October on Cape Cod

I wanted to paint on the beach that Matt and his family always went to when he was a boy.

This is the view down on the beach looking north ...

... and looking south.

He remembers the parking as being just a blown out area of sand - now it is a large macadam parking lot with bathrooms nearby and also, now there is a stairway down to the beach whereas, when he was last there - 50 years ago (!) one just skuttled one's way down the sandy bluff.

So ... the story behind the jackets wrapped around my legs is that the biting flies on the beach were HORRENDOUS! .. and we didn't have any bug dope, so if I wanted to stay there and paint, this was the solution! Stylish .... no?

    Newcomb Hollow Beach          8" x 8"         Oil on birch panel

I had the house wayyyy too big so when I got home, I changed it. Much betta.

Let's see if the b&w will show I used a good value range.

Yep, it is ok.

Thanks for viewing my art!

October - Crawford Notch, NH

This quotes directly from Wikipedia:

"Crawford Notch is the steep and narrow gorge of the

 Saco River in the White Mountains of New Hampshire"

This sketch was done on the day we drove from 

North Conway completely around Mt. Washington (and almost halfway around again, looking for this spot!).

Red Tree at Crawford Notch      8" x 8"     Oil on prepared board

This is a sketch that I would like to do in a larger painting. That tree was really almost the only red one there, not sure why I put so many more red trees around it. 

Glad i got a photo. 

The b&w isn't a good value study. This is what happens when you spend an hour or less painting!

Kancamancus Hwy, New Hampshire

Hi! I wanted to post the painting sketches I was able to do on our fall trip to the east coast.
This is the first one I was able to paint after leaving the city (NYC).

We took the Amtrak train to Plattsburg NY and rented a car and headed west to visit our friends where we went on a couple of hikes (took photos!) - then drove east.

We took the Kancamancus Hwy through the White Mts to see the colors, but there had been a storm or two blow through and many of the leaves were already down. 

A few trees held on to their leaves though.

Stopped to eat our lunch at this spot; nearly impossible to find a parking area because there were SO MANY cars, both driving and parked.
We lucked out to find this quiet, soothing place on a tiny creek, with no one there!

 

 

Kancamancus Lunch Spot    10" x 8"  Oil on canvas board

As I mentioned, this was about an hour's worth of work (ouchy work, too!) - so I am not sure if it will become a larger painting or not. I do like the way this sketch turned out. And I have to fess-up, the color version is "enhanced" from the original, which is a little darker. Usually I try NOT to do that unless the photo is bad ... and that is partly the reason here.

Bright October, New Hampshire Coast

 This painting went faster than I expected.

I think I like it. I will sign it.

Bright October, New Hampshire Coast - oil on canvas panel, 12" x 12"

Thanks for viewing!

NH Coast - Day 2

New Hampshire has the shortest coastline of any state.

The Atlantic Ocean washes its shores for 18 miles ... sometimes recorded as only 13 miles!

... and we drove all of it.

Matt used to do winter sea bird surveys there as an undergrad at UNH. We stopped at the spots he thought were the ones they used for the surveys. 

It was amazing to hear him talk about doing that work

 in the wind and cold of a NH seacoast winter. 

One guy counted the birds through a spotting scope or binocs -

 the other had to have bare hands to write.

Brrrr ... sounds brutal ... and I live in Alaska!

New Hampshire Coast painting - Day 1

Back from our recent east coast trip, I felt the need to paint something from one of my photos. I did paint en plein air, and will post those soon. But wanted to get this going.

 It is on a 12" x 12" prepared board made by Ampersand, 

9mm thick and with a canvas-type texture. 

It is a very nice surface for the oils, brush & knife.

Thumbnail sketch,  2" x 2", pencil

Faces #10 - Fini

JennaMarbles        6"x 6"      oil on panel

Meet Jenna. If you go here ...

you will get a laugh. She is just outrageous.

This is the third time I have tried to post. I tried twice on the iPad with the Blog Go app but must be doing something wrong or don't have the right thing clicked ... 

so this is posted from my 'puter.

I hope to be posting photos, sketches and paintings en plein air along the way 

on our trip to the east coast.

Hope to figure this travel blogging out. It can't be that hard...

Thanks for viewing my blog!

#10 - Day 2

Faces #10 - Day 1

Not sure I will be able to finish this before we leave on our trip

 but I sure would like to.

 I do not want to get caught up in the details...so fast would be good.

Here is the start:

The only people who will know this person are probably GenX-ers.

... and those who look at YouTube videos.

 

I think a friend sent me her imitation of Sarah Palin (you know who you are). 

When I finish the painting, I will try to remember to link that video for you to see. It is wild.

Drawing

We drew for 3 hours and this is the result of that effort yesterday.

Really great model. 

She said when she looked at my drawing, she saw her mom. I took that as a compliment but apologized for aging her. She said no, her mother used to model as well and she meant that it reminded her of those drawings.

Thank you for viewing!

VPO for Sept addition

I forgot to add the b&w yesterday, so today's post will be that. 

Again, I like to put the painting in b&w to see if the values read ok.

Then I must figure out more things to paint. 

I do have something I am working on

 but I have to keep that secret for awhile...

Happy Autumn everyone!

(published from my computer, not Blogsy today)

Isle of Wight

This painting was fun to do. I haven't done such an extensive "big house" before.

I love the poplars or whatever they are, the tall trees waving in the wind. It was challenging to get the hedges/bushes right (I hope) and I also love the VW. A friend of mine said, "try not to lose the whimsy of the house and trees" ... well, not sure I captured that but I was thinking of it the whole time!

Isle of Wight - Peekaboo VW oil on gallery wrapped canvas 8" x 8"

Thanks for looking at my art!

Posted with Blogsy

Isle of Wight - Day 2

 

 

This is Day 2, I am probably not going to paint for a day or two because we will have house guests tomorrow until Saturday ... but we'll see.

I love the VW (do they have those in the Isle of Wight?) poking its nose

out of the hedges!

...and I already love the shadows on the house.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Isle of Wight - Day 1

September Virtual Paintout is The Isle of Wight, England.

I just started (here it is already mid-Sept!) - decided to try some architecture. . .and bushes and trees, and possibly part of a car...

Also am trying out again this Blogsy app.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

North Douglas plein air II

 

 Yesterday I did two paintings and here is the second one. 

I did work fast on purpose for both paintings

 because I tend to nitpick if I go too long ... who doesn't?

You can sort of see the cloud cover in the sky here 

and as you head south, it breaks up!

From the Beach     8" x 10"    oil on Multimedia Artboard

 Multimedia Artboard is very lightweight and tough. It is really great for pastels, but I tried it with oils and this actually may be an underpainting for a future pastel painting. Once the paint is on the board there is NO removing it. I liked the black surface in this case, too.

North Douglas plein air I

Today in Juneau the weather was amazing. Warm and no wind.

I painted for several hours in just a tshirt.

The thing was ... it was sunny down in South Douglas 

and overcast in North Douglas!

The other thing was that even though it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, 

only about 4 people walked by.

 

This was the view I decided to paint ... seen thru my view finder!

 

Set up and progression:

Prepared canvas board is toned with Transparent Red Iron Oxide.

Calm before the storm?   8" x 10"   oil on canvas board

I left quite a bit of the iron oxide coming through ... 

probably because it was such an overcast spot! The light was actually quite flat.

 

(I really like how this b&w looks!)

#9 Faces - Fini!

Thank you for all your guesses!

Kongar-ol Ondar      oil on panel     5.5" x 6"

This guy is Kongar-ol Ondar (March 29, 1962 – July 25, 2013) 

who was a throatsinger from Tuva, a small Russian republic north of Mongolia.

I thought he was so interesting when I happened to run across a YouTube video of him on the Letterman show that I took a screen shot and thought I might make a "Faces" of him.

When I learned that he recently died at the age of 51 (!) I thought I would do this as a sort of tribute to him. He seemed a very nice, jolly guy. 

I did find myself smiling as I was painting him!

 I guess it is said that throatsinging is very hard on the body. He died of a massive brain hemorrhage.

The Los Angeles Times had THIS article on him.

With this painting, I have 9 to form a nice square, 

so perhaps I will have them up in an exhibit someday!

Thank you so much for viewing my art.

#9 Faces Day 3

Getting some pigment on the panel. 

Do you have a guess?

 (One person I have told - so no revealing! ... Hannah!)

#9 Faces Painting - Day 2

My sketch was in vine charcoal on gessoed panel.

 I decided to use alcohol as a wash to set the charcoal. It worked well!

Now I need to get painting.

New Faces painting - Day 1

This is the beginning sketch for my newest "Faces" painting. 

#9!  Stay tuned.

Peterson Lake - Fini

Poof! There are people!

Summer  Woo-Hoo     oil on panel      24" x 18"

The title is because the kids in the boat were yelling 

and disturbing the peace having a ball.

They were waiting on some friends who were hiking up after them. 

These two rowed over to the lake outfall and picked up a bunch of others! 

The boat was full. Lots of woo-hoo-ing.

Thank you for viewing my work.

Peterson Lake Day 5

I have been working on this. It has taken me awhile.

Think I might be just about finished. Need to put people in the boat...