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The first time I'd really heard about "covering the canvas" was in an artists studio in North Conway New Hampshire.  Richard Gordan Packer was the artist.  It was quite cold in the studio we could see our breath!   Mr. Packer was preparing canvases for a painting trip to Massachusetts while kindly answering my questions while letting me watch him paint.

He was explaining his process to me.  He was going to a place where he knew he wanted to paint.  It included wharfs and warehouses, which he blocked in to prepare his canvases for painting on location throughout different times of the day and different weather conditions.  He then told me stories about his travels to Europe and what he'd learned about the villages he painted.  He told me these stories one painting at a time.  As a history buff, I very much enjoyed hearing about his artistic journey and his travels throughout the world and the United States.

The painting on the left was me utilizing leftover paint from another painting.  I hate the thought of wasting paint.  The original idea was a fall scene with reflections in water.  But as the painting progressed I was drawn away from that idea to the forest and meadows I explored and played in while growing up in Westbrook Maine.  Most of those childhood playgrounds are gone.  Long since developed.  But the memories remain.

He kindly let me observe him painting.  So much of what he said was beyond me, at that time, as I had barely begun my artistic journey and I'd not experimented with oil paints.  He spoke fondly about North Conway, when he'd built his house and studio back in the early 1950's.  How he'd worked as a truck driver to continue to pursue his painting career.  Long before the arrival of outlet stores.  Just the beauty and charm of the region and of small village life.  One winter landscape painting caught his attention and he shared the story of snowshoeing to this spot and painting this scene for a friend.

This is a painting of his which is similar to the canvas he was prepping on the day of my visit.  He was actually preparing multiple canvases of the same scene.

Oil Painting by R. G. Packer

I never had the opportunity to connect with Mr. Packer again.  I was unable to connect with Mr. Packer on my next visit to North Conway and shortly afterward I'd learned that he had passed away.  He was so generous with his time and gentle advice on how to get started with painting on location.  I'll always be thankful for that visit.

I remember my mother and her sisters talking about the early days in North Conway.  I always enjoyed our trips to visit my Aunt on Mt. Cranmore.  I even remember the covered bridge which has long since burned down.  Later, my wife and I would enjoy Christmas shopping, walking along the smaller stores on Main Street.

#oilpainting #northconway #newhampshire #maine #westbrook #RGPacker #RichardGordanPacker #arttherapy #fallinnewengland

My wife, then girlfriend, introduced me to Long Island Maine.  It's a small, but beautiful island, formally part of Portland, ME but it has since seceeded and become its own town.  We went out by mailboat and then walked to the other side of the island to a beautiful beach facing the open Atlantic. I found the water there to be very bracing compared to the beaches on the mainland.

There's a lot more history to explore on this island - it was a gathering and refueling point for convoys in World War II but that is a story for another time.

At the far end of the beach beyond the sand dunes and rocks is a beautiful house that has always captured my attention.

Years later, while chaperoning an 8th grade class trip to Long Island I completed the following two sketches for future reference, using the later as reference for the sunset watercolor.

  

These sketches were all filed away for years.  At the time these were painted I didn't really have any developed working method.

Now, from time to time I'll revist sketches when conditions don't allow for painting on location. Below is an example of some small compositional sketches and notes and a quick color study that had an emphasis on the sky as I was quite interested to see what effect different perspectives would have on the mood of the painting.

I'd really like to set up on the beach for a good storm.....

#workingmethods #seriespainting #watercolor #pencil #charcoal #pleinairpainting #Maine #longisland #arttherapy #LongIsland #cascobay

This acrylic was painted on location at Harmon's Beach Sebego Lake, Maine many falls ago.  I can remember the day like it was yesterday.  I used a heavy french easel which I had to prop against a tree to keep it from being knocked over by the strong wind gusts.

It was so cold, that when I finished painting, I couldn't drop the paint brush, I needed to remove it from my right hand with my left.

I was focused on the water and sky, amazed at all the colors that we often think of a simply a grey day.  Like any painting I look at later, there are some things that I would do differently now, but i was and still am pleased with the effort.  I captured things that I could never have imagined because it was painted start to finish on location (en plein air).

When I look at this today, I am transported back to that moment in time.  I can hear the crashing windblown surf, and feel and hear the howl of the wind and the spray from the waves.

If you've never tried painting on location, I'd encourage you to do so.  Don't let people talk you out of painting on location by talking about all the challenges - its still worth it.  I've found that even though some of the effects I'm trying to capture in nature are still beyond me, the mind takes in far more than you are aware of at the time.

For me, sometimes, things go exactly as I hope, or I have happy accidents, and I have a picture ready to frame.  At other times, I use the piece as a reference for a studio work, or I use bits and pieces of what I've painted in other painting compositions.  Others simply are stacked up in the studio. the result of many lessons learned - unlikely to ever see the light of day (or the internet).  Still it is time well spent, in my opinion.

This was my first pass (with leftover paint!) of a coastal scene I've been experimenting with in charcoal and watercolor.  The rocks are a mixture of blues, reds, and yellow's with a dash of white.

This is an example of "playing with paint" which accomplishes more than one purpose.  For starters, I hate to waste paint, so when I do have paint leftover when I finish a subject, I will have canvasses ready to be primed (even if already factory primed).

Secondly, it gives me an opportunity to begin blocking in the composition if I have one already planned out - in this case I did.

Third, it allows me to experiment with compositions.  In this case I raised the heigth of the background peninsula.  I don't like how that changed the flow of the picture, so I'll paint over it.

Fourth - it also allows me to experiment with color mixing on a subject rather than simply as an academic exercise (although it's fine to make color squares as well. - practice is practice.)

#workingmethods #playingwithpaint #paintinginprocess #paintingtips #seascape #arttherapy #RobertKahlerLandscapepainting #colormixing

Riverbank Deep Woods - Oil on Canvas 18" x 24"

Pass #1

At the time that I painted this, I was experimenting with the foreground to get a sense of scale.  I knew it wasn't having the intended effect the moment I painted in the tree and figure, but I just decided to let it set it aside for awhile.

As I studied the painting further, I also came to realize that the foreground composition was distracting the eye from entering the painting.  Which led to pass number 2.

Pass #2

I was pleased with the strengthened composition in pass 2.  It was better, but still not what I wanted it to be.  I worked on bringing up areas of the entire painting - adding highlights throughout as well as more indications of movement in the water.

The remaining adjustments involved adjusting the Pine in the foreground, both height and overlapping to push the other trees and river further back.

Final Pass

#oilpainting #workingmethods #landscapepainting #designtips #lessonslearned #arttherapy #newengland #fallcolor #robertkahlerlandscapepainting  #pushingpaint #impressionism #artforsale