The Nubble, Motif #1

For class we sketched and painted at a beautiful location this evening. It is the most photographed light house on the Maine coast...maybe in the world! 

You can get really close to it. There is a deep chasm between the mainland and the island. 

We are having a hot July here, its in the 80's and 90's .  Lisa got there early and set up right away and got to work.  

Here's Deb sharing and reviewing her sketches from the past week.

Lisa showed the work she did during the week.

We look at each others work from the past week and discuss the challenges and our individual process before we start painting . This way everyone can get some feed back on difficulties and how they approached their individual plein air situations.  

  The discussion is getting in depth. These students are doing a lot of fast sketches in plein air involving people and animals. Real challenging! Everyone gains so much from viewing  all the different styles and approaches.

The light was changing fast as the sun set.

The clouds and sky were taking on all sorts of great color. Love these long summer evenings! 

Here's Marcus in deep concentration sketching. He's working on drawing in these classes as he's had much less experience than the others.

Lisa and Marcus moved to a new spot for a different view.   We are on the eastern side of a high rocky peninsula tucked down on the lower rocks. 

Deborah working away as the light departs.

Looked like she was alone. Right?  Ha!  There were piles of tourists from all over the world who were very quietly and politely watching what the artists were doing. 

Nancy is deeply focused on capturing the moment. 

Here's what the audience was viewing from behind Deborah. 

A whole group was behind Nancy getting this view and whispering and tiptoeing around her.  These guys all did a great job concentrating and painting in the midst of all this attention. Its not easy! 

The end of the day. And it just kept getting better even as it got dark.

The Cape Elizabeth Land Trust Paint Out

This past weekend I participated in the Land Trust's annual paint out.  It is a one day event so we hope for nice weather.  It was a gorgeous day!

It was very warm, even in my lucky spot on the ocean at John's Cove.

 I was the honored guest artist of Anne & David who offered me a choice spot on their porch overlooking a view of John's Cove. 

I painted from 9am till 3pm and finished three  9x12s and one 11x14.  I decided to paint several paintings so I would have a choice of a favored one I would sell at the auction that evening. 

The auction was held at Breakwater Farm on Cape Elizabeth.  I parked in front of the house when I went to drop off my painting. 

This farm is beautiful . Its huge and old with acres of woods and fields rolling down to the ocean.

I walked down the lane to the meadow where the tent was set up for the party.  This was the welcome sign by the lane. 

The crowd was just starting to arrive . They are all supporting purchasing open land and keeping Cape Elizabeth from getting over developed. This area was once primarily farms and forest. Now it's a popular bedroom community of Portland, ME. 

The path went down a slight slope along the edge of the meadow toward the ocean.

It was still early so I was there in plenty of time to set up my painting in the preview area along the edge of the tent. 

The bartenders were busy setting up one of the bars getting ready for the arrival of the guests.

The tent started to fill up with the first guests with their bidding cards all ready to buy some great art. 

The brass quartet sounded fabulous in the ocean air.

It was a really hot afternoon so the wine, beer, lemonade and water were consumed in liberal amounts.  The icy cold beverages were great.  Of course I was so parched I couldn't stop drinking water.  The bartenders were so sweet they knew I was an artist and had been out all day painting so they kept me well supplied with icy drinks.

The early arrivals start to examine the paintings, deciding which ones they want to bid on. 

Here are a few samples of the paintings completed during the day.  This is an old church that is a landmark in Cape Elizabeth. 

Cape Elizabeth is a a large area and has lots of ocean front.  This large painting was done almost completely with a palette knife. The artist is Mike Marks.

Cape Elisabeth has a substantial amount of marshes. This marsh view was really popular with the bidders.  It found a happy home and a few were sad it wasn't going to their home.  

The caterers were serving up piles of delicious food during the viewing. That's their tent on the left.  They had a generator running all the stoves and ovens.  It was quite an operation.

A fresh water pond picture of a forested area in Cape Elizabeth. This is a pastel by Ellen Pellitier. 

The light house at Two Lights.  There are possibly  three light houses in this neighborhood...

An old original cape style home common to New England and Cape Elizabeth, oil painting by Berri Kramer.

This is the cloud scape I did of John's Cove. Little did I realize until after I finished it that the white building I painted on the distant peninsula was Breakwater Farm and the location where the painting was going to be shown! 

The crowd was arriving in full force and having a wonderful time There were so many people they ran out of chairs. Its nice to be so popular!  

One hundred feet away from the festivities you could cool off in the sea breeze and view the islands scattered across the bay.    Just think this meadow is only a few miles from Winslow Homer's beloved Prout's Neck!  Small world.  

Plein Air at The Kittery Town Dock

I have been teaching plein air classes in my neighborhood since May. This session is once a week from 6- 9 pm. We have great late light and awesome weather!  

Kittery, Maine is a beautiful small town on the southern most point of the state.  If you live in Kittery you have a number of great places to go swimming if you can stand the cold water. 

The town dock is packed with dories and skiffs and the harbor is stuffed with boats, both working and pleasure.  

Everybody set up in their favorite location on various levels of the docks and set to work sketching and painting. Lisa looked for a shady spot under the docks as she had already been painting out in the sun for hours before class started.   

The activity at the docks was bustling as people came in from their boats and others had just arrived and set up to fish off the docks. The air was cool and refreshing. The Stripers are running.  

Here's Marcus on a lower level dock sketching away. He's an absolute beginner and so proud of what he is doing that he shows it to everyone who will look. The complete opposite of most beginners!

Here he is trying out some water colors - I had to really encourage him to try them as he has never used any watercolor in his life and is just starting to get used to sketching en plein air with ink and markers. 

More of the dozens of dories & skiffs. On the other side of this wharf are about a dozen pontoon motorized skiffs.

Late light on the lobster boats and sail boats in the harbor. To the east behind the boats is Fort Foster that guarded the mouth of the Piscataqua River and the port of Portsmouth, when this whole area was part of the state of Massachusetts. There are very old forts all along the coast of Maine and New Hampshire. 

Nancy was set up nicely up high on upper level of the dock painting the dories below her and the view to the east.

The last pleasure boats were coming in and packing up their sails as the sun dropped low. We painted till it got dark and the salt mosquitoes came out.  They were the worst! Need to find a super repellant for them the regular stuff didn't work.