Spring Warm Up! Marsh View Landscape

16"x16" oil on cradled birch panel

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Ah, the earth is finally beginning to wake up along the shoreline here in New England.  Each year I have such a sense of anticipation. Bound by parkas, and wool, several layers of clothing, most of us have been getting pretty antsy when winter tries to extend it's stay.  

The Warm Up....such a welcomed time!  

High Tide...and catching up after travels!

8"x10" oil on linen mounted on panel

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I made it back out to the marsh at Barn Island this past week. This time, it was high tide when I got there. Fortunately, I blocked in those big shapes FAST when I first set up. Why is this so crucial? Well, some times when you're out painting, not only the light changes quickly through out the day, but tidal changes can vary greatly in a very short amount of time! To make my point, here's two photos I happened to shoot while I was there. They are taken about an hour and a half to two hours apart. When I was bringing this painting to completion, the place looked quite different.

Mother Nature, you never cease to amaze me! I was really happy to see the tide as it was, I really love the shapes of land vs. water in these vast expanses of marshy areas. As it turns out, this was a study for a design option for a commission I'm currently working on. And yes, I'm very excited about it! It's great to be back home in my own studio after lots of travel time this summer.

Summer Morning; Ebb Tide

6"x8" oil on linen mounted on panel

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Lately we've been having really nice weather....the kind that other places should be very, very envious of. The kind of weather where you can leave your windows open all day and night and be very comfortable ...and it's August! 

So one early morning last week, I planned to get up early and head back over to Barn Island, to continue my quest of marsh scenes in all seasons of the year.  In the early morning, the sun is just warming up the grasses, illuminating them to their brilliant limey green color. The distant tree line is still back-lit, but starting to warm through at the edges as the sun begins to climb it's arc through the sky.  

Birders are out in the preserve, hoping to spot that one particular species that will complete their "bucket list" of birdies.  Another older gentleman walking two golden retrievers, one of them a gangly five month old pup as tall as the other dog. Two joggers light through, seeming to barely touch the earth beneath them, their footfall is so light. And one painter, that's me.  We are the "usual suspects" of who frequent this sacred space.  It IS sacred to me, I love being out there. It reminds me how important it is to have public open land for recreation just like these mornings. 

 

Summer Morning, Heat Rising

6"x8" oil on linen mounted on archival board

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This was the second painting of the day, Wednesday morning. The heat is rising, and the bugs are getting hungry! The marsh is waking up and quite busy! Yet the temperature is still comfortable out, perhaps a stronger DEET cocktail is necessary (or I missed a spot behind my knee where one hungry horsefly persistently bothered me). 

 What our eyes see when painting from life, is so much more exciting than what a photograph can "see". 

 

It's Friday again (already!) and time for the final drawing of those water-color post-cards from France!

I'm emailing them this afternoon (Friday) and with their permission, I'll list the winners on my blog tomorrow! 

 

Clear Autumn Morning, Variations & Improvisations

6"x6" oil on gessoed masonite artboard, $110

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I like to take some of the small studies I've done and make small color variations of them. Hence, the "Variations and Improvisations" series! It's a fun way to take these familiar views of my favorite hiking spots and try out different brushwork/techniques or color variations. Sort of like musicians take familiar tunes & musical phrasings and do the same with those. 

To help me remember which ones are which,  the plein air scenes done on location are the 6x8 size, and my variations/improvisations are in the 6x6 size.

Clear Autumn Morning In The Marsh, plein air Barn Island

6"x8" oil on linen mounted on archival panel

This is another one of the paintings I had neglected to post on my blog! ***This plein air work was done back in October!  One of my favorite places, Barn Island Wildlife Refuge.  I think it's a wonderful refuge for people, too; judging by the number of people I see out there from time to time. On the weekends there are many hikers, dog-walkers, etc.  It is a place of beauty and refuge in all seasons, not just for the wildlife, but all of us who need a bit of nature to remind us how to be calm.

Stormy Skies, Autumn - Plein air at Barn Island

6"x8" oil on linen mounted on archival board

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I was going through my recent  plein air paintings and found a couple that I had not blogged about yet! Bummer, because I've found it to be the best way to chronicle works over time.  And of course, this started around Thanksgiving, when I somehow allow the rush of the holidays to disrupt everything, rather than to just go with the flow.  Like swimming, you don't want to panic in the water - instead, just relax and go with it.  

On this particular day (October 17th, 2012) I had painted another one just before this (High Tide Before The Storm, see blog post of Oct. 17th, 2012). When I finished, I turned my easel in the opposite direction and the passing cloud cover was truly fascinating.  I finished this just as a line of showers came through.  Cleaned up & made it to the car before getting soaked! Now that was a good day of painting!

High Tide Before The Storm

8"x6" oil on linen/panel

$200 unframed

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These plein air color studies out in the marshes at Barn Island have been great fun for 'exaggerating' color, focusing on shapes and values of the land masses.   I'm looking forward to the larger studio paintings that I'll be working on from these - one is on the easel right now!