homework

                              4x6 @

The assignment was to find a painting that you weren't happy with for whatever reason(s) but that you thought could be revisited.

I chose the 3 8x12 paintings, below, which I painted one day in a workshop with Alvaro Castenet in Cape May, pre-cov8d. He didn't have much to say about these ... but, for some reason, I kind of liked them.

I recently got a couple of small butcher trays to mix my color. I like using it and especially like what's leftover.

Portland head

                         12x16

Trying to do rocks without overdoing.

otter's point

                             9x10

Quick study today of a Maine scene. Otter's Point, in Acadia.

I was trying to add one shape next to another, while everything was still damp: wanted blending and soft edges, but without the shapes dissipating too much.

gray?

My attempts to make gray using cobalt, aureolin and rose madder genuine in class with SaltyWaterArt.

Tues class

                              7x9

Preliminary sketch for a shorelines class I'm taking online with SaltyWaterArt. 

Next week we begin a new block of classes: abstract landscapes, which should be a fun challenge.

mixed bag

I revisited this painting, deepened the color, added some darks to rocks ... And then painted the one below, which has a few nice little passages in the rocks, but I'm not happy with the sky and water.

Maybe some cropping would improve both.

Then, just some playing with clouds, above, and a copy of a Winslow Homer, below. My horizon bled all over!

And here's a picture of my butcher tray palette ... Which is the best thing I produced all day!

Scottish scene

                             10x10

A sketch of a Scottish landscape, trying to keep it loose and expressive.

bike 'n' sketch

A little scene near my house. One of my favorite places to sit and sketch; there's a bench, a path to the beach, and a typical Bayshore view, which I love.

Was wishing I had brought paint with me.

step 2

Yesterday's plein air paintings with, below them, the at-home attempt to, having stepped away from the actual scene, get looser, pump up the color ...

plein air NJ

Woke up late this morning, and it was cloudy, so we weren't going to go out painting. But the sun came out so we went.

I'm glad we did--even though I found when we set up that I had apparently lost a crucial part of my easel in Maine.

We went out to a spot overlooking the ocean and had a good time trying to capture the beautiful ever- and rapidly changing sky!

2 sketchbook pages above, and 2 8x14 painting below.

catching up

Catching up on my class with SaltyWaterArt.

Each one of these could use some tweaking, and maybe I will touch them up later. 

It's fun to change up the colors and see where it goes. I should have gone one further!

.                             5x7each

home

                            10x12

Got home Monday evening. Yesterday puttered about, then went out for my Tuesday night Guinnesses; today trying to get up to speed.

But I want to keep painting ...

So here is a largely imagined painting of rocks!

I get a little careless with carving out the shapes, so I decided to stop here.

last day in Maine

                             4x9

.                          10x12

.                            9x11

On our last day we took a ferry from Bar Harbor to the wonderfully named Winter Harbor on the Schoodic Peninsula, and, once there, the free bus to rocky Schoodic Point, where we perched on some flat rocks and painted.

We had an hour before the ferry came and spent it drinking beer at the Pickled Wrinkle.

Then back to Southwest Harbor for a final lobster!

Maine 4

Sketchbook pages from Otter's Point, above, and the Seawall picnic area in Acadia.

We didnt bring our full watercolor kits and then found when we got to Seawall, the perfect place to set up ... But we had sketchbooks and colored pencils.

Sketching can be a nice break from the anxiety of wanting to produce a "good" painting.

We also visited the Bass Harbor Head lighthouse today and got this a photo of this iconic view!

Maine 3

.                             11x15

Friday morning we met up with an art teacher of mine, Leigh Culver ( check her out on Instagram), who recommended we go to Otter's Point--a fantastic recommendation.

We plunked ourselves down just off the path and had a go at painting the sublime view. Of course we both found our results somewhat disappointing, but we now have tons of photos of rocky, tree coved coastine to paint when we're back in NJ.

Maine 2

                              14x16

.                              12x14

Yesterday we took the ferry to Monhegan Island, which is beyond beautiful. I'll post some pix later.

It's a lot of terrain to cover carrying all the painting gear so we didn't see the whole island. But we did make it to the southern point of the island, Lobster Cove.

Happy anniversary, Peg and Dan.

Maine so far

The low tide outside our cottage.

Got to our cottage Sunday afternoon, and have been doing some sketching or painting every day. Along with having some great food and drink and meeting a lot of nice people.

Tomorrow we're taking the ferry to Monhegan.

A tree outside our cottage.

Couple of scenes from Portland Head Lighthouse park.