After the Blizzard

It was two days after the Blizzard of 2015 and although it had been freezing for days, the sun was finally shining brightly - enough to warm things up into the thirties.  The roads were still messy so I drove a short distance to Our Lady of the Assumption Church.   The issue wasn't finding snow; it was everywhere.  The goal was to find a place to pull in, given all the snowbanks.   The church parking lot had been plowed and there were even sidewalk areas that were dry.   I set up looking southeast toward a kettle pond that sat at the back of the church property.   

After the Blizzard - Stage One -Underpainting



After the Blizzard - Stage Two - Line Sketch




After the Blizzard - Stage Three - Snow Darks

My 9x12 inch board was toned with a grey-green underpainting.  I sketched the lines of the scene with transparent oxide brown and cobalt blue.    I mixed three values for the snow.   The shadiest snow was raw umber, cobalt blue and radiant violet.   The middle value looked bluer so I used the same combination as the darkest snow but added some extra cobalt and a very small amount of sap green.   The branch shadows on the snow were the darkest snow value closest to the tree, then as the shadow moved away from the trunk, it's darkness diffused to the middle value as it stretched out over the snow pack.



After the Blizzard - Stage Four - Snow Lights

The brightest whites were the most fun... titanium white with some streaks of naples yellow, radiant magenta and they were buttered on with the palette knife in a thick impasto.





Despite the lack of much color variation in this snowscape, I like the strong value contrasts.   Yes, plein air painting yields the freshest results!








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After the Blizzard

Sunrise Along the Channel - Green Harbor

I was out extra early on this day because the weather forecast was calling for rain starting in the morning.    The wide open expanse along the shore allows a long view of approaching clouds.    The sun broke over the horizon shining for only about thirty minutes before being obscured for the rest of the day.   For the few moments of sunshine, everything was bathed in a gorgeous red-orange light.



Sunrise Along the Channel

There is a lobsterman's house on the Green Harbor side of the channel and during the winter, hundreds of lobster traps are stacked there.   The house was yellow, so couple that with the glowing warm light of sunrise, and the whole scene was stunning.   The taupy-blue shadows matched the ominous sky and complimented the warm orangy light. Actually, I may still warm up the yellow a bit before this one goes to the shop.

Maybe you have witnessed a similar scene where the sky looks oddly dark and cloudy, but everything in the foreground is brightly lit.   Weather changes can be very fascinating if we stop and notice!  




Shovelling Out

It's an activity that New Englanders spend lots of time on during an average winter.  That is - shoveling snow.   The first snow storm of the season is a novelty: fresh air - physical exertion - rosy cheeks - schedules on hold.  



Shoveling Out

Then the next storm comes - then another and another.   The shoveling gets old rapidly, but I never get tired of the beauty of a fresh blanket of snow.   The new white cover hides the monotony of winter brown and grey and the previous storm's dirty snowbanks.

Analyzing the colors of snow in order to paint it reveals that snow is not white - for the most part.   Yes, perhaps the brightest highlights are white if it is bright and sunny, but if the day is cloudy or it is still snowing, you can observe every shade of gray - pink, blue, green, gold, shades of off-white.

In this scene, we are digging out after a particularly harsh Nor'easter.   (Observe the beach steps in the background, tossed into the street by the storm surge.)  I was attracted to the composition formed by the dark forms (my two favorite shovellers) against the winter wonderland.    I applied most of the snow loosely via palette knife, applied thick impasto style.   After the painting had dried for a couple of weeks, I splattered snowflakes across the entire painting using a stiff bristle brush.

I've been waiting for a storm to post it, but since it seems there will not be much this year, here it is!   (Yes!  I may have
just jinxed us! :))

Market Square

A few months ago, I put a sharp corner of a framed painting through the middle of a large (30 x 48 inch) in-progress painting.   I may have shared that sad story back when it happened?   I pulled the ripped canvas off the stretcher bars, sized up a nice new length of gesso'd linen, and stretched it again.   I toned it with a mid-value neutral color.  That was several months ago - and there it sat.    The weather was nice as a plein air painter, I enjoyed plenty of beautiful days outside.


Market Street - Stage One


As soon as the temperatures started to cool I turned my attention to the studio.  I placed the BIG blank canvas on it.   I wanted to start planning out this large studio work.  I had the urge to include every attractive element I had been painting or photographing in the past few months. 



Market Street - Stage Two

What would that include?   Rustic buildings, stone walls, Irish farmhouses, festivals full of color, sunlit boats with pretty reflections, seals sunning themselves, bees buzzing around my pink and yellow zinnias, fireworks, city skyline.  Very exciting! This was the brainstorming phase of composing the piece.   I guess I could have jammed in all the attractive elements I had been envisioning, turning it into a fantasy painting, but realistically I needed to decide on a theme.

I did some sketching and printed a few of my favorite festival and marketplace photos, assembling a horizontal collage of scenes that were attractive to me.   I worked on building up a dark and light pattern that was appealing.    I wanted a "random - but planned" series of "lightest lights."    

Even as early as Stage One image above, the abstract dark and light pattern is visible.   The warm afternoon light highlights the old village buildings and market umbrellas.  The light spilled over onto the street, giving the illusion of a bright glare.   The stone archway on the left framed the bright light of the next alley over.   The shadows would be cool and blue, but not too dark.   Generally, even the shadow areas of a cityscape with bright warm light benefits from the reflected light.   The light tends to bounce around and provide ambient light even to the shadow areas.   (Photographs do not record this reflected light by the way - that's why "from life" painting is so much better!) The color temperature scheme (warm light and cool shadow) and the shadow directional scheme (late afternoon backlighting)  would be important supporting information.

Sunlight String

This painting has been on and off the easel for four months so there were several stages of progress.   I won't share them all but one thing I did was to use a sun string to guide the direction of my sunlight.   I attached a long piece of wood so that it pointed high up above the large canvas.  I tacked a long piece of string to the top of the wood.    As I painted the lighted areas, I stretched the string tight and that showed the angle of the rays of light coming from my "pseudo sun" at the top of the wood.   I wish I took a better photo but in the narrow photo, the wood and the string are somewhat visible.   This method would be useful if you aren't painting on site, or if you were on site but the light changed dramatically before packing up.



Market Square

I guess I like the anonymity of the figures.   I also love the idea of supporting the growers, buying their fresh products and turning that into a culinary comfort for their family. So where is market square, who are these people and why two thoroughfares?




Gray Marina

Silvery Dock

It was December, two days before Winter Solstice and the gray, misty look of the beach got me thinking it would be a good day to paint at the marina.   Strangely, there was barely a wisp of wind for such a cloudy day.  There were even mirror-like reflections on the silvery surface unlike the usual ocean chop.   At the town pier, the usual dock bustle of the warmer months was gone. Most of the moorings were empty and only a few fishing boats remained. 
Things don't always flow while painting, especially when painting outside; this was one of those days.   It seemed like I was struggling at every stage from set-up (my palette scraped against the pier railing leaving a pile of purple paint that I had to scrape off) to mixing colors (stiff paint and everything looked too green) to packing up (a wingnut on my field easel wouldn't loosen with cold fingers).   I should have settled for a color study, but I continued to torture myself by trying to salvage the session and come out with a whole painting.  
The cloud shielded Sun is featured in the painting since it was so low!   In Massachusetts, the Sun's highest angle is only 24 degrees above the horizon on December 21st, the Winter Solstice, compared to a 71 degree midday angle at Summer Solstice.    The sun doesn't get to be featured in June - unless its a sky painting!
Only 75% of this painting was done on site, but it was the most important part, which was the nice silvery light.  I finished the last 25% in the studio, specifically the foreground pilings and railings.  The houses along Beach Street along with the Beach Street bridge can be seen in the background.   Overall, I am happier with it now, and I am really loving the grey day paint outs!