plein air painting – Page 10 – Marianne Thompson

August 22nd & 23rd, 2014

August 22nd & 23rd, 2014
Kittery Point, Maine
Oil on Canvas, 18 x 24 in
(sold)

This day began as a partly cloudy day, with nice big stretches of blue sky… but over the course of the 4 hours I was there painting, it gradually became overcast, and then gradually the silver clouds became steely. I got caught following the steady course of change, keying and rekeying my water to match the sky. I – it was an odd day and I personally was feeling off key – perhaps why I was so ready to abandon all attention to the piers and houses along the shore and instead just scramble to stay in tune with the water. When I had it back here to complete yesterday, I could have used one of the photos I took to fill in all the details I had ignored – several houses along the shore, a long pier with a few stray boats, seagulls. I could have stuck something – anything – there on the right to balance it all out. But it had nearly dried, and there wasn’t much I could do but fill in the blanks and polish the edges and call it a day.

August 16th, 2014

August 16th, 2014
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 in

If you look closely, you can see a yellow leaf stuck to the surface of the painting. I was not quite in the mood for literal representations, and riding a light breeze of abstraction when that leaf fell into to my painting and brought it to life. Not sure what will happen in a few weeks or months when the leaf has succumbed to further decomposition, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Dappled Light

Dappled Light
August 9th, 2014
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 in

I’ve been busy teaching and posing for figure classes and have had no time to paint, so I was happy to finally get to Essex for a day of painting. I stood in the shade and looked up the path that initially was in full sun but eventually settled into a nice pattern of shadow and light which I tried to capture. Pleased with the way it came out, after what felt like a long hiatus.

July, 2014

Some day at the end of July I was too distracted to paint 2014
Rocky Neck, Gloucester MA
Oil on Masonite, 8 x 10 inches
(sold)

I was distracted. There were boats in the water but I never got around to putting them there. Did I mention I was distracted?

July 22nd, 2014

July 22nd, 2014
Near Christmas Cove, Maine
Oil on Canvasboard, 20 x 16 in

Once again, there is too much glare on the painting to get a good photo – I’ll keep trying. Although I generally avoid painting backlight like the plague, this day I saw it as a challenge. the fact that the scene was so beautiful was all the motivation I needed. It was the water especially that caught my eye. Although I see a spot or two I would like to tweak to improve the painting, on the whole I felt it was another successful painting unfortunately executed on a poor quality canvasboard. Once this and the one below have dried, I’ll carefully remove the canvas from the bent up boards and restretch them. I was very happy with the way the water turned out in this one.

July 21st, 2014

July 21st, 2014
Damariscotta, ME
Oil on (crumpled) Canvasboard, 20 x 16 in
(sold)

I was fortunate enough to spend a few days on a painting trip to Maine with David Curtis and Tom Heinsohn, where we were joined in painting by Bill Curtis and a few of his artist friends. Inspired by some true but disparaging remarks by David about my work of late, I was determined to get back on track. There is too much glare on the photo to show the painting to its greatest advantage, I will retake as soon as I can. Regardless, in spite of the extremely junky board I was painting on, I was pretty pleased with the result.

Loon at Sunset

Loon at Sunset
July 19th, 2014
(Painted in MA as a value study using a photo I took at the Lake of the Woods)
Oil on Gessoboard, 8 x 10 in
(sold)

This is my second uncharacteristically small painting. Although I could not get all the details as effectively as I wanted to, I felt pretty good about the effect of light on water at that time of day which was the aim of this value study.

July 11th, 2014 PM

July 11th 2014 PM
North Shore Arts Association, Gloucester MA
Oil on Canvas, 18 x 24 in

Well this was a better day and I was charmed by the skeleton of the old pier, their reflections in the lazily waving water and the cormorants that perched atop them (not pictured.) I was perfectly willing to leave out all the buildings of Gloucester harbor but I suppose as the day wore on and my stubborn brain grew more and more addled by continuous sunlight I decided to drop a few in. I enjoyed the water as always and trying to recreate the clumps of seaweed floating just below the surface. As much as I loved the cormorants in life, in art they just were not working for me. I suppose I could add one or two after it dries, but I doubt I will. I think it works as it is.

July 11th, 2014 AM

July 11th, 2014 AM
North Shore Art Association, Gloucester MA
Oil on Canvasboard, 9 x 12 in
(sold)

Day three of the boats and buildings workshops, my eye is arrested by a white morning glory blooming quietly in the lush shade. I set up and jumped in. The story lay in the play of warm against cool – the leaves reflecting the cool morning sky color, and the few all lit up by the strong summer sun.

July 10th, 2014

July 10th, 2014
Rocky Neck, Gloucester MA
Oil on Canvas, 18 x 24 in

Well, there were many more boats moored in the harbor than are here pictured, but it was only by a late afternoon spark of optimism that I put any in at all. First thing that morning, as I was setting up, I met an older woman who was walking an older dog. The dog walked with difficulty and I knelt down to greet it. She put her forehead to mine and stood there, letting me shower her with all my affection (which for dogs in general, and her in particular, is sky high.) While I hugged and pet her, I noticed she had a tumor on the back of her left hind leg the size (shape and color) of a cherry. The skin on the front of the same foot had been scratched or gnawed off – as if she were trying to get rid of the pain by chewing off her own foot. Then I noticed she had another tumor on the back of her neck. She continued to stand leaning into me, soaking up everything I had to give her. I asked her walker about the sores, and she told me the dog isn’t hers, it belongs to her neighbor who doesn’t take good care of her. The neighbor is strange, and the walker is afraid if she confronts them about the dog’s health, they will stop letting her walk the dog – and the daily walks she gives her are all the dog has to look forward to in life.

They passed on. I was so bewildered at the story that it didn’t occur to me until later that I could have tried to do something to help. I felt that poor, beautiful dog’s quiet long-suffering yearning for relief and affection all day long and I do still. My painting – I stared at the water and tried to paint it because I love water and looking at/painting it usually soothes my mind. The very last thing I added was that orange buoy, after a suggestion from David to try and relieve the big bare swath of water on the right. It was his opinion, after I had, that it didn’t work. In my opinion, it did – completed the story of what had sent my mind to water in the first place – a glaring, throbbing round and cancerous sore that should not be there – but is.