Yarmouthport Paint Out

Today I delivered a painting to the Cape Cod Art Association for the 2012 All New England Exhibit.   I headed down to the Cape around 6:45 a.m. so that I could take the opportunity to paint prior to delivering it.   My goal was to find a painting locale nearby and take advantage of the beautiful Cape Cod light.  (Marshfield actually has similar luminous feel, but it's always nice to explore.)   I used my GPS to find a road that appeared to lead to the bay side of the Cape in Yarmouthport.   The road opened up to a marsh river that had a beautiful one lane bridge over it.   This was a peninsula that overlooked the bay.   Two women walking their dogs directed me to the perfect painting spot.   It was a boat launch area at the end of Water Road.   Fantastic views surrounded me.






Yarmouthport Painting One - Stage One

The temperatures were relatively chilly at 58 degrees with a brisk wind off the water.   It was a gentle reminder that, calendarwise, autumn is only ten days away.   I suited up appropriately with some clothing layers that have been in the trunk since Spring.   I was a fashion disaster, I'm sure; just look at my bulky silouette in the photo above.


The sun was on my palette and my canvas.  This bright light can result in a painting that can be too dark once viewed with indoors.    I decided that I was not willing or capable of compensating for this darkness on the fly, so I just painted it the way I saw it.  




Yarmouthport Painting One - Stage Two

An old dead tree with twisted whitewashed branches provided a stark contrast against the vivid blue sky, water and summer green marsh.

The stage one sketch-in was prior to recording the specific branch shadows as I wanted them.  The stage two painting has more refined branches and tree shadows.







Yarmouthport Painting 2

Yarmouthport Painting 2 Stage 2

The second painting was done more swiftly.  The initial block in was done with my wide pastry brush.   I then switched to my palette knife.   It was impressionistic and loose which is a look that I wish was more prevalent in my paintings.   As I did my color matching, I held the loaded palette knife or brush up against the target landscape color.  With such great light, it was a surefire way to see if the mixture matched.  There is a lighthouse in the middle which I was told by a  visitor is on a peninsula in Sandwich.  

My next planned visit to Yarmouthport will be for the painting pick up and I am thinking I will try to find that lighthouse.