Blue skies and high tide...

This is the Blue Skies, a fishing boat in Provincetown, MA. I spent a week painting with friends in Ptown and had a really wonderful experience. This painting was started at mid tide on the pier and was a challenge to paint as the tide came in and the boat kept getting higher and higher. I knew this would be a handful, but I thought it was worth the challenge so I  gave it a try, and in the end I was really pleased with the painting I got.

When I was finished with this painting I turned around and saw the boats around me had all risen and were these towering shapes all around the pier. I made a point of coming back the next day to paint those great dramatic shapes of these huge dark fishing vessels looming over the pier.

Portraits...

During my trip to the cape with friends, I had the chance to work on my skills at painting portraits. In the evenings and on rainy days we would pose for each other or hire a model to sit. I had a really hard time in the beginning, but I learned a lot from talking to friends who do this quite a bit; like Ignat Ignatov, Jeremy Lipking, Logan Hagege and some of the others. These guys do some beautiful figures and I really enjoyed picking up some ideas from them. The painting above is a really quick sketch that I did of fellow painter, Stapleton Kearns, when he was painting near me. He didn’t pose, but he was returning to the same general position so that I could get this quick painting in.  It’s the least refined of the portraits I worked on, but I like the gesture a lot.

PopTech...

PopTech is happening in Camden this weekend, so the town has a lot of interesting people walking around. This is an annual festival, similar to TEDtalks. As described on it’s own website, PopTech “brings together 700 influential participants for one of the world’s best thought leadership events: a shared exploration of the issues, trends and technologies that will shape the future of our businesses, economy, society and world. Each PopTech conference offers unparalleled networking, jaw-dropping demos of breakthrough technologies, amazing artistic performances, and an incredible array of new ideas presented in an intimate and informal setting.” The PopTech speaker I’m really hoping to run into is Jad Abumrad, host and producer of Radio Lab, my favorite podcast/npr show. The show is unbelievably good and well worth checking out.

The painting above was done a few weeks ago when the leaves were just starting to change. 8×10″ oil on raymar panel.

Addison Reception on Saturday...

Provincetown Tower 8×10″ Painted on the beach on the east side of Provincetown, in Cape Cod.

This Saturday night there is a reception for a show of paintings that were done over the past two weeks on Cape Cod. I was part of a group of about 15 guys who were all living and painting together on the cape. We were mostly painting the landscape all over town, but also did some figure work during bad weather and spent a lot of evenings working on portraits after dinner. The trip was a blast and I learned a lot from being around so many great artists. If you are on the cape this weekend you should try to stop by and see the show at the Addison Gallery in Orleans. Participating artists are: Colin Page, Frank Gardner, Paul Schulenberg, Jerome Greene, Stapleton Kearns, Marc Hanson, Dan Corey, Ian Factor, Jeremy Lipking, Ernesto Nemesio, Eric Merrel, Logan Hagege, Ignat Ignatov, Peter Khalil, Jim Coe, Rick Casselli, Jeff Bonasia, and Michael Klein.

Tidal Marsh 8×10″. Painted in Wellfleet, MA.

January 15- February 28 there will be a show of our work at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, with a reception on Friday Feb 18. On Saturday, Feb 19, there will also be a reception at the Addison Gallery in Orleans where we will be showing a larger selection of pieces that we painted during our trip. I hope to see some of you at the opening this Saturday from 5:30 to 7:30.

Focus on painting...

This is an older painting that I just got back from a gallery.  It’s 8×10″ and was painted on a cold windy day and still reminds me of standing in this parking lot totally bundled up and freezing.

The last few days I have been taking advantage of the good weather to paint non-stop. I have been working all day and all night getting tons of work in and some studies and some finished paintings that I have been really happy with. I am also wearing myself out completely, so I’m off to bed so that I can get some more work in tomorrow. At the end of this week I’m hoping to have some pics to share.