An Idle mind

This winter has been weird--almost no winter at all, hence fewer opportunities to paint it. In a "dead period," I went back into my files and retrieved some tearsheets of fashion ads that I had saved. Now don't get the wrong idea. I use images of figures and faces in ads to work on painting figures and faces. Models in ads are posed and dressed (for the most part) so I can use them as models, instead of the real thing. If I can find some way to paint them to "comment," I do. Here are a couple of them:


Lady in Red
oil on canvas 9X12
This allowed me to work on gesture and facial expression. The "meaning" I intended is resting in my subconscious somewhere. I love the colors and I made her complexion very pale for contrast.

Model Levitating
oil on canvas 16X20
I was fascinated by the impact of this image. It was spread across two pages I imagine to shock the viewer. The shiny leather outfit was challenging to work with as was the unusual pose. I simplified it a bit, but I added the shadow underneath to make it seem as if she was floating in air. Perhaps Freud could explain it.

But in a sane moment I did come across this which caught my eye:

Looking Up Preble Street
oil on canvas 16X20
This is right down the street from where I live in the Willard Square area. I liked the houses "stacked" one after the other. Also, I tried to capture the low winter light and I am always attracted to bare trees in winter.

SUPER SIMPLE SEAFOOD

RECIPES FROM MAINE

As long as we’re talking Maine, I will now share with you Maine’s greatest treasure: its seafood. My wife has been cooking for over 50 years; she learned as a child from her dietician aunt, who had one of the first (live broadcast) televised cooking programs. Her cooking is widely admired, as are her techniques, first and foremost of which is what she refers to as her “life’s most creative journey” -- how to get to the best-tasting result with less fuss, time and complicated steps than the original recipe dictates. She particularly enjoys preparing seafoods; fortunate, since that’s what we have in abundance here on the coast of Maine! We serve them at opera parties and art openings, as well as in our home. Herewith, some of my favorite Super Simple Seafood Recipes from Maine.

Freezy Breezy Crab Puffs (makes 48)

Mix well: 1 jar Old English cheese, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder,
½ teaspoon seasoned salt, 3 scallions, minced,
1 stick butter, softened, 1 1/2 tablespoons light mayonnaise

Fold in: 1 can good quality crabmeat, drained.
Separate: 6 Thomas’s English Muffins, and spread mixture on all 12 halves.
Freeze: on a cookie sheet covered with plastic wrap. Then place in freezer bags.
To serve: Cut into quarters while frozen, and broil till bubbly and just brown.


Italian Mussels One Way (2 pounds serves 2 for dinner or 8 as canapés)

Combine in large pot 2-pound bag mussels (those from our good neighbors in Prince Edward Island are pretty darned clean and the steaming will finish the job) and ½ cup of any Italian white wine. Cover and cook over medium-high, shaking from time to time for about 8-10 minutes, until they’re all open.

Drain and discard the tops of shells, arranging the mussels in shells on a cookie sheet.
If you insist, you can make your own pesto sauce from scratch in a food processor. I’ve found the one I think is best in a jar – Classico brand is super. Spread about a teaspoon of pesto sauce over each mussel. Grate about a cup of fresh parmesan (more if you like) and sprinkle over the mussels, then bake at 350 for about 8 minutes, until bubbly.

Italian Mussels the Other Way (same yields as in above recipe)

Combine in large pot another 2-pound bag of mussels and one 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes (the oregano/basil flavored variety) plus ½ cup of chianti (mediocre quality will do fine.) Cover and cook over medium-high, shaking from time to time for about 8-10 minutes, until they’re all open. When serving, spoon sauce from pot over them.

Lobster & Crab Gazpacho (serves 6)

Combine in a large glass bowl, then cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours:

2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes,(2 garlic & onion flavor and 1 zesty jalapeno flavor)
1 quart of V-8, 1 cup of bottled clam juice,
1 tablespoon each lemon and lime juice, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar,
2 tablespoon thin-sliced scallions, 2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley,
5-6 ounces of lump crabmeat, 5-6 ounces of lobster meat,
3 dashes Tabasco, sea salt & fresh-ground pepper

Serve with a hearty multi-grain peasant boule or baguette.


Grilled Salmon with Scallion Butter (serves 4)

Mix well and refrigerate: 1 stick butter, softened,1 teaspoon minced curly parsley,
1 1/2 tablespoons minced scallions, dash of lemon juice,
Salt & pepper to taste

Brush: 4 salmon steaks with olive oil and grill 5-6 minutes per side.
Spread: a generous pat of scallion butter over each hot steak to serve.

In Maine, salmon in any form is the traditional Fourth of July entrée, accompanied by conveniently in-season fresh peas.


Pepper Parmesan Salmon Salad (serves 4)

Grill an extra 8 ounces of salmon when preparing another meal. Remove skin and any bones and break the salmon into small pieces.

Whisk together: juice of 4 lemons, 6 cloves garlic, chopped,
1 teaspoon white Worcestershire sauce,
1 teaspoon fresh cracked peppercorns (medley is preferred),
½ cup chopped Italian flat parsley,
Slowly whisk in 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil until dressing is emulsified

Toss: in a large salad bowl 2 heads romaine, trimmed and chopped, 1 cup grated
fresh parmesan, and the dressing.

Serve salad on 4 plates and top with salmon.

Bon appetit!

Winter in Maine–an Artist’s View
It was a long time before I realized what potential the bleak, gray winters of Maine had for an artist who lives here. It’s way to cold to go out and paint sketches on site and though I do get out for at least a walk daily in winter, I didn’t often see much that inspired me artistically.
Well, I was wrong. The more I studied painting and the more I exchanged thoughts and ideas with other artists, the more I woke up to the treasure trove of goodies laying on the snow, in the low, slanting light, in the expressive bare limbs of the trees. Now the problem was to develop a method of capturing all of this on canvas.
I have an artist friend who paints out of doors all year long in Maine. He has a 60s vintage VW bus that he has set up with a heater inside. He’ll go to a site, set up his easel and paint until he gets cold. He then repairs to the bus, turns on the heat and warms up. Sometimes it’s every few minutes. Now that’s devotion! I don’t have a VW bus or anything like it, but as I said, I do get out and have since learned to spot paintable things and scenes. When I do, I take several photos and try to totally absorb what I see–even making a few notes. I find that I have a pretty good memory for images which helps. When I get back to the studio, I put the images in my computer, do a bit of PhotoShop and then do some quick sketches on a canvas, including color notes of what I remember.
I should point out that I use the photos only for reference and positioning of items in the piece. How to use photos in painting is another piece altogether, but I quickly put the photos away. I pretend that I am doing an on-site sketch and start painting as if I had the same time pressure as I would plein air. This helps me deal with color masses and values quickly, saving details until later. I also find that imagination quickly kicks in and I’m able to take my image memories into a more "artistic" realm. When I finish the painting a few days later, I compare it with the photo. The human eye coupled with the brain is infinitely more powerful than the camera! (Not to demean the art of photography, which in its way is just as challenging as painting).
Here are a couple of paintings I did in recent weeks. The lighthouse is Portland Headlight which stands on a point in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It’s a couple of miles from where I live. It has been painted and photographed thousands of times by thousands of people. I’ve painted it a few times myself, but I try to find an uncommon view, so it’s not just another "lighthouse painting." This day had new fallen snow followed by brilliant sunshine. I saw a spot on a little bluff that had birches in front of it. In one of those "aha" moments, I trudged up and saw this scene. A couple of photos and a few moments of study later, I had it. The sun was blinding on the snow, so the camera didn’t "see" much, but I did, adding colors in the snow providing an atmospheric perspective. I also intensified some colors to pump up the image of the lighthouse which should be the focus of the piece. I also pumped up the white in the birches, inspiring the name, "White on White."
The second picture is a mile down the road from the first, a marsh that most people don’t even see because on the other side of the road is the ocean, often spectacular with roiling waves and distant ships. It was late in the afternoon with long shadows and that brilliant gold white light we have in winter when the sun is receding. I used the same technique as before, but I changed the composition substantially, isolating that crooked tree and simplifying the background. I call it "Pond Cove Marsh in Winter" to distinguish it from another painting I did of the marsh in fall. You can see it and some other pieces on the site fineartamerica.com/jack-riddle.

Jack's Profile

I am a retired businessman living in southern Maine. I spend most of my time painting and have a website www.jackthepainter.com. I also post newer work on the site www.fineartamerica.com-jackriddle. I have other interests,too: performing arts, particularly classical music and opera, sports, reading, travelling, biking and writing. From time to time, I will post thoughts and ideas about all of these subjects, plus new ones that intrigue me at the moment, but the majority of them will involve my artwork. In these cases, I will show a recent painting and comment on its origin and the techniques used to achieve the result. I believe discussing the creative processes is a way to reveal the inner self to not only onesself, but that of others to themselves. I also hope to be provocative in the sense that I will cause you, my reader, to react and post comments. Thanks for visiting!