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.

Why I Love Plein Air Painting - Reason 1007

This morning started as just one of those mornings.  Got out of bed, stepped on the cat, )(the cat's fine), spilled morning coffee - you know the kind of day.  Nothing major, just irritating.

Later I took a short ride to see what was happening at the river bend today.  It was beautiful.  The sun was high, the ice was reflecting the sun, at times making difficult to see, the ice almost silver.  There were dark channels of open water working thier way through the ice pack creating a dramatic contrast to the silver ice and the trees were backlit so strongly they had an almost flat appearance.

More striking were the sounds of the day.  The wind blowing some stubburn   brittle brown leaves which had held on all winter.  When the wind held sustained gusts - you could observe the ice rolling ever so slightly, but it was the sound of the ice moving which really was the attention getter.

I did a very brief compositional study in Pen and Ink today.  Including a particularly interesting (to me) tree to be included in finished paintings.  I acutally spent more time taking some brief observational notes.



I began a large compositional sketch in charcoal a little while ago - just the very beginning of a sketch.  Then everything clicked.  The past few days of observation plus many random observations over the years.

From this one composition I'm going to do five subjects - which will all be different - and all based on my own observations of nature.  My own much simpler version of Monet's haystacks or Cathedrals.  Three daylight scences with differnet lighting as observed and two night scenes.  Am excited to get started.

The previous day, I'd done some four compositional studies from another vantage point.  They are sketchy (no pun intended) but turn out to be great time savers for me.  In a matter of minutes I was able to determine that an idea I had for a painting wouldn't really work as I'd envisioned it (rather than finding out at the end of a painting) and then eventually settling on a different composition to explore in more detail later.




Back to why I love painting on location - not simply the artistic problem solving - though that is satisfying by itself.  Most of all, the feeling of peace nature instills in me - no matter the day, no matter the time.

Long Island Sunset (Maine)

Long Island Maine, Sunset

My wife, then girlfriend, introduced me to Long Island Maine.  It's a small, but beautiful island, formally part of Portland, ME but it has since seceeded and become its own town.  We went out by mailboat and then walked to the other side of the island to a beautiful beach facing the open Atlantic. I found the water there to be very bracing compared to the beaches on the mainland.

There's a lot more history to explore on this island - it was a gathering and refueling point for convoys in World War II but that is a story for another time.

At the far end of the beach beyond the sand dunes and rocks is a beautiful house that has always captured my attention.

This was a very early drawing (charcoal pencil)

Years later, while chaperoning an 8th grade class trip to Long Island I completed the following two sketches for future reference, using the later as reference for the sunset watercolor.

The two sketches below were done on another trip.  It was a very windy day, as evidenced by the the beach sand stuck into the watercolor.

These sketches were all filed away for years.  At the time these were painted I didn't really have any deveoped working method.

Now, from time to time I'll revist sketches when conditions don't allow for painting on location. Below is an example of some small compositional sketches and notes and a quick color study that had an emphasis on the sky as I was quite interested to see what effect different perspectives would have on the mood of the painting.

There are many more subjects to pursue on long island, and this subject is far from complete.  The sketches are now back in storage (incubation).  I'm looking forward to taking more painting trips to the island in the near future.

I'd really like to set up on the beach for a good storm.....

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.