Duxbury Beach Crossover

A daily walk on Duxbury Beach should mean that I have the scene commited to memory, but Mother Nature ensures that every day looks different.    I hated statistics in school, but I do remember that there are a lot of permutations and combinations when you have as many Duxbury Beach variables as in the following list:

Duxbury Beach Crossover Set Up

High or Low Tides
Condition of the Beach (rocky, sandy, sloped, tidal pools)
Skies that are clear or cloudy,
Sky Color (blue, pink, yellow, white and all the variations that humidity brings)
Windiness (raging white caps to reflective glass)
Time of day (color temperature, shadows)
Season of the year (angle of the sun, color of flora)

Duxbury Beach Crossover Facing West Stage One

That makes for a lot of combinations, but beyond that, it can change within an hour from the variables that are established at the start of a painting.   I like the challenge of getting the primary things in place and then locking in at a point that has good flow, especially for shadows, etc.   At the lock in point, I'm usually about halfway done and I try to get a representative photo for later reference.

I drove over Powder Point Bridge and parked on the Duxbury Beach Reservation side.   I bundled up and carried the gear to the closest sandy crossover.    It was the high point from which I could view either the bay or the ocean.  Life is good!



Duxbury Beach Crossover Facing West Stage Two

 Remember the bad yellow rose painting from back in May?   Well it is goodbye to one of them;  it was the underpainting for this day's first painting.

 I loved the fact that my subject, my canvas and my palette were sunlit.   Because of that, the painting colors were very close to the scene, such that the canvas almost disappears in this photo.   That almost never happens to me!


I knew the painting was close to done, so I popped it off the easel before I ruined it and set up for another painting.

Duxbury Beach Crossover Facing East

I turned in the opposite direction.   The sunlight was more from the south such that its glare off the ocean was over my right shoulder, rather than facing me.   This canvas was a naples yellow and yellow ochre underpainting.    I was able to leave some of this showing through the sand, which I painted with Buff Titanium.  I did the sky using a bit of prussian blue, cobalt and white.   Next was the water, ultramarine, viridian green and transparent oxide brown.  I next painted all the blue-gray shadows.   The shadows of the snow fence slats made a nice angled pattern up the slope of the dune followed by all of the greens of the scrubby grasses and leaves.   I decided to paint the bright yellow flowering goldenrods after the fence.  



Duxbury Beach Crossover Facing East

The thing about painting every day is that caution is thrown to the wind.   If this painting doesn't work out, the next one may.   I mixed a warm gray color for the fence slats.  Using a size 6 flat and bracing my painting hand on my other arm,  I started on the slats.  From the right and one by one, each bold slat was made with one single stroke.  It was a little scary,  given that these strokes would cross over all the nice dune painting I had just painted.  What started happening is that the brush began picking up all the colors from the shrubs and pulling those colors into the fence slats, an effect I hadn't planned but looked beautiful.  



Duxbury Beach Crossover Facing West

Duxbury Beach Crossover Facing East

I didn't add the golden rod flowers and fence wire until the next day.   I had too much paint on the canvas and didn't want to contaminate the yellow color with the thick paint. 

Here are the two finished paintings side-by-side.   Now I should get north and south facing too, shouldn't I?






Arnold Arboretum 2012

Enjoying the Arboretum 2012

Reception for "Looking Closely" Arboretum Exhibit

Each autumn, the Arnold Arboretum hosts an art contest and exhibit which consists of artworks that embrace the beauty and spirit of nature.   In 2012, the name of the exhibit was "Looking Closely."   The exhibit kicked off on Wednesday, September 19 with a reception at the Hunnewell Building.   Selected paintings and their creators and friends gathered to enjoy refreshments and take in the show.

The show runs from September 19 through November 18, 2012.



Arboretum Paint Out - Hunnewell Building

If you have never been to Arnold Arboretum, it is well worth the trip, especially if you enjoy identifying trees.   Occupying 265 acres, the Arboretum’s living collection of trees, shrubs, and woody vines is recognized as one of the most comprehensive and best documented of its kind in the world. The living collection is supported by comprehensive curatorial documentation, herbaria containing more than 1.3 million specimens, extensive library and archival holdings, and a 43,000-square-foot state-of-the-art research center. These facilities and holdings, along with 75 full-time staff, provide the basis for research and education by Harvard faculty and students, Arboretum scholars, and visiting scientists from around the world. Investigations focus on examining plant diversity from genomic, developmental, organismic, evolutionary, and ecosystem perspectives.  As if an art show wasn't enough!

Hunnewell Building at Arboretum

I arrived at the Arboretum later in the afternoon on the day of the reception.  The September shadows were creeping long across the green stretches.    I set up facing northwest looking at the Hunnewell Building, the location of the art show.  The shadows on the brick looked more warm than blue, so that was the scheme I commit to.  Cognitively I knew the brick was red.   What color was it to my eye though?   I made a peephole viewer with my hand and decided it was a cool pink color (permanent rose, terra rosa, white), and it was brighter and lighter in some places (a dash of lemon yellow added to cool pink) where it was directly illuminated by the late afternoon sun.  I'm not crazy about this one, maybe because there is nothing interesting going on.   Perhaps I'll add some people playing on the lawn at some point.   For now, here it is.



Miramar Grounds

The Miramar Retreat Center is across Route 3A from Bay Farm in Kingston, MA.   The retreat address is actually in Duxbury.    The campus is amazing with its trails, ponds and grottos.   There are some very old structures and a mixture of new and old stonework.   A pretty cartpath skirts the property to the south and was the perfect spot to set up on a quiet Sunday morning.   The temperature was a cool and dry 55 degrees at the start.  



Underpainting

For my painting surface, I brought with me a less than satisfactory painting that I had then pre-treated with a splash of autumn colors.   The previous painting had been a barn with a dark barndoor opening.   As I strolled around with my viewfinder, I was having trouble deciding how best to use the spirit of the previous painting.  I moved three times and was getting frustrated.   I was suffering for my soup.  (Seinfeld fans will understand :)).




Miramar Easel Set up

I finally decided on the spot in the picture to the right.   The thick texture of the underpainting was perfect for designing the greenery.   The barn from the underpainting was converted to the structure on the right, an old stone garage that had a patio on top of it.    The steps lead up to and are perpendicular to the cartpath.   

As I look as this photo, I can attest that the photo didn't record the reds, rusts, browns and golds that were present in person.   Thus, the photo could not serve as a color reference (they never do) for the final studio tweaks. 



Steps to Stonewall Path

 The photo did help to verify the structures.  Also although the sunlight pattern was not an accurate color in the photo,  I loved the lacy pattern of it and used the photo to add these lightest light highlights in the studio.   One other adjustment I made in the studio was to paint a warm oxide brown glaze over the entire shaded stone wall which had been looking too blue, given the cool light/warm shadow temperature scheme.  

This one is really thick and textured...everything about this one is me.



Boston Sidewalk Cafe

Beacon Hill Corner

Boston is a beautiful city, my birthplace and even still to this day, one of my favorite day trips.    A few weeks ago we were driving through the Back Bay enjoying the old brick architecture and pretty sidewalk businesses.  I snapped a photo of this little cafe with red market umbrellas and a flurry of people passing by.   The light patterns caught my eye, especially the lit pattern of light on the brick patio.  When I saw the photo uploaded, I thought it had the potential to be an interesting painting.


Boston Sidewalk Cafe Line Drawing

The first thing I did was crop the photo.  I worked on creating a composition that had good balance - I think. I made some changes to the placement of certain figures.   The young man with the baseball hat had been just about walking out of the scene in the photo.   I decided to move him to the left so that he is walking into the scene and hopefully taking the viewer into the scene too.  






Boston Sidewalk Cafe Early Stages

 I used a 20 x 24 inch canvas that I stretched onto solid wood, a nice sturdy, solid surface which I am starting to like best.

Some things that I think make this a decent composition are 1) Strong light and shadow masses, 2) Variation in the groupings of people, 3)  Use of triangles, large and nested that anchor the major points of interest, 4) Soft edges for supporting painting content, while the main subject has sharp contrast and edges and 5) Several areas of interest that should give the viewer plenty to look at after taking in the first impression.

Boston Sidewalk Cafe Nearly Final Stage

I have been working on this painting for several weeks and am finally ready to put it out for comment.   I would love to hear what you like and what you don't like about it.

Mill Pond in Ashland

Mill Pond Ashland

On Saturday while exploring the Western Greater Boston Area, we stopped at a very pretty pond and waterfall in the town of Ashland.   We brought painting gear thinking if we saw a nice spot, we would stop and paint for a while.  There was a dam near where we painted and we could hear the water rushing over it into a stream as we painted which was very relaxing.   
The sun was to the right of an opening to the pond, named Mill Pond, but as time went on, the sun moved directly to the opening causing a bright glare.   The challenge was to match colors when the sun was brightly washing everything out.    The leaves closest to the opening looked bright yellow more than green as they were actually transluscent.  I do like the reflection of the far trees in the pond, but I'm not very happy with the brash yellow leaves.  In the name of full disclosure, I'm sharing it anyway.



John Painting the Pond

I stepped back away from the bright opening to the water for the second painting.   It can't be good for the retinas to be staring at the glare for so long.   I was planning on doing some planted flowers near the car, but once I set up in that spot, I saw this scene of John painting and I had to paint it instead.

I finished this in 15 minutes or so, thus the very impressionistic background, but I love this rendition of him immersed in his own work.

Sunrise

Green Harbor Sunrise

The sunrises are getting later each morning as we head into Fall making it easier to be up and out on the beach painting by dawn.    No two sunrises are alike so I present to you this morning's sunrise.  I recorded the pale blue water, matching the overhead brightness of the sky, a foggy bank of lavender atmosphere sitting on the horizon and dark silouettes of the jetties.  The sun broke over the horizon and quickly flared into a bright orange crescent.   The canvas for this painting was not in the sun, nor was the palette.   One thing I've noticed about that lack of direct palette/canvas light, is that the colors on my painting come out bright and vivid once it is viewed inside. So, it is a tradeoff - not an exact replication of the scene, but colors are more pumped up to compensate.   I like the messy palette knife color and I'm telling myself it's done.   Will I listen though?



Quinn's Walk

Painting two is more subdued since the sun had come up providing nice morning light.  I was just about done with it and decided that the next person, or people who walked by would be my subject.   Approaching from Burke's Beach was a tall slim woman with dark curly hair walking a large black furry dog.     Their characteristics provided a good contrast against the pale water and bright sand.  The elderly dog was moving pretty slowly and eventually when they got close enough,  they came over to visit.   Gentle giant "Quinn" was as mellow as you'll ever see in a dog, and turns out, his owner will be taking ownership of this painting as soon as I put the finishing touches on it.




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.




Adams Farm Paint Out 2012

Maureen Painting in Back Field

Today, we spent the day at Adams Farm in Walpole, MA.  What a great place this is.   The Adams Farm property includes approximately 365 acres of town-owned land, additional acreage held in adjacent land conservation trusts, and land owned by the New England Forestry Foundation and the Norfolk County Agricultural School, for a total of over 700 acres open to the public for low-impact recreation. The Friends of Adams Farm is a group of area residents dedicated to the preservation of Adams Farm. Several of the group were present to welcome and organize the day for us.

Adams Farm from Back Field Stage 1

Twenty painters participated in the one day plein air event which was conceived and organized by JT Harding a local artist who knows the farm well and has painted there many times.    Part of today's event was also a raffle for a JT Harding oil painting.

Adams Farm from Back Field Stage 2

The weather cooperated for the most part, although the wind was relentless.  After experiencing two tip overs we further weighed down the easels with bungy cords and whatever bags we could attach to them.  

From the outset I decided I would try and get two paintings done, one from the back field facing east looking at the red barn and one from the access road facing west looking at the red barn.



Adams Farm from Back Field Stage 3

I brought a 11 x 14 canvas, a large size for plein air, at least for me.   I began with my 1 1/2 inch pastry brush for the sky, and major block in - everything except for the barn itself.   In the picture to the left (Stage 3), all the painting done to that point was done with the large pastry brush, and I loved how fresh and loose it looked. 

Once it was time to do the barn I switched to my #4 and #6 flats.   I have a very old tube of Rose Madder so this is what I used for the red plane that faced me.   The side of the barn that faced north and in dark shadow, I painted with Rose Madder, Transparent Oxide Brown and Ultramarine Blue.    For the roof, I mixed titanium white, cadmium red light, cad yellow light and some of my blue sky mixture.   For the roof shadows I used raw sienna and dioxide purple.

Adams Farm from Back Field Stage 4

My first attempt at the flagpole  resulted in a disproportionately small flag compared to its roof shadow.    The flag was flying straight out and needed to be taller and bigger.    I completed these adjustments as well as added the path from my vantage, winding up to the barn.

By this time it was 12:45 and I was feeling pretty parched.    I packed up my things and made my move to my next painting site.

Adams Farm from Road

This blog post is long enough, so I won't go into the gory detail, but this is the second painting.  The only thing not routine about this painting session was the scary flyover - low and slow - by a military cargo plane.   As the jet approached it banked toward us as it if was looking for a field to land - and we thought - crash land!   Obviously that was not the case and we later heard that a low and slow flyby was scheduled for the UMass football game at Gilette Stadium.

At the end of the day we assembled in the barn and met the juror, Artist Bill St. George.   He chose his favorites and a lovely ribbon ceremony was held.

First Place Winner Diane Paranelli Miller with JT Harding

One of my former teachers, Diane Paranelli Miller took home the first prize and deservedly so.    She had set in the middle of in the community vegetable garden with the barn in the distance.   On a day when there was so much green all around, she managed to inject an amazing amount of beautiful color into her loose and lovely 16 x 20 painting.   She even had brought a frame for it and displayed it fully framed!    Her extensive plein air expertise was fully on display.   Congratulations Diane!

House Portrait

Last fall, friends from my neighborhood asked me to do a painting of their beach house.   We agreed that summer would be a good time to capture it.   The flower boxes would be fully blooming, the striped window and deck awnings would be open and the hydrangeas would be peaking.   The time was right so I set about capturing a few images of their home a couple of weeks ago.   The modest house sits on a corner lot close by where I live.    



House with Striped Awnings

I toned a 9 x 12 canvas and sketched in the darks, the shadows of the eaves, the windows and doors. My plan was to get a correct architectural likeness from the photo and then set up on site to capture color and light.  The house has striped awnings on the west facing windows and deck.    I painted the window awnings open, but the deck awning is so big that I decided to paint it in the closed position. 


It was difficult to decide what surrounding details to include.   Since the neighborhood is thickly settled, it would not make sense to omit adjacent homes.   I decide to include the home to the right and left, as well as the telephone pole, but to deemphasize them by softening their edges.      Here is the final stage painting.

Out of the Box 2012

Vezina Out of the Box Entry 2012

I love a challenge and with the North River Arts Society's annual event, "OTB," (Out of the Box) it is as much fun to create something as it is to see what other artists come up with.   Back in the day when I had no time to paint, I would see art I liked and think, "I could do that."   The truth of the matter is, I couldn't do "that" (another person's art) then, and I can't do it now.   Every decision and every stroke is personal and no two paintings or painters are alike.   With age I have come to appreciate the uniqueness of efforts and results of other painters.

As for OTB, the challenge of shaking off the tried and true, venturing into an aspect of art that is not typical for a person, is just the kind of exercise that brings out an intuitive response and result. 

I'm writing this blog in mid-July and not publishing until September because part of the fun of this event is the anonymous silent auction.   The 8X8 inch squares are the only common thread from artist to artist. These are numbered and bidding takes place during August without the bidder who did which piece.   Trying to guess which artist did what creation is so much fun and I can't wait to see the names revealed.

I always enjoyed tiling and have my own tile cutter.   I have tiled kitchens and floors and I love the tile section at the hardware store.   That's where I got the idea for my OTB entry.   I picked out a neutral 6x6" tile and some 1x8" trim with a plan to fit the tiles together onto the 8x8" gatorboard surface.   I chose a watery theme - water lilies - and commenced my painting.   I really liked the hard surface of the tile, although the paint was sliding off on the first session.   Since the paint was not getting absorbed into a porous material, my impression was that it looked brighter and lighter.   I'd say that I came back to the tile painting about four times in total.   I also dabbed a few pink and green highlight dots on the trim tile.

For assembly I decided on the direction of the trim tile pattern and measured.  Each needed to be 1x7".   That measurement allowed a herringbone pattern along the edge. I traced the 6x6 tile onto the gatorboard for a nice, centered placement.   The pieces were then glued to the gatorboard and the tile.

The bidding now over and we get to see if we won the pieces we bid on, and the artwork's creators will be revealed.   I plan to get back to the NRAS to check it all out!

Audubon Paint Out

Audubon Barn and Truck Stage 1

Audubon Barn and Truck Stage 2

On a perfect day recently, my husband and I drove a short distance to the Daniel Webster Mass Audubon site in Marshfield, MA.   It's the end of August and everywhere we look, it's beautifully lush and green.    For my composition, I chose a two phase barn structure with a farm truck in front of it.     It was early morning and the shadows were warm and long.   The weathered roof and sides of the barn was a lavender bluish gray. 




The structure to the left housed the baled hay. The low angle of the sun was shining in on the  the hay which was stacked at different heights within the barn.   I liked the variation of the stacks in the light.

The contrast between the trees and the sky was pretty dramatic and at first I found that I didn't paint the trees dark enough.  I didn't like having to come back to make them darker, but I did.   The distant grass was a light green which I made from viridian, lemon yellow and white. I gradually added more cadmium yellow as I painted down the canvas to the foreground grasses.  

 At the end of the paint out a rustle in the bushes drew our attention to a young deer with six inch antlers.   He crossed the area I had just painted and I thought about adding him in.   It's still a work in progress, so I still may do that.



Audubon Resident