Retreat land just before spring growth

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

This is a little watercolor I did at the end of winter before spring came on. In the winter I often walk through the woods as the Brattleboro Retreat land is only a block from our house. When I come out of the woods and into the upper field, there is this sweeping view of the distant hills and sky, which I find captivating. Through the seasons I have seen deer, red-tailed hawks, ruffled grouse, turkey vultures, and other creatures exploring this area with me.

However, the image is not cropped right. After nearly sixty posts this is one of the frustrations of using the software provided by iPhoto and Blogger. Sometimes the camera image transfers from my memory card to the blog sideways! I use the edit mode to rotate the image and on occasion it still transfers sideways. My other frustration with Blogger is that once an image is transferred, I am not able to crop it! So very frustrating! 

I am making progress but this is an example where to keep a blog going requires skills far beyond painting. Other skills you need to have or develop along the way include: drawing, photography, graphic design, writing, editing, social media and technical skills. Most of the time I have an image I am ready to upload and the post develops rapidly. However, if I do not have an image taken and taken in natural light then I have to scramble to come up with something.

Summer in Maine

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

This is a watercolor inspired by our visit two summers ago, to North Haven, a small island off the coast of Maine. My wife and I took a ferry out and spent a full day exploring by bicycle and visiting with family. As in the watercolor, it was a glorious summer day with little humidity. We bicycled past this house a few times. You wouldn't know it from this angle but it looks down upon a small cove with boats moored nearby.

I like the various shades of green against the house and sky. Green says summer to me. However, I find green the most challenging color to work with at least in watercolor. If you use a green right out of the tube the color often is dull, flat and unexciting. So I have been experimenting with different combinations of blue and yellow for some time. One of my favorite mixtures is aureolin with prussian blue which creates a rich, vibrant, sod colored green, more on the yellowish than blue spectrum. Many greens from my experience appear gray and there is a whole range of these. I have not yet, found a way to utilize these gray-greens to full advantage.  

Facial studies

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

This is a portrait I did from a photograph someone else took in one of my wife's alumni magazines, either from Northfield Mount Hermon or Macalester College. These magazines, which arrive in the mail, profile what alumni are working on with rather large photographs of their subject. The above drawing is done with an HB pencil in a wire-bound sketchbook.

The last couple of years I have been working on improving my drawings of 'head shots' or portraits, mostly of people in magazines or of relatives. Lately, I have been drawing hands and feet to get better at those, too. These say so much about a person: their age, gender, environment, and activities. Ultimately, the facial studies will evolve into some sort of paintings, whether just quick studies or finished larger works.

I find capturing an individual's presence or characteristics, of primary importance. However, it is easy to make significant alterations, for example to 'age' someone by making a face more elongated than it actually is. Expressions seem to emanate from the model's eyes and mouth. The accumulation of all the other subtleties such as hair, skin, eye color, shape of nose, etc. seem to synthesize into the mosaic of our being, and are of no lesser importance.

The Good Wife: A portrait at heart

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

Recently, I started this watercolor of my wife. Clearly there is much to be done, but I am excited about the progress I have made. I like pictures which portray people with a background providing some context to their environment, skills or activities. Other people including experts may not consider this a portrait as it includes more than a face or bust.

When we were at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. last month, we joined a tour directing us through the presidential portraits which emphasized the importance of portrait painters mastering the face and hands. I do not want to imply in any way that I mastered any of those subjects but it is an interesting point to consider when you go to a museum and look at what is on the walls. Recently, I have heightened interest in the sculptural busts you see at art museums such as at the Portrait Gallery where you can view an individual's head from all kinds of angles other than the direction in which they are positioned. The shadows cast from the head in the differing light sources can be quite intriguing.

The qualities I like about this watercolor are the warmth of sunlight falling on my wife's face and hands creating interesting patterns of sun and shade. I always like depth or the suggestion of it in a picture whether through perspective, mood and in this case, the feel of temperature. In addition, I particularly like the L-shaped composition which her body creates against the background.

Yellow & Blue

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

This is a watercolor I did late winter when the cold temperatures finally began to give, providing us with beautiful clear skies. There is something special about the light and shadows cast from our local buildings and onto the land, snow in particular. There are abstract patterns of warm and cool that really amplify the contours of the land. The patterns of light on snow and house provide a distinct regional identity as well as indicate the time of day and year. 

The yellow sign in the foreground seems to really complement the blue of the sky and cool shadows on the snow. I like how the picket fence juts up from the windblown snow. The woodland glow in the far background reflects the warmth of the late afternoon sun, soon to be setting. The stark silhouettes of the deciduous trees allow the eye to see beyond them, yet their friendly branching is familiar and their warm earth colors are quite calming.

Originally, I was not sure how I wanted to handle the mass of evergreen on the right. I ended up simplifying its shape and increasing its height, which made the building and porch column pop forward. I offset this evergreen with a tall scraggly evergreen of similar value on the left.  

Jorge Ramos

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro of photograph by
Sebastian Kim for Time

This is a twenty minute sketch I did late one evening earlier this week which my wife particularly liked. On occasion, I purchase a magazine such as Time or Newsweek from a newsstand both to read the articles and draw the faces, as a way to improve my drawing skills and sharpen my observation abilities. The above drawing is of Jorge Ramos a news anchor from Mexico, who has gained a reputation for shepherding Hispanic rights.

I have become fond of Cretacolor fine art pencils sold in art stores. In this case I used an HB pencil which enables me to attain a wide range of marks without any smearing. I think I did capture the directness of his expression. Sometimes a quick little sketch says it all.

Did we miss Spring?

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

This week I started a portrait of my wife which I am really excited about. However, it has a ways to go in its development but I will post it before long. In the meantime, with this summer-like heat of 88 degrees here in Brattleboro, Vermont, I thought I would cool it down with a winter scene from a few months ago. Winter is now starting to seem like a long time ago with the sudden change in season.

What made me want to paint this house was the rich blue sky which really contrasted with the white house and white snow. After a long winter, it was one of the first truly sunny days as the length of day was increasing significantly. The distant ridge which is Brattleboro Retreat land has added significance for me as I have hiked and skied this area many times. In these paintings the backdrop as well as the time of time of day often are subtly tweaked for effect. Specifically, I sharpened shadows, added a window on the house and removed vegetation around the house so you see deeper into the landscape. I am seeking simpler, bolder compositions when possible, then even a few months ago.

Bar Island Sand Bar

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

These beautiful warm days with the dry ground are beginning to make me think of summer and yearn to stick my toes in the ocean. Each summer, my wife and I make the annual pilgrimage to the coast of Maine, during the heat of the season in July, to visit family. This watercolor is of a classic summertime experience on Bar Harbor when the tide is coming in as the sun begins to set. People walk into the ankle deep water or more as it pools around them creating all kinds of patterns on the shoreline and reflections in the water.

I tried to capture some of these qualities of swirling water and changing light in this picture. I do like the glow of the young man caused by the sun behind him and the varying cool tones of the water.  The picture does seem to have the colors of summer here in New England. In addition, there is something about a solitaire figure, in motion, focusing on a task against the backdrop of the coast.

Lowell Lake

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

The warmer weather has finally arrived, at least for the foreseeable future, which makes me think of summer paddling. Beautiful, sunny days with open water makes me appreciate where I live in the world. In Brattleboro, Vermont we have access to all kinds of outdoor activities such as hiking, paddling and skiing while providing beauty from our doorstep.

Paddling on Lowell Lake in Londonderry, Vermont last fall was quite a treat. My experience there inspired this watercolor just as the fall leaves were beginning to turn. I love the tranquility of the water against the undeveloped shoreline. 

I am unsettled about the distant vegetation in the middle of the picture and how to portray it. I like to establish a sense of depth in my pictures but not at the level of detail you would see in the foreground. I also don't like it when a painting is overworked and with watercolor I try to maintain an element of freshness which I believe is a strength of the medium. Is it a finished painting? In this particular painting I am on the fence, leaning both ways. Perhaps, I need a little distance so I can reflect on my impressions of the scene.