June 2009

“Rock and Glass”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Today’s painting was a hike through the woods to get to, but I had packed a tuna sandwich just in case. It turned out to be a beautiful walk past the extra leafy flora due to all the rains. The tide was low and getting lower as I began to paint right at the edge of land and water. No wind and the sun was still warming me as it slowly curtsied behind another island and let the evening slip away…

“Evening at the Light”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This is the lighthouse everyone wants to paint because it has such character and demeanor. However, it is not so easy to capture on canvas, as the open area around it is small and hard to give a good perspective on water and tower. I have always liked cropping my lighthouses every once in a while. It makes them a little more mysterious and forces me to concentrate on the volume of the cylinder…

“Whiting Moonshine”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

I told everyone at the gallery opening I attended last night that I wouldn’t post any painting today as I planned to work on a larger piece. When I left, there was a crack in the cloud cover along the horizon and the sun popped through. It was my kind of sky drama, but I had left my easel in the studio. Racing home, I grabbed my gear and drove to a back road by the farm and set up shop next to the bee hives with this unobstructed view. It was 20 minutes to sunset and the foggy murk off the ocean had come in and obscured my sunset before I returned. But I am a painting junky and I started to work frantically to lock in the scene, just in case. Sure enough, the murk partially gave way to a warm orange glow as sun slid down to set. The bird were fluffing their feathers in the roost behind me in an old pine. A young skunk ambled by my bags as I worked. An owl glided by as low as the posts in the painting right in front of me. But I just worked on, and that’s when I saw the moon. It was my treat for hanging onto my vision. You just never know unless you are there….

“Evensong”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Another late sunset painting. Paint the water, then the sky and last the landscape. The water and sky color will change the fastest at this time of day. The land will slowly follow suit. Green is the last identifiable color as the light gets darker and darker after sunset, just as I am the last identifiable mosquito candy as it gets darker and darker and I paint faster and faster….

“Storm Strike”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

The weather went from bad to worse, better and finally the darkest it could get without rain. Sunddenly the sky blew a hole in itself. This great lighting on the tops of the thunderheads shown forth and it started to send out thunder bolts. I was able to get it all in as it passed right beside me and it never rained….

“Shadows Lengthen”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I was working on a larger painting today as the sky changed from grey to sunny. As it got near sunset, I packed it in and started to drive down island to home. I got to this view and gave myself the challenge. “You have painted this scene over fifty times in your life, but never with this lighting effect, nor so little time to paint it. YOU can do it!” Forty minutes later, cars with their lights on were passing me packing my paints up. I did have a head start though. I never clean my palette until I am home and the mixed colors from the first painting easily launched me into the middle stage of this painting. And I love sundown challenges!….

“Cross Roads”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I had scouted this location on a sunny day and couldn’t find the joy here. But cloud it up and there was a lot going on to hold my attention…

“Butter Up”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Today was another rain out day among other things. So I thought a still life appropriate. Except that the still life I wanted to do in day light, had to wait for night lights. A friend visiting the island was rushed to hospital emergency room and I had pick her up when she was finally discharged at 2:30 am. She is ok, thanks for asking!…

“Salut Dad”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

No, its not a typo/spelling mistake. Get your French dictionaries out to get this title right. My Dad loved stone walls and gardens and creating with each. He taught my brothers and me how to do it all from scratch. He would have loved to have this painting…

“Off the Boulevard”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Upon reflection I have discovered that I do like to paint on these overcast days. The skies become a real challenge. I have learned that the sky maybe gray or grey. Grey is recognized internationally, whereas gray is only recognized in certain US states. There is a fine line when mixing grey to get it right for a particular sky. Just a bit too much red and it is lost and the same with too much yellow. And to make it worse, no matter what gray I think I have mixed on my palette, when it gets on my canvas it is something else entirely. Leaving me to resample and remix a few more times to get the balance right…

“Leafy Landing” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Another windy gray day to contend with. This was out of the wind and I didn’t even have to put any gray sky in, or didn’t you notice…

“My Ship Comes In” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It was too nice a day to not stop by the Harbor View light and capture a sail boat cruising by. Some sun, mild temperature and a light breeze was the perfect combination to entice a sailor or two out upon the waters. All I had to do was set up and start painting and my ship would come in…

“Chilmark Spring” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

A beautiful day today with great clouds. Time to celebrate late spring in Chilmark, Mass….

“Grounded” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Another cloudy, next sunny, then very cloudy day. I found this spot to get out of the east wind and paint until I couldn’t see in the evening light…

“Distant Storm” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Finally, it was a sunny day today. But with too many outdoor projects to do, I caught the tale end of the sun. Would you believe it started to rain again as I walked off the beach and got to my car!!!…

“More Fogging In” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Another day, another fog, what can I say? I started this piece and the fog was receeding. An hour later, I could barely see the second rock…

“Fog Rolls In” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Subtle colors come out on gray, rain threatening days. There are no sharp shadows, sometimes no shadows at all to truely define an object. Shapes become flat, seemingly without volumn. Definition has to come from other means on gray days…

“Wet Hay, Music Street” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

I had seen my farmer friend cutting this small field only to have it rained on after he rowed it up. Not good for hay. Now it is all baled up for mulch hay for his wife’s commercial tomatoe patch. And once again it got rained on. It was all good luck for me because normally his hay does not sit out. As soon as it is baled it is gone, right into his hay loft for his milk cows for the winter. I had all the time in the world to paint it…

“Rough Seas” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

The seas pile up on a cool rainy day. The east winds and rising tide create a chop just off the beach. Too much air and too much tide are not good for kite surfing or surf boarding or fishing. And the rain deters any walking, dog or otherwise. Just a duck down day…

“My Arabian Friend” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

My friends’ horse, Binty, is living out her last years in a small protected south-facing hillside pasture. I enjoy visiting her a few times every year. She loves visitors and I try to remember to bring a pear or an apple for her when I know I am stopping by. She brings back old memories of our elder horse and donkey from when my brothers and I were young. I have painted Binty 4 or more times in the last few years. She loves to pose and with her white coat she always looks great in the late afternoons against the shadows of the woods behind her. Thank you, Binty!…

“Polly’s for the Birds” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

The sun came out for an hour. Then it went back under cover. The only hint that it was still there were these streaks in the clouds near sunset. This was another view painted at the Polly Hill Arboretum …

“Just Opening” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

The rain has been so much lately that I have succumbed to cutting flowers and bringing them indoors to paint. As much as I want to do a landscape, it is just too cold and nasty to attempt today…

“Iris Patch” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I was visiting a friend and helping her turn on her summer outdoor shower. The basement was already flooded with water before we even touched anything. A pin hole leak in a 60 year old pipe. Not a good sign. I went to my van to leave, but there was this iris patch… and someone had to wait for a plumber…

“Honey by the Meadow” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It was sunny earlier. Then it got rainy later. I was hoping to paint bales of hay being made, but the weather was too threatening for the farmers. The bees were not threatened and kept right on collecting nectar and pollen. They let me get pretty close before I got buzzed, but not stung. Then a slow gentle rain finally drove me off. I was just about through anyway…

“Morning Glory John Deere” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Today I went for a late afternoon walk on a newly built and mowed trail. I found Simon from Morning Glory Farm just getting out of his tractor at the end of a long day of farm work. I walked with him to the other end of the trail where he had a ride waiting. On my return walk this is what I saw. An unplanned, unexpected painting, just the way I like them!…