Time Away

Last month, we spent a couple of weeks at a friend's camp on Hosmer Pond in Camden, Maine. It's an idyllic spot, out of the way, yet near enough to town to be a tourist, if that's on the menu. 

A pair of loons has lived on the pond for as long as I can remember. In fact, the first eerie loon call I ever heard was probably from ancestors of this pair.  

The Maine coast is a gold mine of painting opportunities! One day, I went to Belfast Harbor, where my brother works, to paint the tugboats. One of them was off on a job somewhere, so I tucked my easel into the shade beside the ice machine and painted the "Taurus." 

Our daughter Jessica took advantage of the beautiful weather to photograph Camden Falls, which is where the Megunticook River flows into the harbor. 

There were beautiful little things around, too, like these Indian Pipes that seemed to appear suddenly after a rainy day. 

One afternoon, I heard the loons making a greater-than-usual racket, calling loudly over the pond. They sounded almost panicky, so I went down to see what their problem might be. There, on the little island in the middle of the pond, was a bald eagle! It refused to pose formally as the National Bird, but I did get this slightly-out of focus photo before it took off behind the trees. Apparently, eagles aren't welcome in loon territory. 

Painting in Maine

A couple of weeks ago, I was painting along the water in Wells, Maine. It was a cold day, so I set up with the truck door open to keep out of the wind as much as possible. Notice the guy picking up rocks.  

Last week was warmer, so several more folks showed up from the Plein Air Painters of Maine. We came back to Wells, along the sea wall. My old station wagon was back from its trip to the garage.  

This summer, I'll be painting often at Tarbin Gardens in Franklin, New Hampshire. This is one of their magnolias, which lost many flowers in the frost after the 90-degree weather brought them into early bloom.

Even in early May, some daffodils were still in bloom.

Tulips, too, were in profusion that May day. I ran out of time after taking many photos, so I'll be back to paint in Tarbin's five acres of plants, trees and flower gardens soon!

April Snow

Littleton NH had nearly a foot of snow yesterday, so I decided to head up that way to see if I could find some to paint. When I left home, it was 50 degrees and sunny. By the time I got to Franconia Notch, it was 35 and snowing! I ended up at "The Rocks," a Christmas tree farm owned by the Society for the Protection of NH Forests in Bethlehem, NH. Even though I've been a member of the SPNHF for years, I'd never been there. What a place! There were a million things to paint, but I finally settled on a view of the front of the stone house. My choice was due partly to parking availability. I can take the heat, I even like the cold (!), but no one can paint plein air in wind as blustery as it was today. So I painted in the car. My painting isn't finished, and it ended up way too warm, probably because of the reddish underpainting, but I'll show it to you anyway. It's still in the pochade box, sitting on the car. I'll post the finished version at some point. I'm also posting a photo of the part of the building I'm calling the garage, just to show the snow that was falling as I was walking around looking for subject matter. What a great day!

Plein Air - Tavern

For four days of last week, I painted with 10 other New Hampshire Plein Air artists in a Michael Chesley Johnson workshop. I learned a LOT and had a great time! This is one little (6" x 8") oil, still somewhat unfinished, of the old tavern in the village of Dunbarton. The methods we were using don't work as well on canvas as on a gessoed panel, so the weave is too prominent in some areas. I'll post more from the workshop as they are dry enough to scan, and there'll be more whenever the weather is good this spring and summer.

Garden Path

I know; it's been forever since I've posted anything. What have I been doing? Shoveling snow, chatting with the phone company about our dead phone, shoveling snow, yelling at the phone company, shoveling snow....... etc., etc. Plus, of course, the holidays. So, for a bit of relief (or is it relief from the relief?), I'm posting this little 8" x 6" oil on canvas panel that I painted last fall in the back yard. I left out a lot of trees, as I just wanted to concentrate on all the colors.
The critter show came down yesterday. It was a moderate success; the few people that saw it (it snowed on reception night) loved it and we made a couple of sales.