Farmstand

Summer Farmstand

A local farm stand has been supplying me with some spectacular produce this year.   They provide the usual summer specialties: lettuce, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and eggs.  I've been stopping there at least three times per week all summer.   The fruit (especially the peaches and plums) have been so good that I am lucky if my purchases make it to the destination without being eaten en route.  And never mind my plan to use this fine looking bounty for still life paintings!  

In this scene, Drew, the attendant is helping a customer pick out her treasures.  Their figures are mostly shaded, although there is rim light here and there.  Two other elements that I included were the red wheelbarrow full of corn (half sunny, half shady) and the A-frame street sign. I took liberty with the placement of these rearranged for the sake of balancing the painting.   
Alas, this week the mums and pumpkins made their appearance, which means the farmstand will be closing soon.   Oh, sweet summer, don't go!

Autumn Bounty with Bottles

Autumn Bounty - Drawing Stage

This is a fairly large painting at 24 by 36 inches.  I mounted the canvas myself.  I have been dissatisfied with many ready-made canvases as they can be poorly gessoed, mounted crookedly and not tight enough.     I had not yet made a single brushstroke, yet
this painting had extra labor invested, and that was nothing compared to what was to come.

Autumn Bounty - Stage Two

My hydrangeas were hardly impressive this summer producing few blue flower heads.  With the arrival of autumn however, the few greenish blossoms started turning color, pretty combinations of blue, green, pink and maroon - foliage?   I cut the flower heads, leaving extra-long stems, and displayed them in a tall turquoise vase on my dining table along with my oil and vinegar bottles.   I started adding more bottles and the last of the tomatoes.   What else,what else...onions, avocados, apple garlic.   So colorful!

Autumn Bounty - Stage Three

Each day the ever lowering of the angle of the sun had created a colorful and shiny display.   By mid-afternoon, the sun illuminated the vase, green bottles and red fruits.  I sensed a new still life coming on and started rearranging the objects in various ways - at least six or seven change-ups before settling on this arrangement.

 The biggest challenge and one that makes the painting unique are the abstract shadows, the reflections in the glass top table and the sunbeams pouring in from the window on the left.   You may have to click on the picture to better observe this detail.

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Autumn Bounty with Bottles

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.

Haymarket II

Haymarket II

I always liked the painting I did a while back of the vendor area at Boston's Haymarket, which is just east of Fanueil Hall Marketplace in Boston, MA.   I liked it so much that I decided to paint a new version of it.
On market day, the street is transformed into a festive collection of tents and awnings under which dozens of vendors sell their colorful produce and more.   In this scene the orderly chaos was brightly lit from one end so I played up the directional light in warm tones, contrasting that with deep blue shadows.  This painting would make a nice momento for anyone who has fond memories of trips to Haymarket.

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Twirling Ribbon and Little Pumpkins

Studio Set Up Little Pumpkins

In late summer, painters sometimes lament that there is just too much bright green in the landscape.   We look for any other color than green and play that color up - to the extent possible anyway.   This year was different;  the lack of rain in New England has had an impact on the look of the landscape and the amount of green.   The tips of the leaves have prematurely turned a dry yellow.  Even the sound of the landscape is dry and "rustling" instead of moist and quiet.  

In the vegetable garden, the watering restriction has affected the amount and size of the tomatoes.  We didn't get too many tomatoes, like most years!

Monochromatic Underpainting

The pumpkin variety I planted seemed to thrive despite the arid conditions.   These pumpkins were not the monster-sized, county fair type pumpkins that require lots of water, but rather, the small ornamental variety called "Jack-Be-Little."   Approximately twenty-five little pumpkins were harvested from a mere six plants. I decided to set up a still life with several of these little fruits.

Twirling Ribbon - Stage Two

Using a larger 22 x 28" canvas, it was important to plan out the composition carefully. This still life plays up a complimentary scheme of orange and blue.   What would look nice with a bunch of little orange pumpkins?   Blue things, of course.  A rustic blue pottery vase, a clay pot, blue hydrangeas and a spool of blue ribbon were the elements that seemed to harmonize.    Several set-ups were attempted and rearranged before arriving at this arrangement.  A monochromatic block in was completed first.  In the stage two photo, see the mid-tones, some blues and oranges.

I applied a transparent dark wash onto the bare canvas.  The monochromatic stage photo above shows the wipe outs that established the structure of the painting.   This stage was worked over the course of two days while the transparent wash was since workable.

Since this was a studio still life, the painting method used was "indirect."   The indirect method means many thin paint layers of paint were built up over time to achieve a luminous glow that resembles a classical realist look.

Stage Three with Real Bittersweet

Once the painting was at Stage Three, it needed something more.   I placed the painting on the floor and positioned a length of fresh bittersweet over the front of an awkward area in the middle of the painting.   I liked it how the bittersweet masked the "not so great" spot, so I painted it in as a way to unite the two sides of the still life.  Over the next few weeks, additional layers were built up warm glow to the lights and blue glow to the shadows.   The complete, or at least nearly complete painting is shown.

Twirling Ribbon and Little Pumpkins

The last issue to address with a luminescent painting like this is capturing a quality photograph.   The extra oily glow makes it difficult to get a good, shine-free image.  A polarized filter and low light setting helps.    This image isn't too bad, but I'll probably work on getting an even better image.


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Farmers' Market Canandaigua

Farmers' Market Quick Paint Competition

Framing Quick Paint Entry

This was the seventh and final painting done at the Finger Lakes Competition and Festival.   It was a little different from the first six paintings in that this was a timed "quick paint" event.   Painters were given two hours to complete a plein air painting plus a half hour to frame and walk it over to the Town Common where it would be on display with the thirty other entries.

That morning, I still had not decided what and where to paint when I heard someone mention that the Farmers' Market takes place each Saturday morning.   After checking into the quick paint event I pulled into a parking space right next to where the farm vans loaded with produce were pulling in.   The rows of vegetable and flower flats near my van caught my eye.   There was a nice large bucket of tall peonies, a reminder of the peonies from day before.   Farmers Doug and Walt had backed their red van into their space and were working out of the back of it.

Once they realized what I was doing they occasionally came over to check progress.   I decided to include Doug who wore a yellow shirt that stood out despite being in full shadow.  Walt lamented that he wasn't in the painting so I explained about the yellow shirt.  He then proceeded to tell Doug that they should switch shirts.   Haha!

It turned out that the person who bought this painting knows Walt and Doug, and further, her grandfather was one of the first five farmers who started the Canandaigua farmers' market.   The painting is with the right person!

Watering Can with Carrots






Watering Can with Carrots

This week I was sorting through seeds and planning my 2016 vegetable garden.  I guess I am officially "thinking Spring."   I was remembering last year's buckets of tomatoes, a bumper crop.   I typically take pictures of even mildly noteworthy things so I was sure there must have been some summer harvest photos.


Composition Thumbnail

I found a decent photo of some freshly pulled carrots piled in front of my old watering can.   I used that shot as inspiration for this painting, at least for color and shadow.   The photo's overall composition was lacking so I re-arranged the objects on a 3x3 sticky note trying for more pleasing shapes.