Good Neighbors

"Good Neighbors" (Andy's view)

Acrylic 18" x 24"

This painting was inspired by my recent trip to Cushing and the Olsen family cemetery.   The rock to the left was actually off to the right and would have been out of the picture but I wanted to include it.  In my mind, I've seen a painting by Andrew Wyeth of an erratic boulder.  I've no idea if this was the one or if my memory is faulty, but in my mind, it added to the composition and is also a testament to how hard farmers worked to clear their land along the rocky coast

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The barbed wire fence was an addition, not there in reality.  A memory from exploring the fields where I grew up. Perhaps a reminder that this is Wyeth country and no one will ever approach his talent, sensitivity, love and familiarity of the subject and his friends.

I freely admit, that for years I paid little, if any attention, to the art of Andrew Wyeth.  Reproductions of work abound.  Personally, I prefer more color - from his earlier works.  However, when I began my own artistic journey - a day at a time for more than twenty years now - and as I continued to experience loss - as do we wall - and expressing myself through my art I developed an entirely new understanding of and an appreciation for Andrew Wyeth.

The Wyeth center in Rockland, at the Farnsworth Museum, is a treasure and it's well worth the trip to see the art of the Wyeth family. One of my favorite paintings is the Witching Hour - seen below.

                  

 I also recently picked up a used copy of Wyeth at Kuerners - it provides a glimpse behind the curtain, of the artists working methods and process.  I've always been attracted to the "unfinished" - the work of an artist caught up in an inspirational moment where perhaps the composition isn't really considered, but what caught the artists eye is captured in a way seldom captured again in the finished painting.   It's also equally telling to see what the artist has decided to leave out, to simplify, or to relocate in order to strengthen the pictorial interest.

It's been a particularly productive few weeks, with half a dozen paintings completed or nearly so.

 

Wyeth Country - Cushing Maine

I dropped off three paintings to be evaluated for an upcoming juried show in Damriscotta.  I used this opportunity to take a trip to Wyeth country - specifically Cushing and the Olsen house (closed for the season).

It was late in the afternoon, but an unseasonable warm and sunny day for mid winter.  I had no real desire to paint the Olsen house, that was one of Andrew Wyeth's realms.  I was more interested in paying my respects to the artist and its now long famous inhabitants.  We drove down the dirt road to the small cemetery perched on the oceans edge.  I was reminded of NC Wyeth's painting "Here, there be Giants." as the afternoon shadows lengthened and the brilliant orange sunset settled in.  After paying my respects, I explored before the light disappeared.

Below are quick, and small, pen and ink sketches of Andrew's view of the Olsen house and a view of the ocean at the far end of the cemetery.  (notes in the margins).

                                         

I tried to augment my notes of color with an oil pastel sketch - that did not end well.   I also executed a quick water color study - intentionally keeping this loose to try to catch the atmosphere.  The reflections and shadows on the ice were more than I felt I could capture in watercolor so I decided to use this study as the basis for an oil painting.

I plan to do both of the Pen and Ink sketches above as finished paintings once I work out the compositions more.

Below is the oil I began today - Sunset on Ice (11" x 14")

I had originally planned to do more, but I quite like the simplicity of this composition so I'm just going to let it sit for a bit before adding more or simply signing it as is.

Exploring Harpswell

I spent Friday morning exploring Harpswell and South Harpswell.

My first stop was at the driveway entrance to the former home and studio of Stephen Etnier.
The land is no longer in family hands , the house and studio are long gone (which is another story all together).  However, the area surrounding the grounds of the studio is striking.  Farmland, spruce forests, wild ponds, and working houses of lobster and fishermen with boats large and small, for working and for pleasure.  The road was serpentine and very narrow.  That, and the fact that I was an uninvited guest, I didn't stay long.

Here is a photograph of "Old Cove" house and studio from the dock (uncredited - StevenEtnier.com)  I could understand why Steven Etnier chose this place to build his home and studio.  I must admit that I imagined seeing his good friend Andrew Wyeth visiting captivated by the endless subjects to paint at every turn.

My second stop was a subtly marked parking area (a Maine tradition) alongside a cove.  There was a picnic table and access to the water a short walk across the street.  It was a low tide with small waves lapping against a beach of tiny rocks - nothing like the cliffs pictured above.  Maine and New England are filled with these unadvertised hidden gems.  They are well worth the effort to find. 

From the parking lot, there was an easy hike, just over a mile, through a spruce forest to another cove with a similar pebbled beach with one large difference.   It was largely covered by snails that hadn't burrowed into the sand yet.  The walk reminded me of childhood days.  Walking along the towpath through the pine forests along the remnants of the Cumberland and Oxford Canal near my childhood home in Westbrook.

Large pines with thick roots snaking across the ground.  Evidence of the wind surrounds you murmuring through the pines.  You can see the treetops swaying, the patterns of light shifting silently on the ground, the creaks and pops of pines swaying in the wind,  yet the air remains very still inside thick stands of pine.  There were numerous deadfalls, trees toppled by the wind, caught by their neighbors before they reached the ground.  Those trees still standing had many gnarled dead branches - unable to reach the shafts of sunlight soon enough to support life -  create abstract patterns on the rust colored floor, low ferns, branches and tree trunks.

This Pen and Ink is an impression of the entrance to the forest path as well as some of the interesting scenery on the way to the beach. 

Georgetown and Tenants Harbor, Maine

Here are a few working sketches that I completed while picking up some of my paintings from the Plein Air Painters of Maine show at the Georgetown Library.  It is such a beautiful area.

The sketchpad I use is a simple 11" by 14" Acid Free medium weight paper. This first page represents some quick sketches I made sitting on a granite bench right alongside an inlet.  I generally make a few quick compositional sketches of scenes I am considering as well as local sights that could turn into additional paintings or elements that I might add into the composition later.  In other words real local buildings or natural scenes that you wouldn't see from this point of view but that anyone familiar with the area would be recognized.

This was a grey day and quite windy, but enjoyable.  Two ducks kept me company the entire time I sketched.  One black, one white.  Both very busy fishing.  I'm going to change the mostly hidden modern car port for a lobster shack that I remember (or imagine I remember) from Higgins Beach.

I plan to adjust the patterns of the lobster traps in the final painting as I've begun at the bottom of the page.

The sketch below is of a working wharf in Georgetown.  I happened to stop by as the days catch was being brought up to the wharf and then loaded onto the waiting truck.  I'm going to move the boat unloading to the near side of the wharf in the final picture.

To the right in the margin is a sketch of some fascinating reflections in a small building next to me on the location of the sketch above.  I could see reflections as well as into the building and out the other side.  It reminded me of something that Andrew Wyeth might paint ( no pressure there :)  

I recently purchased the book Wyeth and Kuhners.  It was filled with many of working sketches leading up to the final paintings.   It was very interesting to "see" his thought process behind some of his finished paintings.  The older I get and the longer I paint, the more my appreciation of his work grows.