for sale – Page 2 – Marianne Thompson

February 21st, 2016

February 21st, 2016
Lake of the Woods
Painted in Gloucester, MA
Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 in

I went to Essex to paint today, and according to my phone I walked 1.35 miles with my 30lb paint bag, easel and palette box and found not one thing that was strong enough to pull me out of a storm cloud in my head. This time of year, when there is no snow, is my least favorite time to paint. I don’t like the colors of all the masses of naked deciduous trees huddled against one another in the cold, the pale dead grass, the dirt and sand every where and even the cedars a strange burntout orange-green. The problem with being a painter, or perhaps the problem with being me, is that whatever I am feeling inside is often all I see outside. I have been able to overcome this sort of mood at other times by focusing on the light – because no matter how dreary and dead the husks of exhausted vegetation appear, one stray shaft of light in the right place or moment can make everything come to an almost beatific life. I didn’t find it today outside. So I made my way home in frustration. I made myself paint anyway, choosing a favorite subject (doubly, 1.water 2.Lake of the Woods) and Cracked ON until it was done. Tomorrow when my fog has cleared I might try to straighten the wobbly horizon but in the meantime, it’s a good example of what I’m starting to think of as expressive impressionism, where what I’m looking at is both a reflection of the place and the emotional state of the person painting it at that moment in time.

January 30th, 2016

January 30th, 2016
Cox Reservation, Essex, MA
Oil on Canvasboard, 12 x 16 in

I had only very small canvases and very large canvases. Having to walk the dog before I go painting and after I come back cuts into the number of daylight hours I can spend out painting, so I opted for the small. It was an overcast, mellow day and these feathery grasses (an invasive species) caught my eye again as they often do. I’ve painted them from a distance, as a body, but I thought I’d try a bit more of a close up. A huge part of the experience of these grasses is the sight of them shimmering in the breezes. The challenge is to show the breeze. I don’t know if I did, but I like the colors – subtle and serene. A good day’s work.

January 9th, 2016

January 9th, 2016
Cox Reservation, Essex, MA
Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 in

It was a dense communion of colors I was taken by, so it was a dense communion of colors I painted. It definitely has an abstracted feel – I was not worried about having a linear subject, only a true patchwork of tone which I think I achieved. I stopped when my hand was too cold to hold my knife, which is always the cue in winter that a painting is done. So, on to the next!

January 7th & 8th, 2016

January 7th & 8th, 2016
Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester, MA
Oil on Canvas, 24 x 30 in

Well you can see, I hope, that this is a fall painting, painted in winter primarily from a photo I took.
I walk this beach at least once a day, and have spent time studying the colors so I think it counts as ALMOST a proper Plein Air.
Again it was the clouds I was focused on. Getting there.

December 19th, 2015

December 19th, 2015
Cox Reservation, Essex, MA
Oil on Canvasboard, 12 x 16 in

I think it is because I have been so non-plussed by this unseasonal weather that the day I finally get out to paint happens to be one of the coldest ones this season, and again I make the fatal mistake of standing out of the sun and in the wind (in my defense, I was shielded from the wind initially, but not for long.) It was a “I will keep painting until my hand can no longer grip the knife” day. I had wanted to practice clouds – trying to get a softer and more airy weight to them than I generally do with the knife. I feel like I learned something about the subtlety of the value shifts within clouds, thanks to David Curtis who gave me key advice at a key moment.

November 13th, 2015

November 13th, 2015
Cox Reservation, Essex Greenbelt Essex MA
Oil on Canvasboard, 12 x 16 in

I only had an hour and it was very windy, but David (the leader of the posse) had said they’d be painting today and I didn’t want to miss yet another. It was the kind of day where all the clouds and wind with patches of sun and sky mirrored my internal landscape. I used a small panel and painted on a clipboard rather than deal with the frustration of wind wiggling a fragile easel. I jumped in, painted hard, then packed up and came home. Something, ANYTHING, is always better than nothing. Now I am off to teach but glad I decided to paint, regardless wind and time constraints, and mental tumult. Grateful David keeps sending the posse invites in spite of my poor attendance in recent months.

November, 2015

November, 2015
Oil on Canvasboard, 18 x 24 in

May 25th, 2015

Detail

May 25th, 2015
Lake of the Woods, ON
Boathouse, overcast day
Oil on Canvasboard, 12 x 16 in

I have been absent because I have been packing, and moving, and travelling. Last Friday I finally made it to the Island, and yesterday I finally got to start painting. Only, I found I had almost no white paint in my paint bag – which meant I had to paint very sparingly, carefully controlling the amount of white I use (and I use white in everything, basically.) Painting sparingly is not nearly as much fun as painting liberally – so tomorrow I’ll go to town and fetch the vast supply of spare paints in my car. From then on, I hope to be painting almost every day. I’m very happy to have finally landed, and here especially.

March 30th-April 4th, 2015

March 30th-April 4th, 2015
Oil on Canvas, 24 x 30 in

The time I have taken to work on this was stolen from other duties and tasks, but I needed to paint. As usual when my mind is a mess of stress, worry and confusion, I gravitated towards a huge tangle of a project. It’s not deliberate, but apparently my subconscious thinks if it can work out a snarl of leaves and grasses on canvas, it can smooth the internal snarl as well. At this stage of the game I’m not too sure of much progress on either count. The young spring buds, all sticky wet with life and color, were all lit up in the last shafts of early evening sunlight. I’m happy with the colours, tone, and atmosphere in this painting. I like that, in spite of the messy tangle, there is an air of softness and hope.

October 19th, 2014

October 19th, 2014
Cox Reservation, Essex, MA
Newfane, Vermont
Oil on Canvas, 20 x 24 in

Well, longtime no paint. I went to Vermont earlier this week but didn’t have enough time while there to paint – then was busy all week. Got to the Greenbelt nice and early on Saturday, was bedazzled by the beauty… I stayed there later than anyone else, laboring, laboring, swearing over this painting that just would not be tamed. I brought it to the studio and labored on it more this morning, and when it did not come to life, I got mad and scraped it all off. Then I decided to try and paint the old sugar shack I had seen on my trip to Vermont, though I was too frustrated to really rein in. This is the result – I think a picture in better light could show it to greater advantage but even so, NEXT!

ps – I have been working on sketching some portraits in preparation for a commission I have upcoming, which is half the reason I’ve been AWOL. The other half is just being busy and I hope that things have settled down. I may post a photo of the drawings I’ve done, eventually.