Student and Gift

I worked with my art student this week for two days (make up dates) and we worked on 8x8s as a gift to the person who does our facials who is getting married.  We agreed to do a flower painting, and it was this cosmetologist who introduced us years ago, so it will be special to her.

Bee Balm,
8x8, oil on stretched canvas with deep stretchers

Cooper Portrait

Went to the Bradford Church Haverhill Art Association portrait session this morning.  Cooper was the model and all the same people were painting there today that were there the last time I was there, and that was a long time now, maybe a year.  It's been a while for me now since I did a portrait, but I enjoyed the 2 hours and even though I forgot most of my paint colors, I had a good time.  I have two portraits to paint and I'm going to make a good effort this week to get them started.  Here's Cooper:

Trip to Monhegan

What a great time I had.  There is something incredibly different and peaceful about that place.

I drove up, met the boat with just the right amount of time left to park the car and grab a tea.  The one-hour boat trip was fine, open water so nothing to see, there were probably as many dogs as there were people on board, strange.  Upon landing, the various hotels' pickup trucks loaded up the luggage and took it to the hotel.  I slowly walked (there are only dirt roads there and no cars except absolute necessities) into the village, had a crab roll at the fish pier, ventured up to my room where my bags were waiting, separated out the art supplies and hit the road to paint the wreck.  It was a perfect day but slightly more windy than was comfortable in that my eyes were getting wind-burned.  Lots of people came and went and the painting progressed well.  For now I'm finished with it, but it will need a few touch ups.

 Dinner was expensive and the portions were as small as an appetizer, so I ordered an actual appetizer for dessert.  I turned in early, reading up on more airbrush information.  The decor was monastic but having the windows open made for a comfortable night's sleep.  I went down early for breakfast that was good and free--perfectly cooked bacon which I never eat anymore, and I met an artist in the lobby who has been staying there every summer for about 25 years, and we had a nice chat about the Art Students League in NY and about my upcoming project at the rink.  I set off right away up the hill to the lighthouse.  It is a very steep hill and I went up there a few times during the day.  It was a foggy day so all I could do on my lighthouse painting was correct the drawing a bit and repaint the lighthouse.  Met lots more people.  It opened at 11:30 and I went into the Lighthouse Museum and also saw the exhibit of Lemar Dodd whose work was very high end, a great show.

 I had set up my painting of the big panorama of the island, the third painting I brought along to do some improvements on, but the fog was so thick I could only see the foreground area.  I never did see the accompanying island across the straight or the horizon line to be sure.  I decided to go down for lunch and wandered around the entire village and up the adjacent hill, visiting here and there, into galleries, shops, and ran into an artist I had met earlier on the trip who had work in a gallery by the fish pier.  We goes up for a month every summer and a gallery goes with the room she rents.  Sweet deal!  I got a chowder and ate it with her while we chatted.  You won't believe this, but the fog cleared while I was having lunch, then it rolled in again when I got back up the hill to my painting!  Well, I worked on the foreground that coincidently never had any attention on my previous visit, but the painting will have to wait for, yet, another visit to get anyway near completion.

 I folded my tents, as they say, and went to the hotel to repack my gear for the trip home.  The boat trip was totally fogged in, we couldn't even see the rest of the boat, but I was traveling with a couple of women I had met in the village and we just joked and laughed all the way back to Port Clyde.  I drove home for three hours in the dense fog and in the dark and when I got to the Massachusetts border the fog lifted and the thought occurred to me that it must be like having cataract surgery because everything was so clear all of a sudden.

So I finally painted because I felt like it, and tomorrow morning I'll go paint a portrait at the Church in Bradford with the Haverhill artists and Mark Hayden and Mimi.  I might have chosen to go to the Greenbelt with David Curtis except that rain in predicted.  If you are still reading this very long story you must realize by now that it is the longest post I've ever written and I promise to be quicker or shorter next time! :)

Monhegan Island - painting trip

So the last time I was there was 2009 and I started a painting of "The Wreck".  I like it a lot and hope that I won't wreck it myself when I take it back there to try to complete it.  I'll travel up there tomorrow morning and get the 10:30 boat to the island.  The weather looks good, cloudy but that's ok, and it's warm - 80s in the day, 60s at night.  When I return, I'll let you know how it went and post a pic.
Now I'm getting my stuff together for the 3-hour drive up there in the a.m.

The Great Jeff Weaver - Demo

Sunday at the North Shore Art Association, Jeff Weaver did a demo as a fundraiser for their restoration fund.  It was full of information, working on three canvases during a one-hour demo, he was animated and entertaining and funny.  He is totally one of my favs.  I should make a list I guess.  I did capture a couple of nice videos, one is great but it's too long to download (for now anyway) so here is a short one:  :)

Two Show Openings

I watched more airbrush videos today and then traveled to Ogunquit and Newburyport for show openings.

 Black Bear Fine Art

Upstairs in Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, ME

Artist Talk & Refreshments 

and

Band of Brushes, Through Our Eyes
August 11-23, 2015, Newburyport Art Association

I used to belong to this plein air group so it was very nice to see a lot of familiar faces and their work. 

Art New England Magazine

The celebration party last night for the Art New England Magazine was a very nice affair.  I had the opportunity to meet and talk with the new executive director of the Rockport Art Association, Abby Battis.  The people from the magazine were there and introduced themselves and asked people to come forward to talk about what they were doing or mention upcoming events.  It was truly a breath of fresh air as many people spoke up and one couple had flown up here from Florida to attend.  There was a wine table, a chocolate table, and a very delicious hor d'oeuvres table.  I met and talked with some very interesting people and many people swapped cards.  I do subscribe to that magazine, but was able to pick up a couple of issues that I didn't remember having.

The New Clark Museum, Williamstown, MA

I very much enjoyed my visit yesterday to the new Clark to see the Van Gogh and the rest of the museum.    Whistler's Mother is another exhibit currently there. Many argue that the new architecture doesn't please them, but I liked it and it feels like you are 'one' with the landscape-another wonderful feature of the site.  There are hiking trails as well and I'd recommend that you bring a picnic and enjoy the scenery.

Still reading up on the airbrush technique that I'm pretty sure I'll use for my next mural at the rink. 

Tonight I'm visiting the Newburyport Art Association's shows on my way to the Rockport Art Association for a reception celebrating the new issue of Art New England Magazine at 6 p.m.

Video Tutorials and research on Airbrush Techniques

I've spent the entire day watching and learning and taking notes about airbrush painting in preparation for doing a mural at the skating rink.  The first wall will be about 16' tall and 160' long.  The design elements will be a space theme with black light and flourescent paint.  I think I will truly enjoy this adventure.  There is a lot of expense with equipment, paint, etc., but I'm thinking it will work up faster than the regular paint brush techniques I've used in the past.  Only time will tell, and I'll be talking about it as I progress.

A couple of days ago I went into Boston's MFA and saw the extensive Hokusai exhibition.  Talk about prolific, he was amazing, what a fantastic draftsman.  He worked in ink and various water paints on many surfaces and did woodblock prints.  In one day he painted a banner 6 stories high using 14 gallons of paint.  He could work big and tiny.  It is mind boggling, be sure to look him up!

This week coming up, I'm going out toWilliamsburg MA (western Massachusetts) to see the much talked about Van Gogh exhibit at the Clark, staying overnight.

Did I mention that I just returned from Santa Fe, New Mexico and Scottsdale, AZ and saw some very exciting art.  If I'm not motivated now, I'll never be!