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Junior Regatta, 5x7", oil on panel.
Sorry to have been MIA for so long. I've been working on a commission for some friends and I know they read this blog so I couldn't post any progress pictures. Anyway, this little number was done in about 30 minutes, with some heavy-handed bristle brush action that I think really captures the feeling of wind. I'm pretty happy with the study.
Halibut Point House, 8x10:, oil on linen panel.
I'm told that there are wild berries that grow on this rocky escarpment. With all of that sun, you know that they'll be good.
Motif #1, 5x7", oil on panel. Sold.
This is a famous landmark in Rockport, Massachusetts and has been painted many, many times by people over the years. I tried to come up with a composition that was a little more interesting than just the snapshot of the shack in Rockport Harbor. The name of the building is evidently a nickname given by a French artist who summered in Rockport and taught students there. After seeing the billionth student sketch of this little fish house, he exclaimed, "What? Motif #1 again?" According to legend, the name stuck.
Essex Watertower, 5x7", oil on panel.
Today I tried to capture some of that dewy fresh morning feel in the landscape.
This afternoon, I will be working on a larger piece and trying some new approaches as well as trying to get a really satisfyingly finished piece. I need scintillation in the colors and some depth to the paint, and plein air alla prima painting doesn't allow much of that, at least not at the size I'm painting at.
Tonight I'm going to check out a portrait paint sketch session at the Rockport Art Association. Should be a good time. Let's hope they have an interesting face for us.
Atlantic Path, 5x7", oil on panel.
It's really turning into spring rapidly around here, and the greens are getting a little brighter and more vivid.
This painting was made on a footpath that runs along the coastline rocks. It's a great little feature of Rockport. Although this is technically private land, there is a long public footpath that stretches along the coast, allowing everyone and not only the people who can afford it, access to the natural beauty of the area. The paths are marked with small signs, but you kind of have to know that they exist, and in that way they're a great local secret. As my wife and I get to know the area, the more we love it.
I've also been having a conversation with Jerry Sumpter over at Überart about the need for opinion in art criticism and the ways to dissect the aspects of painting in order to evaluate the artist's achievement on each in turn. Morgan Meis at The Smart Set recently wrote about how art criticism has lost its ability to make proclamations on whether art is Good or Bad and he seems to be implying that currently the art critic's role is more as anthropologist in the mind-world of the artist. I tend to agree with him, and certainly the proliferation of different styles and avenues for visual art have made the dividing line between Good and Bad art increasingly fluid or at least difficult to define. The appeal of the art critic as interpreter is obviously strong, but it edges dangerously close to becoming a way to invalidate any criticism: any art is good art if understood on its own terms.
However, if one dismantles the artist's vehicle: message from form, technique from stylistic choices, one can evaluate each on its own terms and then reassemble them to form a critique that is not only takes the artist's point of view into account, but is also objective on each facet of the whole work. Do you agree?
Junior Regatta, 5x7", oil on panel.
