Vermont - Springtime

"The Spring Thaw - Waitsfield, Vermont" (18"X24", Oil on Canvas, $800)

Unlike the last two paintings on this blog, this was from a trip to Vermont that took place in the early Spring, rather than the Fall. This shows Tina, looking into the rushing water as the sun filters through the unseen trees in the upper left, and bathes her in its light. I really like the way this one turned out. It's actually my favorite of the 'Vermont Series' that I've blogged about lately. I think the light came out looking really shiny, and the water has good motion in it. The whole picture is thickly painted, except in the shadows, just like it should be. That's a principle of oil painting that I sometimes forget.

The composition revolves around a diagonal cross formed by the water flow. It runs into the picture from the upper and lower left, as well as the lower right. It runs downstream and out of the painting, towards the upper right. The visual focus is just to the right of the center of the picture, with its bright white foamy water contrasting sharply with Tina's dark jacket.

There's a mood of solitude in the painting that works well for me. I can imagine the viewers of the picture relating to the 'viewer' in the scene, staring into the swirling water; feeling the warmth of the sun while still needing to wear a thin Spring jacket; thinking of nothing. It seems to be almost hypnotic, or at least meditative. Swirling water and sunshine does that to me.

There's little bits of green coming in around the stream. I'm sure that as the summer wears on, the bits of green turn into tall, thick tussocks of grass and weeds. We've never actually made a trip to Vermont in the summer. The summer is for our trips to Maine and Lake Sebago.

I don't know what the set of wooden stairs is for. You can see that they really lead nowhere except down to the water that runs really thin in the winter, and then rushes and swirls like it does here, during the Spring thaw.

Vermont - Farms and Horses

"Autumn Grass - Waitsfield, Vermont" (18"X24", Oil on Canvas, $750)

This is another in the series of paintings done after a trip to Vermont (in the Fall, in this case) and my desire to get back into painting by way of such memorable moments.

This is actually the same horse and field as in the previous post, except that it was taken from a much different and closer angle. Needless to say, the horse didn't have much of an interest in me or the fact that I was interested in him (or her, as the case may be), taking the time to slowly make its way across the field of quickly yellowing and drying grass.

I feel this is a successful painting, in that the focus of interest is squarely on the horse. The background, for all its detail, is thinly painted and somewhat washed out so that the horse, with its thicker and richer color, stands out - almost to the point of looking 3-D. This type of atmospheric effect is fun to do and a bit startling to achieve. I also like the way the slope of the hill in the background peaks right behind the horse, making the eye travel in from the left and right, stopping at the dark mass of the animal.

The grass in the foreground is underlaid with blocks of slightly darker color and then filled in with many strokes to make up the closely cropped surface. The detail in the grass is less and less as the foreground becomes the background, which helps with the illusion of depth.

The main point here is that the quiet and calm of the scene is driven home by the serenity of the horse and the limited color palette which harmonizes the painting. Let me know what you think of this, or any of the other paintings that I've done and written about on this blog.

Vermont - Farms and Horses

"Posted but Not Private - Waitsfield, Vermont" (18"X24", Oil on Canvas, $750)

This was done as part of a series of paintings that were inspired by trips to Vermont in the Spring and Fall that I've taken with Tina. I was kicked back into painting mode following a layoff to do some blog work (as mentioned in an earlier post) by doing a picture that wasn't of any landscape in particular, but was a mish-mash of feelings rising from those trips.

After that, I thought I should continue in that vein, by doing paintings that were based on photos I'd taken on site.

Driving around and looking at the farms and fields that fill the countryside there, we came upon this horse farm alongside the roadway. We stopped so that I could get out and take some shots. As seen in this picture, this was at about sundown so the shadows were long. It's also one of the Fall visits, as seen in the bits of orange foliage and the bare trees in the background. The large blocks of dark contrast sharply with the sunset light, and the overlapping diagonals draw the viewer into the painting, all the way back to the fading line of mountains in the distance.

I like the feeling of quiet and the chilly light that fills the upper half of the scene. The one horse, standing in the fading sun while eating the dried grass of Autumn probably doesn't have much to do at this time of year. In the spring he'll be back at work, either pulling farm equipment around the fields or providing carriage rides to the tourists. Right now, though, he's taking it easy in his "Private" space, waiting for the Vermont winter to come and go.

Vermont - Farmers and Farms

"Rakin' and Rootin' - Waitsfield, Vermont" (12"X16", Oil on Canvas, $450)

I did this painting after a springtime visit to our friends at their B&B in Waitsfield, Vermont. As might be expected, there's a fair amount of rural activity in the area, since Waitsfield isn't on most people's radar, except as the town that serves the ski industry in winter.

I took the reference for this photo just as these two guys were finishing with one chore and heading towards the barn to get the tools for the next one. I saw the tools in their hands but still felt the need to ask them "What have you guys been doing?" as I raised the camera to my eye. It turns out that my question sounded just as inane to them as it now sounds to me. The response I got from the farmer and his son became the title of the painting: "Rakin'" said the father, followed quickly by the son's comment: "Rootin'".

The weather was beautiful that day, with puffy springtime clouds and bright blue sky. Not too hot, so that prepping the field wasn't too sweaty a task. The warm red of the farm buildings contrasted nicely with the blue sky and the cool blue-white of the metal silo. I like the lost edge of the silo against the cloud, merging the two. I also like the curving dirt road that bends into the far building, bringing the viewer's eye back into the painting.

I suppose the farm is a historic building, as seen by the "1903" sign over the near building. I didn't bother to ask about that, for fear of getting the obvious response: "Ayuh".

Maine/Vermont Landscape

"Fishing in an Imaginary Landscape" (16"X20", Oil on Canvas, $550)

I did this a few weeks ago, after a layoff from painting to get this blog (and my flickr site) up and going. I felt like I needed something to inspire me to get back into painting, and so I tried thinking about my favorite places and what it would be like to be there. I also felt that I wanted to try a bit of a landscape, since I had seen some nice ones in an art magazine. I suppose I was a little anxious to get back into painting, since I had neglected it for a while. Now I've been painting and drawing so much that I've neglected the blog and flickr site! It's always something.

I started blocking in the shapes and shadow areas, to get started, and came out with the beginnings of this piece. It's an imaginary landscape that combines my feelings about Maine, where I've spent many wonderful vacations over the years with Tina, and Vermont, since I've also had some great and natural times there. It's not really about the fishing, since I don't really fish. It's more about the relaxing feeling that comes from having the time to fish; to spend the whole day essentially sitting and daydreaming while patiently waiting for something to happen, under a tree by a lake.

Since doing this one, I've done a series of paintings that focus on my times in Vermont, to go along with the series that I've already posted about my times in Maine. I have about five (including this one) that I'll post here as soon as I can, over the next few days.

Most of the Vermont images are connected to Autumn, since Vermont makes me think of Fall, while Maine makes me think of Summer. These are just personal associations. Please feel free to comment on your own associations with either of these vacation paradises.

North End, Boston - Prince St. Evening

"Autumn Reflections - Prince Street, North End" (18"X14", Oil on Canvas, $550)

This painting is the re-paint that I mentioned in a much earlier post. It was originally 20"X16", and there weren't any reflections of the sunny side of the street in these shady-side windows. I really like the addition of the reflections, as they make the picture really pop.

The reason I was inspired to do it was that I was out for a walk one evening and noticed the bright, warm colors that were showing up in the small glass panes of 58 Prince Street, and suddenly had a brainwave of how to jazz up this smaller version of one of my favorite paintings. I took some reference photos with my ever-present camera and ran home to print them out.

I always love adding light to a painting, and that's one of the great things about oil paints and the principles of oil painting in the first place: you put the light in last, over the shadows (which you block in first) and the mid-tones. It's never too late to add light. It adds dimension and visual interest, as well as usually punching up the focal points of your picture.

Take a look at the older post of the original, larger painting and see if you don't agree that the addition of the reflections, as well as the sunset light on the tiny triangle of bricks, along with the copper, at the top of the scene makes this a whole new and interesting view of the lovely old tenements in the North End.