Sunset Paris Hill Pass 2

 

This is today's pass with Gouache over the charcoal sketch below.  The Focus was mostly on the sky and distant mountains.  The house had a particular shade of blue which is work for another day.  Feels great to be painting again.

"Just Paint"

Charcoal Compositional Sketch
18" x 24"

I fell into my bed - exhausted. Drifting off.... "Just paint" 

It could have been the tinnitus, but the voice was persistent. "Just paint" 

I dragged myself out of bed and stumbled down cellar to my studio where I had previously taped four blank note cards to my easel. 

 For a host of reasons, I've been unable to paint for quite awhile - too long for my liking. But where to start? "Just paint" 

Many years ago on Paris Hill a particularly striking sunset looking west from the village green beyond Hannibal Hamblin's house to the mountains beyond was seared into my mind. It was breathtaking.... I soaked up every minute of that sunset. 

 "Just paint" 

 I did a few quick Pen and Ink compositional drawings and then broke out some gouache and did these four quick compositional studies.   From the top left to right - sketches 1,2, and 4 were closest to the actual scene as it was. Three was a combination of the scene with a cloudscape at sunset from a different time and location. 

The color was way off (off-full you might say) but for my purposes it didn't really matter. I just needed to push some paint around and work out a few ideas that though they would not be exact representations of the scene but that would capture the feelings it provoked in me. 

In looking at the sketches - a combination of numbers two and three let to this larger charcoal sketch (18" by 24") which will be the basis for a finished painting

These are all quite loose for sketches, but each one informs me a bit more and helps me catch errors in composition before being heavily involved with the final painting.  

I thank God I'm no longer held captive by the thought that each and every painting and drawing must be perfect and "finished."  It relieves so much unrealistic self imposed stress to not make any "mistakes."  I wish I'd figured that out well before my mid 40's 

Each and every effort informs the next one and so on.

Just Paint!

Above the Old Mill Pond

Above the Old Mill Pond

Acrylic 12" x 16"

This painting was based on Plein Air sketches in Pen and Ink and the watercolor sketch done later in studio.  The perspective is imaginary, as though looking down from a high mill tower.  I wanted to find ways to include what was at the scene in one picture that you could see, just not all at once.

The mill is long unused.  Part of the building being used for apartments.  Part of it collapsing.  Part of it long collapsed.  The mill pond still exists, though the dam is slowly failing.  I broke the edge of the building in the foreground to allow another example of distance as well as the birch tree on the right for the same reason.

I was pleased at how this composition came together and I enjoyed trying to convey a sense of space without having any actual "sky" in the painting.  I plan to go back to this location to do an on location painting of the dam itself, before it is gone.

You may have noted that there is no chimney in the finished painting.  There wasn't actually one there, I was just experimenting in the watercolor.  I also adjusted the angle of the mill building to lead more into the mill pond rather than across it as in the watercolor sketch.

Stormy Day in the Basin

Stormy Day at the Basin

Watercolor on Paper 

18" x 22"

I do find that there is a beauty in every mood of nature.  The movement of mists and fog rolling in, rising from lakes and ponds, and  spilling down mountains is fascinating to me.  Objects partially revealed, never fully, and then they are gone.  This subject was based on an on location painting I completed in Grafton Notch more than 20 years ago.  Still a little more work to do on this but I enjoyed tackling a larger watercolor - it had been awhile.

Below is the painting this subject was based on.  During the course of painting this I had to retreat to my father in law's truck.  I can still hear the rain on the roof when I look at this painting.     

This painting was one of the first times I was able to capture the mood of a place at a specific time.  It's a little rough and unfinished, but still remains one of my favorites.  I emphasized the sky more in the recent watercolor, lowering the mountain height and adding a small tree covered island to help with scale.

I also added the trees to the right as there was a peninsula there that I did not include in the study above.  You can see indications of trees that I'd begun on the right but then I switched my focus to the atmospheric effects and left the peninsula out.

Swift River #2

Swift River #2
Acrylic on Canvas Board
12"X 16"

This painting was done from an on location sketch done in acrylics more than twenty years ago.  It was a grey spring day and quite cold.  I set up in the middle of a small bridge built for lumber access.  By the time I was done with the painting I was freezing and my hand was so stiff I needed to use my left hand to take the brush out of my right hand.

One of the things that I enjoy the most about painting on location is how lost I become in a place and time.  The paintings bring me back to that moment in time.  And even when the moment is well beyond my skills and experience, I find that so much more is taken in than I realize, and it often comes out later as my skills and experience catch up with my chosen subject.

One of the challenges of this type of day and subject is that without much sunlight, shadows are minimized and the key is similar throughout the painting, making the effect of distance harder to achieve.  I'm likely to do a couple different versions of this composition based on my observations of other similar locations. 

One will be a scene with mottled sunlight filtering through the trees.  Another a winter scene. 

Androscoggin, Ferry Road, Lisbon

Adroscoggin River Color Sketches

These two sketches are Acrylic on Paper.  Done from observation on location and the composition sketches below.  I tend to sort through my composition sketches and on location sketches for ideas for paintings - especially when I don't really have the time to paint.  In this case - I'd actually intended to work on a completely different subject - which I'd taken from small composition sketches like to these to a full sheet charcoal drawing.  But instead the image on the upper right caught my attention and I decided to skip a larger charcoal (for now) and go right into color sketches.

Androscoggin River Comp Sketches

My art critic - Echo accompanies me on my trips to my basement studio.  I paint standing up, and you can tell from the picture that it is probably a good thing that I do so as sitting isn't really an option.

Echo -Art Critic

 Once Echo sees me getting my palette ready, he settles in for a nap.

Ready To Paint

Androscoggin River 1

Acrylic on Paper

The lights and the darks were so impressive on this day creating rich color contrasts and striking shadows.  For this sketch I was also experimenting with different blues throughout the painting and intentionally leaving some of the white of the paper showing to add range to the color palette.  

The sketch below was completed quickly after the first, and was intentionally much more abstract than my normal painting.  This will be the subject of my next post.

Adroscoggin River 2

Acrylic on Paper

Sunset Runaround Pond

Sunset Runaround Pond

Watercolor Study

I was reviewing sketches from an old sketchbook today and settled on pencil sketch I'd completed on location years ago along with a few color notes scrawled in the margins of the sketch.

This watercolor study was inspired by my memories of a brilliant sunset and reflections on Runaround Pond in Durham, Maine.  I had just pulled in and explored briefly before being struck by the contrast of deep orange of the sunset juxtaposed with the dark greens of blues of the pine and spruce and then lightened again by the reflections in the foreground.  These effects are so very beautiful to witness and so fleeting.

For some reason, I had the place to myself that day and enjoyed the stillness and quiet as night fell.  This overall effect likely lasted less than 15 minutes but has never left my mind.

Peavey's Pasture Eastport ME

Plein Air Watercolor - Peavey's Pasture Eastport Maine

Had a wonderful time in Eastport Maine with family last weekend.  We had beautiful sunny summer days as well as a day of rain showers , clouds, and sea smoke.  So many moods and a painting everywhere you look (Of course I have that problem of seeing paintings everywhere I look all the time - even when driving).

This rolling pasture down to the sea was very striking and had so many different points of interest.

I had decided in advance to bring only watercolor on this trip and completed three paintings on location, observed constantly and took notes for many additional subjects.  Of course, as soon as I saw the harbor and the complex myriad of boats of different shapes and colors with a lot of white, I'd wished Id brought my other mediums as it was too complex for me to attempt that subject in watercolor.  Ahh well.  I suppose I could have done it as a monochrome painting with detailed color notes for later.

Lone Pine - Cape Cod

Lone Pine -Cape Cod  Acrylic 12" by 16"

(Doodle Bug)

Art is about discovery and the journey, for me at least.  Last week I went down to work on a subject for my next painting, and I ended up going in a completely different direction.  But that's a different story for a different day.  

This particular painting was done from studies completed on location last year as well as preliminary sketches done from those studies and blogged about previously.

I was captivated by the light and the dunes on the Cape.  The patterns of light on the dunes, the surf, as well as the shapes of the dunes themselves were such that one could paint them every day and have a different painting result every time.

With this painting I also really wanted to experiment a bit with the sky and even though the initial subject of interest to me was the pine, I actually came to enjoy working on the surf - a small but important part of this composition.  

To me, the pine had a story to tell.  How it it survived and thrived here when no others had?  It was bent and twisted by the elements, but it continued to grow and persevere.  It appeared to me to be cautiously looking over the dunes toward the horizon to what was coming next.  

As I completed the painting, I was overcome by a feeling of melancholy and I couldn't really identify why.  Then it hit me.  I'd actually completed a portrait of my buddy - Doodle Bug.

This was Doodle Bug's last trip with us.  She too was holding on so that we could get ready for her journey beyond the dunes.  She is missed every day.

Ham Pencil sketch on location

Pencil Sketch - Elmer Ham

4" x 6"

This is one of a number of small en plien air sketches that Elmer L Ham in preparation for larger more finished works.  I find even his small sketches to be very powerful and to my eye, rapidly executed.  If you take a close look at the shading in the trees and the overall pencil strokes, they are long and decisive.   There is an economy of pencil strokes - defining both form and value.  Also the line framing the drawing is not even - which indicates a more rapid process to me.  This sketch would serve as the basis for a work in any medium having a strong sense of perspective as well as arranged patterns of lights and darks. 

Other pencil sketches exist that are more complete and finished works in their own right - but I would hang this on my wall too!

Elmer was also known to work on subjects a number of times.  In a series almost.  When I was younger and newer at painting that never appealed to me.  Monet's haystacks, cathedrals, and water lilies come to mind.   But I can see the value in it now.

Today I took a walk along a little brook near to home, that I've seen hundreds of times.  Yet it is different each time I look at it.  The water was high today and running fast.  Yet areas that were usually rapids upstream were running smoothly - the water was deeper than normal so the rocks only caused whirlpools in the water - not actual rapids.  Other areas that were usually rapid free, with rocks high out of the water, were raging rapids.  The more closely I observe, the more I realize just how little I see of natures beauty.  It's different every day.

Here is a picture of Ham painting on location.

Elmer L Ham

Painting on Location - location unknown

Ham Person Papers Raynor Collection

Eastport Maine Afternoon Light

Eastport Maine - Abandoned Cannery, Tides Institute

Charcoal and Gouache on paper

This painting is an elaboration of an on location watercolor sketch that I did in Eastport last summer.  The effect of the light striking the abandoned cannery and the strong shadows was what drew me to this subject.   I'll set this aside and go back to it at a later date.

Its also another example to me that I'm never quite sure where a painting is going to lead me.  When I think of Eastport and the coast of Maine in general - I don't think of barely including the ocean in a scene painted on the coast.  

I plan to do five or six variations of this subject, including increasing the space between the buildings to show more of the harbor and the working coast.

While working, I had a visit from one of my studio assistants (Whisper).  I think he likes the painting - but he's not saying.  The cat has his tongue.  

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.

Tucked Away - Elmer L Ham

I was rummaging around the top floor of an antique store and I saw two black portfolios tucked in a back corner on top of a stack of chairs.  I made my way through the stacks of chairs and pulled the portfolios out to where I could open them up.

I figured there would be a few school sketches and some studies as each portfolio was quite thickly packed (each appprox 2" thick).   There were some studies of still lives, some partially completed watercolors, but things quickly turned even more interesting.

The Fenway, Boston
by Elmer L Ham (1884-1978)

Scores of boldly and confidently painted watercolor's, some signed by Elmer L. Ham, some not signed but clearly by the the same hand.  I've been researching the artist since this find and will share more paintings and information in future posts.

Many of these paintings I will keep, but others I will sell and attach his biography (as much as I can complete it) so that others may rediscover him too.

New Group Exhibition - River Arts Damriscotta

Time Together - Acrylic on Canvas

Aiden LaSalle

$325.00

The above canvas by Aiden LaSalle will be included in the juried group exhibition at River Arts opening Friday September 21 in Damriscotta.

Aiden has been painting for decades and has paintings in numerous private collections throughout New England.  It's rare for any of his paintings to get by his family and clients but at age 82 he thought he'd try something a little different and enter a juried competition.

Aiden comes from a family of artists.  His father, Edward LaSalle, was an illustrator in the 20's and 30's and he sold his paintings privately throughout the next five decades.  His Uncle, Charles LaSalle and his cousin Aiden Lassell Ripley were highly successful artists who won awards nationally and are still highly collectable artists to this day.   His mother, Vivian LaSalle was a fashion artist for Palmer's Department Store and a portraitist in pastels.

Aiden has also spent a lifetime in and around the woods, studying nature in all its moods, and that authenticity is embedded in all he creates.    

I currently have two other paintings by Aiden for sale.  If you are interested please email me at robert.kahler65@gmail.com

Waiting

Acrylic on Canvas

$300.00

Storm Warning

Acrylic on Canvas

$475.00

Congratulations again to Aiden!  I cannot thank him enough for mentoring me on my own artistic journey.


I also had one painting accepted for this exhibition as seen below.  It is a watercolor on paper.

Treetops / Woodcock

This charcoal is an elaboration of an on location watercolor sketch of a farm in Bowdoin.  Haying has begun in the foreground.   One of the things that impresses me most about the farms in Maine is how farmers utilize nearly every inch of arable land, be it for Hay, Corn, or other crops.   Hay fields in various shapes and sizes are tucked away alongside roads as in this case.

I may well take the view of Mt Washington from Lisbon and add it to this scene in an alternate composition.

Lisbon Farm Charcoal

Here is the current state of the large charcoal of a nearby farm.  Below is the on location watercolor sketch and the very beginnings of this charcoal.  This drawing is relatively complete.  I'll do a little more work on the grass in the foreground, the sky,  and the pond in the mid ground but very few small adjustments.

I've added the pond and the rock wall to the composition.  Not original to the location, but as I worked on the sketch the idea occurred to me and is something I've seen throughout many New England Farms - including one in my hometown of Westbrook, Maine, at a classmates family farm (Wormell's).  I hope to go back to paint the farm pond there sometime soon if it is even still in existance.  

The pond in this drawing is another example of something that isn't there in reality, but is not so far out of place to be totally fictional or unrealistic.

I'll set this aside once completed but later use it as the basis for an oil painting.

Mountain Brook Summer

This charcoal is an amalgamation of many trips to the mountains.  The most direct sources of inspiration for this drawing was a trip that Julie and I took in Mid Summer to the Swift River in Maine and along the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire, as well as the riverbed often visible when driving through Farmington Maine. 

One of the areas we stopped in was nearly water free.  The low water (almost absent) added a whole new type of interest to the river scene for me.  I find rivers and water in general to be a fascinating subject.  From reflections of sky and trees, to rapids, to the ebbs and flows of river channels, and of course water falls.  Along the river bed were occasional puddles which reflected the trees, clouds, and sky overhead.  That's a subject (or three) for another day.

In this case I've altered the composition somewhat to allow the viewer to see the river bed.  In reality, the growth along the road was so thick, that you couldn't see the river bed which ran to within a few feet of the tote road.  In exploring the riverbed, there were some areas where the trees obscured the sky above, letting only mottled light through to the rocks below.  It was breathtaking.

Old Mill - Sabattus

Old Mill, Sabattus Maine

If you see and old building or any building that strikes you, record it in your own way.  I cannot count the number of buildings and scenes that I wanted to paint that were gone by the time I got around to trying to paint them.  In the U.S. in particular, our history is fleeting and the "old" is often bulldozed for the new.

I often rise early in the morning and explore for subjects of interest.  This mornings journey took me to Sabattus.  A weathered mostly abandoned Mill complex caught my eye.  It was a grey day but the greys and rusted roof of this buiding spoke to me.  I took a few notes for reference later when I decide to do a painting of this subject.

As often happens to me when I'm on location, is that I get lost in the moment and the subject requires more simplification and scaling than I accomplish with the first pass - still I was able to put down enough of the subject for further study.  There was an old dam and mill pond to the right of the subject which I'll explore further later.  The reflections in the pond were fascinating and could have been the subject of many paintings.

Old Mill Sabattus, Maine

The advantage to utilizing Pen and Ind for these field sketches for me is that it is quick, easy to transport, makes me think before blocking in the composition and I can take reference notes quickly and easily.

The disadvantage is that color notes are not the same as matching the colors.  Which is why i also enjoy sketching on location with watercolors.  I could have easily combined the watercolor with the Pen and Ink, but for now I prefer to keep the two seperate.

Moonlight on Mountain Pond

I spent a few hours in the studio the past couple of evenings matting drawings and paintings to see what I'd like to enter in my next juried exhibition.  Sometimes framing or even simply matting a painting or drawing help expose any compositional flaws.

Moonlight on Mountain Pond

There is a stillness in the wood

That is hard to comprehend

As I hike away from civilization, from the “should’s”

I leave the car and my worries behind

The daylight views are dramatic enough

But the night sky and the dance of moonlight and shadow

On clouds, mountain, forest and stream

Leave me spellbound

Like the sirens of myth

It is possible to become lost in natures song  

But the sound of my heart provides the rhythm

To the silence

Provides the anchor in the storm

The storm we all carry inside

In a few days

I’ll be back at work

Surrounded by activity and sound

The “should’s” will have returned in full force

In moments of decision,

I strive to remember

The mountains

The dance of moonlight and shadow

The silence

I am learning to be still

Nana's House

I recently took a trip Down East with family.  This post was from more than a year ago.  A picture drawn from strong childhood memories.  I was watering plants in the backyard yesterday, including a cutting from the lilac tree in front of the house (to the right outside this picture)

I hope you enjoy the picture and poem.

Pembroke

A few half buried fieldstones are all that remain

The house is gone

The Barn and Shed…

Gone

Gone. Not forgotten

I see Nana’s house

In abandoned farmhouses 

In bowed barns

In my dreams

I remember walking up the dirt road from one adventure or another

Taking the short cut up the hill toward the house

Avoiding the old well (Not really – Sorry Mom)

The tall grass tickling my hands

was laced with animal trails

At the top of the hill

The horses were shuffling in their stalls

Anxious to get out

The shed

A large barn connecting the barn to the kitchen

A magical place to me

Could that have been Santa’s sled?

Why one barn was “the barn”

The other the “shed”

I don’t know – it just was

The geese tap at the low kitchen windows

Hoping for some of our breakfast

Grampie looks up from his coffee

Shaking his head “No” at the geese

Morning ritual complete

The geese move on

The memory remains

I wasn’t yet six and he was gone

I prefer this memory

To those from the nursing home

Back to Pembroke, Masonic Lane

Dining Room

Sloping floors

Great for marbles and Matchbox cars

Enough room for seven story baseball card forts

As much fun to take down as to build

From kitchen to bedroom

Stairs narrow and steep

There was always a chill in the air upstairs

The only source of heat radiated from downstairs (or so I was told)

I’ve never gotten dressed and undressed indoors as quickly

Before or since

It was so quiet

You could hear yourself think

No T.V.

No Streetlights

Few cars

Lots of cats and dogs

Bald Eagles nesting by the river

The wind rattled the windows

Full of imperfections

Creating unique views and

Moonshadows on the wall

The house spoke in soft whispers and groans

As I drifted off to sleep

When my brother speaks

to his girls (Geese) and his pugs

I sometimes hear Nana’s voice.

The lilac in her dooryard has spread

To each of our homes

So has her hardy laugh

And her fierce spirit

The house is gone

So much more remains