Sunny Cold Brant Rock

Sunny, Cold Brant Rock April - Stage One

It looked like April with a high midday sun, and a greenish turquoise ocean color.   It just didn't feel like April.   I set up overlooking the Brant Rock in Marshfield, Massachusetts.  The wind was whipping from the North, so I set up with the car to my left, which helped block the worst of it.  The strong April sun was on my back and gradually the cold was less noticeable.    The water was a beautiful combination of colors.   Ultramarine blue at the horizon lightening to a turquoise green at the mid range to a more cobalt blue (reflective of sky) in the foreground.



Sunny, Cold Brant Rock April

Part of designing a painting with continuous movement of things like waves means observing the patterns of the breakers and deciding on a pleasing (varied) placement of them.   There was a constant straight breaker coming out from the Brant Rock formation itself.  Behind the smooth reddish boulder in the middle, sea spray was shooting up.  In the forground uniform breakers approached the shore.   These were the three wave patterns I would include.   And of course, gulls galore.   They seemed to just float up, scarcely pumping their wings, and  I included plenty of them to be true to the scene
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Mill on the Housatonic River

Climbing up to the Road

Painting Riverside

Lee, Massachusetts was the location of this paint out and it is with a small degree of pride that I present this painting.  My painting partner and I both spotted this spectacular scene as we drove along - passing it by at first.   Twenty minutes later after not seeing any scenes nearly as striking, we returned.  It was no trivial matter getting set up on this painting spot because it was situated at a sharp curve in the busy Route 20 at an overpass over the Housatonic River.



Mill on the Housatanic River - Stage One

There was an old rusty chain blocking a car path down to the river and just enough space for the Cube to nestle in next to it (love this car).  The road was about 30 vertical feet above the river.   We scaled down the embankment to a scene where the river rapids passed in front of an old red brick mill.    There were blue mountains in the background and it was completely overcast.    The clouds made the red brick look even more stunning and certainly the central point of interest amid all the muted early Spring underbrush.



Mill on Housatonic River - Stage Two

Rather than sightsizing, I used my viewfinder (two cardboard "L's") to frame the picture.  I placed the brick stack first and based all my other placements around it.   The moldy/mossy green at the base of the rusty brick buildings was reflected in the water as well.   Three areas of brick were lighter in value, the farthest building, which was on a different angle, the side of the biggest building, which was not in complete shadow, and the right side of the stack.    Each time I worked on the building elements, I used the remainder of the color below in the water.

I decided to finish the foreground trees and branches back in the studio using my photo reference.   I'm glad I did because I had so much thick paint in the sky and water that the branches were pulling in too much white.

Mill on the Housatonic River

Dad 1945

Dad 1945

The handsome strapping young sailor in this pencil/charcoal drawing is my Dad.  Dozens of vintage photographs were with his things.  He had taken the time to label each photo with names of those in the pictures.  That is, except for this one photo - of himself.  

I began with a two value drawing with pencil.  I expanded my value range to five, but was not satisfied with my darkest value until I introduced soft vine charcoal over the pencil for the darkest dark.  I used a stump to soften each value.

The familiar features (literally) common to the clan include the high arching eyebrows, straight full nose and prominent lower lip.  I see these features in myself and my boys.   I think it helped the flow of the drawing to know that these were the features that needed to be right.




Explosion of Color

Colorful Still Life

Here in New England (like much of the country) we are weary of winter and out of energy for bracing against the cold.   I want warm temperatures and my eyes are craving color.  The subtle shades of gray in the sky and snow that I usually love don't have the same allure.   It's time for the next season, so let's get on with it!

Explosion of Color

Assembling this group of splashy and colorful objects was fun and painting them meant using oil color right out of the tube, a real treat after blah grays.   On the left as a backdrop was an old silk scarf that I have been wearing for forty years (yes - from when I was a clerk in Filene's Basement in high school).  The scarf's flower blocks are as bright today as they were then.   To the right of that was a blue vase full of yellow tulips accented with a bright checkered ribbon of yellow, orange, and lime.  To the right of that was a polka dotted gift bag, its orange tissue sprouting up and casting some interesting shadows.  An old metal tin was added which amazingly had most of the same colors, but on a micro scale.  I was happy with the composition at this point and I was hoping that the heavy weighting to the left because of the attention-grabbing color would be balanced by the interesting shadow patterns to the right.  Did the shadows in the painting hold up well enough?  I decided that they didn't, so I added a bow to the top of the rectangular tin which then cast some spikey shadows.   I liked it better but the drapes of the scarf needs work.  

Remember color? 

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