Breakers

Breakers - March

Oil on Canvas Board 12" x 16"

I've always been fascinated by the ocean.  This oil on canvas is drawn from memory of countless hours watching the ocean since I was a child - particularly along the Maine Coast.  There are so many different rhythms, colors, smells, and sounds to the ocean - that I believe you could paint in the same spot every day for years and never have two paintings be identical.  This spring and summer I am going to make a concerted effort to paint on location at the coast.  Just need to pick my spot.

Too much to paint, too little time - Paris Hill

What do you do when confronted with Artistic Overload?  When every corner hides another dozen scenes to paint?

I suppose there are as many different answers to that question as there are people in the world.  For me, direct observation and sketching and painting from nature are key to my process.  However, there are simply times and circumstances where it is not possible to do either.  In those cases I will try to take a few pictures for later reference.  As soon as possible, I'll record my impressions with a sketch and sometimes a brief written description of what drew my attention to the subject - initially without even referencing the photograph.

The first time I went to Paris Hill was for a wedding at the church on the green.  If you've never been, it's well worth the trip and the effort to find it.  There used to be tours around Christmas of many of the historic houses.  I'm not sure if they still do that, but once again, worth it if they do.

Below are some small (3" by 4")  quick pen and ink sketches to explore different compositions and to develop a bank of historical house sketches for potential use in the future.  These particular sketches are all on a larger sheet of drawing paper sectioned off into 8 grids.

Paris Hill Impressions

               Church with Hannibal Hamblin House                         View from behind church toward

                              Pen and Ink 3" x 5"                                               village Pen and Ink 3" x 5"

                     Sunset and Distant Hills                                            Distant Hills, Sunset

                        Pen and ink 3" X 4"                                                 Pen and Ink 3"x 4"

New Englander - Pen and Ink 3" x 5"

I now really enjoy playing around with these sketches and compositions before launching into a painting.  It is time spent up front, but in the long run it is good practice and saves time from having to make large adjustments to a painting in progress.

Another thought I had while doing these sketches is to later take these sketches as a basis for finished sketches to have a unique momento of a place.  Many small sketches in the space of one larger sketch.

I hope you enjoy these impressions of Paris Hill.  In future posts I will share impressions of recent trips to Eastport and Cape Cod.

The link below will take you to some painting sketches completed in Eastport

https://robertkahlerlandscapepaintings.blogspot.com/2018/08/sea-glass-and-sketches.html