We have had some glorious weather lately and this was one of those days. After a recent dental appointment I was able to paint a quick watercolor in West Brattleboro, VT.
There is a lovely park for painting outside with several picnic tables and dappled shade. It is adjacent to the fire station.
In this picture I like the rich foliage again the blue sky. It felt good to quickly put pigment to paper and run with it.
This fall landscape was painted last autumn. It was very dry as we headed into last winter. Now we are in a similar period.
This makes me wonder what kind of foliage season we will have in the coming months. Some people tell me it's going to be a mild winter with the impact of an El Nino, while other people say we are going to receive more snow than usual.
Who knows. One thing I have observed in my travels is that under large specimen trees where there is lawn there are large dry patches. The roots of these large trees are simply absorbing as much moisture as they can while the grass has turned into straw. Birds seem to like this straw to peck on as they search for food.
I think the muted and limited palette in this watercolor make the composition of this picture stronger and more unified. Without a strong contrast in light and color the washes seem to travel across the page and merge with other pigments.
Often, I squeeze in some painting during the day when I can,. This is one of those situations.
I painted the watercolor on the right. Then by accident, the watercolor book closed upon itself. When this happened wet pigment ended up on the sheet on the left. So I did what I could - and turned that page into a landscape, too.
I learn something about painting or the way the pigments move around the page every time I play with them. As a result, I find the painting process very stimulating.
May your painting process take your practice to uncharted territories.
It is amazing what you can do with two or three pigments. In this watercolor I used three pigments: cerulean/ultramarine blue and raw sienna. Leaving the white of the paper white was another benefit.
There is less clean-up when you use a limited palette and their seems to be more harmony in the overall picture.
Often a small study leads to a stronger composition and sometimes outdoes a finished painting. It is easy to paint the 'life' out of a picture with too much technical information and lifeless brush work.
Utilizing a sketchbook is a valuable tool to not just record and observe life around you. It is useful in expanding your artistic skills as well as for developing compositional studies.
I learned a long time ago it best to travel with a sketchbook - as events happen that you can not anticipate. Case in point - I spent most of Friday corresponding with a cell phone technician which was highly unproductive.
However, this was one of the little watercolors I put down while waiting for a response. Also, it reduced my anxiety - a lot, as the connection was often interrupted.
In addition, I painted many figure studies at different scales. As I look back on Friday because of these little studies - it was somewhat productive.
Last month my wife and I hiked Flying Mountain on Bar Harbor, in the state of Maine. This hike has views of Somes Sound and this lovely cove where many boaters set anchor and people ride their dinghy in to land.
I was inspired by the rich colors of the water, the varied shoreline and the collection of people who walk the beach. This is a lovely location away from the other crowded spots on the island.
This watercolor was started two days ago as I was starting my preparation for a Tuesday colonoscopy. I needed a distraction as I would not be able to eat a genuine meal for some time.
About ten days ago my wife and I visited the Clark Art Museum in Williamstown, MA. To get some exercise, we often walk the lovely trails above the museum, at the end of the day. This time there were numerous sculptures dotting the landscape whether in the fields or in the woods.
For me it is rare to see such an agricultural landscape which isn't overly maintained from high up on a hill. It provides me a truly fresh perspective which I look forward to experiencing.
I just painted this watercolor this evening. The heat we have had lately has simply sucked the energy out of me. However, I like the composition to this picture with the tree consuming nearly half the painting.
Earlier this week, Scott Farm, in Dummerston, VT, was the plein air site for the Saxton's River Art Group to gather at. It is always a lovely spot to meet and paint. I immediately feel the history of the landscape once I park my car and head up past the barn and stone walls.
Whenever I paint on the property I try a different vantage point. Since it was a hot day I made sure to find a spot in the shade looking across the landscape.
This watercolor was painted on Kilimanjaro paper, which I have been using when I work outside this summer. My only real criticism is that the pond in the foreground appears more like a lawn than a pond. If I deepen the value this may read more like water.
I do like the geometric shapes of the buildings and the stark white of the paper which is what I think of when recalling the color of the structures.
The last two months have been busy and hot. This followed the most stressful and turbulent spring I have had to endure. Much of this had to do with the unsettling of America and uncertainty coming out of Washington, D.C. This included, on more than one occasion, not getting paid in a timely manner for work done. In addition, wet weather delayed some projects which enabled me to squeeze in some time for pickle ball.
Also, during the height of spring I was requested to do Jury Duty, which fortunately is postponed to a later timeframe. For a client, I did construct a custom-made raised garden bed which has had only positive reviews. In essence, it looks like a piece of fine furniture.
In the end my wife and I were able to continue our annual vacation to Maine. On our trip I got to visit what I consider to be the best art store I have ever been in(Artist & Craftsman Supply in Portland, ME). So now I am ready to get back to painting. Hopefully, we will have some comfortable weather before long. I even have some new pigments to try out - Transparent Orange and King's Royal Blue to name a few.
This morning my wife and I went to the Clark Art Museum in Williamsville, MA. Unlike most high quality museums, The Clark is located in a rural setting. Thus, visiting this museum is an annual ritual, during the summer months, which we eagerly look forward to.
The current major exhibition is titled: A Room of Her Own: Women Artist-Activists in Britain, 1875-1945. The work on display whether it is drawings, paintings or embroidery is impressive.
The above watercolor: "Girl in a Bonnet with her Head on a Blue Pillow(Maisie)", was painted in 1902 by British artist Anna Alma-Tadema(1867-1943) and is simply stunning to see in person.
Anna was the daughter of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema(1836-1912) a well known Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom. Both were known for paintings characterized with detail.
Anna's watercolors sold for high prices and she could select her buyer. However, after her father passed away, she struggled as her housing situation became unstable.
It is great to be back home after a couple weeks away. Maine is always a lovely escape from the heat of summer. To see and sniff the coastal waters while catching a dip or two is quite refreshing.
While in Portland, Maine, my wife and I toured one of the oldest cemeteries in New England. It felt ancient just to walk through the space as many of those buried were segregated on the grounds as well as ship laborers who died at sea at a very young age. We could sense the layers of conflict and fires Portland experienced through the centuries which we could not comprehend before our tour.
During our vacation I picked up a few souvenirs along the way. In particular, I like this vertical pencil holder which was made out of hardwood, by prison inmates, in Maine
Last night my wife & I caught a production of Shakespeare's As You Like It, in a local park. It was a lovely evening to paint outside with great light, rich colors and an impressive audience.
I tried a different approach to this watercolor. Pigment was lifted as I was painting the sky in with a brush. Then I put down a wash of green as a backdrop for the trees. Then I painted the trees and trunks over that wash. This made the trees simpler to paint yet provided more depth.
Capturing the undulating ground with a shadow was a nice feature in this watercolor. Overall I like how this picture turned out particularly as most of this painting was created while sitting on the ground.
In conclusion, there were people watching me paint the whole duration of making this picture. However, I expect that in public places. When painting outside the public usually feels entitled to see what you are doing and offer comments and reactions or even try to push you out of the way.
Last night I caught a small concert on the Brattleboro(VT) Common. It included a trio of seasoned musicians playing a whole range of the American songbook. One of the musicians was Kevin Parry who has hosted numerous open mic's in the region.
While attending this concert I noticed the amazing setting light in the background which lit up the landscape in ways I have never experienced before.
The warm glow lit up the tree trunks with a lavender hue while the foreground in the light had a pastel-quality to it. Even the distant hills had a misty blue, yet surreal characteristic to them. The above photograph does not pay justice to the experience which ultimately, in my eyes, overshadowed the concert.
Oh - the fourth of July - what a holiday of traditions. Independence day and all that. For some the beginning of summer. Parades, marches, picnics and fireworks. In this time we are living in - we take our freedoms for granted!
I love this little watercolor painted fast with zero hesitation and no fussing about. After all it was the fourth of July and you could hear fireworks in the distance and see them up close temporarily decorating the sky.
For me watercolor is the only medium where you can capture the smoke and other atmospheric qualities of the lit torch at the end of this guy's hand.
This was painted from memory but still lives on with great clarity in my mind.
On Thursday, July 4 I was irritated with the national news and painted this scene in a decidedly fast manner. I wanted to express some of that aggression in a powerful, yet expressive way.
When painting this watercolor I tried a few different techniques. I painted a very wet sky and dropped in pigment right up until the paper dried. The spray bottle was utilized right into the end.
Ultramarine blue is a transparent color which means I can lift the pigment pretty readily. So I lifted this blue from the body of water and got these whitish streaks which gives the surface a reflective-quality.
Last, I painted the dark evergreens in the immediate foreground to thrust the viewer right into the picture. Sort of implying that the future is now.
It always feels good to mix up your painting approach and try something new. I learn the most when I challenge myself. Most days I learn something about watercolor that I didn't know before. On other days I learn a whole lot about the medium or at least challenge my perception of things going on around me.
Last week my wife and I went to Shakespeare in the Park, at Living Memorial Park in Brattleboro, VT. It felt great to do a summer activity after months of work. It has been a stressful spring like no other, including being selected for jury duty at my busiest time of the year.
This was painted while watching A Midsummer Night's Dream being performed before us. I kept looking at the distant hills as the night wore on and thought I ought to try to capture that scene over there.
It may look like something you may find along the coast or at a mountain top but nevertheless, I like the finished product. The sky was painted very freely and has an expressive- quality to it. I used an atomizer to encourage the colors to run into each other. As the sky dried I added more pigment and lifted out streaks in the sky which may not be visible in this photograph.
The middle and foreground was painted very wet, too. Perhaps, too much as the gray colors bled into each other. I think the darker patches are great as they add a bold stroke to the picture and give a sense of the contours to the distant hill. I lost the distant trees as they dissolved upon drying into the massive rock.
If I have learned anything about spring it is that greens and browns are the colors of the season. The green is the re-emergence of all the growth around us and above our heads while brown is the earth and river bottoms all churned up.
Getting outside is a wonderful thing. This was painted not long ago - as in the early evening - tonight. After dinner I walked to a local park and painted this watercolor, taking advantage of the longest days of the year. There is an old concrete wall and staircase which faces the woods where I set-up my studio for the moment.
It's funny how lively the paper is when it is wet with pigment and water and then as it dries it becomes much flatter in appearance. I painted this picture with just two brushes thus, it made for a quick clean-up.
I feel like the colors are pretty true to what I was seeing - even though the light is always changing all around me. However, the mosquitos gathered around me the whole time I was painting.
