Sunburst over Ragged Ledge, 5x7", oil on panel.

This piece was done on Monday. The wind on the east side of the island was brutal, so I had to resort to doing some jumping jacks to stay warm, even though the temperature was a very un-Decembery 60 degrees. This was painted from the same vantage point as Kettle Island and Great Egg Rock.

Junior Regatta, 5×7″, oil on panel.

Sorry to have been MIA for so long. I’ve been working on a commission for some friends and I know they read this blog so I couldn’t post any progress pictures. Anyway, this little number was done in about 30 minutes, with some heavy-handed bristle brush action that I think really captures the feeling of wind. I’m pretty happy with the study.

Halibut Point House, 8×10:, oil on linen panel.

I’m told that there are wild berries that grow on this rocky escarpment. With all of that sun, you know that they’ll be good.

Distant Wake, 8×10″, oil on canvas panel.

Rainshower over Ipswich Bay, 5×7″, oil on panel.

Buoys, 11×14″, oil on canvas panel.

Well, after a very nice class this weekend at The Art Bootcamp, I’m back painting, and getting some work done.

And, I sold some paintings to a very kind woman who was attending the bootcamp. That felt good. For those of you keeping track, Walnut and Penny, Soap Bottle and Forty Cents are no longer available for purchase.

Atlantic Path, 5×7″, oil on panel.

It’s really turning into spring rapidly around here, and the greens are getting a little brighter and more vivid.

This painting was made on a footpath that runs along the coastline rocks. It’s a great little feature of Rockport. Although this is technically private land, there is a long public footpath that stretches along the coast, allowing everyone and not only the people who can afford it, access to the natural beauty of the area. The paths are marked with small signs, but you kind of have to know that they exist, and in that way they’re a great local secret. As my wife and I get to know the area, the more we love it.

I’ve also been having a conversation with Jerry Sumpter over at Überart about the need for opinion in art criticism and the ways to dissect the aspects of painting in order to evaluate the artist’s achievement on each in turn. Morgan Meis at The Smart Set recently wrote about how art criticism has lost its ability to make proclamations on whether art is Good or Bad and he seems to be implying that currently the art critic’s role is more as anthropologist in the mind-world of the artist. I tend to agree with him, and certainly the proliferation of different styles and avenues for visual art have made the dividing line between Good and Bad art increasingly fluid or at least difficult to define. The appeal of the art critic as interpreter is obviously strong, but it edges dangerously close to becoming a way to invalidate any criticism: any art is good art if understood on its own terms.

However, if one dismantles the artist’s vehicle: message from form, technique from stylistic choices, one can evaluate each on its own terms and then reassemble them to form a critique that is not only takes the artist’s point of view into account, but is also objective on each facet of the whole work. Do you agree?

At Cove Avenue, 5×7″, oil on panel.

Here’s another small landscape painting. This time, I’m situated on rocks at the end of Cove Avenue. Today I had a nice sunny day, even though the wind was still coming strong off the coast, it livened the colors of the scene dramatically, and I got to play with colors that you wouldn’t really consider neutral. That was nice.

Also, last night I went to my first session at the Rockport Art Association’s weekly figure drawing group. Unfortunately, the model didn’t show up, but on the plus side, it was therefore free and we all took turns sketching each other, so I got to know my classmates’ faces, if not their names. These are all 10 minute sketches.

View from Seaside Cemetery, 5×7″, oil on panel.

Well, today I needed a change of pace, so instead of staying in my nice warm studio, I went out and froze my fingers to the marrow in the north wind off the Atlantic Ocean to get this little landscape. I’m pleased with the sky, but the land needs some serious work in my opinion. There are some pleasant things about the rocks in the foreground and I like the sea spray effects I managed to get, but there’s a lack of focal point that makes it suffer a bit. I think I’ll continue to do these landscapes this week and see if I can’t get something more interesting by Friday.

Also, an interesting aside. As I was walking home, a nice lady from the town asked if she could see the painting. I said sure, and set down my easel so she could take a look at it. “Oh, it reminds me of California! I know where that is, I have that exact painting on my living room wall!” I really didn’t have anything to say to that, but she finished up with, “But it’s not like California today, is it?” And no, it most certainly is not. So I agreed with her and shuffled off. Any ideas on how to respond to the normally inane blather you have to deal with when people stop you when they notice that you’re a -gasp- Painter?