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Forgotten Industry, 12x16", oil on canvas panel. Inquire.
Today I set out to do some plein air painting, but was stymied by the fact that the view I wanted to paint was right at the edge of a busy road with no shoulder. So, having to settle for a photo, I meandered around taking reference shots. I decided to go down to the old paint factory on the eastern tip of Gloucester's Inner Harbor, and just as I was about to leave, Jeff Weaver pulled up to do a sketch of his own. We chatted and I took some reference shots, and Jeff was kind enough to let me stand there and watch him paint. He claimed I was going to get to know all of his secrets, but the only secret I saw was a master draughtsman taking the time to get the drawing right first and correcting anything he noticed was off as he started intermediary steps. While it's not really a secret, it is the key to good realism painting and something that so few people take the time to do.
In the afternoon, I still had a hankering to get a painting in, so I went to the Cape Ann Tool building, which stands slowly rusting on Pigeon Cove. The painting is above. I would love for that building to be an art space/studio, but I don't have the funds to make it a reality right now. Maybe I can spearhead an effort to get the building repurposed...although it's supposed to be converted into condos and a storefront, even though the project proposal claims a completion date of 2006.
Oh, and finally, a shout to Joey Ciaramitaro of Good Morning Gloucester, who posted the show opening notice on his blog today. Thanks Joey! Hopefully your broad reach will help people find our little shindig this Friday night. Come one, come all! Details are here at the Cove Gallery site.
The blog has been kind of quiet lately, hasn't it? I apologize for those of you who look forward to reading it on a (semi) regular basis. It's been very busy here, and like I said, a lot of the pieces I'm working on haven't been ones I can show just yet.
I worked with the owner to the gallery I'm showing at, and we've put together a nifty little website there. Take a look, browse around, join the mailing list. There will be a very nice shot of the front and inside of the gallery on the front page as soon as her husband gets around to taking it. In other words, please excuse the dust, we're not quite finished with it yet.
Also, I think I might look to phasing out the Etsy site. I've never had a sale there, and with my items starting to go into galleries, the logical thing would seem to be to end that site and direct people here or to the gallery. So, from now on, you'll see an "inquire" link after paintings that are for sale. E-mail me if you're interested in a purchase.
Meanwhile, I took our puppy to get her first haircut at the groomer today, and she looks great. While I was there, I painted this piece, Kettle Island and Great Egg Rock, oil on panel, 9x12". Inquire.
I also have been working on a couple of studio pieces. Here are the work-in-progress shots:
Two Fishermen, work in progress.
Lane House, work in progress.
Mud Flats, Annisquam River, 5x7", oil on panel.
Well it was a crisp morning today, and the colors were very clean, so that was a nice challenge. These colors looked incredibly garish when I was painting this, mainly because everything looks brighter and more vivid in the direct sunlight, so I was really worried about the piece being a disaster, but I trusted the colors that I mixed in the shade, and it looks pretty nice indoors, under artificial light, which is where it would be seen most often anyway.
One thing I find is that I very rarely use more than one or two brushes when I'm out doing these little pieces. I guess one, there just doesn't seem to be time to switch brushes constantly, and two, if you find the right size brush, you should be able to make it do all of the rough little shapes you need it to do anyway.
Does anyone else find this to be true?
Oh, and I'm reading John F. Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting, which very good reading so far. It was mentioned in a video by Richard Schmid, and it is really an excellent primer on landscape painting.
