Plein Air Painting

January 19th, 2013

January 19th, 2013

January 19th, 2013
Banners Flying
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
Oil on Canvas. 15 x 30 in
(sold)

Plein air painting is a totally different animal than your controlled environment type painting. I am sure I’m a broken record about this, but I drive myself nuts trying to keep up with the subtle changes of tone that occur throughout the day – and at a much higher rate in winter, mind you, than summer. The light is constantly in flux, and wind – there was a lot of it when I painted this, the grasses were waving and so was my entire canvas, rattling in the wind. So, motion everywhere, and I’m like the hamster in the wheel, trying to stay in motion so I maintain some semblance of a chance of capturing some essence of what I see. It’s about honing my relationship with the present moment, that fleeting little s.o.b. Sometimes I feel I achieve it better than others. Guess how I feel about this one.

January 12th, 2013

January 12th, 2013

January 12th, 2013
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
Oil on Canvas, 14 x 18 in

There was a stunningly high tide today, and since I was wearing my tall rubber boots I decided to wade in a little to find a good spot to paint. It was then I learned that my rubber boots are full of holes. I stayed anyway, but confess that dreams of warm and dry feet were my main focus, the painting probably suffered as a result. I may tweak this one a bit, but am inclined to leave it as it stands for the most part.

January 5th, 2013

January 5th, 2013

January 5th, 2013
Work in Progress
Oil on Canvas, 18 x 24 in
(sold)

January 5th, 2013

This is only the second time since I began Plein air in 2011 that I’ve been fortunate enough to paint snow – and what we had was disappearing, so I chose to sit in the shade where there was more of it. However, I’m just recovering after a bout with the new flu – so got rather cold rather quickly. I might try to finish this, or I might leave it as is, as a study.

Upside Down

December 30th, 2012

(sold)

For some reason I can’t make this right-side up, no matter what I try – but the world WAS upside down that day. This was how I spent the Saturday following Newtown. Staring into the water at Half Moon Beach, Gloucester, and rejoicing gratefully at every squeal of childish laughter that came within my hearing. Lots of families were out, enjoying each other and life – that and the beauty of the water did wonders for me. The final painting is not as nice as this one, half way though.

Silent Watchers of the Night

Nov 30th, 2012

Silent Watchers of the Night
Oil on Masonite, 24 x 30 in
(sold)

Now that I see it here I see a few more things I need to fix – this is the penultimate pic of my newest painting. This time of evening, dusk, I always find inexpressably sad – but because I’m a little odd, when I saw these dead trees watching over the frozen marsh at dusk, I found them deeply comforting. Something in the way they stood together as a front or a community – against the cold, in spite of death.

Come Healing

November 16th-17th, 2012

Come Healing
November 16th-17th, 2012
Oil on Masonite, 24 x 30 in
(sold)

Once again sidelined with health problems, I worked on this indoors of a scene I’d seen on a walk recently. While painting I listened to Leonard Cohen’s new album, one song in particular seemed to speak to, and speak for, the very core of my being

In particular:
Behold the gates of mercy
In arbitrary space
And none of us deserving
The cruelty or the grace

Oh solitude of longing
Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind.”

Oct 26th-28th, 2012

Oct 26th-28th, 2012

Oct 26th-28th, 2012
Hallelulia
Oil on Canvas, 24 x 36
(sold)

Looking up into the maples in the back yard, this time of year the braches look to me like outstretched arms joyfully lifting up offerings of colour. I need to re-take this photo when there is better light, some of it (top left) is blanched.
Incidentally, as I was painting the upper branches, I realized it was reminding me of a book from my childhood I’d long since forgotten. I think it was by Leo Leoni and instead of orange leaves they were goldfish… I wish I could remember the name of the book.

October 27th, 2012

October 27th, 2012

October 27th, 2012
That slow fire of Decay
Cox Reservation, Essex Greenbelt, Essex MA
Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 in

Looking as the sun filters through leaves and seeing jewel tones, stained glass everywhere… this was one I tried to “fix” when I got home, and it changed a lot.