Evening Paint Out After Rain

Evening Paint Out After Rain

 I recently painted en plein air along Littles Creek which is behind the JPH Organization in Marshfield.   It had been a very rainy day and it really did look doubtful that this paint out would happen at all.   As I set up it started getting brighter and brighter.   Clouds did dominant as you can see in the whitish sky.   The sun broke thru a bit however!   

It is interesting to note that when everything outside is wet, the dark values like shadows and underbrush are
very dark so that the value range just about covers the whole spectrum.   The wild June roses were spectacular so I pumped up the color in the painting.   Enjoy!

Exit 11 at Sunset

Exit 11 Sunset

Thunderclouds were passing through at sunset as we were driving toward the highway.   I took an Iphone picture of the dramatic, dark blue band that was backlit by the sinking sun.    I forgot about the picture until a couple of weeks later while looking for something else.  Once I saw the photo, I knew it had potential for a nice painting.

Homestead Ruins & Pasture - Isle of Doagh Ireland

McColgan Farmhouse

In the late 1800’s, two brothers and their respective families lived and worked two side-by-side farms on the Isle of Doagh, County Donegal, Ireland.    One brother’s name was John McColgan and the other’s name was Edward McColgan. 

    

John and his wife Grace had fourteen children.  They lived in the “larger” farmhouse which was also the house where the two brothers had been born and raised.    Edward and his wife Bridget acquired the land next to this original homestead and had eight children of their own.    In late 1898, Edward contracted consumption, a contagious disease that reached epidemic levels in Ireland and Britain at that time.   Today, the disease is known as tuberculosis.  Sadly, his wife Bridget soon contracted the disease as well.   They died within a month of each other in the winter of 1899.  

Four of their daughters and one son, ages 10, 14, 16, 19 and 21 were orphaned.   Their two oldest daughters had emigrated to Boston years earlier, when they had turned eighteen.   Their son Michael Joseph (my grandfather) had also emigrated one year earlier.

  

There was discussion of the siblings staying in Ireland under the supervision of their aunt and uncle next door, but with fourteen children of their own, John and Grace were likely unable to support five more.  Hence in 1900, the five siblings travelled together to Boston and settled in with their older siblings. The younger daughters moved in with their older sisters, each of whom were married at that point.  One daughter enrolled in nursing school at Massachusetts General Hospital.

As for the property owned by Edward and Bridget, it was sold to a cousin who continued to farm the fields but let the house fall to ruin.   The original farmhouse still stands and is in good condition.   In fact, it was getting a new thatched roof during our visit.   If you Watch The Video, it is the neat little white farmhouse with the red doors.

Donegal Homestead

Maybe you can imagine the feeling I had as I stood on the cart path just above the two homesteads, one farmhouse still standing and the other, barely recognizable ruins.  I had a tingly feeling to think that this was the land of my ancestors, where they lived, worked and died.  The sheep and cattle were probably of the same lineage through the years. Why, even the wild raspberries I sampled were probably the same as those eaten by the family.     Spirits of the past!   This visit and paint-out may have been the most gratifying of all.   I’m hoping the deep rich crimson darks and vivid green lights of the land shine through.

Westport Cove View - Ireland

Westport Cove - Color Study Final

The waterfront at Westport was one of my favorite spots for scenery in Ireland and we visited three times.  I chose a scene with this rustic boathouse on an beautiful inlet.  I later learned that what Motif #1 is to Rockport, MA, this painting scene is to Westport Harbor.   I got down in the mucky low tide to capture the scene I wanted.   The boathouse was stunning, especially its red roof, but the decrepit turquoise boat in the foreground was my favorite element.  It's great when an element is so decayed that a rough stroke with a palette knife is just the thing that makes it come alive.

Croagh Patrick from Murrisk Island - Westport Ireland

Westport River Channel

Our next stop in Western Ireland was Westport.   Similar to previous days, it started out sunny, but the clouds eventually took over, producing rain, then the sun came out again.   The town itself was beautiful with the river channel passing through the middle. There were arched stone bridges that crossed the river in several places, and these were adorned with lush flower boxes and blooms hanging down nearly to the water.  I didn't actually paint in town, but these scenes were gorgeous and I hope to paint a scene or two from the photos as I build up the Ireland painting collection. 

Croagh Patrick from Murrisk Island

Climbing Croagh Patrick, about 5 miles from us was on the agenda, and I will state right up front, it didn't happen (for various reasons, one of which was the rainy forecast).   The peak is one of the larger mountains in Ireland and is most well known because pilgrims (some barefoot) climb to the summit Chapel as an act of penance.  Historical accounts describe this sacred place as the mountain where Saint Patrick fasted and prayed for forty days in the year 441 A.D..  The peak is clearly visible from most of the Westport area and since we didn't actually climb it, I figures it would be wholly appropriate to pay homage via this painting.

We set up to paint about a mile from the trailhead on a small connected island, home of the fishing village called Murrisk.   Careful observation of the mountain revealed figures of climbers - small specs - silhouetted on left side of the slope.   It was very windy on this day.   My husband wisely chose a spot behind a wall and benefited from his wind blocker.  I chose a higher vantage point and paid a price, my biggest obstacle being my inability to keep my brush steady.     What colors!  Every shade of green, but also, reds, purples, golds, yellows...and even better when the sun peaked out!

Click here to see my view while I painted.

Healy Pass Panorama - Beara Penninsula Ireland

Painting at Healy Pass

Outward bound toward Beara Penninsula, we drove the road that parallels the coastline.   After painting in the rain (see Rainy Country Road), we arrived in Castletownbere where we enjoyed expertly made coffees, served with unbounded warmth and friendliness.   (Can we bottle that and bring it home, we thought?  Not the coffee, the cordiality:))    This nice stop in the Southwestern region of Ireland re-energized us in preparation for the return trip.  It was my driving day, a deliberate plan because of the hair-raising nature of this leg of the sojourn.  (It is less terrifying for the greater neurotic to be in control.. lol)  In fact, why don't I share a snippet of it here.

Healy Pass - Beara Penninsula

As you saw, once we were just beyond the highest elevation, we pulled over.   What a spectacular panorama!  I just had to do a quick sketch.   The colors of the mountains, slopes and valley were indescribable.   The color match was what I was after, and in the end I was glad I did.   The river bed was literally golden and copper colored in person, yet the photos depict that same area as a murky dark tan.  The small mountain on the right looked like a peachy color, similar to salmon, breaking the rule about the blue in receding mountains.   So pretty!  True color matching can't be achieved from a photo - my strong personal opinion!

Rainy Country Road - Beara Penninsula Ireland

Rainy Country Road - Beara Penninsula

The sky in Kenmare was bright and sunny when we began our scenic drive through the expansive Beara Penninsula in Southwestern Ireland.   We hoped to find a great spot to paint near Allihies, the region where my husband's ancestors originated.   Intermittent rain and drizzle had begun, but we remained hopeful that it was temporary.   The drizzle did let up when we pulled over near a scenic spot east of Allihies.    The long and winding road snaked its way down a valley and the Atlantic Ocean bordered the land to the east.  The moisture gave the scene a misty feel and it made the distant cliffs look pale gray.

WET Painting

 We started painting with vigor, and the thing about painting is, its hard to stop halfway, and before long, it was raining again.   We had raindrops dripping from our hoods, paintings, and palettes.  We kept painting; were we in a trance?    I felt like the two colors I most wanted to color-capture were the stones of the wall and the grasses just above it, so once that was done, I started to pack up.   I blotted my painting with a dry paper towel and wiped down my palette.  We left our paintings and palettes out to "dry" in the rear of the vehicle.   Its a good thing it is oil color!

Rainy Country Road - Beara Penninsula Ireland - Color Study Final

I can't share much about my painting process on this day.   I was on autopilot and on a mission to finish a painted sketch...here it is.    It will serve as a color study for a larger painting in the coming weeks.   This one was hard earned!

Yacht Clubs from Kelly's Landing

Yacht Clubs from Kelly's Landing

There was a strong line of storm cells between the South Shore and Boston on this morning.    I would be driving straight into it.  The weather forecaster assured viewers that the weather would clear by 8AM, but it didn't.    The clouds and mist lingered as I set up along Day Boulevard in South Boston, MA.  This spot was always known as Kelly's Landing, known for its seafood and ice cream - back when ice cream cones were only 15 cents each. :)

The rain had soaked everything making surfaces look darker and shiny.   The old cedar shakes on the yacht club looked even darker against the cloudy skies.  Truthfully, this was an unpleasant paint out and the painting didn't turn out too good either.   As I've said before though, a bad day plein air painting beats a good day at the office - anyday!


Vieques Beachchair Under Palm

Stage One

Yes that beach chair was mine.  We had just discovered a sandy path to the shore in the Vieques National Wildlife Refuge.   At the end of the road was a deserted beach and a covered gazebo (good for sheltering during the two passing tropical showers we had).   The conditions weren't as perfect as the first two Vieques paint-outs, but I'll take a quick shot of wind and rain with 82 degrees over anything New England has dished out in the past six months!


Downpour Coming

In this painting the sun and southeast facing beach were to my right which made for better color matching.   I'm sure that's why there is more pumped up color.  

Beach Chair Under the Palm

At the risk of you thinking I'm trying to rub it in that I'm here painting in paradise while you were weathering a brutally cold March, here is a very short video of the location of this paint-out.

http://youtu.be/II8BuypgpZU

Mill on the Housatonic River

Climbing up to the Road

Painting Riverside

Lee, Massachusetts was the location of this paint out and it is with a small degree of pride that I present this painting.  My painting partner and I both spotted this spectacular scene as we drove along - passing it by at first.   Twenty minutes later after not seeing any scenes nearly as striking, we returned.  It was no trivial matter getting set up on this painting spot because it was situated at a sharp curve in the busy Route 20 at an overpass over the Housatonic River.



Mill on the Housatanic River - Stage One

There was an old rusty chain blocking a car path down to the river and just enough space for the Cube to nestle in next to it (love this car).  The road was about 30 vertical feet above the river.   We scaled down the embankment to a scene where the river rapids passed in front of an old red brick mill.    There were blue mountains in the background and it was completely overcast.    The clouds made the red brick look even more stunning and certainly the central point of interest amid all the muted early Spring underbrush.



Mill on Housatonic River - Stage Two

Rather than sightsizing, I used my viewfinder (two cardboard "L's") to frame the picture.  I placed the brick stack first and based all my other placements around it.   The moldy/mossy green at the base of the rusty brick buildings was reflected in the water as well.   Three areas of brick were lighter in value, the farthest building, which was on a different angle, the side of the biggest building, which was not in complete shadow, and the right side of the stack.    Each time I worked on the building elements, I used the remainder of the color below in the water.

I decided to finish the foreground trees and branches back in the studio using my photo reference.   I'm glad I did because I had so much thick paint in the sky and water that the branches were pulling in too much white.

Mill on the Housatonic River

Rocky Shoreline in Tropical Paradise

Tropical Rocky Shore - Stage One

Moist tropical breezes, warm turquoise water and "effectual" sunshine.  Is there any wonder why these came to mind on this, the night of shoveling out from yet another snowstorm - this time wet heavy snow.     Continuous cold and snow is to be expected for this northern latitude, but by working on this painting (started last spring), I relived a bit of the tropical attributes of Vieques, Puerto Rico.   On this unspoiled oasis, the absence of commercial development was astounding,   We literally saw no other people as we trekked and waded for more than a mile along this rocky shore - half in the water and half on the sand.     The strong sun made all the colors look brighter and more vivid water, rocks and palm trees.    And it looks so warm!


Tropical Rocky Shore

McColgan Homestead - Part Two

This painting was begun back in early October.  It was the first Ireland painting since returning from our epic trip in September.  See my post entitled, Magical Ireland if you are interested in reading "Part One."   We travelled to the Isle of Doagh, the northernmost region of County Donegal, Ireland, and it made a deep impression on me.   I have worked on this painting from photos off and on for a few weeks now.  The dimensions are 24" by 36" and it depicts the ancestral home of my paternal great grandparents.  

McColgan Homestead - Stage Two

I mentioned in my first post of this painting that I would share the story of finding this farm.   Using a combination of Ireland's Griffiths Land Valuation from 1864, assorted family vital records, and the help of my cousin, we knew we were looking for "Cuill, Isle of Doagh, County Donegal, Ireland."   We used an overlay of the 1864 map with a modern map to locate the earliest plot of land, which according to historical records was farmed by my Great, Great Grandfather Denis McColgan and my GGGM Sarah Bradley.  They farmed the land, but didn't own the land, according to records. That's how things worked back then.  We thought that this was the same land that subsequent ancestors owned but we found out later that we were mistaken. This land had a modern looking yellow stucco house on it, not a farmhouse as we had expected.

McColgan Ancestral Land - Isle of Doagh

Overgrown Ruins of GGF Edward McColgan Farmhouse

We drove and hiked around the area, through green pastures of sheep corralled by stone walls with an occasional farmhouse.  It wasn't all that big an area that the Cuill farmhouse should have been so hard to find.    It wasn't until we finally stopped our vehicle to ask three farmers who were talking at the side of the road that we got the best guidance of all.

They couldn't have been more gracious and helpful when we told them who had last lived at the farmhouse.   Yes, they knew him and remembered him fondly - Second Cousin Margaret McColgan's husband Danny McGonigle who had passed away just this year.  Not only did they tell us, they in fact show us where it was. The "senior" farmer in the group directed his son-in-law (with kidding, as you can imagine, as to who was the boss) to take us to the farmhouse.  The son-in-law jumped in his car and we followed him in our car, and never would we have spotted the somewhat hidden entrance if it hadn't been for their kindness.   We asked him if he thought it was okay to look around.  "Of course," he said.   "...after all, you've come all this way, and no one is living here right now."   The farmhouse had a beautiful thatched roof and the exterior walls were painted white with bright red trim. He drove off and we lingered, not bothered in the least by the heavier rain.

It was easy to imagine that this scene looked just about the same as it did 150 years ago  It was surreal walking through the property and even more exciting to discover the ruins of the next farmhouse, which belonged to my GGF Edward McColgan.

McColgan Homestead - Final

So this painting is a personal favorite, and not one I'd ever part with.  The photograph that I'm working from, taken in the rain and the fog, was taken looking uphill from a road along the water below. The land that goes with the remaining farmhouse slopes down from the thick trees to the right.  It belonged to John McColgan, the brother of my GGF Edward McColgan.  The land of GGF Edward, is the next plot to the left, toward the middle of the painting, shown with sheep. The farmhouse that had stood on that land is now in ruins (see photo). (We later learned that GGGF Denis and Sarah Bradley moved onto this different 23 acre parcel on a west facing slope less than a mile away from our initial land discovery.   This was the 23 acre parcel where Denis and Sarah's sons, John and Edward farmed and the land was then split between the two brothers.

There is a part three to the story.   And that is the real tale of how the magic dust surrounded us and resulted in our coincidental meeting with my third cousin who owns the remaining farmhouse!

 Video bonus: Even if we had never found the actual land and farmhouse, it would have not been hugely disappointing.  We knew that this was the incredibly spectacular, but rugged area inhabited by my ancestors. I have included (yet another) video - arriving at the top of the crest above what turned out to be the land we were searching for.