Crash!...

This winter I’ve been doing a few rocky shore studies. I have lots of photos of several different rocky shore scenes around Maine, and I’ve been using them for references for lots of these. There is a lot of freedom in how I put these scenes together, so I can construct some of the landscape myself, in order to end up with a composition I like, and I can also choose the wave reference that works best for that particular scene. This painting is one that I had fun building my own rocky shore composition, but it’s mostly based on photos of Acadia National Park near Thunder Hole.

Another Snow Day...

This was the morning after our last big snowfall. I went out looking for a place to paint, and remembered this spot as I drove through Rockland. I’ve painted it a few times in the spring and summer, but it was like a whole new scene covered in snow. One of the things I like about this composition is the repetition of triangles as you travel along the roof line. I also find it a good challenge to try to capture the subtle color shifts within all of these “white” surfaces.

Maine Eastern Railroad...

I first saw this train in January on a cold and windy day… way too harsh for plein air painting. Ever since then, I’ve been hoping for enough of a break in the weather for me to get out and paint it. About 2 weeks ago I finally got my chance, and I painted teh 18×24″ painting above. I’m hoping to try a painting of this train again in the summer, but it runs back and forth to Portland in the warmer months. Even this winter I’ve seen it change positions already, so it must be doing occasional trips in the cold.

I’m not normally nostalgic about old trains, but seeing this train in person I was drawn to the color scheme, and the dramatic perspective.

It’s still not really warm out yet, but I have been having a great time getting outside to do some plein air work. I have a new harbor view that Ive really been enjoying, and I think it’ll be interesting to paint that scene as it transitions from the snow scenes I’ve done recently (posts with images coming soon) to spring and summer colors. I’m really starting to itch to paint the rich colors of spring.

Figure studies...

I’ve had a few opportunities to do some figure painting this winter. Mostly at an open drawing session, where I am forced into painting quick studies like the one above. In the beginning of the session I’ll do some drawing, but once we get to longer poses of 10-15 minutes I switch to oils and work on quick impressions of the model. I believe this painting was from a 15-20 minute pose. i want to make sure I get the proportions right, but I’m also hoping to get a good sense of the color of the light hitting the model.

The painting below was done in a similar time frame. Both of these are 8×10″ paintings.

Canoe Club...

Things are getting a little warmer here in Maine and I’m getting excited to be back out side painting more often. This happens to be a scene from my trip to Maui, but I’m looking forward to warm days like this here at home.

I have always struggled a bit with trying to paint dappled light, but when I saw this scene in Maui I wanted to give it a try.