Boreas Sanctus
February 4th, 2015
Oil on Canvasboard, 18 x 24 in
(sold)
The sun set in the back yard one frigid and gusty day, blowing swaths of ice particles off the trees in plumes into the sky. I took a photo then, and worked from the photo but also from the yard. There are improvements yet to be made here and there – and then, on to the next.
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!
Backyard, MA
Oil on Canvas, 18 x 24 in
It’s been raining all day and I resent it; Saturday is supposed to be painting day. So I put on my warmest hat and winter coat, and went out back and sat in the rain for three or four hours, painting this. Oil paint, I found, is not adversely affected by water – and in fact, with the knife it can produce some really interesting effects. However the volume of water that accumulated on the canvas, palette, and on my person eventually made it extraordinarily difficult to see what I was doing. So I stopped, will revisit tomorrow. It bothers me that the green of the flowers’ leaves is obviously very different from how it looks in the photo. I’ll have to look into that tomorrow.
May 8th-12th, 2013
My backyard, MA
Oil on Canvas, 22 x 30 in
This is the painting as it stands, about 6/7ths of the way complete. I was captivated earlier this spring by the fresh cool bloom of spring leaves and flowers, as they lit up in the warm glow of sunset. I took pictures, then didn’t get out to paint it quickly enough, and the whole aspect of the plant had changed.
I worked outside on location with the picture in hand to reconstruct what I had seen, and use the real trees and surroundings to inform my coloration. I did not go to Essex today. The weatherman said it would be raining and stormy, and I knew if I went, trusting in my star, it would pour. So I stayed here to finish this, and ensure by my absence the day would be clement for my friends out in the Greenbelt today.