Elmer L Ham (1884-1978) Two Seascapes

 

Elmer L Ham painting a seascape on location (en plein air) location unknown

Discovering this photo of Ham painting on location confirmed what I had expected when I first saw one of his paintings.

There is something about painting on location which I find intoxicating.  As I've written elsewhere, I came across a few old beaten up black portfolios thick with paintings tucked away in a corner in an upper floor amongst overturned furniture.  When I opened the first portfolio I was mesmerized by the painting after painting, which had the life, movement, and crispness of having been painted on location or at least having been painted by someone who was a student of both nature and painting.

Here are examples of a couple of watercolor field studies done on location by Ham.  Ham often traveled and painted on location with his life long friend - Vladmir Pavlovsky (1884-1944).  Ham and Pavlovsky shared a studio in Boston on Newbury Street.

Watercolor Seascape by Elmer L Ham

Watercolor Seascape by Elmer L Ham

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. 

Grey Day Eastport Maine

Grey Day Eastport Maine

Watercolor - 7" x 8.5"

This watercolor was completed on location during my recent trip to Eastport.  Overall, the weather was beautiful, but we did have one grey day with showers.  I had to seek shelter in the car and the sky opened up.  I do really enjoy the occasional rainy day.  The sound of rain on the roof and windshield was so soothing.

The atmospheric effects during the brief time it took me to complete this painting were amazing.  At one point,  the sea smoke / fog rolled in all but obscuring the building.  At other times, the rain was so heavy and the thickness of the fog varied so that some or most of the building was obscured.   Some of the islands in the harbor seemed to be floating in the air, the horizon was indistinguishable.  All of these changes in effects occurred within a half an hour to 45 minutes.   I could have done a half dozen paintings from this same view and they would all have been different.  I did take some notes and photo's of some of the different views and may well give a few of them a shot.

I observed for about 10 minutes and then got a scene that I wanted to paint.  It changed constantly throughout my painting, but I was pleased with the accuracy of the final result.  I decided to paint this scene in Monochrome (indigo) as the patterns of light and dark and muted reflections were what drew me to this scene.  

The tides are also amazing to observe.  This was a rising tide,  At low tide, the pier to the left and much more beach is totally exposed.  The ocean is slowly reclaiming its territory.  Large concrete sections of the pier weighing tons have fallen underneath the pier as erosion defeats human construction.

Going to new or in this case. less familiar places is always so inspiring and reminds me to observe my daily surroundings more carefully.

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

Barn Party Harlow Gallery Fundraiser

Looking forward to a day of Plein Air Painting to kick off the summer and help support a local gallery!

Barn Party Fundraiser

Harlow Gallery

Pictured: Top Row Left to Right   Judith Schuppien, Lisa Kyle, Robert Kahler, 

Pictured Bottom Row Left to Right  Ed Buonvecchio, Jeanne Ouelette, Nathan Allard

SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 4-7PM

During the day, 15 artists will be making artwork on location in response to the numerous beautiful, historic barns of Old Village Road in East Winthrop. (see below for full listing of artists.) The artwork produced from the day will then be up for bids during a silent auction fundraiser to benefit programming at the Harlow, a membership based 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to connecting and celebrating art, artists and community in downtown historic Hallowell since 1963.

From 4-7pm, all are invited to congregate at the host barn (location will be disclosed to ticket holders) for an after party and silent auction fundraiser to benefit the Harlow. Beverages and appetizers will be provided. Bidding for the silent auctions will be open 4:45-6pm. Proceeds from the silent auction will be split 50/50 between the Harlow and the artists.

A listing of participating artists is as follows:

Augusta: Valerie porter
Brunswick: Rebecca Hedgpeth
Hallowell: Paul Cyr, Angie Blevins
Lisbon Falls: Robert Kahler
Lovell: Jeanne Ouellette
Manchester: Edward Buonvecchio, Helene Farrar
Pittston: Judith Schuppien
Somerville: Nathan Allard
Waldoboro: Lisa Kyle
Waterville: Gale Davison
West Gardiner: Kay Morris, William Cesario
Winthrop: Penny Markley

The Harlow is supported by the City of Hallowell, Dirigo Capital Advisors, Kennebec Savings Bank, the Roxanne Quimby Foundation and by our members.

Pemaquid Beach

I've managed to explore much of the coast of Maine, but somehow I'd never made it to Pemaquid before.  Julie, Ari, and I had a wonderful day at Pemaquid.  Before we left for the day, I decided to reorganize my paint box to strictly watercolor so that all the materials that I'd need would fit in my paintbox.  Brushes, paper, paint, water, palette,  tape, pencils, sketch pad, sponges, razor blades, pencils.   I wanted to reduce things so that I wouldn't need anything beyond the paint box.  Still a couple of things to iron out - but all in all I was pleased.  What I think I'll do next is get another paint box to prepare for acrylics and related materials.

After exploring and finding some sea glass.  I did this pen and ink first.  I finished the day doing a quick watercolor study of this same scene.  I'll use both of these to do a finished work eventually.

The next work was this watercolor.

Sometime I'm so caught up in the moment, trying to capture colors and the other elements of the subject that catch my attention, I forget to keep overall composition in mind.  All in all I was pleased with how the watercolor captured the mood of the day.  I continue to be amazed at how differnt the ocean looks both in terms of color and structure of waves and wind.  For the next trip I want to paint from the rocks at the light house.  The surf and mood was so different in the short distance from the beach to the lighthouse.

On a side note, my paint box was a gift from my father in law for Christmas of 1994.  It has literally been on all of our family adventure days and is nearly three years older than Ari.  I can look at the scars, scapes, and paint on the box and they bring me back to each adventure.  Another post for another day.

Tumbledown, Fall

Tumbledown Mountain, Weld Maine

Fall is unquestioningly my favorite time of year.  This is an on location watercolor sketch completed years ago.  This was completed in one setting.  At the time I was very interested in capturing the brilliant fall colors, in particular the color showing through the trees between me and the mountain.   

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, sometimes when painting on location I find it easy to get lost in the subject in front of me.  Particularly in earlier years.  I would, and perhaps I will, rearrange the elements in this painting differently to strengthen the composition while maintaining the integrity or the sense of the place.

If you’ve never tried painting on location, please do.  It is challenging and such a joy.  I was incredibly fortunate to be introduced to drawing and painting outdoors when I was introduced to art. I’ve never known anything else. 

One of the gifts of painting on location, and there are many, is the strength of the memory of the location.  Rarely do we spend hours observing and interpreting the world around us.  It’s been more than a decade since I painted this picture.  I can remember the temperature, the sound of the wind through the tall grass, the warm feel of the sun on my face and the chill of the fall air that the wind carried even into this sheltered location.  There are also things that you may observe in nature that aren’t readily captured by photographs.  It may even be something you see on the way to the location that you decide to add to the finished picture – An interesting tree, old barn, or a tree that stubbornly refuses to lose its leaves when all around have long since surrendered to the coming of winter.

Speaking of winter.  I so enjoyed observing the muted colors during today's Nor Easter and will use the observations to attempt my first painting of a snow storm in action.  More later.

A Work in Progress

Mechanicsberg Penn - on location

I've come to learn that every painting, successful or not, has helped me continue forward in my journey to capture my impressions of the landscape.  Occasaionally I'll have a reason to revisit past efforts - in this case in preparation for entering a juried plein air exhibition in Southern Maine.

This sketch was started and completed on location during a family trip to Pennsylvania years ago. I took some time to explore a nearby park and was captivated by this river.

There are a number of things I would change about this painting, but at the time I was most interested in studying the effects of the water with the limited time I had.  What would I change?

A number of elements of the composition (the tree in the center of the river in the center of the painting) as well as the solid trees in the background.  Although this is as the composition was, it doesn't make the best composition for a painting.   

Next I did some compositional sketches - ranging from simple line drawings to more detailed sketches.

                                

This was a quick tonal sketch - not at all concerned about detail, but begining to address the composition and values.

I then did a quick color study and also experimented with natural sponges for applying paint as I had in the on location study.

I then set the sketches aside in a portfolio - which I will most likely turn into finished paintings.  I've got a number of "collections" like this of different subjects that I've set aside for a rainy day.

Each painting also adds a little more knowlege about what does and does not work in producing a desired effect.  Its amazing what you will remember about a location when you spend a few hours painting and observing.  I now don't get concerned if I cannot capture an effect accurately at the time (my observations are often ahead of my ability to capture them in paint) because I can revisit those subjects when I have further developed my skills.

On location sketches also help me develop a "bank" of resources to refer to in future studio work (rivers, clouds, et cetera).

I'd love to hear any tips others may have for working on location.

Persistence - Houghton Maine

What follows is a poem I penned years after our trip to Houghton, Maine.  One of the things I savor about painting on location is the peace it brings at the time and its lasting impact on me. When I looking at a painting or sketch comlpeted on location (however it might pale compared to the actual scene) literally brings me back to the time of place of its creation.  I remember the sights, sounds, temperature, smells, and so many other details of that moment in time.  

I developed love of writing while attending Westbrook High School (thank you Mr Hughes, Mrs Rich, and  Mrs Hamilton) that was nurtured in college  by Constance Hunting, Marjorie Wilson,  and other members of the English Department at UMO who allowed and encouraged a Psychology Major to enroll in advanced writing classes.  I'd like to think that I was aware of the help and gifts that you shared with me in my teens and early twenties - but I'm sure I wasn't.  I cannot thank you enough for your time and encouragement.

Persistence

Watercolor completed on location

Houghton Maine

Persistence

A slight turn off the paved road

The grass quickly rises above the bumper, gently pushing us along

The road constricts, tree tops block out the sun

Branches tap the roof

Gently at first, then with more urgent groans, warning us to stop

How far the road will let us go?

A birch sapling stretches across the road

A warning

A long steep drop hidden around the corner

The road sprints downhill

Ending in a small clearing

Hidden by the last drop in the road

Surrounded by thickly wooded hills

Guarding their secrets

Bear scat and moose track tell me that we are not alone

I grab my paints and slip into the woods

Heading for high ground

The trees refuse to surrender the view I hope to find

Persistence

Stubbornness

A fine line

Rewarded

Invisible to a casual glance

A small scar, a remnant of past storms,

Offers an opportunity

To see above and beyond the trees

To see the entire valley

Persistence

Pine, Birch, and spruce claw their way skyward

Pushing rocks aside

The scar was already fading

Hours spent painting, the memory is set

My back is aching, paying the price for hours of concentration elsewhere

It was worth it

I don’t need to return here to know - this view is no more

The moose and bear travel as the mist, fleeting yet present,

Unwilling to be seen

They persist

Oil painting completed on location
Looking up from the campsite

Watercolor
Interrupted by swarms of black flies