Winter in St Augustine

Windy Day in the Dunes

It's mid-August, and I find myself just posting paintings from February!   We spent some time in beautiful St. Augustine, FL and did several plein air paintings.    The ocean is a must for us and this destination had the ocean and much more... history, architecture, gorgeous beaches and of course a seemingly unlimited number of food options. It beat shoveling!   

To the east was the ocean; to the west, the Matanzas River.  We pretty much canvassed the whole area.  And always we returned to the beach for extensive walks and of course some paint outs.

The paths to the shore consisted of a very wide swathe of dunes.   So pretty!

St Augustine Beach Dunes

Pink Dunes

Matanzas Inlet

At the southernmost tip of St Augustine Island was the Matanzas Inlet.   This uprooted tree replanted itself on the river bank creating lots of shadows set off by the blinding light. 

 

 

 

Bridge of Lions

We frequented the historic downtown area often, touring, shopping and eating.  Of course, as the nation's oldest city, founded in 1565, there were forts, piers, shrines, quaint alleys and bridges all worth visiting.

St Augustine - plein air painter approved! 😊

Corner of Bridge and Avenida Menendez

Plein Air Painting in Chatham

 

Chatham Dunes

Beautiful Chatham, MA is only a little over an hour from us, yet once we crossed over the Cape Cod Canal, it felt like a distant getaway.   This was a short end-of-summer vacation trip complete with lots of walking, touring, shopping, eating out, and - the bonus, plein air painting.     I painted three paintings over the three days, all of which are shown below.

On the first day after settling in, we sat on the beach for a while watching the incoming fishing boats being chased by seals and swirling seagulls.   The late summer colors were beautiful and subtle and I hadn't planned on painting.  I  figured though, if I gave myself one hour before dinner, I could get a color study done.  The thought was irresistable. The color match was pretty accurate and it may look nicer in person because of all the thick paint.  Chatham Dunes.

Chatham Boat Launch

On day two, we discovered the boat launch scene by using Google Earth.   I could see the kayaks stacked up on the sand and no houses nearby on this bird's eye view.  Sure enough we were able to drive right down to the shore and we had the place to ourselves.   Technology is occasionally great!   We both painted this pristine vista and you can probably make out my husband's figure on the left of the in-progress photo.

Boat Launch with Sand

I had just finished and stepped sway noting with satisfaction that it was just the way I wanted it, when the wind took my whole easel down.    The good news is that the painting landed face up.  The bad news is that - well - see photo. I was not happy and it took me a while to get over it.  I scrapped off the sky completely and decided that a little sand in the sand and grasses was okay!  True plein air after all.

Chatham Silhouettes at Dawn

The third and final painting was done the next morning about an hour past dawn.   The silhouettes of the veranda, chairs and beach house were dark and dramatic against the soft bright sky.    Luckily I worked the sky, ocean and far barrier island first.   I say "luckily" because these elements soon disappeared in the mist.    The up sloping lawn was very green and not a look that I wanted to emphasize.  I left that decision for the studio, and in fact, it soon started to rain.   I was very happy to have gotten a paint-out in at all!

Rexhame Winter Crossover

Rexhame Winter Crossover In Progress

A mild day in mid-February would be appreciated by any plein air painter.  This year February was relatively storm free; of course a fierce March followed with four Nor'easters in a row.

The scene I chose was a sandy path that crosses over to Rexhame Beach.   The forecaster called for some sunshine and looking at the skies, I was hopeful.   In the end it was false hope, and rather than getting brighter, things devolved into sprinkles.   I did get the bones of the painting far enough along that I had a good base for finishing in the studio.


This one is not complete, but I'm not anxious to get back to it, given the glum color scheme.   I'd rather paint the riot of May color outside right now.

Northern Moon Snail Shell

Northern Moon Snail

The tide line is always changing and you never know what will wash up along with the average piles of seaweed.    My eastern facing New England beach is no Sanibel in terms of the amount or quality of shells, but every so often a perfectly undamaged shell of a New England species presents itself.   This is a "Northern Moon Snail" shell.   Here it sits among a colorful variety of seaweed and debris. Closer scrutiny shows a lovely array of colors, blue, gold, yellow, peach, brown and white.

River Channel from Bay Ave

River Channel from Bay Ave

This painting depicts a favorite scene not far from our house, with the marina situated on one side and the beach and dunes on the other.   It is the outlet of the Green Harbor River into the Atlantic Ocean.    The grasses were brown, the sand was beige, the water was grey and the rocks were dark shades of all those colors - a February color scheme!  The only non-drab area in the scene was a stack of newer looking lobster traps that were bright yellow and orange, sitting amid hundreds of older seaweed enveloped traps.

Cold Front that Ended Paint-Out

The challenge given this day's mostly gray skies was to capture the winter grayness but also depict "the moment" when rays of sun illuminated that the area around the new yellow lobster traps.

A downpour ended this paint out abruptly.   The clouds were quite ominous and the wind gusts may have been in the gale range as it actually blew the back doors of my van shut.   Amazingly, I had just stowed my palette and the painting fell to the ground right sideup.  It's the little things!  :))

November Dunes and Beach Houses

Beachhouses Dunes and Fencing - Stage One

I returned to Burkes Beach in Green Harbor on a mild November day and this time instead of facing the ocean, I faced north.   The scene included dunes to my left, snow fencing, the jetty, and beach houses on the far side of the Green Harbor River.  This painting developed fast because I decided to use mostly palette knife applying lots of thick, juicy paint.   I used a small straight edge brush to paint the beach houses.  Even though the goal was to be loose, my psyche would never allow "non-plumb"architectural verticals.   So extra care was given to the squareness of houses, their little porches and shuttered windows.

Beachhouses Dunes and Fencing

Here is a quick summary on how I painted the snow fences.   First I blocked in the sand dunes with a light, but thin, warm sand color.  I let the brush strokes imply the slope of the dunes.    I then determined the color and value of the cool shadows of the fence post and slats.  I painted those shadows in next so that the shadows sat on top of the dunes.   Next I added the fence slats starting each stroke at the base of its shadow and drawing the brush up as if emerging from its shadow..    In a couple of cases I came back over some choice slats with a thick palette knife stroke.

November days like this one are every bit as pleasant as a summer to me, maybe even more so!

November Beach - Green Harbor

November Beach - In Progress

Sunny Beach in November

The sun was shining and the wind was blowing from the west making it a fine day to paint on our east facing beach. I've painted from this spot on Burkes's Beach on numerous occasions, but it is never the same, and it never gets old.  

It was a low angle midday sun, which actually produces more reflected sunlight than a higher angle sun, and still quite bright.  The temperatures were warm enough for both my personal comfort and oil paint viscosity.   We've already had a couple of strong ocean storms which had deposited plenty of seaweed along the multi-tiered shoreline.  Most of it was now a dark, dried-out, maroon color.   On the water, the few lobster boats that did enter the channel were stacked with traps, and I'm assuming they have been pulled out of the water for the winter.  

Sunny November Beach

Once my easel was set up, the next decision was where on the canvas the horizon line would be.  Two things convinced me that it would be toward the bottom, the first of which was the beautiful, shimmery sky of wispy high clouds.  The second factor was that the tide was coming in, covering more and more of the jetty.  I didn't want to place a lot of attention on skinny slivers of visible rocks.  So then, the sky would be the starring element, and the basic compositional decision of the landscape was made.   As for the water, the northern (left) section of the horizon was dark ultramarine blue in contrast with the (sunnier) eastern (right) section was much lighter blue, almost a cerulean hue.  

So here it is after the paint out.  The inner painter is telling me to add a lobster boat entering the channel.   Should I listen(?), is the question!

Duxbury Beach in August

Duxbury Beach August Afternoon - Stage One

For this afternoon paint out, I set up on the first crossover to the left after entering Duxbury Beach Reservation from Gurnett Road.    It was one hour until high tide, which was perfect for a painting session of two hours.   There were lots of people enjoying the beach, most of them clustered further down the beach near the bathhouse building.




Duxbury Beach August Afternoon - Stage Two

Duxbury Beach August Afternoon Stage Three

This canvas had a peachy underpainting which turned out to be a good color to let show through for the sand and grasses.  I began though, with the pretty summer sky, pthalo blue and titanium white with small cottonball clouds.  I learned from my Naval defense circles that the deep water vessels are called "blue water" vessels and shallow water, and more maneuverable watercraft are called "green water" vessels and it is no wonder looking at today's water.    The deeper sea horizon line was dark ultramarine blue, gradually lightening and turning more green toward the sandy shore.   The sand was peachy taupe and I added some pink for the fun of it.   The mature dune grasses were tall and leaning toward the beach from the westerly wind off the marsh.   The grass colors were beginning to turn yellowish gold (a mix of raw sienna, naples yellow, and various greens).  

The long beach was fairly populated, and it seemed that they were mostly in clusters.   I added some of the groups of people and also added few swimmers.    I began the people groups with a slender horizontal shadow line on the sand.   I then pulled skinny strands of paint up from the horizontal shadow to create the individuals.   The snow fence posts, large to small, walk the viewer down the beach to the bathhouse.

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

Lone Duxbury Beach House

Easel Set Up

Canal Street in Marshfield turns into Gurnet Road at the Duxbury town line and continues all the way to Duxbury Beach Reservation.   Between the entrance to DBR and the bath house (also housing Blakemon's Fish Shack) there is a lone house in the middle of the dunes.   A local person who lives nearby told me that the house is privately owned by a lawyer, who lives in Virginia, although the land is leased.  According to Duxbury Beach Book, there were more houses back in the early 1900's, but one by one over the years they have been claimed by ferocious ocean storms.

Lone Duxbury Beach House Stage One

The center of interest in this painting is the lone house along this stretch of Duxbury Beach.   The mid-December sun was low, and long blue shadows accented the orangy-gold beach grasses.   Cedars also made dark blue contrasts and random shapes and heights balancing the old beachhouse.   All of the trees branches and grasses leaned the same way - toward the west, their growth habit trained daily by the strong wind off the water.   Although there is no water visible in the painting, ocean waves were audible beyond the dunes to my left.  To my right were the waters and salt marshes of Duxbury Bay (along with significant tidal flooding in the road).

Lone Duxbury Beachhouse

For dry beach grasses, I generally use Naples Yellow and I either add a bit of blue for the further grasses (like in front of the beachhouse), or a bit of cadmium red, or burnt sienna and raw sienna for the immediate foreground grasses.  I used a flat brush for the angular beachhouse shape.   The area was not so deserted as it may seem in the painting, but that is what I like about it.

Here it is December, the daylight hours are short, it's cold, the lush green is gone and the scene offers a seasonal beauty.  I really love that about our area and I really like this painting.