Short Days, Long Nights

I painted outdoors for 5 years. I did not like painting in a studio once I painted en plein air. I knew I'd have to go back inside one day... so in preparation for that day I built a new studio. 

It is painted off white(including the floor) and has banks of 5,000 lumen lights overhead with a mixture of color balanced spot lighting.  These past few weeks I've been in the studio painting...I''m painting large paintings from sketches and field studies; both water color and oil .

I have a practice of doing sketches, watercolors and oils on location. 

Some are very rough.

I stand in one spot and keep recording what I am seeing.

I turn to my left and sketch and paint that view ...

...then turn to my right and do the same...

I will walk around and try to capture enough detail and a feeling of the place for me to be able to remember what was important to me at that time. 

I used the watercolor sketches to put together this oil painting. I'm trying for the essence of the place, the soul of the day...its not quite finished.

I do these very quick value/temperature studies to sample colors and see how much chroma the mood will bear.

I'll do a fast watercolor just to get the feel of the action. These clouds were racing out to sea after a thunder storm cleared out.

A  quick watercolor value study gives me a feel for the simple masses and the shape of things, like wandering with my mind through a place before I decide how I want to depict it. Its very liberating to do this. It helps me to get familiar and comfortable with a place.

   

On location I do rough sketches first, quick watercolors..then I often will do a series of quick 20 minute oil sketches back to back. Why?  I've found that if I paint like this I will often have something good from the lot that I can take home and work with.  I'm a real process painter. I do hundreds of starts, 5x7, 6x8, 8x10's on location.  So now I'm painting in the studio I have no shortage of reference material for these large paintings I'm working on. 

Water colors ~ 6x8's, 90 lb. sketch paper 6x10, 90 lb. sketch paper  8x12  300 lb. Arches rough 

Oils ~ 8x10 linen on panel, canvas on  panel

PAINT EAT SLEEP for more views of paintings.

Schoodic Pennisula

Water's Edge

In late spring the coast of Maine is chilly and brisk. You need your winter weight wool when you are on the water. This visit to Acadia National Park was no exception.

I stopped on the park loop road, got out of the car, looked north and south and did several quick sketches. This is looking south toward Otter Cliffs. I used gray scale markers and water colors in my sketchbook.

I turned and looked to the north toward Great Head and saw layers of all kinds of clouds moving out to sea. The afternoon light was turning them pink & gold.

When I looked at Otter Cliffs again just before I left the tide had gone out even farther and more rocks were exposed.

The next day the view from the mountain road looking over Frenchman Bay was incredible. It was calm with no wind on the water. So the water was that iridescent blue green and the island reflections were perfect.

By the time I drove to the Blue Hill overlook the wind out over the bay was starting to pick up. You could see the color of the water changing to a deeper blue and patterns on the water surface shifted and changed shape.

Islands, Pines & the Rocky Coast

Frenchman Bay on the north side of Mount Desert is scattered with islands named the Porcupines. They have pine and hardwood forests on them with rocky cliffs and sandy beaches trimming their edges.

I sketched view this from the overlook on Cadillac Mountain. The tide was half way out and you could see the sandy skirts around each island.

The next day I was headed up the mountain in the late morning. The bay was still calm but the wind was starting to pick up out on the water. From the mountain you could watch the wind patterns across the bay as it went from still water that was iridescent yellow green to wind whipped dark blue.

This is Great Head with a huge cloud bank lifting off it.

On the loop road heading toward Thunder Hole you enter an alley of pines.

Great Head and all the ledges facing the open ocean were bathed in foam this day. The water had long ribbons of creamy froth all up and down the coast.

Cliffs, Coves & Mountains

The weather was beautiful on this trip up to Mount Desert Island. It was chilly, no one was around as it was before season and the air was crystal clear. Even the rangers were talking about it. I did all these sketches as I did my first drive through the afternoon we arrived and I decided where I would paint the first day.

The sunset colors on Cadillac Mountain were amazing.

I stopped in Otter Cove at low tide and sketched the sand patterns as the tide swept out.

The view of Seal Harbor from Cadillac Mountain was beautiful with islands scattered across the bay.

The pink granite at the Blue Hill overlook had huge cracks in it that were filled with blueberry bushes, pine and mosses of all different kinds.

Above Beaver Pond the ridge had big veins of granite running through it with pines clustered along it. Big puffy clouds blew out to sea.

The Scent of Pines

Vicki & I headed up to Acadia National Park for a week of painting in late June before the tourists arrived. Eagle Lake was dreamy and moody when we pulled in to paint . Clouds were tearing across the mountains tops and it was misty with rain threatening. I loved the atmosphere and layers of subtle color.

The lake was still and the reflections were lovely.

There were bands of huge pines all along the eastern shore that were ragged and leaning from many years of strong wind.

As the clouds barreled across the mountain tops cracks would appear in the fog and you could see bright sunlight and bits of blue for a few seconds.

The next day we painted on the Schoodic peninsula which is the wilder, remote part of Acadia.

It was still overcast but brighter and no rain fell.

ACADIA ~ Mountains, Islands & Sea

After a full tilt spring & summer painting and teaching I am reviewing field sketches and segueing into my fall painting mode. I'll be painting some larger paintings this winter from these sketches. Here are a few tidbits from my Acadia National Park trips.

We drove up from southern Maine and when we arrived at Mt Desert Is. it was early evening - just in time to get up to the Blue Hill overlook to catch the sun before it set. We were hoping this sunset promised good weather !

Here I am the next day just beyond Sand Beach. It's awesome painting on the park loop road in Acadia National Park- you can pull your car over in the right lane and park. I set up like this to save time and go to many locations in one day.

This was a view of Otter Cliffs that I could see from the road. Here's the 8-10 min sketch I did in markers & watercolor. This summer is the first time I painted outdoors in water color. It is so fast its mind boggling.

After I finished the watercolor I did a 20 min field sketch in oils. Then I packed up and drove to the next location.

The weather was changing the whole time. Hey, its part of the territory ! I set up on the road again at Otter Cove. Here is the 10 min watercolor sketch.

My wonderful husband Marcus came on this trip and he took the pictures of me painting. Here I am in the thick of painting my 20 min field sketch. I love doing these as I learn so much and can go to many different locations in a day. You can tell by my gloves it was windy & cold on the water... I stayed warm by painting !

Acadia National Park ~ Rain in Paradise

Acadia National Park was in fog and rain for days on end.

We set up to paint on the shore of Eagle Lake. Everyone was on vacation and the carriage paths were full of families biking in the rain. Who cares! The little kids loved riding through the big puddles getting soaked.

My rain set up on the beach of Eagle Lake.

Vicki painted from the carriage path parking lot at Eagle Lake.

I’d dash out in-between the raindrops to make sketches of Eagle Lake.

The tide was rising on Schoodic Point but the sun didn’t break through the bright fog.

I came home with 16 field sketches and Marcus looked at them and said, “Who wants a painting of fog and rain? “ Too funny!

Spring in Acadia National Park

Acadia was spectacular these past few days! It wasn’t too crowded and it appeared I was the only artist painting in the park. Visitors from all over the world stopped to chat and snap a picture. The weather changed on a dime. When it was sunny it was great! The temps were chilly up high and along the coast. The wind picked up as the cold front headed in. My easel blew over once – I didn’t have it tucked in enough behind the car. The hikers and bikers were having a blast as they were building up some heat with their activities.



Here is Frenchman’s Bay in the late morning before the wind started tearing through. The water has an iridescent luminous quality till the winds build. You can catch it in early am and at dusk.


Eagle Lake looked fabulous when the clouds cleared out.


I stayed at my favorite place the “artist’s motel” - The Robbins Motel on rte 3 on the way into downtown Bar Harbor. Its old fashioned, cheap and super clean (spring special $32 a night).I ran into Jack (the owner) as I loaded up the car for a day out in the wilds.


Sunset from the Blue Hill overlook on Cadillac Mountain is a big event. I stopped by to scope out the location and noticed the sun and sky colors were getting nice. Then as the light started to get dramatic the parking suddenly filled up. Piles of people went out on the rock ledge to watch as the sky put on a show. It was a festive event.


I painted 2 5x7’s till the sun went down then headed over to the other side of Cadillac to watch the village lights come on all over Frenchman’s Bay.