Cliff Walk Newport

Hot Underpainting

June has been fantastic here in New England.   Roses are now peaking, baby birds are fledgling and the warm dry days have pushed memories of the horrendous winter out of our consciousness.

Maureen at Cliff Walk Newport

Cliff Walk Newport, RI

So it was just icing on the perfect day cake to set up at a spectacular scene overlooking the Ocean Cliff Walk in Newport, Rhode Island.  Framed in this scene is a large four chimney "beachhouse" (aka mansion) and its seaside gazebo.  A seawall bordered the shoreline and a manmade base of boulders provided a nice variety of elements.   My favorite was the foreground boulders which were cracked and rugged calling for the darkest darks and lightest lights.   Crescent shaped waves approached the like shaped beach below in a fairly uniform pattern.   My starting canvas was deep orange that had been toned weeks ago.   This proved to be somewhat distracting until most of it was covered!   I had planned to use it for a predominately summer green scene.    The greens in this painting did benefit from this complementary underpainting, and even the ocean vibrates orange.

The result of this paint-out wasn't bad but what was more enjoyable I think was the time spent outdoors creating the reminder of it.




West Harwich Riverview

Artist Eli Cedrone at Herring River

If you aren't familiar with painter Eli Cedrone, you haven't seen the beautiful work of one of the most talented artists in our area.   Her work is in local galleries, and across the country.    I was fortunate to have attended a "pop-up" workshop on Cape Cod with her recently.

The weather cooperated and the location Eli had picked was a gorgeous spot along the Herring River in West Harwich, Massachusetts.

She began her demonstration with small thumbnails done in pencil.   She explained that this step helps to work out the design of the painting.  She emphasized the importance of first designing the scene in black and white to come up with a strong composition.  She encouraged us to use nature as the reference but liberally move elements as necessary to support a better painting.

For the second stage, she used the upper half of her canvas board to paint the scene in three values.   This value study and the thumbnails would serve as the blueprint for the actual color painting.  


My Value Study

Finally, she produced the color rendition of the same scene which was created on the lower half of the board.   I liked using this disciplined approach and I've used it in the past, so I soon got started on my own painting.

Two rustic red dinghies tempted me while scoping out my composition, but I would have been looking in a southerly direction  - and into the glare.   My eyes just can't take that much light.  I don't wear sunglasses while applying color as they change both the values and the colors.   I turned my back on the sun and looked downstream instead.  There was a steady stream of both moving water and colorfully clad kayakers.

Per our process, this poor photo (why is it checkered like that??) is the value study done in quick dry paint.   I toured all the other participants' easels while it dried.   It is always amazing to see the variation in the paintings when most were of the same scene.

The fun part was the color.   Using the now dry value study, I applied color right on top of it, expressly trying to stay true to the monochrome lights and darks.   While on site, I decided that I liked a pair of twin red umbrellas off to the left in the distance and as the most chromatic element, they called for attention. Back in the studio though, I decided to add the kayakers in the distance in the same general area as the umbrellas and I liked the misty look of cruising the river.

Herring Riverview - West Harwich

Aihlbe with Lace Neckline

Aihlbe with Lace Neckline

Remember Ailhbe, my alabaster white bust?   She set up for a pose again and this time it was a downward angle done in charcoal.   Highlights were done with white conte.  

Of course I improvised on the neckline since the bust ends at the neck.   Between Artist Dan Thompson's workshop and the upcoming Rob Liberace workshop, I know I need to practice the portrait as much as I can.

Castle Island Just Before Sunset

This scene was painted from a photograph that I took while aboard the Hingham-to-Boston Ferry.    The ferry passes by several Boston Harbor Islands and although this is Castle "Island", that is a misnomer today because it has been connected by land for a couple of centuries.  The fortress shown is Fort Independence which is located at the entrance to the Boston Inner Harbor.   A large fishing pier can be seen in the foreground as well as a towering obelisk honoring shipbuilder Donald McKay and the fast and beautiful clipper ships that he had designed and constructed in Boston back in the late 1800's.



Castle Island Evening

A trip to Castle Island for a hot dog at Sullivan's and a walk around the fort is an institution known well by most Bostonians.  It is not unusual to see a crowd on any day of the week and among them are tourists, school busses of children on field trips, lunching blue collar and white collar workers enjoying the cool sea breeze just adjacent to Boston Harbor.  With Logan International Airport just on the other side of the channel, a constant flow of jets roar overhead, thus a jet is a must for this painting.
The photo reference was nice enough because of the low angled light and long shadows, but as is often the case when painting from a photo, the painting is just nicer.     The light has a warm feel to it that the photo's light doesn't.   I didn't fuss over the people on the pier and walking.   I just placed dots of color that might suggest their clothing on this beautiful summer evening.


Anatomy of the Human Head - Day Two

Sampling of Instructor Demo

It was Day Two of the Dan Thompson workshop at the North River Arts Society and we began the day with a new model, a delightful young college student (a musician) with a dark complexion and long dreadlocks tied back.  As we did for Day One, we started with a grisaille to establish the blueprint for the painting.   Our workshop instructor, Dan Thompson told us that we would quickly move to the color on Day Two, unlike the first day in which we worked exclusively in monotone.   It took me longer than it probably should have on this day to get the monotone underlay done.    Dan assured me that it was worth the extra time to get the drawing right.   I liked that a lot because I do not like to be rushed!

Day Two Model

The strategy for applying color was basic.    Select the color element that was the easiest to see.   In other words, which part of the scene do I have complete confidence that I not only can identify the color, but that I know how to match, mix and apply it.    Once this initial accurate judgment is made and on the canvas, the next color - theoretically - can more easily be compared (brighter, lighter, cooler, darker...) to the first stroke.  Dan demonstrated this method as he developed his painting of our model and what at first looked like a rough rudimentary scramble of color dots resulted in an amazing likeness of our model.

My painting was a different story.  Painting humans is hard but fascinating and my excuses are numerous ....   the canvas was so big....I'm using different tube colors than I'm used to.... and walnut oil as a medium...  They say struggling brings growth...

Here is the portrait from day two...

Anatomy of the Human Head Workshop - Day One

Grisaille

I am so fortunate to have participated in a painting workshop featuring renown Instructor Dan Thompson.   This amazing artist is co-founder of the Janus School in New York City, this among his extensive credentials such as being named a "Living Master" by the Art Renewal Center.   The focus of the workshop he taught this May at the North River Arts Society was the human head.     I can't even begin to cover all the terrific information that was shared.   Dan reviewed the anatomical characteristics of the skull, neck and shoulders, as well as methods for identifying useful landmarks for painters when defining shapes and planar shifts.

 One of my personal goals going into the Thompson workshop was to learn more about skin color and fleshtones.    To me, some of the most interesting portraits are not photorealistic, but rather an interpretation of subtle skin tones with the use of stronger - even unorthodox and vivid - colors.   It takes a bit of daring to overcome the fear of "ruining" a decent painting with bold, interesting color.

On Day One, our assignment was to produce a "grisaille" rendering of the model.  ("Grisaille" is a monotone underpainting sometimes used as a base for the later application of translucent oil colours.)   The image to the left depicts my painting at the end of the day, and thus the conclusion of this model's time with us.   I would have loved to have finished the color version from the live model.  As subsequent blog posts will show, we welcomed a new model at the start of each new day.   What I did was to take color photographs of the Day One model and used them to create a brand new rendition of this painting, which I will share sometime in the future.

Beached Boats

The red star on the map to the left is the location where I painted on this day.   This is a peninsula that is situated between Duxbury Bay and Kingston Bay.   I found a fantastic spot at the end of Samoset Road.   There even was a railing at the edge of a grassy access to which I could tie my easel.    The weather was glorious so I shot a video of it so you can get the sense of the bright, windy day at this shoreline.  Okay, and the bagpipes weren't there but I swear the beach (strand) views up in Donegal were quite similar. :)

I've painted water and dunes before and I'll paint them again because they are never the same.   For this painting, I used my palette knife almost exclusively.    I squirted out a generous pile of my fast-drying titanium white and mixed in Prussian blue.   This blue gives a nice fair weather sky color.   I didn't completely blend on the palette, but rather let some of the streaks of white and blue spread out as they were applied onto the canvas with the knife.   The effect came out like high, wispy fair weather clouds.   Next was the greenish blue sea color which was made from white, viridian and Prussian blue.   The mid distance ocean color had yellow from the shallow sandy bars just beneath.   As the tide hit its lowest point, the small boats that were moored just offshore, were now sitting directly on the sand, each leaning to one side.   

The beach grasses were all sorts of greens so I began with the far left, mixing in extra blue and cool naples yellow to help it sit back.  As the grasses and greenery got closer, I mixed in warmer yellows, golds and reds.   Some beach roses were to my immediate left and they cast interesting and deeper shadows on the sand than most of the thin grasses.    I decided on placing a sailboat and a small motorized boat next to each other.   They were sitting directly on the sand so they were leaning to one side.

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Roadside Buoys

Roadside Buoys - Stage One

Roadside Buoys - Stage Two

The southern portion of Duxbury Bay in Massachusetts is visible from many old hidden roads that dead end at the water.   I drove down a couple of them and decided on Harden Hill Road, one with space to park and a boat launch at the water's edge.   Since the road sloped down to the shore, the angle of my painting was more downward and a wider span of the water was visible.   The sun was high in this late May sky causing the color of the water to look lighter.   The furthest water was a blueish green, the mid distance water had more yellow (from sandbar?) and the closer shallows were lighter bluish green.   On the side of the road there were three old "No Wake" buoys waiting to be set in place out in the bay.  These were certainly the center of interest as the brightest and highest contrast elements in the scene.   Two oak tree trunks closer to the edge of the water looked very dark against the bright blue bay.  



Roadside Buoys - Stage Three

Roadside Buoys

I began with the sky and water which I applied with a palette knife.  I liked fresh, loose look of it and didn't touch it again.   The trunk and leaves of the dark oak were painted with a mixture of Ultramarine blue, transparent brown and viridian.  All the fresh spring growth was bright green.   I felt like the green I mixed to match was accurate on site. (Back in the studio, it looked unnaturally white.  I warmed up these greens with cad yellow.)  The many shades of green benefitted from the use of golds and Indian Red to break it up.   I used the same Indian red for the rusty chains attached to the buoy anchors.  I simply could not get decent lettering on the buoys between the erratic wind and my shakes, so I also saved that detail for back in the studio.

It's great to have nice weather again!