Plein Air 2013 – Marianne Thompson

Plein Air Painting 2013

December 21st, 2013

December 21, 2013
Stage Fort Park, Gloucester MA
Oil on Canvas covered canvasboard, 18 x 24 in
(sold)

Although it was not ideal weather as far as my winter instincts are concerned, it was a great day to be out painting. The overcast sky was pretty ideal, considering it was the shortest day of the year. If it had been sunny the light would have been far too fleeting to paint, but as it was, I had a five hour window to work within. When I arrived the sky was orange like that, though it was gone within an hour. The snow was scarce but I caught what I could and enjoyed a peaceful day of painting.

December 17th, 2013

December 17th, 2013
Backyard, Massachusetts
Oil on Canvas, 18 x 24 in

Well there has been so much snow, I really couldn’t stand not painting it. Today there’s a snow storm, which was just beginning as I went out with my palette, canvas and knife to capture the world around me. Well not capture, really; I take no prisoners. ‘Commune with’ is a better way of putting it. The photo above is the painting when I had run out of white and had to stop. All those really artistic and beautifully placed snowflakes are, of course, snowflakes, not paint. There is a finished version that someone is making me feel insecure about so it may or may not really be done – but the exercise, of painting out in the snow and the 14 degree weather, was delightful. I love winter!

November 30th, 2013

November 30th, 2013
Half Moon Beach, Gloucester MA
Oil on Canvas, 12 x 16 in

As usual the day after a painting day, this is a lousy photo taken in low light. Saturday was a cold day, and my perch on top a big granite boulder in the ocean wind did nothing to remedy the fact. I painted until my hands were so cold I could no longer hold my knife. The view that had taken me when I arrived was of the dark shore & boulder offset by a few brilliant twinkles of sunlight on the water, but as the day wore on the sun went in and the colors came out. I decided to try and key it back to when the sun was out and the land was in shadow, but there are a few things I still need to fix. The next two weeks I may not post (though I hope I do) as I’ll be manning my “open studio” all weekend long, Dec 7-8 and Dec 14-15.

November 23rd, 2013

This is November 23rd as it stands on the afternoon of the 24th. The difference in tone (between how it looks above and how it looks below) is only due to a lack of sunlight/presence of electric light in the room the photo was taken.

November 23rd, 2013
Stage Fort Park, Gloucester MA
Oil on Canvas, 18 x 24 in

I am still transfixed by the beauty of light shining through dead and dying leaves; they look like jewels to me, much more captivating even than flowers at their peak. I’m still trying to achieve the effect that besots me. In this photo, the canvas is blocking the rocks that explain the blue/greens in the painting. I’m heading out shortly to finish this, I hope it gets better not worse.

November 16th, 2013

November 16th (and counting)
Half Moon Beach, Gloucester MA
Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 in

Not done yet. On Saturday, I was moving with all the elan and brio of a comatose slug swimming upstream through a sea of frozen molasses. I got to Gloucester late, and once I had set up I realized I had forgotten paper towel – without which I really can’t paint. So rather than return all the way to the car, which seemed like oceans, decades, lightyears away I found a pencil and decided I would just draw. Luckily David Curtis showed up with his generous good nature and brought me some. It was beautiful there as it always is and the colors are always the best part. I focused on the foreground and water while I was there, and mixed the colors for but did not complete the opposite shore and sky. I filled in what I could in the studio the next day.

November 9th, 2013

November 9th, 2013
Stage Fort Park, Gloucester, MA
Oil on Canvas, 18 x 24 in

I keep being dazzled by how the sun shines through the fall leaves making them glow like precious gem stones with an inherent light source. I keep attempting to paint what I see, and I keep not quite getting it. I don’t know if I’ll change this one much or not. I think it’s fairly attractive, as it is, though just doesn’t come close to what I was seeing.

November 6th & 7th, 2013

November 6th & 7th, 2013
Between two fronts
Oil on Canvas, 24 x 36 in

Technically, this is not a plein air, as I painted it indoors with reference to a photo, and memory of the day this summer it was taken – on Lake of the Woods. The foreground is volcanic rock. So as not to have my images stolen / used without permission, I keep the files I post small. This is one I wish I could post large enough that you could see the detail of the color and texture. This photo is taken in daylight, and is completely un-doctored.

October 27th, 2013

October 27th, 2013
Boreas Sanctus Gallery and Studio
Studio 105
122 Western Avenue
Lowell, Massachusetts
01851

Although I did paint on Saturday, my mind and heart weren’t really in it, and my paintings always know when I’m insincere – and punish me by being ugly. I may try to fix it, but decided to spend today working to set up the gallery. It is looking great, and I hope that everyone will come on November 2nd, 2013 – any time between 12 – 5pm – to see me and my work in person. (Go up the wheelchair ramp on the left of the loading dock,* enter, walk straight ahead past the elevator, take a left down the ramp and walk a long way until you find #105 on the right!) There will be paintings for sale in all price ranges (some even under $100!) I really hope to see you there. And I look forward to November 3rd, when I can return my energy and focus to creating new things.

October 19th, 2013

Finished

October 19th, 2013
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
Oil on Canvas, 18 x 24 in

When I began this painting, the sky was bright blue and the sun was high – as a result, the bleached log was blue (as in the painting) from reflecting the sky. As the day wore on, the sky changed as did all the colors. I had the same struggle I keep having – I’m painting with the conscious intention of making it look fairly real, but I’ve chosen the scene because I love the rhythm I see in the design. You can’t serve two masters, as they say, and I keep getting torn between the literal and the ornamental – and making a mess. I was happy, though, taking this picture on site, that the color of the leaves (oak) is so well matched you can hardly tell where the painting ends and the ground begins. I’ve decided I may do 10 mins of work on it tomorrow, maximum. The worst thing I can do is overwork these things (see last week’s.)

NB- It is now Sunday, and I’ve decided to leave it as is. Yesterday David Curtis told me it was better than I thought, and that I should go home, get something to eat, get some sleep, and look at it again in the morning. I did, and I like it enough to not want to take the risk of “improving” it.

October 14th, 2013

October 14th, 2013 & Thereafter
Western Avenue Studios,
Lowell, Massachusetts

I don’t know if anyone has noticed that a lot of my paintings this year involved very little in the way of horizon, and a lot in the way of confusion, commotion, constrictiveness. Like I’m perennially trying to make sense of thousands of different elements crammed into a small, often enclosed space.

It’s all proof that there is no hiding what’s going on in one’s mind when one paints. I’ve been feeling increasingly captive, increasingly stuck – to a large degree, simply because I have had nowhere to paint (except outdoors) since I realized the basement has been making me sick. I’ve been very stressed out, every week adding to my collection of work that is building up in the attic, and predominately going unseen. Hence the overflowing tight spaces in my paintings.

However, I have terrific news! I now have a studio where I can both work and show. It’s in Lowell, MA – where the town motto is “Art is the handmaid of human good.” There are open studios the first Saturday of every month, and viewing can also be arranged by appointment. I feel liberated and very excited to get to work and show my work in my own space. I’m also expecting this revitalized attitude to impact and hopefully improve my work. I will be putting up a new “News & Events” page, with more details on where and when I’ll be showing shortly.