Spencer Pierce Little Farm, plein air

Why does the blog heading become gibberish when I post it? 

This has mystified me for awhile. I'll see if I can fix it. If you know the answer, I'd love to hear it!

I promised I'd catch you up with paintings I completed while absent from my blog:

Here's a plein air painting of Spencer Pierce Little Farm, a beautiful place in Newbury, MA. Built in 1690, more than one hundred years before Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was published, I couldn't help imagining a family life that was just as lively and engaging in this place. I plan to paint there again. You just need to turn your head and easel and there's another picture!

Meanwhile, I've tweaked some code and feel like I've just tinkered with the engine of a car. I also tried something a friend recommended. Let's see what happens. I'm going to post this now... Here's hoping the gibberish is gone!

Silent Pines of Grace

Tuesday was overcast, but beautiful in New Hampshire. Leaves are just beginning to change color. I could hear the pattering of raindrops, but didn't feel them; the trees sheltered me. Once the rain stopped, it was so quiet. Pine needles carpeted the path. I enjoyed a mini-vacation in Grace's neighborhood.

Potential

Here's the second painting I did at Amy's, while spending the morning with Band of Brushes friends.

It's can be exhilarating to paint with such intensity (and speed) as I did on that overcast day. The concentrated looking and the trusting of instinct that's required, feel like a good workout when I'm done! I learn a lot when I change my approach to painting now and then.

Forsythia at the Lake—Study, 6x8"

Well, one misty, overcast, drippy day I drove to local Lake Quannapowitt to paint "en plein air" from my car.  Here you have it.

There's a story the painting doesn't reveal: while painting from my car I listened to the radio. The day warmed up as I was nearing the end of my painting session. It was humid and warm. I turned on the air (not a/c) and opened the windows. Suddenly my radio stopped working! YES! My battery died. Happily AAA came to the rescue in time for me to pick up my son from school. Silly me. Lucky me.

Remembering Snow II, 6 x 6"

We've had so much snow this winter. As I drive around, I can't help but marvel at the beauty and subtlety of colors and values. Sometimes, it's all so soft I can barely make out the distinction of one tree against others. It's a shift of warm to cool within the same value. I really should carry a camera with me, too, since my memory fails me at some point in the painting process! But, it's fun to do these memory paintings now and then. Maybe mine will improve!

Remembering Snow, exercise, 6 x 6"

 

We've been getting so much snow here, just north of Boston. The piles outside are at least 4 feet high! This is a memory painting of sorts...remembering the snow, but taking liberties with the landscape. Much more on the way...snow, I meant. But I could do more paintings of it. Why not?  : ) 

Breakheart Reservation, 6 x 8"

This painting was done en plein air*, in the beginning of the summer. I'll be posting recently finished paintings in the next few days, but thought I'd revisit a warmer day today, since right now my feet are chilled in my studio! This was my first painting in Breakheart Reservation and I remember feeling eager to catch the light before it all changed. Although there are elements I could tweak, I think it's a successful field study. When I work on small paintings outside, I'm interested to capture as much as I can in those 2-3 hours, and learn as much as possible to fill up my "memory bank" and increase my collection of studies. Someday, when I'm more consistently good at plein air painting and I have that knowledge stored up, I'll be able to use all of that to create larger paintings from my studies. I've done a few already, and love how my memories of the day return while I'm painting.

*In case the term is new to you, plein air painting is done outdoors, directly from nature, often in one session. It's one of the more challenging ways to paint, since the artist contends with changing light, wind, weather, bugs...but those who do it love being in nature and find it's the best way to learn about painting it! SOLD

Snuff Mill, Byfield, 9 x 12", finished

Here's the finished painting of Snuff Mill, Byfield, with more accurate color than my earlier post. (Sometimes photographing a painting can be tricky!) It was a gorgeous autumn day. I and the other members of Band of Brushes plein air painting group loved this location and hope to paint there again. The changes I made are few and maybe a bit subtle. If you enjoy a visual challenge, you could compare it to the earlier post and see if you notice what I've altered—kind of like the feature in Highlights Magazine, that children used to read. (Do they still?)

Snuff Mill, Byfield, 9 x 12"

I belong to a plein air painting group, called Band of Brushes. We meet once a week at different locations, mostly on the North Shore of Massachusetts. This structure is on the site of a Snuff Mill in Byfield. I loved the light playing across the building and the colorful frame of fall foliage. I plan to tweak a few things on this before I call it finished. I need to straighten the edge of the building and reintroduce some bright grass along the slope that I remember began in front of the building and then traveled down the slope. It was a windy day, which blew clouds in front of the sun off and on. I think in a quick reaction to the changing scene I painted over it—I was guilty of Chasing the Light! Oops!