Back from Maine

I had a great Thanksgiving in Portland and am now back to work. My daughter and I stopped at her friend's organic vegetable farm as well and got a tour. What a great thing to see - they are making a living selling at the farmer's markets. The weather was drizzly, the meal was wonderful and it was nice to get away to a place without streetlights. I have been working on a commission but decided to take a break and do something really small. I did another beach figure thing this afternoon - it is 5" square and the smallest picture I have ever done (probably including drawings). It wasn't all that uncomfortable so I am learning.

Roger Williams Park - 10x8

I just began this picture but didn't think I would even have time for this much this week! Went painting with Kathy Weber on Saturday and wiped out several starts but took some photos. I am off to Portland for Thanksgiving at my son's and will be incommunicado for several days. I hope anyone who might read this blog has a very happy Thanksgiving.

feed the blog

I read this term on another blog and it is totally true. Normally it isn't a problem when you paint every day but occasionally one has a spell where nothing clicks or you just cannot post what you are working on. I have painted outside for 2 straight days with not much to show for the effort. So (out of pressure mostly) I am posting what I did today since the upcoming week might be difficult - I am cooking and going to Maine for Thanksgiving.

late summer lawn - 10x8

Today began with a torrential downpour and changed into pure beauty..........too bad I absolutely had to go to Providence and buy paint. The weather was warm but the grass isn't as green as it was in August. Sorry about the glare but it was too late to go outside with my camera.

walker's fall - 10x8

This was wicked hard to do - mixing oranges. yellow greens and tannish pumpkins that are all basically the same value without washing them out was quite a challenge. When I went outside to take the photo I noticed that someone had stolen one of the green plastic chairs off of my porch. This kind of thing always bothers me not because of the value of the item stolen but because I cannot imagine what possesses someone to do this............do they need the thing so badly or are they just total jerks? One time someone stole a small bottle of that bubble solution that kids play with (I confess they were mine). Too weird.

Tuesday

No verbal imagination today for titles.......instead of running out to buy Sarah Palin's new book I decided to finish this painting and begin another. I mean, isn't her book pretty much a figment of her own imagination?

sakonnet light/completed - 10x8

This picture was taken in actual daylight because it wasn't raining! I went out for a hike this morning to Fort Barton in Tiverton. Despite living about three miles from the place I have never gone there; it was breathtaking! I will have to go back on a day when I can actually see the harbor but what a vista and what a painting spot. I read all of the historical signs and discovered that it was an important place during the Revolutionary War when the British invaded Adquidneck Island and Newport. I hiked in for a couple of miles until I felt like I was serving in the war due to the amount of gunfire that was constantly off in the distance. I know there is no hunting there but I started to get a bit concerned anyway..........another hiker told me that the shots were coming from someones private shooting range and were much farther away than they seemed (she also said that they had a knife-throwing range which kind of creeped me out). I still have not figured out how to post 2 photos so they lay out well!

north tiverton 10x8

Since I usually work on several paintings at once, I find myself in the position of having to show partially completed work...........this is one of those that I have been working on today since the Sakonnet picture is still too wet to do what I want to do with it. I am also working on a larger commissioned piece which I cannot post yet. Today was a total washout as far as weather went and the vendors at the farmer's market were packing up to leave at 9am. Later in the day the rain let up and I took a walk to get some milk; the world was all misty and warm and foggy. Tonight I will probably hear the foghorns so I am happy.

sakonnet light - 10x8

I was waiting for it to get light today so I could take some photos but, alas, it never really did.......at least it was pretty warm. We are supposed to get heavy wind and rain tonight and tomorrow; a remnant of TS Ida merged with another low pressure system. I feel bad for the vendors at the farmer's market - another wretched Saturday and the second to last of the year. I have been wicked busy the last few days; framing and delivering work to both galleries. The painting time I have had has been sort of chopped up and, yesterday, I could not get a decent photo so I thought I would wait. Have had the chance to add some detail to the factory painting and begin the Sakonnet light picture.

factory light 8x10

I am unsure if I will be able to post since I am getting some weird "cookie message" for the first time in months and I have no desire to figure it out at the moment. So, this is a test of sorts and I might have to post the photo separately. Well, I guess it worked since the picture is there........I have more refining to do but decided to post it anyway since I might not have the time to get on the computer for the next day or so and do not wish to get out of the habit of daily entries when at all possible. This picture would have been done except that there is a lot of heavy paint and I could not get the details I wanted without them disappearing into the already heavy and very wet paint.

beach series 10" square

I have discovered the liberation of naming things "series;" no trite or awkward titles! Just a thought.

Fogland study - 10x8

It is just so warm out today that I had to go to the beach. Even this time of year Sundays can be difficult, crowded with dog walkers and the like. Today was no exception and by the time I was ready to paint the left foreground the area was packed with cars. It's nice that I feel like I have enough painting time now that I feel free enough to do studies and experiment. I would have liked to finish that area better but it was OK and I had fun.

Gooseberry Beach dwellings - 24x18

I have had tonight's posting kicking around for years and have never come even close to finishing it.........probably because I had been squeezing painting time in around my nightly 3x11 shift and partly because I had just picked up oils again after years and my knowledge and abilities wouldn't permit me to go further than I had. For some strange reason I put it on my large easel tonight after working on another beach series picture for much of the day today. I have been eyeing this old thing for quite awhile knowing that I wasn't going to reuse the canvas and would likely feel the urge to finish it; the time seems to have come. The buildings in this painting have been renovated and, though they remain and look like buildings that would be more valuable and more pleasant to live in, they have lost the essence that I found so wonderful in the first place. I might not show it again for a bit but I am committed to finish it now.

The opening last night was fun and I sold a painting! I met a bunch of other artists from this area that I had not met before..............all in all it was nice to get out with other like minded people and socialize for a change.

portrait study 9x12

I can not go anywhere near my paints at the moment since I have put on decent clothes for the opening of the new gallery in Westport tonight..............trust me it's not easy to pull an outfit together these days! It almost makes me want to buy a dress since I wouldn't have to worry about coordinating anything. I could throw it in the back of my closet for events like this.......but then I would have to have dressy shoes and pantyhose and that stops me right there. So, I put my brushes down about two hours ago and don't dare go near what I am working on since paint seems to fly onto my clothes from quite a distance. This portrait is from the past year and I don't remember when.

part 2

I finished the Gaspee today, removing the pilings on the left because I felt that they interrupted the flow of things. I am now going to be showing my work at a new gallery that is opening in Westport, MA. The name is: Central Village Art Gallery at 770 Main Road. I am excited to be a part of this undertaking which represents a group of very good local artists. The opening is tomorrow evening from 4-8 pm.

2 step process - Gaspee 8x10

I went to figure drawing this morning and tried to finish this one when I got home but have to wait till tomorrow. It is so wet that I could go no further. I did color studies on site yesterday and then roughed this out in umber when I got home. This tug is docked and hasn't moved for months; the guys who let me into their parking lot told me that a guy lives on it and, sure enough, I noticed a grill off to the side. I wonder how he gets water..........the boat is named the "Gaspee."

better photo 8x10

This photo is much better and the painting is done. It was beautiful here today and I went out to paint color studies near the state pier this morning............back to work.

braids 10x8

This is a very bad photo of an unfinished picture; it should be finished by tomorrow. I started the day by meeting some other members of the Monday morning group to paint outside. It was one of those chilly New England days at the shore - all grey horizontals and very windy to boot. We all retired to Lee's for coffee, checked out another site when it began to rain and then split up accepting the reality of an indoor day. I worked as long as I could but it is way too wet to proceed and way too dark to judge color properly.

bev's backyard 8x10

The light in my friend Bev's backyard was beautiful the other day so I took some photos. My neighborhood, on the other hand, isn't and when I went for a walk this morning I saw tons of gang graffiti spray painted on the back of the elementary school that closed last year......I think I might do a painting of it anyway just to see if I can make it work.