Sold another one!

The auction last night was very nice, lots of wonderful art, all but about five sold. I met some new people and saw some friends I hadn't seen in a while. I got some very nice compliments from fellow artists about my entry. The organizers of this event did a remarkable job of advertising and running it, but they probably won't do it again next year and they are looking for someone to take it over. The sponsor is the Nbpt 5 Cents Savings Bank.

Paint the Town - Newburyport

Oh no! The sun came out! Sounds strange? Well, rain and heavy winds were expected so I got all prepared to work in my studio instead of at the site. I got started last night with the underpainting and design, then, much to my surprise, when I opened my eyes this morning, the sun was out! Darn, I was all set to work at home, so I went to the studio thinking that I would just get a little start on it (since the thermometer said about 30 degrees and I could see by breath) then go downtown and finish it. So, it was going well, and I got so absorbed, that before I knew it, I was finished. I'm really feeling bad that I missed this opportunity to do the paint out, but on the other hand, at some point, I made the decision to keep going at home. I hope the event people aren't going to be disappointed with me, but with the nice day that it turned out to be, everyone else probably painted on location.

Cloud Painting at Cox

The first picture is a photo of my subject. The suggestion for the day was to paint clouds as there were lots of different types of clouds floating by every minute or so.
The second picture is a photo of my painting, 14x18", I may work on the clouds some more, what do you think?

Griffel Classmates

Dwelling on how nice everyone was, I want to post some photos I took of my fellow students. When Lois sends the class list, I'll list them here and hope that some of them will join my Facebook Landscape group page: Landscape Painters on Boston's North Shore. (anyone can join)

Griffel - day 5

I forgot my camera so no location pics today. We painted at a private property built by a sculptor on a quarry in Gloucester--a dream location for sure. Lois discussed and demo'd the beginning process of the early Gloucester painters: using rose madder to do the underpainting, still stressing masses, and keeping the values in those masses. It was a little sad as we had such a nice group of people and had to say "goodbye". I'm glad it's raining on Saturday as I just can't paint another day in a row--so much for the painting-a-day ethic.

Griffel - Days 3 and 4

I had to miss day 3 of the Griffel workshop but was able to attend the group dinner at the Inn of Magnolia. The Italian catered dinner was a big hit and everyone enjoyed this social aspect of the workshop.
Thursday started with a demo designed to help us with the finishing aspect of our paintings. It was helpful to me to see the complete work being done from start to finish. After lunch we convened at Stage Fort Park to apply the lesson. Lois reinforced the lesson and it was really surprising how well everyone is understanding the process. One more day. Less hours though--we are all tired to the bone. I hope the weatherman is wrong, it's supposed to be in the 30's in the morning.

Griffel Workshop - Day 2

We painted at a oceanfront cove in East Gloucester in high wind. This morning's lesson is about second notes and reinforcing the lesson of yesterday concerning beginning blocks of pure color and correct values. After lunch we went to Folly Cove in Annisquam, and the subject was further defined by working on a close-up of folliage and rocks to get the half notes and third notes. A dinner is planned for Wednesday evening at The White House, now known as Inn of Magnolia. I'll be absent on Wednesday because of prior commitments but will try to make the dinner.

Let There Be Light

She said, "Go forth and vibrate", I'm only kidding. We had a wonderful long day that went by very fast. We learned about a week's worth of stuff about impressionist painting in one day, and we actually did some painting. As you can see in the photo, we were at a lovely place in Magnolia (for a quiet place, once the word got out, there was practically a traffic jam). Most students got past the initial block in and were applying another layer of paint. It was windy but warm, a great day! Tomorrow we'll be at Rocky Neck in East Gloucester.

Lois Griffel Workshop

I'm starting another workshop today. In the tradition of Hawthorne and Hensche, Griffel teaches impressionism. In my continuing quest for better color, she may shed some light (pun intended) on my color delimma. I'm up very early and ready to pack the car and head off to Magnolia, MA.

Sold another one!

Yesterday at the Annisquam Paint Out I was fortunate enough to sell this 5x7" of the Annisquam Yacht Club. It was a balmy day, cloudy, warm but windy. I was holding the umbrella all the time. I had a hard time choosing a site to paint, and because I took so much time finding my site, I didn't have much time left and had to paint a small one to finish in time. What a wonderful bunch of painters and all headed up by Betty Lou Schlemm and Tom who are trying very hard to get things rolling for their art center at the Old School House, The Exchange Building.

Wakefield Paint Out

I painted today at the first Wakefield Paint Out at the farmers' market, Wakefield, MA, which has come about through the efforts of Pam Parras who is organizing the Wakefield Cultural Counsel. She did a fantastic job, lots of artists painted and sold their work. It was very windy but the sun was out. We had about 3 hours to paint and for some reason, I didn't get as much paint on it as I wanted. My painting was purchased by the organizers of the paint out.

Betty Lou Schlemm

Tuesday was a total delight. I attended two demos by Betty Lou Schlemm. She had the amazing fortitude to do a water color demo and class in the morning and an oil painting demo and a class in the afternoon--6 1/2 hours of work in one sunny, hot day, standing the whole time. She says it's her last, but everyone said that she has said this before. I loved it--I've been waiting for someone who would think outloud while they were painting, and she did that! I learned a lot. Next Tuesday is a paint out and wet paint auction at Annisquam, a beautiful place to paint with great scenes everywhere you look. I hope I can paint something worth submitting.

Motif #2

This is my most recently completed work, the front doorway and apple tree at the beautiful white house on the Greenbelt property called Cox Reservation in Essex, MA. I was struck by the pattern of the shadows on the house and I love tree shapes. I'll be putting this painting into the upcoming Newburyport show the end of this month. If you have comments about this painting, I'd love to hear what you think.

Port Clyde Weekend

from left to right:

Grace Daly, Betsy Lewis, Cindy Stern, Pam Perras, Mary Pyche, Bob, Carol Potvin, Lynn Murray.

Don't you wonder who got which of the "7 Deadly Sins"? (a painting project after the show at the Farnsworth)

Anyone up for another one, like instead of "Borrowed Views" we could do "No Place Like Home"?

Day 2 - Monhegan Island

Last day of the painting weekend. Up early, breakfast, and off to paint for the day until boat leaves at 4:30. Betsy had a house in mind to paint and I headed to Fish Beach. Betsy's came out really nice. I did two quick ones before lunch, then took the afternoon off to explore and visit the shops. We had unbelieveably good weather including a beautiful sunset. We were both exhausted and got back home around 10:30 p.m.

Day 1 - Monhegan Island Maine

What a day! Rose about 6, breakfast at 7:30, hiked to lighthouse and saw exhibits of maine painters and history of the island, painted up there until noon. Then I went out to the "wreck" and painted until supper time. Betsy finished a nice painting up at the lighthouse. Wreck painting was fun to do and I have more to do on it. No phone service for days now. Camera is dead too, left charger in car. Went for walk after eating a crab burger at Fish House, then early to bed at 8.

Day 2 - Port Clyde

We'll meet at Betsy's house for the deadly sins dinner and bring our "sin" paintings on Oct. 18. We got up early, skies were clearing, ate a chef prepared breakfast, painted until early afternoon. Betsy and I were taking the boat to Mongehan Island at 3 and everyone else headed for home. At Monhegan we watched big waves crash on the rocks until dinner at Monhegan House. Great accommodations, dinner good BYOB, beds good.

Port Clyde, Band of Brushes Group

I'm writing this the day after the 5-day atelier with David Curtis. I'm going for painting 9 days in a row. It's a cool, windy, very rainy day and I'm here with 6 friends. We went to Rockland to the Farnsworth and saw the "7 Deadly Sins" by Wyeth and the fabulous Dowling Walsh Gallery and saw "A Decade of Views" by Connie Hayes. We had a great meal at the Dip Net. We've decided to portray our versions of the 7 deadly sins and drew out of a hat, each of us receiving our "sin" to portray.

Day 5 - Curtis Atelier - The Finale

We headed back to the Quarry to complete our large 3-day painting. It was a nice sunny day until the clouds moved in in late afternoon. The weather for this week was very nice and we were very lucky, we even thought that David could control the weather. He was very busy with everyone giving our efforts a final big push. It was truly amazing how well everyone did–he was even excited for us. (Should I mention that after Tuesday, we was worried.) He kept cracking the whip. The energy and enthusiasm of the group never let up and I for one wished there was going to be more (time). I thought 3 days on a painting would last forever but, guess what, I didn’t even finish! We presented David with a card and everyone wrote a little something.

Now for those jokes: What do you get when a piano falls on a coal miner? A flat minor. What happened when a helicopter pilot landed on an army major. A flat major. A man looses a loved one, he was all alone, the thought he might get a pet, he never had a pet, and met the owner of a pet shop who showed him several dogs and cats. The man wasn’t sure which to get. The owner says, I have a very unusual dog, but I warn you, he isn’t for everyone. He introduced the man to the dog who says hello. The man was amazed, did he talk? Yes, said the man, and they talked with the dog for some time and hears some outrageous stories. The man says, I have to have that dog. I’ll pay you $1000. No, says the man, I couldn’t. He says $2000. Oh, no, says the man, only $50. The man pays for the dog and on the way out he says, I don’t understand, why would you sell him for so little? Everything the dog says is a lie. (David, I’m sorry that I’m so bad at telling jokes.)

Day 4 - Curtis Atelier - The Boatyard

Most of us arrived at low tide and set up to paint as we had to get 3 9x12's done--it's not a race, but. Where was Bill? Even though we all started ahead of Bill, as usual, he finished his 4 paintings when we did three. I finished my first one first, but by third one only had about 30 minutes on it before the critique started. David was pleased with us as a group and said we all did better today. We also could see that all our fellow artists were doing better. It's a good hard working group. I didn't take any notes today as I was working feverishly, it's not a race.
Tomorrow--the finale--we will return to the Quarry where we will complete our 3-day effort on our large canvas--one day ahead of a big bad storm. I'm looking forward to tomorrow as it's always a surprise to see what will happen.
I won't be blogging for Day 5 until Wednesday, September 2nd as I'll be away. I hope to hear back from everyone in our group from time to time to see what you are doing. I'm in a show at the Beverly Farms Library, Sept. 2-29. Come to the reception Thurs Sept. 10, 6-8 p.m.

Day 3 - Return to Halibut Point Quarry

So here we are for our second day of a 3-day painting at the Quarry. First order of business is setting up in the high wind. It took me a whole hour to get ready to paint, but then first we were to scrape down our canvas. Then He said, 'draw' 'draw' 'draw' for the first 2 hours. What do you think that means? Well, I drew and found it was very rewarding, I liked it a lot, it works great especially w/rocks--BUT--He didn't mean 'draw'. Go figure.

1. Use liquin for fast drying.

2. Use veridian for work by the water.

3. Use the 20-foot brush.

4. Put sky holes in then paint around them.

5. Put more design in trees near center/middle area.

Remember: It's not a race, but whoever finishes first.

Understatement: "Rocks are hard".

Jokes today: 1) Pianoman, 2) Helicoptor and 3) The Talking Dog. Friday I'll tell you these jokes.

Tomorrow's task, paint 3 9x12s in impressionist manner in 5 hours.

Curtis Atelier - Day 2 - "The Breezeway"

David chose this site because it is an amazing cool, shady and breezy spot as it was a very hot, sunny day. The tide was coming in so he wanted us to paint our first one before the tide came in. The task today was to complete 3 9x12's between 1 and 5:30 p.m. hitting the right color notes as our primary goal. All six students completed 3 paintings in the time allotted--Connie finished first (I think she actually started before anyone else), and Bill painted the fastest (since he had larger canvases)! During the day, David regailed us with many interesting stories of the folklore of the area (I think his family goes back to the days of the 'witches' of Dogtown), and he tells good jokes, too! OK, OK, he did spend most of his time actually instructing! We finished the day with a critique--it was a great day for everyone. In my case, by the third one, things changed. There definately is something about thinking only about the shapes and color relationships--not thinking about the things. Working quickly forces you to "attack" AND you can 'get' the time of day better. In my opinion, I need to use more paint and stronger color.

Tomorrow we return to Monday's location on our 20x24 3-day piece where we will scrape it down and continue. We are starting earlier to hopefully get something done before the expected rain storm.

David Curtis Atelier-Day 1

The site for today was Halibut Point in Rockport, a quarry by the sea. The lesson was to start a 20x24 canvas which we will work on three days this week. The idea was to work on design, draw, paint thin, key the painting for about 5 p.m using only one of each, red, blue, yellow and white and do a block-in of three or four values. OK, plenty of time (5 hours). It was suggested to draw several times during the day to see which time of day gave you the best composition or placement of light and shadow. I started out slowly, thinking I have lots of time. Wouldn't you know it? By 3 p.m. big thunder clouds came overhead and it rained. There should be a cute French word for "painting in the rain" because it always happens! We packed up and went to the Rockport Art Assoc. classroom to continue for the day.

There are 6 in the class, Bill, Sandy, Susan, Connie, Claire and myself. Three of us had cameras. I didn't have that much accomplished and had to refer to my shot of the site. So every 2 minutes my camera shut off and I had to be continuously turning it on and finding my shot. Everyone seemed to have a good grasp of the lesson. At the end of the day, we were instructed to "stitch" all our edges to prepare for the next time we would work on it. This prevents ridges and makes the next layer work better. In the photo of my block-in, the upper left corner is stitched.

Tomorrow we do three 9x12's, one every 2 hours, working on colors and impressions rather than good design.

The night before........(The Atelier!)

OK, I'm psyched. I'm excited. I'm hoping that I'll learn something, and that some of the things that are taught, actually stick in my brain. I'm making sure that I have all the right equipment. We start every day at 1 p.m.. I guess we are going for evening light. 1 p.m to 6 p.m.

I didn't mention that I'm going to Port Clyde, Maine after this 5-day atelier with David Curtis, and after that, I'm off to the famous painting spot for the last 100 years: Monhegan Island. I'll have to update this blog on Wednesday when I return from the long weekend. I hope I'll have something good to show you. The weather is supposed to be warm, maybe hot, and humid.

These workshops always state that they will take you to the next level......let's hope. I guess this is the challenge: Next level or not?

A Week with David Curtis

I'll start the one-week atelier on Monday with David Curtis. I'll post daily to this blog to inform you of my activities/progress/aches and pains, whatever. Except on Friday when I head up to Port Clyde for a couple of days then on to Monhegan to paint other gorgeous motifs.

I painted last Saturday at Thatcher Island and tackled painting the houses by the lighthouse--a much painted subject.

My usual activity on Saturdays is painting at Cox Reservation in Essex. This site is beautiful and this website gives very interesting history of the area. http://www.escapesnorth.com/trail_art/history.php?sec=art