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.

This week on Tuesday I headed out to do some painting. The weather has turned colder here in the last couple of days, with lows dropping into the 20s overnight and daytime highs barely hitting the upper 30s. In fact, it was so cold and clear today that when I stopped at Niles Beach to see if there was anything worth painting there, I noticed you could see the Boston skyline on the horizon. That’s clean air! When I started to paint last March, I experienced the same kind of paint-handling problems as I did this time, I just was inexperienced and didn’t realize that it was because of the cold that my paint would curdle up on the panel as I brushed it around. Between the curdling paint and the staccato tremors in my hands due to the cold, I ended up with a less than satisfactory painting, which you can see here:

Good Harbor Beach, 5x7, oil on panel.

You can see a close up of the sandy, lumpy texture here:

Good Harbor Beach, detail.

So, the next day I decided to minimize weather considerations and paint from the relative warmth and comfort of my car. I also switched to watercolor, in order to not leave a mess on the front seat. So, it wasn’t a total loss. I have to find a small dropper bottle to carry some denatured alcohol with me, as Richard Schmid claims that this will help keep the paints fluid in cold weather. I’ll report back when I know if it works or not.

Folly Cove Waves, 9x12", watercolor.

Forgotten Industry, 12×16″, oil on canvas panel. Inquire.

Today I set out to do some plein air painting, but was stymied by the fact that the view I wanted to paint was right at the edge of a busy road with no shoulder. So, having to settle for a photo, I meandered around taking reference shots. I decided to go down to the old paint factory on the eastern tip of Gloucester’s Inner Harbor, and just as I was about to leave, Jeff Weaver pulled up to do a sketch of his own. We chatted and I took some reference shots, and Jeff was kind enough to let me stand there and watch him paint. He claimed I was going to get to know all of his secrets, but the only secret I saw was a master draughtsman taking the time to get the drawing right first and correcting anything he noticed was off as he started intermediary steps. While it’s not really a secret, it is the key to good realism painting and something that so few people take the time to do.

In the afternoon, I still had a hankering to get a painting in, so I went to the Cape Ann Tool building, which stands slowly rusting on Pigeon Cove. The painting is above. I would love for that building to be an art space/studio, but I don’t have the funds to make it a reality right now. Maybe I can spearhead an effort to get the building repurposed…although it’s supposed to be converted into condos and a storefront, even though the project proposal claims a completion date of 2006.

Oh, and finally, a shout to Joey Ciaramitaro of Good Morning Gloucester, who posted the show opening notice on his blog today. Thanks Joey! Hopefully your broad reach will help people find our little shindig this Friday night. Come one, come all! Details are here at the Cove Gallery site.

The blog has been kind of quiet lately, hasn’t it? I apologize for those of you who look forward to reading it on a (semi) regular basis. It’s been very busy here, and like I said, a lot of the pieces I’m working on haven’t been ones I can show just yet.

I worked with the owner to the gallery I’m showing at, and we’ve put together a nifty little website there. Take a look, browse around, join the mailing list. There will be a very nice shot of the front and inside of the gallery on the front page as soon as her husband gets around to taking it. In other words, please excuse the dust, we’re not quite finished with it yet.

Also, I think I might look to phasing out the Etsy site. I’ve never had a sale there, and with my items starting to go into galleries, the logical thing would seem to be to end that site and direct people here or to the gallery. So, from now on, you’ll see an “inquire” link after paintings that are for sale. E-mail me if you’re interested in a purchase.

Meanwhile, I took our puppy to get her first haircut at the groomer today, and she looks great. While I was there, I painted this piece, Kettle Island and Great Egg Rock, oil on panel, 9×12″. Inquire.

I also have been working on a couple of studio pieces. Here are the work-in-progress shots:

Two Fishermen, work in progress.

Lane House, work in progress.

Queen Anne’s Lace, 8×10″, oil on linen panel.

Today it supposed to storm something nasty, so I got this one in quick before it hits. It’s breezy and humid out there, certainly feels like a storm brewing…

Tide Pools, 11×14″, oil on canvas panel.

Red Boat in Lobster Cove, 5×7″, oil on panel.

Here are the pieces I did the last two days. Conditions today were very windy and my subject (Red Boat) on the water meant there was no windbreak anywhere nearby. I still think I managed to capture the values and colors though, even if the boat was swinging back and forth on its mooring the whole time.

Tulips, 11×14″, oil on canvas panel.

A quick sketch of tulips in the backyard garden.

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.

Imagined Portrait, 18.75×24″, oil on MDF.

Well, today I wanted to do something slightly different, and after seeing this piece by Casey Baugh, had the desire to paint a nice head. No models being on hand, I just made one up out of my head. I think that it turned out alright. I was trying to use very light shadows to give a certain effect without losing too much form, and I think I got that ok…

As for the tree piece, these are two stages of the painting. (I didn’t get a shot of the first day, where it was all just reddish lines indicating the forms.) I still have some work to do on the main tree and the secondary tree, and some of the foreground elements need to be resolved. (Or left as is, I haven’t decided yet.) Anyway, this is the last you’ll hear from me until next week Tuesday. Have a great weekend.

Waring Field, 11×14″, oil on canvas panel.

Spring Leaves, 11×14″, oil on canvas panel.

Well, today is another gorgeous spring day, and I’m lucky enough to be outside painting. I tried to capture the look of the sunlight coming through the young spring leaves on the small trees and bushes in this sketch. I think it worked rather well.

By the way, please feel free to leave critiques in the comments section. Much as I love to watch myself type, I’d like to see your thoughts too. I can take whatever cruel inhumane things you might have to say, so don’t worry about my feelings, I’ve got a thick skin. And what’s more, I’ll use your comment to make myself faster, stronger…a better painter all around.

Pier House Roof, 11×14″, oil on canvas panel.

Ted, 11×14″, oil on canvas panel, NFS.

Well, we have two paintings today, one a study of a great old building which was just sagging on its pier out into Gloucester Harbor. I liked the look of it so much, I think I might go back and paint it again, to try and get the whole thing in, instead of just a section of the roof. One of the things I liked so much about it was the haphazard collection of windows on the side, and the slight sag to the roof. I had to move my easel a couple of times, because the sun kept climbing over the building I was using for shade.

The other painting is a portrait study of one of my neighbors, who was asked to sit for the Rockport Art Association’s portrait sketch session as a substitute last night. He is either naturally very ruddy or got a lot of sun yesterday, when it was near 80 and just perfect, weather-wise.

Along High Street, 5×7″, oil on panel.

Another bit of painting, this time a couple of blocks from my house. There are little ponds everywhere around here from rainwater collecting in pits that were dug out by the people quarrying granite.

Salt Marsh, Essex, 5×7″, oil on panel.

Thought I would get back to painting some landscapes today. This is a lovely area of salt water marsh at the Essex River delta. The fields of wild reeds and grass are still brown and flattened.

Wave Study, 5×7″, oil on panel.

I’m attempting to get a better handle on what makes water look the way it does. Therefore, this is a small study of a tiny section of sloshing waves. Water is much more difficult to paint correctly than I realized.

Quarry Wall, 5×7″, oil on panel.

…speaks for itself, I think.

Essex Watertower, 5×7″, oil on panel.

Today I tried to capture some of that dewy fresh morning feel in the landscape.

This afternoon, I will be working on a larger piece and trying some new approaches as well as trying to get a really satisfyingly finished piece. I need scintillation in the colors and some depth to the paint, and plein air alla prima painting doesn’t allow much of that, at least not at the size I’m painting at.

Tonight I’m going to check out a portrait paint sketch session at the Rockport Art Association. Should be a good time. Let’s hope they have an interesting face for us.

Jones River Landing, 5×7″, oil on panel.

Well, this painting is a cautionary tale about not letting the sunlight hit your palette and canvas. While this painting looks great in the bright morning sun on an early spring day, it looks miserable under the studio lights used to photograph it. All of the depth and color is sucked out of the blue, and generally it looks poor. Lesson learned.

Tomorrow is another day.

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?

Mud Flats, Annisquam River, 5×7″, oil on panel.

Well it was a crisp morning today, and the colors were very clean, so that was a nice challenge. These colors looked incredibly garish when I was painting this, mainly because everything looks brighter and more vivid in the direct sunlight, so I was really worried about the piece being a disaster, but I trusted the colors that I mixed in the shade, and it looks pretty nice indoors, under artificial light, which is where it would be seen most often anyway.

One thing I find is that I very rarely use more than one or two brushes when I’m out doing these little pieces. I guess one, there just doesn’t seem to be time to switch brushes constantly, and two, if you find the right size brush, you should be able to make it do all of the rough little shapes you need it to do anyway.

Does anyone else find this to be true?

Oh, and I’m reading John F. Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting, which very good reading so far. It was mentioned in a video by Richard Schmid, and it is really an excellent primer on landscape painting.