On the Beach in Ogunquit,Maine

For the past few weeks I've been painting very close to the sand and surf.

Walk on the Beach, Oil  9x12  $750

Purchase here

Ogunquit Beach is a beautiful expanse of sand, surf and sea. I've been setting up to paint as close as possible to the waters edge.  

The ocean is very moody. The weather changes in minutes. Lately its been spectacular, sunny with shocking blue skies, big gray fog banks lurking off shore, frothy foamy surf,  cold ocean winds, empty fog shrouded dunes, the works!  

 Low Tide, Oil 8x16 $800

Purchase Here  

This beach is very close to my home. Why not paint in my back yard?  You can find me painting in the marshes at any time of the year, but do I walk over the dunes and paint the ocean? When my family visits they all want to walk on the beach. I walk with them but do I paint on the beach? 

Painting on Ogunquit Beach

Now I am painting on the beach in all types of weather and at all times of day. Stay posted, I'll be painting on the beach at least one day a week all summer!

SPRING

 What a difference a year a makes!  Winter 2012 produced very little snow, but this year it was a bumper crop.

Every week another snow storm blew in. I love painting snow, so I was happy! These past few weeks I've been tracking down the last patches of snow before it all melts. 

Strawberry Banke Spring Snow. Acrylic on paper

Every year I know I only have so many weeks to paint the lovely snow. When the days start to get longer in late January the warm sun melts it fast!

Prescott Park Gardens. oil on linen

Quiet cloudy days with moody skies over white snow-covered ground is my favorite  time to paint. No chasing shadows!  

York River First Signs of Spring.oil on board

Last year was exactly the opposite. Just a few inches of snow every now and then. We barely even had a real winter. 

Spring on Piscataqua Ave. Ink & watercolor on paper

The grass turned green and the trees came out early. It went from winter to summer in a few days. We didn't even have a real spring!

Kittery Point Almost Spring. Ink & watercolor on paper

I missed that good old fashioned New England winter. Summer was too early. It was much hotter than usual, even up here in Maine. This year will be a refreshing change!

Boat in Pigeon Cove. Ink & watercolor pencil on paper

Pocket Landscapes

One day in the studio in the midst of painting large paintings I paused, grabbed a sheet of gessoed paper off a shelf and rapidly painted a series of tiny paintings.

These are all pretty much the same size 2.25 x 3.75 inches. 

"Salt water & Islands" 

These were all referenced from pen and pencil drawings from my sketchbooks. 

"Lobster boat & skiff" 

I travel to all these great fabulous locations.  

"Pine Island"

I enjoy painting the simple masses and forms...

"Pines & Pink Granite"

to see if they would look like something.

"Tobacco Barns"

It's interesting how a sketch so simple...
"Islands & Peninsulas"

...can create an impression.

"Friendship Lobster Boat"

And these grand vistas look fine...  

"Rocky  Ledges" 

...on these tiny cards, an art collection you can carry in your pocket!

"Clouds over Island"

I LOVE SNOW !

I really love painting snow!  I didn't realize how much I loved it until last winter when we didn't have much snow. We got two feet early this year so I've been going out to paint as often as possible. I'm in the thick of a pile of studio work, finishing large paintings I started on location this summer, so sometimes I can only grab a few hours to get outdoors. 

One afternoon I drove to nearby Bauneg Beg Mountain for this quick sketch of the trail head. 

This particular afternoon, as snow was beginning to fall, I painted the salt water and ice trails in the marshes along Harbor Road in Wells. 

Last weekend I traveled up to North Conway, NH. On the side of Cranmore Mountain I found one small section of a rushing mountain stream still free of ice.

I painted really fast to capture the last rays of sunlight as a huge cloud bank swept in over the mountains from the west. The weather is often really dramatic in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

I liked the scene at Bauneg Beg so much that a few days after I did the small sketch, I headed back over and painted a larger version of the same scene in different light.

In the State House

The new year started off with a bang ! I installed an exhibit of my paintings in the office of the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives in Augusta.

The Sergeant-at-Arms was assisted by two pages.  They easily managed to have all the paintings moved from my car into the building and put up in an hour. 

Mark Eves, the Speaker of the House, visited my studio a few weeks ago. 

 He loved my paintings and invited me to show them in his office.

 It's a spacious room in a grand old building.

 Everyone was excited to see the paintings.

A curious legislator stopped by to say hello. He lives in one of my favorite painting spots on the seacoast - Friendship, Maine! I even know the exact location of his farm. It's a small world!

Captains, Cranes, Boats and a Bridge

Sometimes you have a perfect day.

That happened last week when I set up to paint in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

I've been having a great time painting this winter.  For the past 8 weeks I've been in Portsmouth, New Hampshire painting subjects that I've never painted before...

...man made objects, buildings, machines, ships, bridges, metal, industrial things....dark,  gritty, heavy, non-cozy, non-pastoral stuff.   

Not really what you'd call friendly, or human-sized, it's the substance of big industry. 

I'm painting this industrial landscape with fellow painter Barbara Carr who is just as interested in this new subject as I am. 

We pick a general location every week then scout around to see what has shown up. Portsmouth is a busy seaport, the setting changes all the time.

 Right now the well-known and well-used Memorial Bridge, an aging drawbridge, is being removed so a new one can be built in the same location.  

    

Unusual looking tug boats have appeared to move the barges and cranes for the workers as they dismantle the bridge.

Its a big deal. Hundreds of people love this bridge. It's the only one you can walk across to get to Kittery, Maine. Everyone comes by to see the "de-construction".  

We were lucky to find a quiet corner.  

Barbara wasted no time locating her spot and setting up.

I sketched in my design.

It wasn't easy. Not only did the barges move around while we were painting...

...but the reason they were moved soon became apparent. A huge ship needed to get up the river, and one barge was in the way.

It looked like a tight fit getting through the channel.

 The ship was so big that the tugs had to keep the barges and cranes in place as it passed.

All kinds of frameworks are being put in place to dismantle the remaining sides of the bridge.

A visit from Captain Leo Smith of the tugboat "Miss Stacy" made our day! How often does the captain of your subject visit you? 

Then as if that wasn't enough... the next group of experts to arrive were from the barges. Emmanuel Jefferson(on right) is the operator of the monster red crane I was painting ! 

These ironworkers usually work in the Chesapeake Bay region and wanted to see what these northern artists were painting. 

Heck ! The pressure was on. Get those painting done. Back to work!

Its a real party scene down by the bridge. People pour in all day, looking, chatting, taking pictures and watching everything the workers do.

Jeff Weaver stopped by after finishing a painting he started the day before when the crowds were so thick he couldn't even find a place nearby to park. 

We kept painting until sunset. 

The scene on the river keeps changing. Tugs, cranes and barges move around.



 When they stopped work for the day the two tugs tied up on the barge anchored in the middle of the river. They were all lit up. It looked like a small industrial island.