Summer Solstice at Marina

Stage One - Sky and Structure

The sun rose at 5:05 a.m. on this day (summer solstice) and I had all good intent the previous evening as I planned a paint out at dawn.  Ha!   At 6:30 a.m. I arrived at the dock - still early enough to see the long morning shadows.      It was surprisingly quiet, given that it was a perfect "10" weather wise.  





Stage Two - Treeline and Water

There was a fishing expedition that was getting underway.   I gathered from the dialogue that they were four college friends who were turning 40 this year and they had chartered a manned fishing boat.   I got a chuckle out of their chatter which included subjects such as how many layers of clothing to bring, cell phone reception and the difficulties of having school aged children.    What a great way for old friends to reconnect!

Stage Three - Lobster Boats

The few lobster fishermen who were starting out early hopped into their dinghy (foreground), rowed out to their boat on the mooring, tied the dinghy to the mooring, and then motored to the dock in the big boat, picking up gear and crew.   Yes, the marina can be challenging because of the ever changing scene especially if the boat chosen for the painting happens to disappear! 

Stage Four - Docks and Dinghies

The complexity of the visual elements: sky, tree line, buildings, boats, masts, water, docks, pilings begs for simplification - that is, without oversimplifying. The chattering splotches of color was what I liked about the scene in the first place.  Luckily it was early morning, and for me, that afforded the best chance of staying disciplined.  Abstraction was my friend here in that the myriad of elements on the far shore became bursting dots of color.  Painting fast was also very helpful in this situation, at least for those things that changed, specifically - the color of the water (it got darker), the shadows (they got shorter) and the height of the tide (it got lower). :)

The substrate for the painting was new to me, an umber toned gesso hardboard from Jack Richeson.     I loved it!  There was no drag a positive factor for thick, palette knife painting.

Summer Solstice at Marina


The paint on this one is especially thick and I didn't dare clamp it for the ride back. This was a thoroughly satisfying paint out - and I was back to the studio by 9 a.m.!