Yaz - Gate B

Yaz - Gate B

 

Summertime in the city - that usually means baseball, but it is 2020, the year of virus fears.   A Boston Red Sox fan favorite, Carl Yastremski played his entire 23-year Major League Baseball career with the team (1961-1983).   

After Carl's retirement, a beautiful bronze statue was created by Sculptor Toby Mendez.  Carl Yastremski,  fondly known as "Yaz", is depicted saluting his loyal fans on the day of his retirement.  The statue stands at the back entrance of Boston's beloved Fenway Park on Van Ness Street.  When we finally get back to Fenway, Yaz will be there at Gate B waiting!

Capri Meets Boston

The "Stay-At-Home" challenge was presented to artist members of the Copley Society in Boston recently.   During the long storied history of the Copley Society of Art, there have been dozens of famous artists who were connected to or displayed at this historic Society.   We were challenged to choose a painting by one of the historic artists of the past and pay tribute to their work with a new creation.

John Singer Sargent was born to American parents in Europe, where he trained, travelled and worked.  Though very active in Europe, he frequented the Boston area in the late 1800s.   Many of Sargent's murals are found in the Boston Public Library, the Museum of Fine Arts, and Harvard's Widener Library. Sargent's largest scale works are the mural decorations that grace the Boston Public Library depicting the history of religion and the gods of polytheism. He worked on the cycle for almost thirty years but never completed the final mural. Sargent drew on his extensive travels and museum visits to create a dense art collection.  The murals were restored in 2003–2004.

Rooftop

Perhaps I should have paid homage to a Boston-based work, but his paintings from Italy are my favorites.  They have a flair all their own.   I particularly like this painting by Sargent because of the fun mood and carefree summer feel.  

Doorways on Marlborough St

Marlborough Street 18

The doorways in the Back Bay of Boston shine with style and finesse all year long, but in late summer the flowers are peaking and the frontages are especially pretty.   For capturing city scenes in paint, I gravitate to Marlborough Street because it is quieter than Boylston or Commonwealth, which are just as grand.   Even the less manicured frontages have the elegance of mid-1800 architecture.

Birthplace John Adams

John Adams Birthplace

I've painted the John Adams grand manor of "Peacefield" many times, so I thought it was time to check out our second president's earlier roots.  This small, antique, saltbox-colonial, Adams's birthplace, is also located in Quincy, MA on Franklin Street.   It was built in 1681 and purchased by Deacon John Adams, President John Adams’ father, in 1720.  We learned on a guided tour that it still stands in its original location, at that time, a 188 acre farm.

The 21st century noise and traffic on this street was a stark contrast to the bucolic setting I imagined when hearing the Guide's story of the property back in the colonial era. Well, the painting looks as rural as the original description of the Homestead, surrounded by trees, fieldstone walls and wild flowers.  This 11x14 inch painting will be on display at the Annual Quincy Art Festival Exhibit called "Best of Quincy."

Inspiration from Historical Hassam

Marlborough Street - Childe Hassam

Every Spring, the Copley Society of Art holds an event called "Fresh Paint".   Dozens of painters head out into the streets and waterfronts of Boston to capture the scenes in the open air tradition, better known as "en plein air."

To this year's event there was an added twist.   We were invited to choose a painting from a list of forty famous Boston based paintings and use that painting as inspiration in the creation of our new piece.    I selected painter Childe Hassam's Impressionist painting of Marlborough Street shown here.

Inspired by Hassam Marlborough Street

My version, inspired by Hassam's city-scape, a corner in Boston's Back Bay, is missing the horse and buggies and the long dresses.    The red rooftops, long shadows and stoop-front roses remain very similar.

Peacefield III

Peacefield III

Peacefield - Stage 1

The homestead of John and Abigail Adams is located in Quincy, MA and I've painted it several times now.   I just love this rendition which was done for a client with great admiration for John and Abigail Adams, similar to my own.   The formal gardens of the Adams estate reach their glorious peak in August, my favorite time to visit.   The perfectly manicured lawns and short hedgerows counterbalance the riot of flowers clamoring for attention.  Every color is accounted for, and so are the nectar loving creatures - honey bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

Peacefield - Stage2

To the rear of the property is the presidential library.  It  is relatively small, but has a grand and graceful roof line and chimney, constructed of red bricks mostly covered in ivy.   Each time I visit, I walk to the back gardens to check on the rose bushes stretched out espalier-style on a rose arbor, originally planted by none other than First Lady Abigail Adams.  (Abigail's rose bush can be seen on the left on three black vertical supports.)

Peacefield - Stage 3

I've included photos taken during the painting's development.   I think it is apparent from the first stage that the composition was plain and easy, but strong enough to lead the viewer in, before the eyes return to studying the bright flowers in the foreground....at least I think that is the way most would scan the painting. :)

Fenway Farms

Fenway Farms

Over the past few years, venerable Fenway Park in Boston has been improved, expanded and modernized in many ways - at least to the extent it can be.   Its tiny footprint in the middle of the city of Boston may be a drawback, but the special character and electric atmosphere at Fenway more than makes up for its old-fashioned aspects - for example, seat size!

One fascinating upgrade is the addition of a rooftop garden which supplies some of the produce for the wide variety of nice cuisine now available.    Here is a pre-game scene, an hour before sunset, depicting the long rows of mixed greens. What an unlikely location, all surrounded by brick and concrete.  Why the produce is as green
as the dazzling Fenway Park turf!

Peacefield in Full Bloom

Peacefield

My first paintout at Peacefield, the homestead of President John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams, was exactly three years ago, in August of 2014.  The National Park Service oversees the property and does a nice job interpreting the Adams Legacy as well as maintaining/preserving the house and property.  The Rangers welcomed me, and since not all organizations are accomodating of a painter who plans to place themselves in the middle of a tourist area, I was very grateful for their hospitality

My favorite feature of Peacefield is the 18th-century style formal garden. Thousands of plantings, colorful perennials and annuals to enjoy line the gardens.  As I mentioned in the previous Peacefield blog, a rose bush planted by First Lady Abigail Adams in 1788 continues to stand guard; it leans on a large trellis to the south of the larger garden.  To think that I was walking upon the same soil enriched by the hands of such historical icons was truly inspiring.

Peacefield in Full Bloom

Inspiring also was the graceful old house and presidential library.  Similar to the last paint out, I set up on the far west end of the garden to maximize the split of light and shadow, a wide view so as to include foreground light.    I began by establishing the darks and lights in muted greens and grays and rusts.  I labored a bit over the mansion and library since accuracy is important for famous structures.

Finally, I was ready for the best part, the colorful blooms.  The sun illuminated the bright and vibrant petals - "oil-paint-right-out-of-the-tube" bright.  I liked how the rows of flowers and hedges led into the library and residence. This is not a great photo because of the wet paint glare.   I'll make some studio fixes and put on the website soon because this painting is my entry to the "Best of Quincy" Arts Fest next weekend.

SOLD

Old Barn at Willow and South River St

Antique Barn - Stage One

We are very lucky here on the South Shore of Massachusetts to have such a varied landscape - woods, meadows, marshes, beaches, and bogs, along with several rivers that empty into the Atlantic Ocean.   Our seaside town has done a good job preserving open spaces, which allows access and full enjoyment of these landscape features.     The town has been successful in acquiring land parcels for preservation and in many cases they are strung together forming contiguous land masses, and the number of beautiful walking trails continues to grow.

Antique Barn - Stage Two

There is an old farmhouse and barn which sits along a stretch of a (new?) walking trail along the South River in Marshfield, part of a 34 acre conservation parcel that the town now owns.   Up until today I had only caught a glimse of the antique farmhouse from the road.  It looked overgrown with weeds and twisting vines but we took a chance and pulled into the driveway, a turnoff from South River Street.  The "driveway" was more like a cartpath with its tall grasses snaking along between the antique (1700ish) farmhouse and the large salt hay barn.

Maureen Packing Up

As soon as we reached the opening at the back of the house and the front of the barn, we knew that we would stay and paint this beautiful spot.   There were several worthy subjects, but the scene I settled upon was the sunlit barn.   Its old graceful lines were remarkably straight considering its age.    I stood in a shady thicket of trees that was slightly uphill from the barn.    Dark green and burgundy cedars framed the edges of the scene.   An old window shutter opened and closed shut with the occasional strong breezes.  It cast a long vertical shadow on the clapboards below in the open position.   The challenge was to make - yet another - antique barn painting that would stand out from all the other iconic barn paintings.   I think my painting style is defined enough to know that it will be different from the rest because it has my painting style ie. signature, like it or not!  :)

Antique Barn

A handful of hikers and a mountain biker passed by, but other than those visitors, it was mostly solitude. One of the hikers shared that he had been instrumental in supporting the town's open space acquisitions and expressed that he was glad that this interesting and historic barn was being captured in paint.  I was too!

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Tulips Peaking - Boston Public Garden with Spring Bulbs

Tulips Peaking - Phase One

It was the first week of May and finally it is starting to warm up - and green up.    Tulips beds line the many walkways in Boston Public Garden and even from a distance, the bright colors are a delight after a cold grey winter.  

This creation is comprised of two 8x8 squares that were positioned side by side.   I used "sight sizing", a technique in which the scene and the painting are developed in duplicate (when standing a particular distance from the canvas) such that the eye can move from subject to canvas and the scene looks identical (in theory:)).

Maureen Painting at BPG

It was pleasant and sunny at the start but as the clouds moved in, the light changed, which is as always, a primary challenge of plein air painting.  I wanted to be sure that the peaking tulips were included, but as I often do, I didn't get close enough for them to make a big statement in the painting.     Instead, the old granite steps, walkers and ducks became the more important elements.   The swan boats had just started running so that was a nice backdrop, although they didn't make it into the painting.

Tulips Peaking

Lots of people stopped to watch the progress.   A young Emerson College senior named Marshall stopped by and we had a somewhat philosophical discussion about paint application and impressionism.  He was strolling through the BPG after having just taken the last test of his college days!   I congratulated him heartily and wished him success.   Old enough to be his grandmother, I could fully appreciate this huge accomplishment in the grand scheme of life.  That he was taking time to savor the day in a place where nature and city collide was so nice.. joining lots of others who were taking time to "just be."

Well beyond the two hour mark, I checked the time and realized that my parking meter had expired!   I packed up and headed for my vehicle.   I could see orange tickets on several windshields, including all the adjacent cars!?    No ticket for me! Great day all around!!

Fenway Park Gate B

Fenway Park Gate B - Stage One

Boston's beloved Fenway Park is nestled into the city surrounded by streets and back alleys, unlike the sprawling parking lots and plaza's of many newer professional ballparks.   That is precisely one of the reasons that a visit here is so unique, nostalgic, and energizing.   How do thirty-five thousand people get absorbed into such a small footprint, in the space of a few hours?  

Many of them enter through the back gates along Ipswich Street.   Here on the Gate B side, people can take photos with the statues of Red Sox legends such as Carl Yastremski and Ted Williams.   Trolleys typically use this corner for their hop-on/hop-off customers.     On this day, the corner was busy since it was a game day, but first pitch was still a few hours away.   Vendors were arriving and the cleaning crew was tending the area.  I think there was actually a anticipatory buzz in the air even though most of the fans had not even arrived yet.  

I thought that the biggest challenge for this painting would be matching the famous Fenway green.  That went well enough but surprisingly, the pavement proved to be a more challenge.   Given the bright sunshine, the blacktop was light grey with various shades of shimmer mixed in and it took a few tries.   The painting offers several points of interest including the statues, the garage, the trolley, the upper stadium, and the trolley with riders.

So remember, the next time you visit Fenway, check out the back entrance for a walk down the Red Sox Memory Lane. And incidentally, if you have children with you, entering through Gate K (for Kids) means extra fun and it is located just to the right of Gate B.

Colonial Block in Boston

Colonial Block in Boston

There have been many changes in downtown Boston from my high school days when I worked at Filene's Basement and knew the streets so well. Buildings have gotten taller and tourism has blossomed, but certain blocks remain relatively intact.  This scene depicts the corner of Union and Marshall Streets where the sidewalks are brick and the street is colonial-style cobblestone.   Several of the buildings have historic markers, and there are some well known restaurants here as the street is a half block from Fanueil Hall Market.   The Freedom Trail runs down the street and there is typically a constant stream of visitors following the sidewalk markers.

We were weaving in and out of pedestrian and vehicular traffic on our way to Haymarket when this dazzling sun and shadow scene stopped me.   Bell in Hand Tavern was on the corner on the left and the Union Oyster House Restaurant was on the right.    The five story buildings were casting interesting shadows and so were the figures.   The light was stunning and made for a good painting composition, but it's the people that make you stop and think.    Settlers walked the same paths in the eighteen hundreds and even earlier, going about their daily lives.    A few vestiges of the past are apparent, but its more different than the same.

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Graceful Back Bay Architecture

Marlborough St - Back Bay

Hugh Maguire's book entitled "My First 40 Jobs: A Memoir" describes Marlborough Street in the Back Bay section of Boston, MA this way:  "Marlborough Street is filled with old red brick townhouses, condominiums, and apartments three to five stories high featuring countless bay windows, gables, turrets; and you can look inside some windows and see brilliant chandeliers shining from high-ceilinged, spacious rooms.   In front were tiny plots of grass bordered by high, black iron fences harkening back to the 1800's.   Tulips, roses, daffodils, hyacinth, crocuses, azaleas and rhododendron bushes brighten the eyes on these tiny lawns.  Dogwood and magnolia trees planted a century earlier on the sidewalks and on some miniature lawns turned spring in Marlborough Street into an unforgettable sight.   To this day I consider Marlborough Street the most beautiful street in Boston." 

I would be hard pressed to argue with him.  Marlborough Street has been the subject of several my paintings now, all of which have been sold.   This painting features a stretch of homes on Marlborough Street between Fairfield and Gloucester Streets, and the starring role goes to the home with the magnificent slate shingled turret.

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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).

King Caesar House View

King Caesar House View - Stage One

Historic Marker

In Duxbury, MA there is an antique mansion called the "King Caesar House" that has a varied history.   It was initially the residence of one of the most successful ship builders an owners in America, Ezra Weston and descendants.   His enormous success led to the nickname "King Caesar."    The Weston family eventually sold the mansion and it became a prep school for boys in the early nineteen hundreds.   It was then home to Austrian born painter, Elizabeth Weber-Fulop and eventually it was purchased by the community and converted into a museum in 1967.  The museum commemorates the busy shipbuilding days of Duxbury and is even open for tours and special events.   I considered painting the mansion itself, but decided that an elaborate architectural drawing would not be as much fun on this particular day as the pretty distant shoreline and interesting wind bent trees in the park.  There was a nice green space in front of the museum which faces Kingston Bay, with Plymouth in the far distance where I set up.


King Caesar House View - Stage Two

 
I seldom underpaint these days but I did cover the white line with transparent red oxide for a change.   It brought some life to the spring greens, but was too harsh for my liking for the more distant areas.  For these distant planes, I made sure I covered it up.


https://youtu.be/y4kTlj5v1s8

Here is a nearly complete painting from this early Spring paint out.

King Caesar Mansion View

First Snow of the Season

First Snow of the Season

This week an arctic blast finally pushed into New England.  The frigid temperatures, "warm" ocean water and wind whipping from the north resulted in several hours of "ocean effect" snow. Similar to summer fog, the ocean moisture blanketed the shore with swirling flakes while just a ten minute drive inland it was a bright, sunny sky.   This constituted the first measurable snow for the season - which got me thinking "snowscape."   I set up at the Daniel Webster Audubon in Green Harbor, planning to paint snow.   Most of the snow was in the shadowy areas, although the terrain sloping away from the sun was also snowy and sufficiently illuminated. Many areas had already melted or evaporated, but that was fine; just enough snow!

I painted this same scene a year ago without snow so it may look familiar.     As a wildlife refuge, it is pristine as can be, and as such there is always hope of seeing deer, fox, and hawks.   The most action I saw today was in the air, a red helicopter practicing landing and takeoffs.      

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Check out the scene in the following video (4:30 sec).    

https://youtu.be/95yx1hzkPwI

First Day of Fall in Boston Public Garden

First Day of Fall in BPG

Students, tourists, lunch walkers, street people, retirees, young and old; it seemed like everyone was taking advantage of the picture perfect weather on this, the first day of fall.   As usual I parked at a meter on Charles Street and set up just inside the entrance to the Boston Public Garden.    Looking down the central path I could see the famous orb shaped lanterns and the sculpture of George Washington on horseback.  






First Day of Fall - Ending Stage

This iconic Public Garden view has probably been sketched, painted and photographed thousands of times.  Well add one more painting to that - however - never before was it painted today.  The composition has the viewer entering on the left along the dark diagonal edge of the path and travelling directly to the people and globe shaped lanterns.   Multiple orange canna lilies towered over bright gold green caladiums.   These colors were even brighter and more vivid against the huge dark purple beech tree.  The transparent darks of the beech are catching glare so in this photo the beech does not look as dark as it really is in the painting.  Before I post to the website, I'll need to get a better (non-glare) photo.



First Day of Fall - Boston Public Garden

What the painting does not show is that on either side of the easel were (six foot) tall rose bushes with six inch blossoms.   The scent of roses was a heavenly bonus for the duration of the paint-out.





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Photo of Maureen Painting
(by Photographer Samson Chen)

Jetty at Scituate Light

Backlit downpours

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday as we drove north on Route 3A to Scituate Harbor and historic Scituate Light.   There were no bad views, so given the heat, I set up on the highest point of the granite rip-rap looking toward the long "L" shaped jetty.    There were nice breezes and lots of tourists passing by.  The noon sun illuminated the horizontal surfaces and the glare off the water was exceptionally bright.   The warm gold and sienna boulders were fun to paint and I used my palette knife to butter on the streaks of colorful granite.  



Jetty at Scituate Light - In Progress

About an hour into the paint-out, the wind got stronger and a large, dark storm cell approached from the west.The thunderstorm was apparently one of the few showers that occurred on the South Shore of Massachusetts that day.  It was quite spectacular to see because from this vantage we could see it approach and move along the long expanse of shoreline.

Jetty at Scituate Light

  

I had just painted my first two distant figures when I realized that I had to break down my gear and dash to the vehicle.  With the painting about 80% complete, I had enough to finish up back in the studio.
It looks as though this young guy is trying to talk his friend into adventuring further out onto the jetty.

Back Bay Rose Garden

Back Bay Rose Garden

This painting is the third of a series of small works of Boston's Back Bay.  The Back Bay is known for its rows of 19th Century Victorian brownstones.  Boston's Back Bay was literally a bay at high tide, and marshy tidal flats at low tide.  That is until the "make land" project was executed in the early 1800's.  Train cars loaded with "fill" travelled into the area west of the Boston Common and eventually was transformed into viable residential land.  Today, the affluent neighborhood and upscale shopping district draws thousands of tourists throughout the year.  There are lots of tiny front gardens carefully sculpted and manicured to match the fancy residences beyond.

In this scene, the herringbone pattern on the brick sidewalk points into the cityscape.   This corner rose garden was catching bright light while the right side of the tree lined street beyond the roses was a nice contrast of deep shadow.