Gallery Talk in Portland...

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.

Summer Days...

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.

Greenhut Opening Tonight!...

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.

Holding Up...

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.

Bayview Street...

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.