Some of you may be wondering why I have not posted a painting for a couple weeks. My family and I were enjoying some time in Minnesota visiting my family and doing some painting and photographing. We spent a few days at a cabin in the Grand Marais area on the north shore of Lake Superior in Superior National Forest on Devils Track Lake. It was beautiful and peaceful; loons calling, birch and spruce trees, flowers, and lakes galore. Every morning I got up at 5am and went painting and moose hunting with my camera. Unfortunately we did not see any moose, only a couple grouse which flew away before I could get within "shooting range". But I plan to have some landscape paintings coming out soon from this trip.
I was accepted into Plein Air Easton again this year. Next week I will be in Easton, Maryland painting like crazy with over 50 other artists. If you happen to be in the area stop by. Plein Air Easton attracts some of the top plein air artists in the world and I'm much honored to have been juried into the event. Monday and Tuesday we will be painting all over Talbot County, Wednesday and Thursday we will be painting in the town of Easton with an exhibit on Friday and a Quick Draw on Saturday. It is always fun to see art being created in just a matter of a few hours and the art that is created is nothing short of beautiful. Here is the link for further information:
http://www.pleinaireaston.com/. I hope you and yours doing well and staying cool this summer. I will be posting more paintings very soon.
This is the 6th painting I did at Plein Air Easton. Ellen, the artist in the painting volunteered to finish her painting in the sun instead of moving into the shade; this way I could paint her with all those nice cast shadows. As you may have guessed it was incredibly hot. I had to paint fast and completed this painting in less the an hour and a half.
This was the third painting I did for Plein Air Easton. I started this one early in the morning; as the sun rose it's reflection in the water almost blinded me. At one point I was about to give up and completely wipe out the painting, but I ended up moving my easel back and finished the painting. I'm glad I did because I like the painting.
This was my quick draw painting that I did for Plein Air Easton this year. I won an Honorable Mention Award for this painting. In this particular quick draw you have 2 hours to complete a painting from start to finish and you must paint from life within a designated area. After some frustration in trying to find a spot I settled on the Easton Farmers Market. This was the first time I have painted a scene with many people moving around. After I was set up fellow artist Scott Llyod Anderson set up right in the middle of my scene. His twin umbrellas added the center of interest that I needed.
This is a plein air painting I did last week on a perfectly sunny afternoon. The field was filled with Buttercup flowers. The fence was not there but I added it for interest. There was also a small white building in the foreground that was built at a funky angle in comparison to the other buildings, so it had to go. One of the benefits of painting a scene rather than photographing it.
This is one of the largest paintings I have ever done, well at least the longest. 5 Pintail Drakes out on a foggy morning in early spring.
This is a little oil sketch that I did a couple weeks ago during a late afternoon. We drive by this farm all the time on our way to Mass and family gatherings, and for years I have thought that I should paint it. I love how the late afternoon humidity simplified the shapes and gave such a strong feeling of aerial perspective.
