John Sloan. The Jitney.  Oil. 1915. Metropolitan Museum of Art

I love the street, how it lays flat and moves into the space, but has many colors. The path in Two Tractors needs this attention.

John Sloan. The Jitney.  Oil. 1915. Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bailey's Island, Driftwood Inn, ME

Is it finished? Does it feel like that foggy day at Bailey's Island on the porch of the Driftwood Inn? The earlier version looks wetter, more foggy.

Two tractors Lampson Brook Farm, Belchertown

Last night, spent 2 hours on this painting knowing that the tractor in the foreground would be moved today at 5 a.m. It was. I took photo references--so how to work with the photo and not lose the atmosphere of being one site... Colors here are a little overexposed.  As usual, became lost while painting, trying to reduce the shapes, while thinking how to make the landscape believable. Can a viewer walk in the grass? My brain needs to register what works even faster--the darker parts create stability, but I have to be careful about too much value.  Yellow in the foreground captures the feel of the evening. Next correction, the purple trees in the back. What color are they really? What shape?  Tonight, 5:30 p.m. in the heat. I'm hydrating now.

Still Life in front of a window

LOVE this still life in front of a window by Ruth Miller, Cabbage, Melon, Window Still Life, 2013/14, Oil on canvas, 26 x 31 inches. Color, drawing, space arrangement--beautiful. 

 Two views of summer, one in Maine and one at home. Perhaps the juxtaposition will enable a clearer mindset as I complete these works.

Lampson Brook Farm looking northwest, Mt. Norwottuck in the distance.

Starting to come together. Still too many shapes. Simplify, simplify.

 View from the porch of Driftwood Inn on Bailey's Island. The day was wet and cool. Felt great to be standing next to my easel and looking into the mist. June 29, 2016

I'm back

“Maine in Fog,” oil on canvas, 1926-29Images courtesy Bowdoin College Museum of Art

...and I'll be rusty. It's been years since I've posted. Returned from a glorious 4 day painting class with Jill Pottle at Orr's Island. Today, I'm working on a painting indoors that I started plein air. How to capture a foggy scene, channel the day when I painted on site--this is on my mind. Jill talked a lot about Hopper and I'm analyzing this painting. Minimize. I like how I see in thirds, the house in distance in fog,  the boat at center in completely different value, the shrubbery on right. Somehow this sea scape makes me feel the day. I want to do that. I love how the boat is tipped to the right, how it's situated on an angle in the landscape. I want to see this painting in person.