Giving in to the iPad

I should be posting some of the plein air paintings from Maine and Montana....and I will soon.  Collapsing on the couch at the end of the day is all I seem capable of.  While on the couch I picked up my iPad and, after years of resistance, began doodling on it and came up with the above drawing taken from a newspaper picture.

The results got me interested enough to take it to a modeling session today.  After painting the woman I had an extra twenty minutes so hauled out the iPad.  I didn't clean it up at all so you can still see the initial block in lines as well as my mistakes.

Just thought you'd be interested.  I haven't changed my mind completely.  I still prefer tactile media but for the convenience it's great.  They were done with a pressure sensitive stylus.

OK.  Next post will have some paintings.

Friendship

Friendship, Maine.  An inlet/harbor filled with lobster boats, buoys, sparkling water and fishermen who do it for an income. 

This drawing is also about another type of friendship.  If you look carefully you can see my friend Bob sketching almost the same scene.  He probably looks like a fire hydrant if you glance casually.  He's seated just below center in front of the closest dock....see him? 

Bob is a terrific artist.  He has a book out called 'The Simple Sketch' in which he shows you how to go out drawing with just a pen and a carpenter's pencil.  The results he gets are inspiring.  I'd give you a link to his book if he had a website (hint, Bob).

I never seem to get over how a blank piece of paper can be transformed into a recognizable place with just a few strokes of a pen and some tone.  The same goes for a canvas.

Think about it.

We take some hair and put it on a stick.  Then we mix some vegetable oil with some colored dirt and put it on a piece of cloth....and actually convince people that they are looking at a person, a scene, a bowl of fruit.  Magic.

If you went to the patent office with this idea it would be the joke of the year.  "Hey Harry!  Get a load of what this crackpot wants to do...,"

I have a few Maine paintings to share but they will have to wait until I get back from Montana. 

Waterfront, Portland ME

Old Town Portland Maine

Whew!  It has been a long time since the last post.  I've been painting and drawing along the Maine coast for three weeks and I expected I'd be able to blog....but ran out of steam every day from all the painting.  Besides, it was more fun to kayak in the evenings.

Two friends joined me, each for part of the three weeks I was there.  The 150 pieces of art we turned out was impressive to me.  I think it's amazing how much work can get done when art is the only focus.  Few of us can do that all the time but once in a while is great.

The last day there was spent in the studio of a friend of Andrew Wyeth.  Helga, from Wyeth's paintings, picks berries at this guys house.  It was an interesting morning and afternoon with lots of stories.

I have an ongoing painting class beginning this month which you can check out at the Winslow Art Center site.  There is also a Two Day marker workshop coming up sometime but it hasn't been announced as yet to my knowledge.

  I haven't done a two day marker workshop before and am excited about the possibilities.  I'm also excited because I have redesigned my painting classes and think this new approach will shorten the painting learning curve.  (That implies an end point to painting skill....there isn't one.  Art is one long road of always stretching for the next best expression.)