"Sketching on the Road"

  

Well, I'm off to Germany to meet my little grandson, "Max", and of course, visit with my daughter, Rachel, and son-in-law, Gerd. About the only thing I enjoy about the actual time of traveling is the opportunity to sit around, for hours in most cases, and watch people. I always carry my sketch book with me most everywhere I go. It's so easy to spend a brief hour or two sitting in one place observing and drawing the activities around me. I never impose or intrude on anyone  and will move to a different location if I am being noticed. Families bond and separate, business deals transpire and many travelers lounge in a complete state of exhaustion, waiting for a much anticipated or dreaded trip to who-knows-where. What better way to pass the time than to document, in my own language, my take on the world passing me by. The making of marks on paper, as my eyes move through the terminal, leaves me with a recorded page in my journal and unique feeling of a "sense of place" in my heart that no purchased souvenir can capture.

"Sea of Green Umbrellas"

This is another painting from my recent Block Island workshop. The day was overcast and I was having problems "settling in" on a subject to paint in town this day. Then, all of a sudden, the owner of this cafe came outside to open all his umbrellas on the patio. Wow! There was this huge horizontal strip of green going through my vision. It looked like a Sea of Green. I found an out-of-the-way spot to park myself for the day and was so lost in thought about how I wanted to say what I needed to say. I worked towards simplification of the shapes, trying not to get hung up on all the little details of the scene. I had no shadows to consider, since the sky was a perfect New England grey. The colors were just popping out!

"The Narragansett 2"

This painting was done in my studio from information I had gathered on site. It's still not what I wanted, so I will make another attempt.  Then I ask myself the question, "Is it possible to ever get it right?"

"The Narragansett"

A few weeks ago I attended a plein air workshop on Block Island with painter Pamela duLong Williams.
The workshop was very helpful in pounding in those academic rules that I tend to forget so easily. One thing I tend to forget  after laying in my darks in the beginning, is to go back and re-establish those darks again throughout the painting process, when I tend to let things get a bit muddy. And to keep my darks rich! I also worked on planning my paintings better in the beginning with small thumbnail sketches. This is a thumbnail of "The Narragansett", one of the large hotels on Block Island on the Great Salt Pond.



 My first attempt at painting, which is oil on wood panel.

"Just a Nip"

Cut up orange pieces are fun to work with if the lighting is right passing through the orange, giving a translucent appearance. I have been experimenting with reflected light off this black coffee cup. I find it helpful to keep in mind that the cup is still a black cup regardless of what bright object is reflected off its' surface. I must paint the oranges in a low key, with the colors leaning towards a darker grey on the color scale, to make it believable. The blue background is complimentary to the oranges in the painting, creating a more harmonious feel.

"Max" the dog

A few months ago a dear friend on Facebook wrote to me asking if I would do a portrait of her dog, Max. After receiving photos and information about Max I was eager to go. I knew what he smelled like, where he slept, his likes and dislikes of the outdoors and a well-rounded sense of who Max was. With all of his mixed- in good looks from various breeds of dogs, I thought that Max would be best portrayed in a celestial-type painting that included whimsical design. He's a real sweetheart, so why not paint him with trees, little Max's all in a row and the stars. He was very well- behaved and quite the patient sitter!

"Mug Shot # 1"

A few years ago I bought on eBay a vintage Sunbeam Mixmaster. I found the mixer to look not too dissimilar from a squid when the top was popped off, therefore becoming a hand mixer. EBay then had another Sunbeam mixer for auction of a different vintage. The design was similar but the wooden handle had a sleeker design. Once again though, the mixer, to me looked to be the brother of the other one I owned, with it's oblong body, two black eyes and the cord serving as the tentacles. I had to paint these! A series of paintings evolved from my little spending spree on eBay once I became the owner of 3 mixers. I found the best way to show off the similarities of the mixers, but to still exhibit individuality of each was to do mug shot paintings. "Okay number 3, let's see a profile." This painting is of "Mug Shot # 1, with Accomplice", the green bowl.

"I Want More!"

This painting I did from a sketch I made of a mouse hand puppet inside a big glass canister jar. For once I was able to let my imagination take a story and run. I am usually painting what I see, taking into factor my environment (landscape), which I experience before me, or a still-life I have set up. I do not work from photographs but try to rely on sketches and studies I do on location. Trying to figure out where I want to go before I begin a painting is usually the most rewarding route to take in the beginning. However, with this mouse in front of me posed with his hand hanging out of the jar, and a flat felt hand at that, suddenly possessed a  character and personality that only needed a bit of embellishment. And the entire time I painted was actually fun; no struggles with any analysis of what I was doing. If I could only paint like this more frequently I'd be a happy camper. Oil on linen 18"x 14".

"White Pine"

This is one flower that did not get away. These are baby pinecones just formed on a White Pine branch. This is done in gouache.

painting flowers

About 10 years ago I decided, as a painting discipline, to paint everything that bloomed in my yard as it appeared. Well, I quickly fizzled out on that project when I got to number four, within a week of the first blooms. So much was happening in the yard I had not noticed before. The smells were a give away. Pachysandra smells wonderful in it's early bloom. I moved on to one of the daffodils popping up. I realized a year later, when attempting the project again, that I had never bothered to look up at all the little hellicopters in the maple trees. Then bloomed the lily-of-the-valley... so sweet smelling and only in bloom for a few days. That's when the overwhelming exhaustion set in, either from to much adrenaline or was it the pollen? Every year I tell myself that I'm going to make more progress on "that flower painting project", but I always get sidetracked or realize by then, as usual, that I am so over committed in the art department. Here is the little painting I did of the lily-of-the-valley. First I toned the paper with a blue gouache and before it dried used a rag to lift off the excess paint. Not a particularly great painting, but was then trying to achieve a goal that kept me looking for months at the painting (and flower) that got away.

"Grapes" detail

By the time I went to photograph this painting this afternoon, the light was too far gone, so I tried something different. I put the too large canvas in my scanner and scanned at 300 dpi. The editing was interesting, but the colors are true.

"Second Cup"

I painted this the same day as the last one, but just took out the egg shells and gave the cup a new spin. I prefer this rendering on the handle and find the egg white to be more translucent.

"Fresh Start"

I began the day painting with a subject I like. Coffee. I like to paint eggs, preferably raw in a clear glass container. I like the way the glass distorts objects, like the bottom of the cup.

"The Lobster Claw"

The last of the daffodils for this spring. I cannot help but think "lobster" when I see these pruners. I'm in a bit of a painting rut now with using the same palette consistently.

"Here"

The clown said "here"!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

I have not posted all my almost daily works, for I'm still getting to know the new features to this blog. On a more productive note, I am always looking for something new to paint to walk through my door. I ordered these 2 infant toys from etsy a few weeks ago, thinking I would begin setting up a little makeshift nursery for my soon-to-arrive grandson. The light was good, so I set up a little still-life with the new toys. I couldn't help but see the "clown" on the left screaming "here"!

"Glowing"

My time has not been my own over the last 4 weeks because a bad storm made a wreck of my yard and a tree fell on my studio, totaling the entire space. But I was able to paint in a makeshift corner for 2 days. When I'm really distracted or worried, I find it difficult to get into my creative zone in my head. But once I start, all seems better with the world. In this little painting, I was trying to capture the luminescence of the orange with the light going through. I purchased this little black cup on eBay, and have used it several times in paintings. It's a challenge painting reflected objects on black, remembering to keep the values low.