I got a kick out of the sign on the roof of this church every time I drove by. I finally got around to painting it on my last day in Hawaii. It was a really fun subject, and a nice light hearted painting to end the week on. This was painted on a piece of loose linen taped to a board. I’m guessing the size is about 10″ square.

Also on the fun side of things, you should check out this video on you tube. My friend and fellow painter, Jessica, sent me this link and it cracked me up. I was watching the video trying to name as many artists as I could. If you can also name the painting being acted out then you get a bonus point. I love this thing!

“West Maui Mountains” 11×14″

I painted this scene on my way home from painting in Makawao. I was exhausted and heading back to Lahaina, but this view was so striking I had to pull off the highway and do a quick painting of the fading light. I haven’t had much experience painting mountains, so I was really excited, and challenged by painting the huge masses of the mountains and the way the light rakes across them.

“West Maui Evening” 6×8″

This was the first painting I did when I got to Maui. This was a quick one I did to loosen up a bit before the plein air event started the next morning.

Listening to a Slate magazine podcast the other day I heard some fun bits of advice to writers. The podcast hosts were discussing an article from the Guardian, in which writers give advice on writing. Much of the advice is really just about how to be a creative person, and seemed fitting to my experience painting. Below are some bits that I liked, or you can link to the Guardian article and read the whole lists from the writers. Read both part 1 and part 2

The first 12 years are the worst.

Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

Style is the art of getting yourself out of the way, not putting yourself in it.

Keep a light, hopeful heart. But ­expect the worst.

A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.

Do it every day. Make a habit of putting your observations into words and gradually this will become instinct. This is the most important rule of all and, naturally, I don’t follow it.

14×11″ This painting was done during a sunset paint out with really strong winds and lots of people around watching. Somehow I managed to relax during this event and get a painting that I really liked. Palm trees are really fun to include in a composition because of the way they break up the background/sky, and they have some interesting color things that happen along the trunk and in the branches.

14×11″ This painting was hard to photograph, but I think I got a decent shot of it here. This pagoda is part of a buddhist temple on the beach in Lahaina. This scene grabbed me because of the rich reds in the temple playing off the warm greens in the palms. I also like the way the three palms echo play off the three levels of the pagoda, and the balancing of the vertical and horizontal elements.

11×14″ Makawao is a town on the way up to the top of Haleakala. Makawao is also called cowboy town, because of the cattle ranches around it. I love the way the blues were all working together in this scene. I think the teal truck parked in the foreground brought the whole painting together. And the street running through town feels like a funky town with a lot going on.

11×14″ This shack is directly across the street from where I painted the image above, with the teal truck. There are plenty of fun little run down buildings scattered around, but this one stood out for having so much character, and being right there on the edge of town… the first building people will see on their way into Makawao.

11×14″ Painting this scene felt like a mix of hawaiian scenery, and what I know from home in Maine. I love painting backlit harbors, and I always like the way the red of a stop sign jumps out at a viewer and makes them pause for a second in the image. This scene also has the tall island of Lanai in the background and the two great palm trees to shake things up with their warm, rich greens.

I’ll post more images from this trip when I have time.

It feels really good to have a cleaner work and living space. I’m really psyched to have my studio more organized. I still have some work to do getting rid of things, but it’s getting better. With all of the space I have, it’s been unbelievable how much junk I can accumulate. I want to try to keep things tidier where I paint. A clean studio actually makes it easier for me to focus.

The painting above is a rare experience for me. I can almost always remember tons of information about the experience of making a painting. This painting isn’t even that old (it was done this past fall), and I can’t remember where I painted it. I remember much more about my thoughts as I worked. This is an 8×10″ panel and I remember putting together a very simple composition and playing around with the subtle shifts in color of the scene. I remember getting everything pretty well organized, and then deciding to go in with pretty thick paint in a few places and getting a kick out of the texture, the way the texture was able to give information about shifts in the grass. I remember liking the way the foreground greens are a bit cleaner and more sour than the greens near the horizon. I have very specific memories about the interaction I was having with the surface of the painting. I remember all of this, but have no idea where I painted it.

I’m spending the day doing some house/studio cleaning. Right now bread is baking in the oven and as soon as that’s ready I’m headed back to the studio to start painting. I’ve been struggling a bit in the studio these days. I did some plein air painting recently, which felt great, but I’m having a tough time keeping that momentum when I get inside.

The painting above is an 8×10 painting of some trees in my backyard just before sunset. I’m really enjoying these snow paintings.

Here’s a fun quote from Delacroix about how excited he was by the helpfulness of photography in studying nature: “How I regret that such a wonderful invention arrived so late, I mean as far as I am concerned! The possibility of studying such results would have had an influence on me which I can only imagine by the usefulness which they still have for me, even with the little time that I can give to serious study. They are palpable demonstrations of the free design of nature, of which we have hitherto had only very imperfect ideas.” Quoted from the book “The Painter and the Photograph.”

I was recently emailed asking for advice on painting snow. So I decided to post my response here, since this is something I’ve been thinking about lately as I paint outside.The image above is from last winter, and is mostly the side of a white house, but the ideas are all the same. The painting above is 30×40″.

As for painting snow… as always, paint what you see. The most helpful hints are probably things that will help you notice certain light/color effects. Once you notice them, you can try to paint them. First of all, snow isn’t white. It’s many colors. Snow can reflect the blue sky at mid day or a yellow sky in the evening. Snow can reflect the color of a nearby building. Snow on the roof of a building will be a different color than the snow on the ground in front of that building. On the roof the snow may be angled to reflect more of the sky color, or less. There may be a tree somewhere changing the amount of light that hits the snow. Snow is a great equalizer in the landscape. In a field of grass there are variations in how the light hits different parts, but there is also a change in how the local color of the grass… some will be greener than others, some may go a bit browner. With snow, however, the whiteness of the snow should be pretty uniform, so you are really getting a chance to study how light is working its way across the landscape. Yesterday I painted a white building in a field of snow, and it was amazing to try to figure out which way the different whites were leaning in hue and value.

For practical tips, I would say to be very careful to look at where the whitest white is. Note that spot, and then look at how much darker in tone different parts of the snow are in comparison. Try to notice if the whitest white is even pure white. It might not be. Painting a snowy field can be like a study in subtle shifts of grays. As important as tone is for getting a sense of light, you should also look for a temperature shift. These tone and color shifts are all exaggerated when you look into the sun and a snow covered trail, path, tree or building is backlit. These things are less obvious when the sun is at your back. Most importantly, paint what you see. And if the painting isn’t working, compare it to what you see happening in nature.

The last few days I’ve managed to get outside and do a little bit of painting. Nothing too ambitious, but I’ve been able to manage some small paintings despite the cold. We got a lot of snow over the last week, and it’s been really fun to watch it come down and tuck all of the houses in. There’s something oddly comforting about piles of snow gathered up around a home. The painting above was done on Seven Tree Pond before the snow, when the lake was frozen over, except for a slice of exposed water off in the distance. The day was mostly overcast, but when I painted this, at noon, there was a bit of sky with sunset colors. It was very odd for the middle of the day.

I’ll try to put together some photos of these winter paintings. It’s been a lot of fun focusing on colorful greys and whites.

Also, I was featured in a blog, Judson’s Plein Air Journal, a few days ago. This looks like a great site to look for plein air gear. I’ve just been browsing around. I like looking for new toys, or better ideas for my plein air set up.

The opening reception yesterday at the Camden Library exhibition went very well. I appreciate the effort everyone made to come out to the show.

For those of you interested in learning about this year’s workshops, here’s what I have planned so far. This year I am only teaching 3 workshops. Last year these classes all filled up pretty quickly, so if you are interested in one of these classes you may want to get in touch with the organizers soon.

May 8-9 at River Arts

and

June 12-13 at River Arts

Damariscotta, Maine

207 563 1507

Sept 13-17 Coastal Maine Art Workshops

Rockland, Maine

207 594 4813

In these workshops we’ll be working on fundamentals of good picture making, focusing on painting the landscape outdoors in oils. There is a great amount of value in painting from nature. I’ll use demos and one on one time with students to teach about paint handling, composition, color, drawing, and how to look more carefully.

If you have any questions about the class feel free to get in touch with me. If you want to sign up for a class, call or email the organizer directly.

I have a few more images of paintings that are in the Camden Library show, which has a reception this Saturday from 3-5pm. These images are all 8×10″ oil paintings on linen panels.

This show consists of paintings done around Camden, Maine this past fall. If you are in town it’s worth a visit. Yesterday I stopped in to see it and was really pleased with how the pieces look together.

I really enjoyed working on these small panels and playing with some more adventurous color in some pieces. At this scale the brushwork was also fun to experiment with. I tried to get a variety in detail, thickness of paint, width of brushes, and expressive strokes.

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