Recent Additions

A short trip to Florida and some nice weather here in Maine gave me a couple of opportunities for new paintings which I submit herewith:

Botanical Garden

                                                  Oil on Canvas 16" X20"
A visit to the Selby Botanical Garden in Sarasota provided some wonderful colorful images, a few of which I combined in this picture. A nice trip for the imagination!

High Tide in Pond Cove

Oil on Canvas 16" X 20"

I used to live a short distance from this spot on Pond Cove in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It was a great place to sit on the rocks and enjoy the roiling ocean. The rocks are fascinating--almost like petrified wood. I hadn't been here in some years and was startled to find how storms had reconfigured the area with giant rocks tossed around like so much confetti. Still, there are some pretty inspiring views such as this day with the tide rolling in.

Saying Goodbye to summer

Strawberry Pickers
16 X 20 Oil on Canvas

After a glorious summer here in New England, the signs that it will end soon are showing. But I am reluctant to let go, so I will preserve a some memories with a couple of pieces I did. Above is that all too brief Maine tradition: strawberry picking. The season lasted just two weeks this year (it's usually three), but I did get out to catch the bent bodies of those who choose to "pick your own." This is a field in Cape Elizabeth which seems "forever." It's ironic that such verdant foliage virtually hides the berries which makes all that stooping and crawling around necessary.
Below is the product of a visit to nearby Pine Point where at low tide many boats are beached, providing the owners a chance for some maintenance. The boat reminds me of a beached whale.

Bottoms Up!
16 X 20 Oil on Canvas

Art Shows-Lighthouse

Yesterday was the Mill Creek Art in the Park Show here in So. Portland, Maine. I only sold one painting and was a bit in the dumps about it until my son and his wife showed up with some friends and we decided to celebrate anyway and went out for lobsters and clams and much beer, wine and merriment. So I postponed cutting my ear off for another time.
Here are a couple of recent paintings involving the Portland Headlight, one of the most photographed and painted lighthouses in the world. I try to do things with it that make my representations of it different from most.


Artists at Portland Head
11 X 14 Oil on Canvas
I came upon these two on a sunny July afternoon almost in the shadow of the lighthouse, but I was struck by their gestures that seemed to indicate they were painting two different things, however looming the lighthouse was above them. I love contradictions like this so I took a quick photo and back at the studios practiced drawing the gestures until I got them right. This got a lot of notice at the show, but I still own the painting!



View of Portland Headlight from the South
14 X 18 Oil on Canvas panel
The same day, I traversed the great span of field to the south of the lighthouse to seek out this view which makes it as a subject as minimal as the above is maximal. I used aerial and hints of linear perspective to emphasize distance. I was going to make more of the clover in the field and even tried adding a couple on a blanket, but decided that they lessened the effect. Instead I added tiny figures off in the distance to the right. So in these two cases, I tried a different treatment of the lighthouse, large as a non-subject and small as a subject. I still own this painting, too. I guess not many visitors to this place like to get so far away. Why don't they understand?

AWOL--let's try again

Another long absence. Life is complicated! But I will try to stay with it this time. If you're interested in my new work, I post it on my Facebook page. But I haven't learned what to do with it after that. I'll see if I can get my grandson to give me a tutorial. In the meantime, I have been painting a lot and will post various things more often than in the recent past. Here goes...


Field of Lupine
Oil on Canvas 16 X 20

This goes back to June when the lupine seems to cover the land here in Maine. Sometimes it comes in multiple colors, but this patch was a rich purple/blue/red. It's not here for long to I had to hustle to get image. Right now, there is no sign that it was ever there, such is the transient nature of life.



Country Churchyard: II
Oil on Canvas 20 X 20

I've done this before from a somewhat different angle. This was in the spring so not all the leaves were out and I could make more of this very dominant tree. I'll bet it (the tree) has been here longer than any grave. I thought the crooked headstones added to some of the irony here. The church is often photographed from the front. These mysteries are hidden except to those who look behind.



Red Maples in Sprague Woods
Oil on Canvas 16 x 20
I've done a number of paintings in the large tract of land which is now a nature preserve owned by the very wealthy Sprague family. It's in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. This is again in the spring before the leaves are completely out so the skeleton on trees is much more visible. I liked the way the sun was shining through the leaves creating a challenging variety of red/browns.

Return to the blogosphere

I've been gone for 5 months, the result of a nerve problem in my right arm excerbated by working at computers. Things have improved enough for me to get back to blogging (and some other things), so I hope to recover the good friends I made before. I was able to continue to paint and that's a very good thing even though it was at a slower pace which gave me time for more thought and study. Here are some recent pieces.



Fern Glade in Sprague Woods
Oil on Canvas 18" X 25"
I've painted this before--the location is on the Sprague Estate land in Cape Elizabeth Maine, a few miles from where I live. The very wealthy Sprague family has set aside a large parcel of land for preservation. Much of it is mature woodland, and a portion is also used for farming. There are many treasures here. This is one of my favorite spots especially in low light. My first painting was in landscape format, but a slightly different location inspired me to make a vertical piece in which I could show some sky.



Low Tide at Ferry Beach
Oil on Canvas 20" X 16"
This is a small beach in Scarborough, Maine a few miles from my house. It's on the road to Prout's Neck, a section of town in which winslow Homer lived for many years. The beach is quite flat and at low tide is very wide (not so at high tide however). So the little dinghy in the foreground just sits flat in the exposed sand. But right at the waterline a good-sized lobster boat lies on its side. I asked an old guy there how come the boat was left like this. He said, "Time to scrape the hull." I guess at the next low tide the boat will be lying on its other side for the same reason. The afternoon light produced a pink glow on the sand and in the shallow water. That's Pine Point across the way and the ocean beyond.


Street on Higgins Beach
Oil on Canvas 11" 14"

Higgins Beach is a small beach enclave in Scarborough. It's another shallow water beach that's more than a hundred yards wide at low tide and non-existent at high tide. But it has warmish water for Maine and the surfing is great all year. The community was a bit funky but now is becoming gentrified with real estate prices through the roof. Nonetheless, good light yields some nice inspiration which I hope has produced an attractive painting here.
More soon, I promise!