Boreas Sanctus
May 6th, 2014
Wingaersheek Beach, Gloucester MA
Oil on Canvasboard, 16 x 20 in
(sold)
This Saturday was an Open Studio so I had to miss my day of painting, fortunately the “posse” were meeting today so I joined them. The days that one can park at an empty beach with impunity are numbered, and I did my best to make good use of the day. I plan to post a mini slideshow of this day’s work, but not today.
April 28th, 2014
Wingaersheek Beach, Gloucester MA
Oil on Canvasboard, 16 x 20 in
(sold)
When I went to the beach to paint with the posse the plan was to paint the dunes – but as it happens, if I am anywhere near water, I have to be looking at the water. Painting dunes won’t do. Plus, there were two huge Grand Pyrenees and five Huskies and several other dogs – and they were hanging out at the beach. I always want to be where the dogs are. So I painted this – when I arrived the sun was out and the sky was mostly blue – but over the course of the three hours I was there, the clouds came and covered up the blue. When it’s sunny on Cape Ann there’s this rosy light – which is why my sand is pinker than the sand in the photo. Photo sand was after the sun went in. A few things I’ll tweak but on the whole, a much better day than yesterday and I’ll take it.
April 14th, 2014
Bass Rocks, Gloucester MA
Oil on Canvas, 20 x 30 in
(sold)
I got to spend a glorious day yesterday sitting in the sun and wind at Bass Rocks painting and chatting with David Curtis. I had the canvas covered by the end of the day but a few kinks to work out – such as the curvy horizon – and a few details to add (the rocks in the foreground, the crashing spray of a wave, the glint of the sun on the water, and a building or two up on the rock near the horizon on the right.) Because it was such a lovely warm day, I was not prepared for how quickly my paint would dry – which made working on it today (when it was already tacky, and dry in some spots) imperative. Well, today there’s a very strong and gusty wind blowing rain and water all over the place. Since I’ve accepted the fact I just don’t like painting indoors, I went into the back yard into the gazebo that doesn’t (didn’t used to) leak and got to work. So many disasters, canvas blowing over a few times, paint blowing upside down, – one thing after another. I am hoping the rain that’s intermingled with my paint will keep it wet just one more day, so I can fix the water in the foreground, and quiet just a portion of the highlighted wave. And add the stupid buildings.
* April 17th – Have done most of what I can do while it’s still wet. Will take a better picture though.
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.
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.
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 (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
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.
August 6th, 2013
Bass Rocks, Gloucester MA
Oil on Canvas, 22 x 28 in
I need to retake this one when the light is better (I took this today in the rain, so it’s blurry.) Working on rocks, literally and figuratively.
July 12th, 2013
Unfinished
Rocky Neck, Gloucester MA
Oil on Canvas, 24 x 30 in
The workshop was on buildings and boats – I had done two boats already, so I opted to try a building. I had only two canvases left – a very small one, or a large one. I thought I’d opt for the large, since it’s difficult to get much detail on a small space with the knife. Downside of course is that there’s much more space to cover on a large canvas. This is as far as I got. However, I left the parts I hadn’t time for completely blank. This means that I can return to the site one day and finish it. With palette knife you can’t paint over dried paint – or I think one shouldn’t (for various reasons.) The only part where I would have to do so would be putting in the dozens of windows that thread along the pier building.