OUTDOOR WANDERINGS

For five years I painted outdoors. I didn't like painting in a studio.  

 I was so happy to be able to walk and hike and be out and about in natural places. I appreciated every minute of being in a wild place no matter how cold or warm it was.

Evening Lights Study, 8x16 oil

 In 1988 I was injured after being hit by a car while standing in a cross walk. For 10 years I was unable to walk for any length of time. A surgeon repaired my broken bones but the damage I sustained was extensive.   

Maine Field & Pine, 4x8 oil

I spent eight hours a day in physical therapy. I swam three miles a day to build up my endurance.  In 1998 I started practicing a spiritual cultivation practice called Falun Dafa. After practicing every morning for a couple of months all my injuries healed and I could run, jump and hike again! I had my health and life back!  It was great! 

Island Study, 6x12 oil

When I was in physical therapy all those years  I'd have visions of landscapes. When I started to paint again the first thing I painted were landscapes. 

Lake Night Study, 8x10 oil

 The first year that I painted outdoors I went once a week with a good friend.

Autumn Marsh Study, 8x10 oil 

Later that summer I traveled with my husband Marcus on his concert tours and brought my paints with me. I discovered that I really liked painting alone.

Three Bridges Study, 6x12 oil

 I soon went out to paint everyday. I loved to go on "painting wanders". I'd hop in the car and drive any where I felt like going.  

Red Sky Marsh Study, 8x16 oil

I'd see a spot, stop, park the car and paint. It was like being in heaven...healthy and free at last.  

Rockland LIghts Study, 8x16 oil

I know how lucky I am. 

Salt Bay Farm Study, 8x16 oil

PAINT EAT SLEEP

MID COAST MAGIC

Great Salt Bay Farm, a one hundred acre farm in midcoast Maine is a treasure! It is located on the shore of the beautiful Great Salt Bay at the head waters of the Damariscotta River. 

There were so many things to paint that I stayed on the farm and painted from early morning until sunset .

Great Salt Bay Pines, 6x8 oil on panel

The old farm house and barn sit high on a hill overlooking an expansive view of rolling fields and the bay.

It is now early August in Maine and the weather on the midcoast is typically sunny and warm. I set up on the farm's back lawn under the apple trees where there were gentle breezes that came up the bay from the ocean. 

I was using my tiny 6x8 inch painting box to see if I could use the minimal amount of gear and still manage to get a painting completed. 

I'm doing a practice run for trips that I am planning which require a lot of hiking.

I sat down to paint as I did not bring an easel with me.  I'll sit on anything available. Often I find a bench, chair, rock or ledge on location.

I was really glad to be at the farm on this warm summer day. The place is magical.

It was totally quiet in the meadows. The farm is about a mile from busy coastal Route 1 and I saw only 6 visitors the entire day.

Three old apple trees are all that remain of the orchard on the hill above the bay. 

I sketched and painted uninterrupted for hours. An occasional car drove by and a tractor mowed hay in a field down the road.

The apple trees cast enough shade so it never got too hot. Little apples intermittently fell from the trees hitting the ground with a soft plop.

The farm feels large and expansive. It has meadows on both sides of the road.  

Late summer flowers were in full bloom.  Queen Anne's 

lace and golden rod filled the unmowed fields. 

Field Flowers, 6x8 oil on panel

 Recently there was a big celebration in a large tent next to the house. 

Late in the day the setting sun and the moist air created great atmosphere and colors.  

The golden fields glowed while the line of trees along the shore turned into dark soft shadows. 

I had to paint fast.  A large bank of clouds in the west was moving in front of the setting sun. 

Thin filmy clouds started to cover the entire sky. 

I wanted to capture the reflection of the setting sun on a large fresh water marsh at the bottom of the sloping meadow. 

The sun's reflection could be seen in the still water for about ten minutes.  

I got it!

 The sun descended, the clouds moved in and the sun was a apricot gold smudge behind pale gray blue curtains.

Great Salt Bay Reflections, 6x8 oil on panel

PAINT EAT SLEEP  news from the road.

Midsummer Marshes

Summer marshes have a certain mood. They are full of misty air. Painters call it atmosphere.

The distant tree line often has a thin veil of blue color over the far away green leaves.  The shadows of the nearby trees can even be blue violet.

Egrets, 8x10 oil on panel

There is always lots of water in the marshes. I call them a water world. They have salt pans, creeks and rivers, everything is tidal. The place is a big sponge.

I live very close thousands of acres of marshes. Its great to go there its like instant wilderness in a highly inhabited coastal area. I make many sketches of the marshes.

Its very quiet in the marshes. I don't quite understand why. Its close to the main roads that travel up and down the coast but the sound of the cars doesn't carry out into the marshes.

It may be all the sea grass. I think  the grass acts like cotton batting. You hear the wind blowing in the grass next to you but some one trying to talk to you from twenty yards away has to shout to be heard.

My neighborhood of marshes stretch in a linked green necklace along the southern coast of Maine from Kittery north  to Cape Elizabeth.

On the southern side of the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth, New Hampshire they stretch miles south into Cape Ann, Massachusetts.

The Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge owns many of the marshes in Maine. They are keeping them open and in their natural state so the wildlife is abundant. There are millions of birds in the marshes, some live there others are just passing through when they migrate.

At the Refuge headquarters in Wells there is have a mile long trail of groomed paths and boardwalks that follow the edge of a high peninsula of land bordered by the Merriland River and Branch Brook. When friends and I paint there, we hike in with our gear and set up along the trail.

At the refuge really large trees grow right next to the marsh. There are hills of high land through out the marshes.  Large pines and hard woods grow on them. I found a shady spot with a view. There was a nice ocean breeze keeping it cool.

The rivers and brooks running through the refuge are deep channels that empty and fill rapidly with the tides.  

The salt pans are another entity entirely. They sit full of water all the time. The tides have no effect on them. They are very shallow.

They sometimes  look like lots of little ponds sprinkled across the marsh. A favorite painting spot of mine is Rachel Carson land along the road to the harbor in Wells. 

Some of the bigger salt pans are connected in irregular patterns and filled with lots of miniature islands.  

I 've never tried to walk out among them. I'd need to wear some really tall rubber boots. I've seen scientists out there and they sometimes sink in up to their knees in the mushy places.  

The tide comes in really fast on Branch Brook at the Refuge.  As we were painting we could almost see the river banks disappear inch by inch.

The board walk down to the edge of the river is a popular spot for bird watchers. Visitors come from all over the world to this spot. 

Ellen, Libby and I visited the refuge headquarters last week. Ellen sketched before she set up to paint.

 I went to work and got my design painted in before the tide changed too much.

While Ellen and I painted Libby stretched out on a bench at the overlook reading and enjoying the sun.  She actually fell asleep it was so quiet and peaceful !

The incoming tide swept through the marsh grass at the river's edge.

When we are painting together Ellen and I often discuss what we are painting.

I'm working on painting a series of the marshes in a variety of seasons and weather.  

I painted at this location a few years ago. This island was in my first large marsh painting.  As we were finishing up the tide was almost at peak high tide.

I'm lucky that I live close to this beautiful location.

Summer is definitely the easiest time to come here to paint, but winter is my favorite. 

Salt Pans, 24x24 oil on panel