Once it dries I will put on the compass rose, but besides that I am almost done this painting.
To see the posts of the earlier steps that this marine themed still life painting went through, click the following:
Northport Landing Gallery Camden , Maine – Artwork on Display
Quick road trip to Camden, Maine in July with my friend Nancy was a delight with stops in Portsmouth, NH, and an overnight stay in Northport, ME with another friend Sue. Mission accomplished ~ dropped off four paintings to gallery owner Joy Armbrust. OMG! Joy’s art gallery is a feast for the eyes AND she even serves latte’s, expresso, and great stories to boot! Joy’s laugh is infectious ! www.NorthportLandingGallery.com
If in the Camden area, please stop by the gallery, which is located just a few miles north of Camden on US Rt 1
Above is a painting of Great Spruce Head Island. This island is where Fairfield Porter painted and belongs to his family. Each year Anina Porter holds Art Week where artists come together on an invitation only basis for a week and paint and share. I was lucky enough to be invited and this landscape painting of the coast of Great Spruce Head Island is one of the resulting paintings. Each day we trekked out with our painting gear, our easels, our brushes and paints and did plein air painting till the next meal and then went out and did it again.
I couldn’t resist painting this Piping Plover and the baby Piping Plovers. They are such fluff balls and so cute as they run around the beach.
Here is the finished painting of a scene at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum in Essex, MA. To see an earlier post with more detail about this coastal landscape painting, click here.
I have painted cows a number of times before. What was difficult in this landscape painting was getting the reflections in the water to look right.
Posted in Landscape
Tagged animal, bird, coast, cow, landscape, oil painting, painting
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Pond Racing Painting – Sand & Water
I worked on the sand and water in the painting today. The people are still very rough.
You can see I earlier worked on the sky and clouds in the painting. I feel I have made a lot of progress since the picture of this landscape painting in an earlier post.
Marine Still Life – Working on the Binoculars
Binoculars in perspective are harder than I first imagined. What do you think? You can see on the painting where I have made marks on the eye pieces to help me get it looking right. You can see that I have added color and detail to the compass in the lower right of the painting, but I keep coming back to the binoculars trying to get them just right.
Concept Drawing of Pond Racing
Two boys are racing boats have their faces to the sun. The others in the painting will all be backlit. Here is the rough in.
Painting of Grapes – 3rd Sitting
Here is the third sitting of the grapes!
Besides the fact that I like to drink wine, I was inspired to paint this by two events. First, we took a tour of the Boordy Vineyards. The tour was very interesting and most of the wines we tasted afterward were quite nice. In the fall, my husband and I went with four friends to Basignani Winery to pick grapes. There were probably 30 or 40 people there and they showed us how to cut the grape bunches and toss them into plastic trays. Then they gave us a short tour and fed us lunch along with some of their wine. Since it was early fall when the grapes had ripened, the leaves were changing color as depicted in the painting. I am calling it a landscape painting, but in some ways it is almost more of a still life because of the close up nature of the painting.
Marine Still Life Painting – 3rd Sitting
After practicing my ellipses for the binoculars I sat down to get the majority of the painting done. Here are the results. If you just draw circles, the painting looks cubist instead of realistic. Or, if not cubist, the painting just doesn’t look right. Once it dries I can work on refining it. Click here to see the first sitting and the original still life objects.
Marine Still Life First Draft
Here is my initial layout of the painting.
You can see that I start the painting by sketching the elements in, checking to make sure it all fits the way I want on the canvas and that it looks good and is balanced. I also check the perspective before getting too far in the painting because that is hard to change later. Then I start adding color and detail to the painting. Click here to see a picture of the objects that are part of this marine themed still life painting.
Progress on Landscape Painting
I worked on painting the sky and the main boat in the foreground.
We took this picture when our family went up to spend a short vacation on Cape Ann in Annisquam, Massachusetts with a dear friend. We went to nearby Essex, MA and visited the Essex Shipbuilding Museum. It was fascinating. You would never believe the number of ocean going sailing ships and fishing vessels built and launched in this small community and small river. They must have launched the boats only at high tide. The museum may repair the boat in the foreground, but it looked to us like it was never going to move again. But it did make a good subject for a painting with the boat stranded and abandoned in the marsh. The buildings on the right are part of the museum.
New Marine Themed Still Life Painting
Here is the still life I am going to start working on.
I chose a maritime theme to paint. The binoculars were used by my husband’s family while sailing on their boat on the Chesapeake Bay. The lantern is a kerosene lantern or light that they hung as a mooring light each night when anchored out. The mug with the old salt and the mermaid was picked up on one of their vacations when he was young. The bronze compass made by Weems & Plath was given to us while we were members of the Annapolis Yacht Club. Then, of course, since we sail on the Chesapeake Bay, I just had to use the Maryland flag as part of the background. It is such a colorful and stylish flag. As I progress with this still life painting, I will update my progress with another blog post.
