July 2009

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

I was floundering about trying to find something to paint this evening. It had been ready to rain all day and finally started to spit an hour before sunset with gusts to 30. I changed locations by about 10 miles and found, to my delight, little wind, no spitting and a few patches of fading blue above me! No time to think… grabbed my gear and raced out into this meadow. It was 10 to 8. Sun sets at 8. The sky just tipped into orange above the cloud banks. Grabbed the biggest brush and zoomed until I couldn’t see what colors were being laid down… 5 flattened mosquitoes on left hand, 4 on right… get that moon in… oh! the orange… the water… the path… the green… the car… done…!

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

The last time I was here at sunset, the sun was going down directly behind the far lighthouse and silhouetting the top. I missed my chance to paint it then. But 3 days later, the sun has already migrated south of the light and and won’t be back until next year. I feel like I sort of got a consolation prize with the light bouncing off the ferry boat…

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

It was a warm day, but the fog made it feel cool. Even with the high humidity, the fog had a cooling effect when it touched you. The breeze had something to do with the cooling as well. It was actually pleasant to paint in and seemd to ground all the biting bugs. This was an added bonus around sunset time when this was painted…

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

For a few years one could not get this close to the old brick water works building. The construction chain link fence has been taken down revealing a new painting opportunity. Of course, I had to take advantage of the situation complete with a friendly pair of Canada Geese! I am forever trying to get some red in my paintings and these old bricks in shadow are close enough. Red, the compliment of green, will always activate the greens in a landscape…

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

Have you ever done something and said I’d like to do that again, except differently? That’s what I said when I looked at yesterday’s painting the day after I had finished it. So, here it is, except differently! I have been painting day lilies for a show all week and I felt that this scene needed a day lily up close…

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

A warm sunny afternoon turned into a damp cool evening. The colors were suddenly muted as sunlight gave way to a swirling wet grey blanket which descended over everything. This view was the last gasp of sunlight streaming across the lawn…

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

A calm evening at the water’s edge. A great time to catch no-see-ums!…

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

The day lilies are out in full force right now. Some flower beds are impossibly alive with many different varieties and riots of color. The best part for the painter is that a lot of the flowering is right in your face at eye level. No leaning over or sitting down to capture the best view…

“A Panoply of Sky”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

After poking around at a few different painting locations, I settled on this open sky spot. I was ever hopeful the sun would find an entry point in the clouds as it started to set. It got better than this, but then so did the mosquitoes and I hate using repellant…

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

This recently painted lighthouse still has the reflective quality of the new paint at sunset. With 2 regattas going on this weekend, I had lots of sailing ships pass me by as I painted….

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

I went to the beach to swim and paint in the hot, early afternoon. After the swim and getting set up under an umbrella to paint, the fog started to come in. It was actually great, because it toned down the brilliant scene in front of me and kept me from getting too much sun. I still had to work on this piece back in the studio. The combined, water, sky and sand reflective light bouncing around in my eyes had my pupils shut down quite a bit while choosing colors and values. I was desperately trying to overcompensate for this effect while on the beach, but there is only so much you can do and still make it seem natural. Its when you bring it in and put the painting under the studio lights that the disparities stick out. And, after all, most paintings are viewed for the rest of their lives under unnatural/indoor lighting conditions…

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

I love roses, but it is always good to remember that they come with thorns. As much as I may want to hold them, smell them and even cut them to make them mine, I must be mindful of the prick they may give. I find that even snagged by a thorn, they are always worth the effort….

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

Just as the weather may clear and you know that tomorrow will be a grand new day, so, sometimes, does life clear with the same intuitive future sense. And to be able to paint it and feel it on both levels at once makes for a truly wondrous experience. Such was mine on this sultry evening…

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

The sky these last two evenings has been so seductive for me. Vaguely blue cloud banks up against subtle yellow/orange back drops before, during and especially after the sun has left the horizon. The blue of the silhouetted clouds becomes an ungodly shade against the yellow/orange glow coalescing from the entire sky sphere above. And the etherealness of it all is so fleeting, almost uncatchable, bewitching me to no end…

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

The only good view of the water and hay was directly into the sun. It wasn’t until the sail fish came back from the beach that this painting started to really work. It is always a pleasure to receive an unexpected gift like that to paint….

“You Know You Want It”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Temptation comes in many forms. These from Chilmark are the best…

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

I could not resist cropping the lighthouse to give it a sense of mystery…

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

Today was a beautiful fluffy cloud day until I loaded up the van to go paint. Clouds came in, wind picked up and I drove 20 miles for naught. Coming back home, I took a chance on this place. It was in the lee of the wind with a beautiful opening under the cloud cover. However, with my back to the darker clouds and my mind on my subject, they soon started spitting at me. I took it on the chin and worked until I was done, very quickly…

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

Driving up to this beach, I had thought I was going to paint the full moon rising out of the waters. I became mesmerized by the sky and water reflections and chose this instead. The moon, when it did come up, was a pink moon! There was so much lavender and violet along the horizon where it rose that instead of yellow/orange it turned pink for the first 10 or 15 minutes…

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

I knew all the farms were baling hay today because of the fine weather that has come in. I didn’t expect to find a baler sitting idle during daylight hours, but things break at their own pace…

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

I seem to be stuck on boats, or at least the colors of boats. This one appeared where there hadn’t been one last week. The sun had set by the time I found this and I painted extra fast because a cloud of moquitoes found me and then the sand flies. But I liked painting this in the subdued after light…

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

Now this boat stopped me in my tracks! Freshly painted, the old Nanatucket Lightship under private ownership drew people to it as I stood and painted. This much red in the close quarters of the harbor in this light was almost too much…

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

I gave up on finding a spot to paint today. It was getting late and nothing was clicking wherever I drove, but the clock was ticking… Last month I painted everyday but 4. I could take a break if I wanted to. I went into the town landing to turn around and go home, but there was this boat…

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

An hour before the sunset of a most rainy day, the clouds parted on the western horizon and the sun came out. It lasted long enough for me to find this dune and paint the yellow light on the sand before it went down behind a heavy cloud bank and finally set. Considering how wet the day had been, this was my gift to paint…