Discontinued

Discontinued  

Charcoal on Paper

9" x 12"

This sketch was completed at home after a day trip to Crawford Notch, New Hampshire.  I've always been impressed by the ruggedness of nature as well as of those who, in this case literally, carved paths through the area allowing so many people to enjoy a view and an experience that they otherwise would never know.

I'm still working on developing a range of values, particularly in drawings or monochrome paintings.  I find the play of light and reflected light in this case off the rocks and the ground, to be fascinating and ever changing.  Capturing that play of light and shadow and reflections is likely as close as I will get to abstraction.

From this I will be completing at least four other subjects - watercolor and oil - in different seasons and times of day.

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To the Sea Study

To the Sea

Study

Watercolor and Dry Brush

This small preliminary watercolor is drawn from my trips Down East and also to Pemaquid.  In this study I decided to simplify, by removing the cemetery from a larger earlier study (see below) and reducing the foreground trees to one large tree on the right.  I also was interested in trying to paint the foreground field using the dry brush technique. I also am trying different treatments with skies.  It's fun to just let loose with paint from time to time! (okay, actually all the time....).

Maine has so many peninsulas where the view to the ocean is still wild.  I find the contrast between the ochres of wild fields in the fall and spring and the blue of the ocean is striking   I find the views most interesting in spring, fall, and winter.  Summer has a beauty of its own but visually I find that  I'm more drawn to the play of light and reflections as the overall range of colors is reduced in the summer.

More and more development, means these views are not as plentiful as before, but the views are there if you take the roads less traveled.  

Country Church - Work in Progress

Do you have a favorite painting or drawing?


Here is my latest work in progress.  It's a small country church based on the watercolor below, which was completed on location years ago in Bowdoinham, Maine.   It's at a stage where I'll set aside awhile to see if there is anything else I'd like to add when I look at it with "fresh eyes" so to speak.

I had the good fortune to strike up a friendship and correspondence with the illustrator Bob Harris for the last decade of his life.  He was so generous with his advice and so encouraging.  He'd often laugh and say how difficult it was and how important it was  to know when a painting was done - before it was finished!  It's so easy to overcomplicate subjects and to leave little to the imagination for the viewer.

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."   Edgar Degas

I really do like this watercolor sketch below, not because of how it turned out or any technical learning from the painting.  It does have a special place for me because it was the first painting I'd done on location once we'd moved up to Lisbon Falls.  I have so many impressions and memories of trips up and down this road with so many more subjects to paint.

My favorite painting or drawing?  The next one!!

Below are a few quick compositional sketches for the charcoal drawing above.  I did these sketches within 5 minutes and then moved onto the charcoal.

I'll likely do some paintings based on the finished sketch as well.

Evening Breaker #2

I've always loved the ocean.  The salt air, the sound of waves crashing on the rocks, the waves retreating back into the ocean rolling the rocks and sand.  A steady rythm, power,  and a vastness that seem to make everything else feel insignificant.

There are so many colors, both pure and reflected, and design elements that one could paint the same area of the coast day after day and never paint the same picture twice.  I particularly enjoy the coast during storms and other "off times."  

Though it has been many years, I still remember the power of the ocean when body surfing.  Literally being carried along, surprisingly fast by waves.  Learning to be patient and not to panic when held underwater by the power of the breaking waves.  The sting of salt water in my eyes and nose and the loud roar of the water of the breaker and the hiss of the wave stopping on the beach and retreating into the coming waves.

Below is a plein air seascape that I completed in Cape Elizabeth this past summer.

And a quick watercolor study from a sketch completed on location on Long Island, Maine.

Bowdoin Hillside Farm

This watercolor was created from an on location drawing trip to the neighboring town of Bowdoin.

I was struck by the hill rising and disappearing to the left - begging the question of what is around the bend and the contrast of the shadows spilling across the road and the field in the process of being plowed.

One of the things I've noticed in my travels throughout New England is how land is, or was, not wasted.  Rocky, sloping, and steep hilled land was, and in some cases still is farmed.  Toughness and persistence is required to earn a living in these conditions and climates.  I sense its far more of a calling than a business decision.

In Pennsylvania there is farmland as far as the eye can see.  So to it is here in Maine - the difference is the miles one can see in PA is so much greater as the land is so flat.  In Maine, in many places you will see a hayfield tucked in a corner of a property where the Spruce haven't yet found their way to the edge of a road.

The Spruce and Pine grow slowly, but are relentless.   When you drive along a road and there are many Birch and other opportunistic species of trees and few Pine and Spruce you know something has happened there - its not random.   Birch grow very fast, often after a fire or when land has been logged clear.   Pines and Spruce grow more slowly, but are relentless.  The acidic nature of their sprills also make it more difficult for other species of trees to survive.

Still the Pines and Spruce have their own charm.  I still vividly recall entering huge stands of Pine near my childhood home.  The undergrowth of the forest disappeared and their was an almost alienlike landscape of rust colored pine needles.  It was also so quiet until you heard the wind wistling through the pines.  So different than the sound of leaves rustling in the wind.

I only indicated a pine on the right of the painting.  The reality is that they dominated the road leading up to the farm.  The contrast betwen the dark spruce and open field was very dramatic.  One of the things I love about painting on location, is that the possibilities truly are endless.

A slight move up the road brings the farmouses into view and so many other subjects as well.  There was a tractor plowing when I was sketching so I'll try another version with that as well as fitting a sketch I did in PA with a horse and plow as well.

Baileys Island #2

Have spent the last couple of evenings/sunsets at Lands End on Bailey's Island.  It's amazing how different the sea is every day.  The first day the water was as smooth as glass and the reflection of the sunset was breathtaking.  Even got to watch a seal for awhile just off shore.

This sketch was completed from the parking lot.  It combines different elements that are present at Bailey Island, but not in the composition rendered below.  This composition combines the gnarled pine trees with rocks which dominate much of the landscape and on the horizon line is the lighthouse thats visible to the right of the island directly opposite the end of the road.

A sailboat happened by while I was sketching so I did a quick sketch of it, the outline of the memorial for those to who were lost at sea and the edge of the island with the lighthouse in the distance.

My wife laughed at me because, although I was at the seacoast I was sketching the pine trees in the parking lot - but that is sometimes how it works.  I found them to be so interesting visually that thatis what I was drawn to initially.

Am looking forward to painting some seascapes this fall and winter.

Portland Rooftops1

This is a sketch of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland ME, from Marginal Way.  I've always been fascinated by city skylines and rooftops.  This cathederal is also where my sister got married which is why I chose this subject to sketch.

The day itself had some incredibly dramatic lighting - clear skys one minute, rain the next and ultimately a thick sea fog which obscured the top half of the steeple.  I didn't have the time to try some of those different lighting patterns, but will another time.  As we say, if you don't like the weather in New England, wait a minute.

This was also a subject to work on how to indicate the substantial nature of the construction of the Cathederal without indicating every little detail (It couldn't be seen at this distance anyway - at least not with my eyes).  A few seagulls showed up and further illustrated the scale of the building.  They can barely be seen around the steeple on the left.

I'll adjust the building lines as necessary in any future subjects from this sketch but its enough for me to work on later.

Old Country Church

Old Country Church

Pen and Ink 

I am fascinated by old churches.  The buildings and surrounding graveyards are full of so much history.   This drawing is an amalgamation of many churches and locations seen throughout my years of travel throughout New England.

If pressed, I would say the main inspriation for this drawing comes from the Spurwink Congregational Church in Cape Elizabeth, Maine (Built in 1802) and St. John. the Evangelist Church in Pembroke Maine, build circa 1855 by Irish immigrants who had come to work in the Pembroke Ironworks.

As I child I explored the church in Pembroke (it was left unlocked and open to any who wished to enter in those days) but at the time I was more fascinated by the surrounding grounds and cemetary.  The ground in front of the tombstones was depressed - where the old caskets had collapsed over time - and the thick woods surrounded the graveyard.  There was a bald eagles nest nearby.  I could never quite find it, but I saw the eagles for many many years patrolling the nearby Pennamaquan River which drains into Cobscook Bay.  It was a magical place to explore as a child.

Clouds Over Mountan Pond

This charcoal is 12" x 16" with a few highlights of gouache

Working in the studio today.

The bulk of this drawing was completed years ago and set aside.  That is something I will do from time to time.  Sometimes its because I've reached the point in a subject that I've reached the limit of my technical skills (In other words, I know what I want to achieve but I don't know how to do it yet) ,  More often than not, its because I am most inspired by source material (aka nature) so I'll work on a number of subjects at once leaving studio work for later.  

 I decided to experiment with this subject, adding to and changing the composition of the clouds, shadows on the mountains and reflections in the pond and some general touch up.

I also pursued some experimentation with tracing paper, pen and ink, on an oil composition of an Amish Farmer.  The two sketches below are future projects.  The top sketch is a compositional study for continued work on the oil of an Amish Farmer.  More on that subject in different posts.

The drawing below was also completed years ago.  A snowy hillside in Lewiston.  My next studio day of experiementation will involve this subject. 

Night in Windham

Night in Windham

Acrylic 12" x 16"

This is my first attempt at an on location painting at night.  I learned a lot - the usual mixture of things to do and things not to do next time.  I'm sure I broke pretty much every "rule" about painting night scenes - but I had a blast.  Overall the picture came out too dark.  

I'll definately use this painting as the basis of numerous other subjects - combining elements that were present in the scene or others that I've witnessed in other settings.  I'll do some thumbnail sketches to try different compositions and then perhaps some tonal sketches before developing ideas further.  This type of studio work after doing on location paintings I've grown to enjoy very much.  

Some examples include - a barn with a snow covered roof catching the light of the moon;  The acutal barn is a quanset hut, but I would change that to an old barn (many different styles to choose from);

A scene with the moon rising above the trees, providing dramatic back lighting as I observed throughout the earlier evening.  By the time I painted this, the moon was high in the sky and obscured by clouds.

Other possible iterations could include animals in the moonlight or , as can often be seen at this time of year, skiers or snowmobiles in the far field.

This painting was also done on a canvas I primed with gesso and then a coat of burnt sienna.  It made it easy to quickly cover the canvas - but it also may have contributed to the overall darkness of the painting.  I'll experiment on future paintings with the effects of undercoating color on the overall painting.

Below is a photo of my paintbox with the pallette looking a bit abstract.

Winter Brook after a storm

This painting is not of a specific place, but it was definitely inspired by many trips into the woods in all seasons

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The painting actually started as a charcoal study (see below)  of spruce trees across the street after a heavy snow.  This was really intended as an exercise in observation for me and I really enjoy drawing with charcoal.  I wanted to capture the sense of the boughs heavily weighed down by the snow.  The original sketch had three spruce trees in it and then the sketch kicked around in my studio for awhile.

On another homebound day I grabbed the sketch and started thinking about spruce stands along a winter brook.  I added more trees and just a quick indication of a brook.

Next I decided to draw a color study in watercolor (9’ x 12’).  This was done on very thin watercolor paper – as you can tell from how the paper buckled.  I was also experimenting with different effects of light (as you can see in the background)

I then began sketching in oil directly on the canvas as can be seen below.  Once the basic layout was done I was then able to focus on masses and patterns of color and light and shadows.  I really enjoyed working on a large canvas.  It can be easy to pick and pick at a painting and to loose spontaneity – but. working on a large canvas can be very freeing.