Purple Mums in Metal Box

Purple Mums in Metal Box

This sweet gift given to me by one of my recent painting visitors made me smile.  I wanted to grab brushes and paint immediately.   As soon as I could, I did.  The next day I painted this 6x6 square.    There were other gifts, just as appreciated, but edible - and they didn't last long enough to make in into a still life painting.   Haha.

This purple mum plant sat in a gray, metal trimmed box, accented with Spanish moss.  Similar to painting rope in paint-night class, I under-painted the area dark, then came back with light colored paint for the stringy twirls of moss.   The moss's gray color matched the silver accented box and the cool purple. 

I never tire of painting flowers especially when they are a gift.  The blossoms fade, but paintings make  permanent remembrances of the kind gesture, so thank you again!

Cavern in the Japanese Garden - Revisited

Cavern at Japanese Garden

This painting was begun in Canandaigua, New York, and it never quite grabbed me.   It was a gray, overcast day, and true to plein air, it was an accurate representation of the bleak feel.  I put it back on the easel and took a look at the pictures from that original day.   Fortunately, I found a sunny shot of the same scene.   There was significantly more yellow and deep red undertones.   Within an hour, the gray day was transformed into a sunny June day.   The waterfall was now visible pouring over the cavern boulders.    I believe the gloom is gone, replaced with a scene that is almost sparkly.

Northern Ave Gray Day

Northern Ave Gray Day - Stage One

On this May morning, the outside temperature was 51 degrees, but there with heavy overcast and rain on the way, it felt quite chilly along Northern Ave on the Boston waterfront.   My thought was, capture the scene quickly and finish in the studio if necessary.  The clouds were very pretty in a stormy kind of way.   I used my round palette knife to swirl the cloudy sky.    Everything had a gray tinge to it, even the one "vivid" part of the scene, which was the long row of international flags lining the top of the World Trade Center.

Dots of color on palette for flags

Gray Day Northern Ave

I tried to loosen up and just render an impression, with an emphasis on the right colors and values.  There was lavender leaning blue in every color. In the photo of my palette, I demonstrate how I painted the international flags.   I created a row of bright colorful dots of paint comprised of the colors in the flags.   Using my palette knife I scraped up the line of paint dots onto the straight edge, then applied the straight edge of the palette knife with all the colorful dabs of paint making a short vertical stroke upward.   The knife was wiped clean and the remainder of the colorful dots were scooped up with the opposite edge of the palette knife and short vertical strokes down so that the row of flags were completed.  This produced an impressionistic rendering of the flags

Summer Bouquet

Summer Bouquet

One thing I love about summer is the abundance of flowers.   It's not just the cultivated blossoms that are peaking right now, but the many unplanned wild flowers growing here, there and everywhere.   Arranged in a simple clear glass vase, the wild weeds(?) compliment the garden blooms nicely.    I hoped that the rustic bunching of multiple kinds of blooms would translate to loosely painted blooms as well. This bouquet has common tansy buttons, cilantro flowers, pink petunias, magenta lantana and white cosmos.

The shadows were first and the most important shadow color of the whole painting, I think, was the "dark white" of the shaded cosmos petals (radiant violet, permanent green, and pink).   Achieving the shadow color of the starring flower - the primary center of interest - would give the painting credibility, even if the rest of the painting was executed with wild abandon.  I always hope for wild abandon, but seldom can resist bringing it back under control.  :))

The shadow mass on the dark table was roughed in next with a darker indigo color.  The "non-shadow" background was a light value made from the same pinks, greens, blues and yellows embedded in the flowers.  Finally, the reward...applying the bright clear petal colors.   Wherever possible, I tried to paint a single petal with a single brushstroke that fully overlapped its background.  It's funny how applying a single effective stroke is more difficult than fussing over an area with many strokes.   It really is a mindset.  Plan, then one and done!  In other words, the more spontaneous it looks, the more calculated it was - for me anyway.

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Peonies at Sonnenberg

Peonies at Sonnenberg

Painting Six of the Finger Lakes Plein Air Competition was an afternoon experience with a 12x24 inch canvas panel.    I chose a long white arbor that divided the formal gardens and a fifty foot peony border at beautiful Sonnenberg Mansion and Gardens.  The dimensions of the canvas seemed just right.   Peony blooms are short lived, yet they happened to be peaking on this glorious June day.   The mild scent of the hundreds of pink and white blossoms occasionally drifted my way, an extra bonus beyond the beautiful visual.  A large painting at this point in the competition was a self-assigned stretch assignment.   If it turned out well, it would look nice in the pale silvery frame I had planned to use.

Peonies at Sonnenberg

This was the last day to paint for the main competition, and I would be turning in the best three paintings this evening.  I decided that this painting would be one of the three to be submitted for judging.   And although it wasn't selected for an award, I was satisfied that it was good and that I stayed true to how I paint.    Under time constraints a person's true signature style is probably more pronounced!

Midday at Granger

Midday at Granger - In Progress

This was Painting Four of the Finger Lakes Plein Air Competition and the second painting of the day. Painters were invited to the historic Granger Homestead and Carriage Museum to capture scenes that the "Friends of the Museum" may like to own.   The sun was already high in the sky by the time I got started on this painting.   A woman in 19th century garb was posing in an antique carriage and several painters worked on the scene from various angles.

The museum hosted a nice reception that night and several paintings were sold (including mine).

Cavern at Japanese Garden

Cavern at Japanese Garden - Stage One

This was the second day of painting at the Finger Lakes Plein Air Competition and Festival.   One of the main supporters of the event is the Sonnenberg Mansion and Gardens.   Juried painters were given admission passes for the week so that we could paint on the property.   This was plein air heaven! There was no searching for an appealing scene; they were everywhere.   We walked the entire property first, and I found myself declaring on multiple occasions that this was the spot, only to find the next area even more enticing.

Cavern at Japanese Garden - Nearly Done

Unfortunately it quickly clouded over and the end product reflected the day, and didn't result in a painting that I liked.   In packing for the trip to New York, I almost removed my long down parka from the van, feeling so sure I would not need it, but elected to leave it behind my seat.  So glad I did!   It saved me from the damp wind and mist. Furthermore my knit stretchy gloves were in the pocket, also put to use.

I can't resist rocks and a full value spectrum, both of which were present in the Japanese Garden.  I stood along a pathway below the main thoroughfare.   There were twin caverns built from boulders where water trickled down into a green mossy pond.   It would have been relaxing if the paint-out was going well.  :)  But being down in this low spot also sheltered me and my set up from the harsh wind.

Cavern at Japanese Garden

Spring greenery was everywhere, just not as bright and illuminated as I had hoped.    Ironically, this painting took the longest to execute, nearly four hours (two hours longer than usual), and yet it was my least favorite.   Two paintings down, four to go!

Lake Canandaigua from Onanda Sky

Eager to Get Started

This was the first painting done for the Finger Lake Plein Air Competition and Festival in Canandaigua, New York.   My blank canvases had just been stamped, meaning that coordinators mark the back, a verification that no work had been done ahead of time.  Next stop? Painting location number one.

The organizers had provided a list of scenic spots from which to paint, and we decided to start at the furthest point, the southernmost tip of Lake Canandaigua in the town of Naples.   It proved to be a great place and the property owner generously shared not only this fantastic vista but use of her home while we painted.   The twelve acre parcel was situated high above the west side of the lake.   It had a couple of barns, a pond. flower beds and of course, the amazing view looking north along the lake.  

Onanda Sky - Stage One

I began with the most distant lake shore and sky.   I locked them in while they were pale blue, pink and naples yellow.    The blue hillsides dipped down to the water, a distant gray-blue hue.   At certain spectacular moments, the hills were illuminated with stripes of sunlight turning them golden green.  Dark trees and shrubs anchored the scene across the middle third of the painting.   The foreground grasses were warm and sunny yellow - that is - when the sun peaked out.  The stark white canvas did prove to be a bit of a challenge, since I inadvertently scraped the paint down to the white with my palette knife.   It necessitated being even thicker with the paint, which, in retrospect, probably gave a better result.

Onanda Sky View - Stage Two

The weather?  Very variable - rain, mist, sun, overcast, and most of all windy.   We pushed through the process, mine taking a bit of extra time since this was a larger canvas at 12" x 24".   The final steps were to make sure all the bare white canvas spots were painted and to ensure that the lighting scheme was consistent.  One down, six to go!

Stone Church Ruins - County Clare, Ireland

Stone Church Ruins - County Clare, Ireland

Iconic images of Ireland's countryside invariably include stone walls bordering the green patchworked hills.    Many old churches and castles were also built from stone, now in various stages of disrepair and/or preservation.   Thick textured paint lends itself perfectly to depicting these rough surfaces. The lichen covered stones had a distinctly green tinge and I don't think it was just the reflection of the emerald green pastures.  The stonework in the shadows was a crimson shade of grey on the side of the road in County Clare, Ireland, northwest of Ennis.   Here is the close-to-done painting.  

Historic Flour and Grain Exchange (aka. Downtown Rooftops)

The historic old building shown in the painting was Boston's Flour and Grain Exchange Building.   In today's modern skyline, it is dwarfed by towering skyscrapers, but not one can compare with the grace and grandeur of this rock-faced masonry building.   Originally a meeting hall for the Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Exchange was built on land donated by streetcar magnate Henry M. Whitney and completed in 1892. Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge designed the masonry and tiered arches which exemplify the Romanesque Revival style associated with H.H. Richardson. The sturdy walls and elaborate design reflected an expression of flourishing financial security appropriate to the city's commercial circles. The exterior was restored by Beal Companies in 1988.

Downtown Rooftops

The magnificent architecture grabbed my attention each time I looked out the window of the fifth floor of Boston's Downtown Hilton.  Since I had a perfect vantage point for a painting, here it is!

I was striving for architectural accuracy in the painting; no improvisation on my part would make this building more beautiful, but it was tedious to stay true.   In the distance were the Tobin Bridge, the North End, and Cambridge Street.   It was a cloudy day so there was less contrast than if it had been sunny with deep architectural shadows.

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Gray Winter Bog

Inaugural Paint-Out with "Vanna"

The site of this paint-out was the Duxbury Bogs along East Street in Duxbury, MA.  The map and description in the previous blue link describes the three distinct types of landscape here, namely the "upland", the "transition area" and of course, the "cranberry bogs."  The forecast was "rain by noon," and I did finish by noon without ever seeing a drop - despite looking like it may rain at any minute.   I enjoyed swirling some pink, blue and lavender into my very gray-day sky.

Initial Set-up

Gray Winter Bog - Stage One

Cranberry bogs turn a deep rich purple color in late autumn.   I scooped up some alizarin crimson, held it up to the bog, and did a direct comparison.   The color was nearly exact, and the value of the bog was slightly lighter than the "out of the tube" color.  The intensity of the paint color was stronger and more vivid than the actual bog.   I decided I liked this pumped up chroma, so I used it "as is".

Bogs generally have a cool, moist and quiet feel to them, but substract the "quiet" part if it is 10 a.m., which was when I started painting.This bog is very popular for dog walking, giving me options for including a human/canine center of interest.   The pairs of Golden Retrievers were particularly colorful against the muted early winter colors.  The bright red hat of the owner also stood out against the dark pines.

Two Goldens and Red Hat

Spooner Swans

Gulls, Ducks and Swans

Spooner Pond often catches my eye when travelling along Route 3A toward Plymouth, MA.   A stoplight across from the water sometimes allows time to see the swans that live there.  It was late in the afternoon on this cloudy November day when I decided to pull into a parking area along side the pond and get a better look.





Spooner Swans - In Progress

There were water fowl everywhere so there must have been plenty of fish.  There were probably 100 seagulls sitting on the roof of a small office structure next to me, and a few dozen ducks were quacking in circles below where I stood. 
Swans were also swimming around - more swans than I have ever seen at one time (ten).   They say swans mate for life and before this, I had only seen one adult pair per pond.   So it seemed amazing to see such a large group in one place.  This had to become a painting.   I set up and worked on the "post-peak" foliage and reflections all the while enjoying the interactions of seagulls, ducks and swans.   The swans were the last element to be added, seven in all.  You know, so that I have the option to give the painting a very obvious title!

Snowy House Across the Marsh

Snowy House Across the Marsh
(Black, White and Torrit Grey)

Each year the Gamblin Oil Colors Company runs a contest in which participants are challenged to create a work of art using only black, white and a custom color made by Gamblin called "Torrit Grey".     And each year, the entries that painters come up with (using just values without color) just amaze me.  Perhaps it is the very nature of being constrained that gets the creative juices flowing.  I'm not talking about me, but check out this link for last year's entries.

 http://www.gamblincolors.com/contest-2014/gallery.php

This will be my third time participating.  I've been busy preparing for a winter snow show, which got me thinking about the limited palette of winter - almost like a Torrit Grey.   Thus I used an old winter reference photo to paint the Snowy House Across the Marsh in Torrit Grey.

High Winter Surf

High Winter Surf

Today it snowed all day even though we were "between storms."   In fact, it has been snowing everyday lately, even on the days when the weather people tell us there is no storm, just "ocean effect" snow!   The ocean surf had been high because of the large storm that had passed; it can take days for the water to calm down again.

So on this day, the sky was bluish gray while the overall ocean color was green-gray.    White foam was floating between breakers and all the swirling and churning looked challenging when I thought about painting it.   I knew the application of the paint would have to mimic the intensity of the ocean energy.

I grabbed my palette knife and pre-mixed the colors I saw in moderate quantity.  I scooped up the green gray paint first and smeared it on the majority of the surface.   I used my palette knife to actively work the waves starting with the horizon line and working my way down to the shore.   Okay, and I did it quickly...I believe that rushing helped the feel.

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Snowy Marsh Scene From Studio

Snowy Marsh from Upper Deck

This painting is from life, and I'm calling it "plein air" because it was a mere double pane slider that separated me from it.   I could have stepped out onto the deck, which has a couple of feet of snow, but I'm weather weary.  I could'a' (shoulda, woulda) suffered more for it, but I didn't!


I haven't painted the marsh as much as I probably should, but this is the spectacular view from the studio.  With the amount of snow we have had and the astronomically low tides recently,  the saltmarsh has become a continuous blanket of white.   The bordering houses and trees made a strong composition that turned out to be striking because of it's simplicity.

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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

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! :))

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!

Knockdown House and Rain

I did what I said I would not do, which is to drive around looking for a place to paint.   I'm not taking full blame for wasting this time.   I'm sharing it with the weather forecaster I watched.   She said the morning mist would give way to a bright but cloudy day.   I stayed optimistic and drove into Boston. I'm also sharing the blame with the parking situation in Boston.   I was planning on snaring the first metered spot I saw, but there was none to be had.   Meanwhile the mist became steady rain and then downpours and wind.    Twasn't meant to be!

Knockdown House on Gray Day

I did errands instead and on my way back into Marshfield, I decided to stop at the South River Park which has that new sheltered picnic area.   I had set out in the morning to paint - and like a junkie, I hadn't gotten my fix.   It was misty again so this was a nice gray setting.   The old dilapidated house that I painted the last time I was here looked worse than ever.

 According to the sign out front this old house is slated to be demolished and be replaced with new commercial real estate. I suspect the new building will not have the old graceful lines of this antique that I enjoyed on this day, and probably for the last time.

Rain on my Palette

As for color, with all the grayness of the day, I used Gamblin's Radiant Magenta and Radiant Violet with touch of my usual grays.   These made some pretty (although pale) color accents amid all the silvery woods.   These soft colorful accents aren't visible in this photograph at all!   They really are there in person, I swear!

Knockdown House

The overhang worked out well for about an hour at which point the wind and rain I had seen in Boston earlier started up.   Before I realized it, the palette was covered with raindrops.  Luckily only the back of the painting got wet.  I packed up and get out of there, thinking - hot coffee needed.

Isle of Doagh, Donegal

Linen Sheet

Donegal Gray

I still have such vivid and wonderful memories of our epic trip to Ireland last year.   I have sold some of the paintings I created when I returned.  These were paintings that I probably should have kept, but I would tell myself, I can paint another!

For the two paintings in this post, I revisited - via photograph - a highlight of the trip.   Our amazing adventure took us to the northernmost region of Ireland to Cuill, Isle of Dough, County Donegal. This was the location of the ancestral home of my paternal great grandparents and their children.  Sadly, the parents died within a few weeks of each other in 1899, resulting in the subsequent emigration of their children (ages 11 through 23) to America, specifically Boston, Massachusetts.

Knowing the familial connection to this land made it special, and no painting or photograph could come close to capturing the breathtaking beauty of this region.    The moist, imposing clouds sat low over us as we hiked an old farm path (Fegart Road) to the top of a hill on the Isle of Doagh.

Isle of Dough - Donegal

Whenever the sun (or at least rays of sunshine) broke through, the light was truly amazing!    It was at those moments that the distant countryside emitted the iconic emerald green that Ireland is known for.   Being on an island with water all around, the gray clouds became lavender, pink, blue and pale yellow.

My goal in these two 8x10 inch paintings was to capture those fleeting, sunlit moments.  One painting includes an old stone farm (more decrepit in person than they may appear in the painting).   The other painting depicts a simple meadow with the Irish Sea and neck of land in the distance

I hope you can see the magic that I felt while I was there; if not, you must go and see/feel it in person!