Wollaston Yacht Club Plein Air

The Quincy Art Association organized and hosted this paint out and yours truly was the instructor/demo painter.   We arrived plenty early to get set up and it was a good thing.   We quickly realized (like boaters before a storm) that we needed more ropes (aka bungies).    The wind was gusting to 25-30 mph and it was the first lesson that was discussed regarding successful plein air painting.  The large tent next to me where the painting participants were working actually flipped over.  Equipment must be weighted down to the point were it will not budge!   In every photo, I'm gripping my easel out of habit, even though I was securely tied down.  The bright sun and warm temperatures (low 90s) were also challenging but the participants stuck with it and all came away with a work of art they should be proud of!

This is my painting from the demo, a depiction of the Wollaston Yacht Club and dock with Quincy Bay and some Boston Harbor Islands in the distance. 

Wollaston Yacht Club and Dock

 

 

Two Boston Skylines from the South Shore

Along several locations on the South Shore, there are over-water vistas of the Boston skyline.  These two scenes were both done plein air - one from Quincy and one from Hingham.   

The Logan Airport approach corridor (presumably depending on the winds) crosses overland just to the west of the Atlantic shoreline, thus the jet and hints of colorful gas tank from Quincy.

Pink Boston Skyline

 

The second skyline is from a vantage a bit further south at Crow Point in Hingham.  This is a gorgeous spot in which many waterfront homes, are graced with their own docks.  

Boston Skyline from Crow Point

 

The paint mixing and application for the sky and water were done thickly via palette knife.   The buildings and hard-scape elements were done with brush - thick nonetheless.   These are the summer colors of New England; we seldom see turquoise!

Boston Long Wharf View

Walking Boston Long Wharf

It was Fresh Paint Day in Boston!   With Boston Harbor behind me, I set up on the far end of Long Wharf and looked straight up State Street positioning the Old State House in the far distance.  The Boston Harbor Islands ferry docked here and I was able to hear the tour guide's script several times.   "Boston is built on 75% man made land..." - one factoid that stuck with me.  It was a great day all around, though not an easy painting experience.  Most of my energy was spend trying to "de-complicate" the scene. 
There was a mix of old and new buildings but I concentrated on blunt shapes.   It is hard to stay out of the details, but with limited time, there is no choice.    I used a board with a grey undertone.   Once the sky was carved in, the furthest buildings seemed done given the nice grey that conveyed distance.   The figures came and went, so the walkers here were done as an assimilation of the features of several people over the course of two hours.

As the in-progress photo shows, I had pre-framed the canvas and used painters' blue tape to mask the edges.   Once I finished, I peeled off and headed back to CoSo to the artists' party and drop off.    This is a nice auction for anyone who would like a painting of a Boston scene.  Forty painters participated and you could get a great deal!

Bids taken now through May 3, 2018 at the Copley Society of Art.

Commonwealth Ave Window Boxes

Comm Ave Window Boxes - Stage One

In Boston's Bay Bay, Commonwealth Ave is undoubtedly among the most picturesque urban stretches in Boston.   The greenway down the middle is always busy with walkers, and now with Spring upon us it offers a pleasant and shady path that connects the Public Garden and Kenmore Square.

Most of these residential buildings have exquisite mini front gardens, each one more lovely than the next.   This "brownstone's" color was more plum than brown which is probably why the fuschia window boxes looked so striking.

Comm Ave Window Boxes - Stage Two

My canvas was a small 8x8", underpainted in a neutral tone. The architectural drawing of the buildings took most of my time.  I wanted my verticals perfectly vertical.  The facets of the bay windows each relate a different value of the plum.  The photos do lie in that they don't quite capture how warm and yellow the light was.

Among the people who stop to watch or ask questions, my unscientific estimate is that 75 percent have painted and/or want to paint.    And why is it that people who want to paint more, don't?   Well, I've been that person and there are lot of reasons.  It's waaaaay too complicated for a single blog post!

Comm Ave Window Boxes - Stage Two

Here is the painting result so far.   The most fun is yet to come - the sunlit tree branches and the flower highlights.   And definitely more yellow!
Finished painting is now on the website.




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Fort Independence in Fall

On this autumn day, the air was cool but the sun was still warm.   I wore the long white down coat so the extra moist and salty air of Boston Harbor wouldn't penetrate.  I set up on the far end of the long fishing pier on the north side of Fort Independence on Castle Island.    This freestanding pier on pilings juts out into the Harbor.  I'm thinking that the simplicity of this composition belies the activity all around me.  Fun to watch, but it required some focus to keep to the subject.   Jets were landing at Logan International Airport, cargo canisters were being moved on the docks, and tugboats, ferries and water rescue boats cut through the greenish blue waters.

Fort Independence in Fall - In Progress

It's good to simplify at the outset, with a line sketch for placement.  Next, I blocked in all the dark areas.   The shaded fort wall on the right was made from smooth but mottled granite slabs.   In the foreground, the roughly hewn granite pilings were even darker (wet plus shaded) and thick


Walking the Island

 with sea mosses and barnacles.   The sky was next - done plein air style - via a thick coating of cobalt and white applied with the palette knife.   Elements of middle values were next, the rolling green slopes of grasses, the distant fort wall, the golden grasses on top of the fort and the sea water. Finally I worked the lanterns, the iron fencing and the walkers. And as always, there was a constant flow of walkers on the upper and lower paths.  After all, that's what you do when you are in South Boston; you walk the island.
  

Boston Skyline from Adams Shores

Underpainting

It was mid-September and we were enjoying wonderfully mild weather - great for painting out.   The Quincy Arts Festival brought me to the area so I sought out a new location to paint while I visited.   Merrymount is a small section of Quincy located on the southern end of Wollaston Beach.   It took a little searching for a water view that was not blocked by a residence.   Several Boston Harbor Islands were visible to my right from this location.   Check out this video that pans the location where I set up.  https://youtu.be/JHEUJSNiqCA


Boston Skyline from Adams Shores - In Progress

From this shoreline, there was a distant but clear view of the Boston skyline, the colorful Boston Gas Tank and Marina Bay.   The water was so calm that the tallest Boston skyscrapers were actually reflected in the water, a fairly unusual sight with ocean water.   I used my palette knife almost exclusively as I needed to apply paint thickly enough to cover the previous painting underneath (the bad pink roses above).


Boston Skyline from Adams Shores

A wonderful bonus was that I met some new friends who actually knew some of my cousins, both on my mother's side (Virginia and Jack) and my father's side (Pat and Eamon) of the family.  I will certainly be returning to this gorgeous and painter friendly spot in the future.




Boston Harborwalk at JFK Library

The John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library on Columbia Point in Boston was my destination on this hot summer day.  I almost didn't stay because it seemed too hot and sunny at the sun-scorched concrete frontage.     However, below and to the rear of the of JFK Library complex was a nice stretch of the Boston Harborwalk.   There were 42 four inch steps between me and the harborwalk, minor but not insurmountable given the amount of gear I in tow.  (I had my large traveling plein air bag on wheels.)  Once I arrived at the bottom of the steps along the breezy (and shaded) water's edge, it was very pleasant and well worth the extra effort.

Boston Harborwalk at JFK Library - Stage One

I decided to face east looking out straight out over the water.  The land masses on the horizon line were really three separate land masses that only looked like a continuous island.   The grassier section of land on the left was Spectacle Island;  the darker mass in the middle with thick tree cover was Thompson's Island; the rightmost landmass was Squantum, a section of Quincy, MA.  The thick humid atmosphere muted the blues of the sky and the distant shoreline.   The summer sun lightened up the greens in the water around the pier.   The center of interest became the central group of pilings, bound with rusty red metal bands.   I played up the red for extra punch.


Boston Harborwalk at JFK Library - Stage Two

 I met some nice people who worked at UMass Boston and were taking a walk during their lunch break.   One of the gentlemen knew a former colleague of mine - going back twenty years now.   Yes, it's a small world.... but a painting in progress unites people.

Harborwalk at JFK Library

Graves Light

Stage 1 -Composition and Layers for Water

I have always been fascinated with the Boston Harbor Islands.   As a native Bostonian, there was always something mysterious about these land masses just off the shore from the city.   I've now visited several of them and have decided to start working them into some paintings.

This large, studio painting was developed from a photograph that I took in March. My late afternoon flight had swung out wide and to the east of Boston's Logan Airport affording amazing views of the Boston Harbor Islands.    The amount of snow cover was unprecedented well into spring, and was quite evident from the air.  (...just a distance memory now.)   Snow and ice clung to the harsh and rocky shore of Grave's Light and the lack of much color emphasized how barren and inaccessible this island is (now privately owned).


Stage 2 -More Water Layers and Foam

I played with the cropping of the photo to get a strong layout.   It is sometimes good to have the darks interconnect across the canvas.   Perhaps it gives a strong "groundedness" to the scene.   Is this true even though the subject is an island? Yes; I think so.  At least I hope so!

No excruciating detail on how this painting was developed because there was a lot to it.   I will just mention that the water was not painted in an "alla prima" or "direct manner."    Rather it was done using an indirect method of building up many layers of transparent darks over a few weeks.    The brushwork echoed the pattern of the ocean swells.  Within the swells there was chop which was handled in some of the subsequent layers.  By repeating the process of layering/glazing the water, the hope was that a complex undertone effect would be achieved, giving the effect of deep ocean water. 

The lack of light, except for the lighthouse, some seaspray and the tops of the rocks made it more dramatic, but it also means this has to be hung in a well lit location.   

Graves Light

Sailing at Pleasure Bay

Sailing at Castle Island - Side-by-side view

Today's paint-out was at Castle Island in South Boston, MA, where there is something for everyone - eating, walking, biking, fishing, jet watching, sightseeing - something or nothing - your choice!

I set up facing northwest which placed the tallest Boston buildings, the Prudential and John Hancock in the distant background.    Within the scene coming forward were: the tree-lined access road to the Island, Pleasure Bay (a.k.a. the lagoon) the McDonough Sailing Program docks (jam-packed with kids), the backs of people in their beach chairs and finally the grassy area right in front of me.    There were people everywhere - on the docks, in the water and in the sailboats.   Bright summer sherbet colors dotted the scene, and as a color junky, I couldn't wait to get to dig into those piles of color.  




Sailing at Pleasure Bay

This is a very busy painting, and as such, I was trying to place the most focus on the sailing lessons (ie. using the most vivid color, strong contrast, and sharp edges).  That meant de-emphasizing the other vertical planes as needed  (ie. muted colors, softer edges).    In an exceptionally busy scene, there should be an order of priority to the painting elements.  Otherwise, there may be too many items competing for attention, throwing off the balance.     Despite these observations - it's still too busy of a painting!  What do you think?