Lands End

As I was leaving Bailey Island I was struck by the contrasts in the fading light with the fog rolling in after sunset.  The water was capturing and reflecting all the light it could, creating striking silhouettes of figures as well as the house.  

I've always enjoyed monochrome painting and experimenting with different values.  My early reserach into Charles La Salle and his circle of friends and colleagues from the "golden age" of illustration I was struck by their mastery of charcoal.  "If a picture doesn't work in black and white - color won't save it."  Blunt but accurate I think.  Color can mask a bit, but won't hide a weak composition.  I also experimented with drybrush technique on this painting.  I recieved so much encouragement and advice from the late Bob Harris who was a very successsful illustrator and portraitist.  I still can hear his voice and chuckle about him talking about knowing when a painting is done before it is "finished."

I learned quite a bit from this sketch and will do some additional compositional sketches with paint before executing a large scale charcoal and then a finished painting.  I've settled on this working method over many years.  I quite like it because I enjoy working in different media on different scales and it allows me to combine my love of outdoor painting (Plein Air) with the creative challenges of design and composition.    I can also have many subjects going at once in different stages of development.

Sometimes I paint outdoors just to get outdoors - but I may not have a great or interesting subject for a finished painting.  However, no matter what , the practice of painting and observing always comes in handy and helps inform future paintings and drawings either through a successful painting or parts thereof or in the experience of learning not to repeat a mistake or series of mistakes.

I'm never stuck in the pattern of start to finish in any set order.  Some ideas are simply set aside for further consideration.  Sometimes years go by until I revisit a subject.  I find it satisfying to have a body of paintings waiting for further develoipment that I can go down into the studio after a long day or on a night when the weather forces me indoors.  It helps me work on my favorite painting - my next one.

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.