Acadia Shore, 12x16

Yellowstone, Yosemite, .....

.....Acadia?  The three most popular national parks.  Who would have thought?  Evidently the Grand Canyon doesn't come close....but Acadia is both beautiful and unique.

So that is where I found myself the day after landing and driving to mid-coast Maine.  One of those sunny, rainy, windy, cold, warm days typical for a changing season kind of time.  I had a lot of possibilities to choose from but I went with an 'overcast with emerging blue' approach. 

When I'm out there painting I think that what I've done is too vibrant for the conditions but so often, when I see it later in room light, I wonder why I didn't push the color more.  Even so, the colors I did use float pretty well together.  I wonder what it would be like to paint with rose colored glasses....

While there I hung out a bit with Daniel Corey.  Here is a link to his work at the Camden Falls Gallery: HERE   The photos on their website don't do Dan's work justice.  Perhaps they just need to be seen in person so you can appreciate his color and edge handling.  He was a finalist in the recent Raymar panel competition and is deserving of the recognition.

Friendship Traps, 10x12

Friendship, Maine

How about two books on art that are well worth your time and cash....one is even free.

For years Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis was out of print.  I had all his others and almost sprang $300 for a used copy....but didn't.  Then I heard it was being reprinted....and it's only $27 at Amazon.  Terrific book.

Another I didn't know about but found on Stapleton Kearns website (that's worth visiting also) is by Harold Speed, The Practice and Science of Drawing.  A gem of a book that spends as much time talking about painting as it does drawing.  I'm finding it reinforcing and thought inducing....which is always a good thing in my world.  You can find pdf versions on the web if you search for them and can get a Microsoft digitized version at the Univ of California Library HERE.  Did I mention FREE?

The marker drawing was done in the morning, then the truck showed up changing the view and I did a slightly different painting.  I think the drawing as a painting might have turned out better but either way the confusing detail of all those lobster traps was what I was enjoying painting.....between my flurries of swearing.

REMEMBER.  Plein Air Workshop is the last weekend in June.  Come on along.  Have some fun.

Port Gamble Ferry, 14x18

Actually there is no longer a Port Gamble Ferry and I don't even know if there ever was one, but I would assume so....and from the looks of it this would have been the adjustable ramp....for 1940's vehicles.  I sat in the car during off and on pouring rain to do this one.  Whacked out three that day and only scraped one.   Ah well.

I like the back lit effect of the structure and the many greyed colors it took to represent it.

For those of you who actually read this blog you will be rewarded by finding out that I'm going to have another painting give-away.  There will be six posts, beginning with this one, and for every comment you make you will gain another chance to win.  One of the paintings I'll be posting will be the prize but I won't let you know until the end which one it is.  Should you have difficulty posting (some do) you can just send a comment to me via email.  The address is HERE.

Good Luck.

Eagle Harbor

I've been having a great time lately...with some time out to entertain the flu...painting with a limited palette and not doing any initial drawing. I like not drawing and, instead, loosely blocking in the dark and/or shadow sections with the same hue that changes with the type of subject. It seems to enhance the formation of large shapes early in the painting process. In this piece I used a reddish underpainting over everything but the sky and background. You can see it peeking through in the large tree and rocks.

This is the same (or similar) palette I used for the August postings: Turkey, burnt, or raw umber (yes, there actually is a 'turkey umber' and it's not what we did to the bird on Thanksgiving), cad yel light or deep, cad red light, cobalt blue ... sometimes Pthalo blue...sometimes a different red depending on the situation. I'll explain later.

Over the next few days I'll post a few more of the pieces done this way, including portraits.