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Restless Surf

Oil on Canvas

36" x 36"

I prefer to paint on location, start to finish in one session.  However, that is not always possible.  These trips still provide inspiration for work done in the studio.  The twelve 6" x 6" charcoals below are studies for future paintings.  Some are real locations, others half memory of explorations along the cost from Maine to Cape Cod.   This oil painting started as an elaboration of the sketch in the top left

Coastal Impressions

Charcoal 18" x 24"

I have a notebook I keep handy where I make compositional sketches and make sporadic notes. For this notebook I use pen and ink, because it forces me to focus on only what is essential.  These sketches are purposely incomplete.   I want to leave enough unfinished to allow for creative choices in the completed painting, not simply copying something in a larger format or in a different media.   I record other possible subjects based on the original idea.

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The next step involves sketching on the canvas (sometimes in paint, sometimes in charcoal or pencil).  Again not a complete sketch, just the broad outlines of the composition.  Sometimes I do this before staining the canvas, sometimes after.  In this case I sketched on the white canvas.  Next comes beginning to block in.

Beginning to block in the painting was the source of inspiration for the change in the composition.   The white of the canvas struck me as the waves breaking / receding from the rocks.  It was a much more dynamic composition than my original concept.  I then completed the block utilizing Burnt Sienna and then moved on to complete the painting making subtle changes along the way.

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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.

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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.