Something Out of Not Much

South River Park in Progress

I've been painting enough to know that it is not necessary to drive around, wasting time looking for the "right" place to paint.   A few other factors now take precedence over a perfect vista, like a convenient, safe, free parking spot for one.   There is a fairly new open space in Marshfield called the South River Park on the main drag in Marshfield directly across from the Hess Station.  

The first time I visited the park I was a little disappointed.  I thought it would lead to a long river trail, but discovered that what you see from the street is just about the extent of it.   It is my understanding that this little park project is a piece of a longer range plan to connect some open spaces along the South River, so perhaps my expectations will be fulfilled at some future point.



South River Park Final

So I took advantage of this convenient, safe, free parking (with a brand new sheltered picnic area) to paint this scene.    The light was pretty on the variety of summery greens and the paved walkways.   The condemned structure in the background was rustic enough to translate into a pseudo-farmhouse.    The layout of the park was interesting enough to inspire the light and colors you see in the photo.

July Beach Day in Harwich

Maureen Painting at Harwich Beach -
Photo courtesy of Julia Hatch

Sunny, breezy and mid-eighties.    That was a forecast that got people young and old to their nearest beach on Cape Cod.   For us, that beach was in beautiful Harwich facing Nantucket Sound at the end of Pleasant Road.     I set up early in some shade from the pine trees that bordered the beach parking lot.     The light on the canvas was not ideal, but I hoped that by comparing all my color mixes in the sun against the scene, that it would turn out okay. 



Harwich Beach Day Stage One

Lots of people stopped by to observe and/or chat.   I'm used to it now, and have discovered that the curious want to be painters, but for whatever reason, haven't gotten into it yet.   On this day I met a couple on an eight week USA road trip (in a Prius by the way), a guy who sketches with charcoal and/or pencils, a teacher on vacation with her daughter, a middle school youngster who told me he had no talent in art, but was a pretty good baseball player and finally, a lovely, young woman who was a photographer from Vermont.   She took some great photos and was kind enough to send some to me to use in this blog post.   (Thank you Julia!)



Harwich Beach Day Stage Two

My eyes had a rough time looking at the blinding light in this beach setting.   I left my sunglasses on while I sketched in the placement lines, but once I start mixing colors, they had to come off - for color accuracy.       I decided to include the couple with the colorful beach umbrella in the foreground and the lifeguard stand further in the distance.   



Maureen Painting at Harwich Beach -
Photo courtesy of Julia Hatch

The light was warm and the shadows were cool and since there was more sand than any other element in the painting, it was important to get the heat into the sunlit sand,  I mixed in naples yellow and hints of cadmium red (along with titanium buff).   The cool shadowed sand was painted with asphaltum (a Gamblin transparent brown), cobalt blue and a bit of titanium buff.

Time flew and two hours into the painting, things were very different.   I was now in the sun, the shadows had moved and there were twice as many people on the beach.   My sister was now on a chair in front of me, no doubt waiting for my lively conversation so it was time to take a swim and get on a beach chair myself!

Harwich Beach Day Stage Three






Fishing from the Jetty

The jetties that trim the mouth of the Green Harbor River are both picturesque and functional.   They are meant to preserve boat access from the inner harbor to the ocean by keeping sand and silt from clogging the mouth of the river.    The huge boulders are fitted together to form a wave barrier during harsh ocean storms that hit the area each year.   Although the jetties are initially set in place on a level, straight configuration, powerful storms gradually shift even the largest boulders into nature's configuration, and that is not straight and level.   It is deceiving just how huge these boulders are, and it is truly amazing that powerful Nor'easters can toss them about, such that a few of them change position from year to year.

The jetties also function as fishing piers and are very popular for teens and children who like to traverse the rip-rap style surface.   The two children in this scene were fishing from the furthest end of the jetty where the boulders were strewn about.  I was thinking that judging from their body language, these two children were brother and sister.  They had one rod between them and the girl who was older seemed to be in charge.   The little brother was squatting against a rock waiting, somewhat hopelessly, for his turn.



Fishing Off the Jetty

There are many things I like about this scene.    First of all, it includes figures which continue to be a favorite of mine to paint.  Another thing I like about it is that the subject of fishing is universal and timeless.   The scene could be any locale and it very well could be 1940, 1980 or 2014.   The composition itself was also varied and interesting. The angular forms of the rocks really appealed to me.   Hints of red and gold rocks looked stunning against the blue water and sky, and their dark values seemed to ground the children.


Sailing Lessons

Summer at the marina means watching people have fun on the water.   These middle schoolers were returning from an early morning sailing lesson when I arrived at Jones River Landing.      I snapped a few pictures of the kids furling the sails and tying up.   I was glad I did because within 20 minutes they had left and all was quiet.  

I roughed in the composition working


Sailing Lesson

from top to bottom on the canvas.   I matched the colors of the far shore trees which were all in shadow.   Immediately in front of the trees was a strip of marsh grasses in shadow which looked very blue. Next were the same marsh grasses which were in sunlight - warm and bright gold/green.  I used emerald green and cad yellow deep to get that bright warm green.  I darkened that gold/green mixture with some blue for the water which was reflecting mostly the dark trees.   I chose to eliminate the boats on the far side of the dock only including the small sailboats and their reflections.   Finally I painted the foreground water which was reflecting the sky overhead.   I probably worked the foreground water and reflections on three separate passes with my large house painting brush.   This gives a nice soft and blurred look to the water and reflections.



Duxbury Beach and Bay

Duxbury Beach and Bay Stage One

Construction projects in our household generate quite a bit of scrap lumber.   It doesn't all make suitable painting surfaces, but occasionally I will pluck a board or piece of wood that looks uniform and smooth.   Medium Density Fiberboard or MDF is a popular shelving material and I grabbed a fairly long piece recently and started to prepare it by applying several coats of black gesso.  This shelving reject was going to become a panoramic, over-the-sofa painting.

Duxbury Beach and Bay Stage Two

As you have seen in some of the blog posts, I occasionally record 360 degree videos of my paint out locations.   I thought it would be interesting to produce a painting that spans a nice wide view, and I had been thinking about capturing one of my favorite local vistas for this painting.    

At Duxbury Beach Reservation, the long white sandy beach (left) is bordered by a wide strip of dunes, beach grasses and shrubs(middle), then the beach road, more grasses, then Duxbury Bay(right).   If you stand at the top of one of the first crossovers, a footpath from the bayside to the beach, you can see a fantastic view of both the ocean and the bay, the subject of this painting.    The size of this is 10 x 42.5 without any frame, and would be nice over a mantle or sofa.

Duxbury Beach and Bay

Route 3 from Jones Riverbank

Jones River Overpass Stage One

Route 3 is the primary North/South highway that connects Boston and Cape Cod.   When it passes through Kingston, it is actually quite close to the ocean at the outlet of Jones River.   I set up to paint adjacent to the Jones River at a point where the river was flowing toward me, passing under a railroad bridge and winding around a marshy wetland.  The down river view (and the view I eventually painted), passed under a tall Route 3 highway overpass.    Although the spot looked picturesque from all angles, the stunning visual was somewhat contradicted by a constant rumbling of highway traffic, local roadway traffic and an occasional commuter rail.      Once I got into the painting though I hardly noticed anything except my scene.



Jones River Overpass Stage Two

The painting panel was 16 x 20", larger that my usual and preferred 12 x 16".   I found myself including more elements and a larger span of what was a complex scene because of the larger canvas.   More time was needed to rough in the drawing, but once I had the bridge lines in, it was easier to size out the rest of the scene using them for reference. 

As always, things change too quickly when painting en plein air!  Jones River is a tidal river which means its level corresponds to the ocean tides not far downstream.   As the painting progressed the water got lower and lower (and it got buggier and buggier!).   I got a photo reference that matched my painting at this point (and water level) so that I could complete it back in the studio.


Jones River Overpass

The most difficult part of this painting was matching the variety of greens.   There was a distant grove of trees visible just under the overpass and it required a couple of tries before getting a match.   I literally held the loaded brush up next to the element and compare the color.   This direct visual is usually fail-proof, and like most occasions when I use it, I found that the color I mixed was too vivid.   I dulled down the green of these distant trees mixing in a small amount of sky color, which gave it the milky appearance of distant trees.

The overpass and its column was the strongest visual element, but the entire scene beneath the highway that was pristine.   I decided to add a school bus atop the roadway, but changed it to an 18 wheeler, since they seemed to be the more predominant vehicle.    I'm not crazy about this one but I don't quite know why.    

Check out this video if you'd like to see where I was standing.   If you are looking at this blog in email, you may not be able to play it.   It's playable from the actual blog.   I'm thinking that the video it is more exciting than the painting... :)