Abandoned Fort and Mount Norwottuck from Mount Pollux: Showers Likely are in the Workshop 13 2nd annual Northeast Fine Arts Exhibition in Traditional Realism, 13 Church St., Ware, MA 01082, September 26 - October 11, 2020.
Online show: https://www.workshop13.org/artworks-gallery/northeast-fine-arts-exhibition-2020-2/
Riding on the bike path and came across this scene, both beautiful and melancholy, with the bare ruin’d choirs of dead trees white in the late afternoon light surrounded by marsh grass and lily pads in the beaver pond. I only had one page left in my sketchbook, a failed and partially scrubbed out sketch of my trusty climbing structure, so I attempted take a page from James Gurney’s book, so to speak, and build the new picture on the ruins of the old. I managed to finagle most of the original elements into the new picture except for those lines in the sky.
A little 5” x 7” oil sketch of the back porch. I love how the light blanches the screen, leaving the true color to come through in the shadows. I used the mini pochade box I put together to use with my kayak, but realized I could mount it on a regular tripod to do a small painting in a confined space. It’s not quite where I want it to be, but I think I’ll let it ripen a bit and then either work on it more or start a larger version.
Not sure what this totemic assemblage signifies, but it was a worthy challenge to depict in watercolor. I had brought along a chopped down clip board along with a tripod, and realized I could C-clamp them together to make a nifty watercolor workstation.
Day two at Cape. Work in progress - oil painting of dunes and distant houses from our porch.
1. Current state
2. Set up and ready to paint.
3. Initial sketch, tape cropping to root 2 rectangle.
4. Starting to find the dark accents.
5. Blocking in the middle values, connecting the darks.
6. Starting the sky, restating the darks.
7. Me at work
First day on Cape Cod. This seagull came to visit - they may have been interested in my chicken salad. Nice contre jour effect against the late afternoon sun.
