Hey look, a lobster boat…

This is a quiet painting, but I like the simplicity of the scene. Now that the warm weather is here, it’s more appealing to look out to the islands and harbors. My favorite time for this kind of scene is early morning or late evening, more for the calm than the light. I love seeing the water calm down to a glassy surface and feeling the peace of the wind dying down. This was painted on a morning with lots of atmosphere and calm water that slowly rippled before wind wiped out all of the reflections. This is a 12×16″ painting.

I did a road trip up north last week. It was fun to paint some new scenery, including this 24×24″ view across the harbor looking at Stonington. It was fun to work on this one because of all of the variations in the whites of the buildings. It’s a bit of a strange composition, but I like the blocky look to it. I’ve been working on painting more front-lit scenes. It’s a good challenge to work with the subtleties and warmth of this kind of light.

A few weeks ago I drove to Pemaquid Lighthouse with plans to paint the rocky shore. It’s one of my favorite spots these days. As I walked up the rocks for a lunch break I saw this view of the bell house and the lightkeeper’s home. It was one of those moments that stopped me in my tracks as a possible painting subject. I’ve seen this view many times, but I think it was the light at just this time of day that grabbed my attention. I’ve been getting a kick out of painting buildings where the sun is just leaving one side of the building and beginning to hit the next side with stronger light. You can see this in the subtle shift in red between the right and left sides of the bell house. You can also see it in the color shifts in the whites of the house in the background. Those color changes on white walls are fascinating to me.

So I moved my easel up to this spot and painted this 12×16″ canvas, thinking that if it worked out I might try it for a larger painting. I was really happy with this study, so a week later I went back with a 36×72″ canvas, and painted a similar composition. I got a good start on that one, and am now tweaking it in the studio, but I’m optimistic about how it’s going so far. I’ll post a pic soon.

This Saturday I’ll be giving a gallery talk at Greenhut Gallery in Portland, ME. I always get a little nervous for these things, so I’m putting together ideas that I’ll want to talk about. After such a long stretch of beautiful weather and lots of long days of painting, it feels good to sit in side and rest a little as I plan my talk. My body gets so worn down from spending all day standing in the sun and wind while I paint, that eventually I’ll start looking forward to a rainy day. After a few full days of painting, I start waking up with what I call a “painting hangover,” achy tired muscles and a foggy head. So at this point I’m happy to be forced inside by the weather.  I can never take a day off when the sun is shining without feeling incredibly guilty.

Not to worry though, the sun is coming back early next week and I have a few painting spots in mind.

Warm days are here and I’m trying to make the most of them. I’ve been getting most excited to paint in some new places, but they are a bit of a drive. I’m loving Pemaquid Pt, and some of the other locations at the end of the peninsulas. Sometimes I need some fresh subject matter to get me fired up for painting. These days that exciting subject matter means doing some small road trips and bringing fresh eyes. I have plans for a few other long drives planned to paint in some of my less explored areas around here.

Tonight is my opening at Greenhut Gallery in Portland from 5-7pm. Stop by and say hi if you’re in town. I’m really proud of this work and hope you get a chance to see the show, even if it’s not tonight for the opening. I’ll also be giving a gallery talk on Saturday May11 at 1:30pm.

This week is the opening reception for my show at Greenhut Gallery in Portland, ME on Thursday May2 from 5-7pm. Come by for a visit. Tell your friends. Help spread the word.

The painting above was done on a recent afternoon, and I had a lot of fun putting this together. The boat was a little backlit, which made the contrast in values pretty pronounced. I wanted to keep a lot of color in the painting, so I tried to push the colors I saw in the darks. Instead of painting things as dark as I saw them, I kept the values just a bit lighter and made the colors richer.

I liked this scene so much that I went back the next morning to see how it would look front lit. I tried it again with a similar composition, but opposite light conditions. At least that’s how I started, until clouds came in and I ended up spending much more time painting in overcast conditions. I’ll post that painting in my next blog entry and talk more about my experience painting it.

I had a tough time painting this one as the light changed quickly and the wind blew like crazy. This was one of those paintings that I didn’t think would work out, but once I got it home I was very pleased. It can be hardest to know how a painting is going while still working on it. This is a 16×12″ painting, but I’m thinking of trying this on a larger canvas. Hopefully I can get that done before the tourists arrive in Camden this summer.

I’ve been having fun painting more reflective water. I’m looking forward to painting more scenes like this as we get warmer and more stable weather. Early mornings on the harbor can be a great time to catch something like this. This 20×24″ painting was done on location in Owls Head harbor.