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

Explosion of Color

Colorful Still Life

Here in New England (like much of the country) we are weary of winter and out of energy for bracing against the cold.   I want warm temperatures and my eyes are craving color.  The subtle shades of gray in the sky and snow that I usually love don't have the same allure.   It's time for the next season, so let's get on with it!

Explosion of Color

Assembling this group of splashy and colorful objects was fun and painting them meant using oil color right out of the tube, a real treat after blah grays.   On the left as a backdrop was an old silk scarf that I have been wearing for forty years (yes - from when I was a clerk in Filene's Basement in high school).  The scarf's flower blocks are as bright today as they were then.   To the right of that was a blue vase full of yellow tulips accented with a bright checkered ribbon of yellow, orange, and lime.  To the right of that was a polka dotted gift bag, its orange tissue sprouting up and casting some interesting shadows.  An old metal tin was added which amazingly had most of the same colors, but on a micro scale.  I was happy with the composition at this point and I was hoping that the heavy weighting to the left because of the attention-grabbing color would be balanced by the interesting shadow patterns to the right.  Did the shadows in the painting hold up well enough?  I decided that they didn't, so I added a bow to the top of the rectangular tin which then cast some spikey shadows.   I liked it better but the drapes of the scarf needs work.  

Remember color? 

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Grey Cloud at Second

In 2011, one of my New Year's resolutions was to buy local whenever possible.  If local sources aren't an option, at least I try to buy American.   I've found cheaper prices online and from distant catalog companies, but I've convinced myself that in the long run, I'm contributing to a healthier economy, including my own personal economy by supporting my local or American businesses.  This includes being steady customers at the Farmers' Market, the locally owned gas station down the street and our nearby general stores in 2011 and will continue in 2012.   I'm really not that political, but I feel strongly about supporting our own people.

This extends to art supplies too.  I've started to obtain frames from the Frame Center in Hanover rather than the big chains or online suppliers.  Now that I am consuming a lot more oil painting supplies these days,  I have also become a loyal customer of Gamblin Oil Colors which are developed and manufactured in the US, specifically Portland, Oregon.   I really love the texture, strength and quality of these paints.  Waiting for their sales makes the prices more competitive.

Buy American and you experience the spirit of American innovation which is alive and well at Gamblin.  Their website has information about color, mediums and evolving green products. They have a complete description of various whites and blacks, and the properties of each. 

Also on their website, look for the "Torrit Grey" link.  There is an interesting description of artist and company founder Robert Gamblin's philosophies on many things, one of which is minimizing waste.  Mr. Gamblin's legacy of being thoughtful about the environment has led to the development of "Torrit Grey,"  the color that results when all of the factory pigment dust is collected and bound to a medium.  The rest of the story can be found at the following link:

http://www.gamblincolors.com/torrit.grey/index.html

Is this post really leading to something related to Vezina Art?  Well yes.   Gamblin Oil Colors Company runs an annual Torrit Grey competition.  In 2011 I entered it with the painting to the left.   Submissions were limited to white, black and torrit grey.  The idea for Grey Cloud at Second was fine-tuned thanks to a Summer discussion with my son and two of his friends all of whom are twenty-two years old, and hardcore sports fans.  I was excited that they got interested in helping me decide on this action frame of a speedy Jacoby Ellsbury sliding into second.  I was assured by these college seniors that if I was to make a "to-scale" version of this painting, there would be strong public demand for such a wall decoration for guys like them.

No, it was no winner, but Gamblin has posted all the fascinating submissions at the following link:

http://gamblincolors.com/contest-2011/gallery.php

One last note, and I have no affiliation with Gamblin, but they sent me 3 tubes of their new "Fastmatte" oil color as a thank you for participating in the Torrit Grey contest.   I have already tried the ultramarine Fastmatte, and true to their claims, it dries overnight with no shine.  Great for pushing a dark background further back.