Living Memorial Park

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

When I started this picture it seemed to me this might be a gem of a watercolor. I loved how the road meandered over the land and drew the eye into the picture. The colors seemed pleasing and I liked the warm shadows in the foreground cast from the dense growth.

This plein air painting was started in June and by the end of my outing the light had changed so much that the shadows were in a different place than when I started. When the paper dried the picture looked very different than when it was painted. The vivid colors and shimmering paper dried flat with bleached out colors.

As a result, the question is whether I want to carry it further. I figure there is something learned each time I work outside as the weather is so variable from one outing to another. In addition, working out in the elements makes the painter simplify their process, painting and composition.

The other dilemma is that I use a different palette for plein air painting than when painting in the studio. Outside I use a Sennelier paint set consisting of fourteen pigments with rich watery colors. While inside I primarily use Winsor Newton with up to forty tubes to draw upon.

I have become inspired to go back and finish some watercolors started outside. The recent post depicting Robin Hood Park in Keene, N.H was a painting with a satisfying end result. There is an ephemeral quality which is unique to painting outside. To carry forward this spirit of a place captured outside I find exciting.

Gray or is it green?

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

In watercolor painting I find coming up with grays a real challenge. Of course, you have warm and cool grays to utilize. Other painters say green, for them, is problematic. I do find many greens on the low value range synonymous with some grays.

Often I let pigments on my palette run into each other. This way I have pigment mixtures that I would not normally come up with. As a result there is often pools of gray accumulated in my mixing wells that I can draw upon.

I have learned that grays and other neutral colors enable other colors, such as red to sing. Grays if applied skillfully can emit a soft atmospheric quality in your painting. The greenish-gray seen here is a combination of some variety of cobalt blue and burnt sienna.

This is most likely a dull post but I believe it reflects the dreary weather we are having lately. The shorter days with decreased light levels due to this cloudy, rainy patch highlights a limited color scheme. Particularly, if you are an astute observer of nature. At this time of year I look out the window and try to come up a color that matches what I am seeing. 

Coastal Maine study

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

Painting the shoreline has been a fascination of mine for sometime. The coastline with it's wall of trees and sand rich with ocean smells is imprinted on my psyche. This landscape is full of atmospheric qualities such as fog and moisture which are perfect to convey in the medium of watercolor.

I draw inspiration in capturing the coast from some of the great watercolorists of our time. These include Stephen Scott Young, Dean Mitchell and Andrew Wyeth.

In this watercolor I continue to expand my color palette. I applied royal blue for the sky, wet on dry so the hard edges would give variety above the tree tops. The beach has warm and cool pockets where I added olive green or diluted cobalt to emphasize the contrast with areas that are in the sun. Lastly, all kinds of pigment were added when painting the trees to get variation in temperature and massing. These include ultramarine, payne's gray, raw umber, aureolin and quinacridone gold.

Robin Hood Park, Keene, NH

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

This past weekend I played in a tennis tournament in Keene, New Hampshire. After a long Saturday match I found a spot in the shade and started this plein air painting. This watercolor was eventually finished in the studio. 

What is exciting for me was capturing a quality of the spirit of this place. I can't really say that I have done that before. However, I believe between the back lit light, water and figure there is something ethereal about this picture.

There really are few hard edges in this painting which I find difficult to achieve. This made me consider the great tradition of english artists who paint watercolors with a lot of neutral colors and minimal contrast. David Curtis is one such painter who came to mind when I was wrapping up this painting.

Sketchbook paintings

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

Recently, I visited Northampton, Massachusetts with my wife. They have a lovely art store in the downtown area called Guild Art Supply, which I like to frequent when in the area. Up the street is a lovely gallery called R. Michelson Galleries which I believe, in a former life, was a bank with a grand space for exhibiting art. 

When other people travel they may inquire about local fine cuisine which I appreciate. In contrast, I continue to search for new papers to experiment with. Either to draw or paint on.

While in Northampton, I purchased this relatively inexpensive spiral-bound book for watercolors. This paper is called Superfine watercolor, which for me, is useful for quick studies. It is a thinner paper than I prefer which seems best for quick washes as opposed to building up layers of paint. My preferred approach in using this paper is to apply wet brush on to dry paper.

Self-portrait

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

Painting urban subjects I have discovered is a real challenge. This scene has numerous angles from storefronts with projecting signs to reflections in the window, etc. Therefore, if the perspective is off it is obvious and diminishes the painting significantly.

It is a painting where all the focus should be on the individual with the background kept simple. However, all those beautiful colors are wonderful to depict in watercolor. In that regard, this makes it a real watercolor.

Clearly, this painting has a long way to go. However, it has a strong composition and is like no other watercolor I have attempted. The setting is outside, during the summer season, along a cafe in Portland, Maine. 

Nature at it's finest

(C) 2018 Photograph Dale DiMauro

This photograph was taken last week, while paddling on Lowell Lake, which is in Londonderry, Vermont. With a small group of people whom I'd never met, we sought to escape the hot, humid weather by kayaking and swimming. This was a chance to truly get out in nature. Isn't that why we live in Vermont anyway?

I was struck by the stillness of the water and the overall timeless quality of the composition. Perhaps this scene would have been similarly found one hundred years ago. There still remains a pristine quality to this lake as development has not been allowed to encroach on it's shores. In fact, it now is a lovely state park.

The other quality I saw within this photograph is a painting in watercolor. As if it painted itself. First of all, I could not improve upon it's composition. Therefore, all an artist has to do is get his or her paints out. I would paint a blue wash over the whole paper as the sky is reflected in the water. Then I would paint in the yellows and greens of the tree line. Next, I would put another clean wash of blue over the water, followed by the shadow from the vegetation. A total of three pigments could accomplish this. Perhaps winsor blue, aureolin and shadow green will do it. What do you think?

Another skinny watercolor

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

This watercolor was inspired after going on a local paddle. After all, this hot summer has put me on and in the water more often than most summer seasons. 

As you can see I am continuing to explore all kinds of landscape formats. With the length of day decreasing, I have observed the shadows moving in, earlier across the landscape. This seems to make for increased color saturation.

At the same time I have been painting with larger brushes, bigger sheets of paper and a more natural approach. In particular, I like the shadow across the shoreline which makes that sliver of green pop out. The warmer vegetation in the middle provides some depth to the shore scene. 

Unfortunately, the paper would not lay flat when taking the photograph, which makes the painting look smaller. 

Art in the Park

2018 Photograph Dale DiMauro

This afternoon, my wife and I attended the local Art in the Park, which is held in Keene, N.H. In the past I have set-up a vendor tent, but not this year. This year's artists were fortunate as the hot and wet weather held off for the weekend

We saw many familiar faces and met some new folks. Many people retain the same location in the park year after year. This way we can search for people we know.

Of note, for me, was a fellow watercolorist from the Nashua, NH area with winter painting scenes. He used ink when painting some of his trees, scraped paint away with his razor blade for interesting effects and used white gouache in depicting animals against the snow.