also go out of his way to help younger artists get started in the business or with any challenges they were facing with their artwork as he had been helped in his early days by the likes of N.C. Wyeth and Harvey Dunn. Charlie worked in oils, casein, gouache, charcoal, and watercolor.

Charlie moved to Scottsdale Arizona in the early 50's for health reasons and his work focused on his life long passion for the West.   He'd suffered a heart attack and he'd hoped the move would grant him another ten years with his wife and daughters.  Sadly, that was not to be the case.  Charlie suffered a second heart attack while he was painting in his studio in December of 1958.  He was conscious and alert when the ambulance arrived, but he passed away before reaching the hospital.

Charlie died seven years before I was born, but he has been and continues to be an inspiration to me.  More about that at another time. 

Farm on location sketch

I go through periods of time when, for a variety of reasons, I am not able to spend time out on location painting.  I crave it.   I can return to on location paintings from decades ago and be just as inspired today as I was at the time I painted it.

Here is my latest on location sketch.  Last fathers day, I sneaked out in the morning and came upon this scene.  The light was very striking

I did a quick pencil sketch in a larger fomat (pictured below) and painted this on a watercolor block.

(note: The line you see on the right side of this sketch is simply the side of the paper that I'd squared out in advance... more important for works I plan to finish and frame)

I did some quick experimentation in the studio this afternoon.  I began outlining the broad strokes of a large charcoal drawing of this scene utilizing the sketches made on location.

Then I utilized tracing paper to try the placement of a tree sketched on location to this scene (The actual placement of the tree would be to the right of this painting.  The tree framed a hill covered in dandelions quite nicely) .

Just a few pencil strokes on the tracing paper indicating the tree led to four or more different compositions inspired by this scene.

A winter scene with the tree and a rock wall in the foreground.  A summer scene of the same. The rock wall though not original to this scene, none the less is a common sight throughout New England and will add some visual interest beyond the simple dirt turnaround I utilized to paint this scene.

Then separate compositions involving the tree framing the group of houses on the left and another of the group of houses on the right.  My father in law was the first to show me different ways to utilize a viewfinder to help reduce distractions in nature and to focus in on different potential subjects for painting.  Another tip of Aiden's is to examine compositions in a mirror.   I've never actually done this on location.

Another artist I quite admire, Frank W. Benson, often took larger subjects (including group portraits) and created separate compositions from the larger original.  It does require more than simply dividing up a larger subject, but I find it to be an enjoyable creative exercise from time to time.

One of Benson's more famous students, Aiden Lassell Ripley, would also experiment with various compositions from various on location sketches.  Including creating some paintings with reversed compositions.  I find it fascinating how much that switch can change the look of a painting.

I plan to begin a large charcoal of the farm in next few days.

After Ripley

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.

Inspiration - better late than never.

I've had so many wonderful encounters on my artistic journey.  One of my first inspirations was my wife's grandfather - Ed LaSalle (nee Lassell).  I remember my first trip to Ed's house when I was dating Julie.  We walked into the living room and I was immediately struck by the paintings which were hung with care throughout the living room and music room.

The first painting I saw was a large fall scene of Tumbledown Mountain.  I can't find a photograph of that painting at the moment.

The painting below was hanging behind the living room couch.  This lighting isn't the best, but it was a large western (3' x 5')  Unfinished, but still very beautiful.  Ed was an illustrator in the 1930's - 1940's and painted landscapes on location well into his 80's.  More on that for another time.

I asked Julie about the paintings.  Never expecting to hear it so casually mentioned that her grandfather,and her grandmother were responsible for the art which filled the house.  The painting below was on the wall near the scene of Tumbledown.  This painting was by Ed's brother, Charles LaSalle (Lassell) - one of the country's leading illustrators in the 20's through the 50's.  

                                                 

The family of artists also included Ed's cousin, Aiden Lassell Ripley, and Ed's son Aiden LaSalle.
I decided to do a research project on the family of artists as a Christmas Present for Julie and the people I met on that journey and the art they shared with me enriched my life more than I could ever imagine.  Subjects for other posts later.

Below is an example of a painting by Aiden Lassell Ripley.  Aiden was a national award winning artist who became the president of the Guild of  Boston Artists from 1959-1969.

Years after Ed passed away, I was able to purchase one of his paintings as a Christmas present for my wife.  Having that painting hanging at the foot of our bed truly inspired me to try painting.