Cadillac Mountain - Late May

My cross-country trip included a week at Bar Harbor, Maine, on Mount Desert Island and in Acadia National Park. Although we had rain, we had some sunny days, too -- some quite spectacular, especially since spring was just getting started. One day was unusually calm, and I headed up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. Cadillac is famous for being the first place in the continental US that sees sunrise. (Although Lubec, Maine, will contest this, and certainly did when the new century kicked in!) It's also notorious for being windy. However, even my little umbrella was happy this day.

Here I am on the top. You can see the Porcupine Islands in the distance.

And here is the painting from that session. "The Porcupines," oil/panel, 8x10.

Marshes & Dunes

We've been a month on the road, traveling from New Mexico to New Brunswick, Canada. Now that we have reached our home on Campobello Island and somewhat unpacked, I've had time to scan in some of the plein air pieces I painted while traveling. Every painting has a story behind it. One of my favorite stories concerns "Cape Cod: Marsh & Dunes". I just plain forgot to take turps with me, so this one was painted -- with great reluctance -- with paint right out of the tube and no thinner. But the painting turned out all right, as you can see. Lack of turps forced me to work with a brush loaded with thick paint. A real learning experience!

"Marshes & Dunes", 8x10, oil/panel

I will post other paintings as I have time. Gosh, it's good to get settled again!

Uncompahgre River: Full Tilt Spring

I hadn't expected to have the opportunity to post any new paintings while en route to Campobello Island, New Brunswick, but it's a new world out there with wi-fi. Here's a small en plein air oil I did while stopping for a few days in Ouray, colorado. In Ouray, the aspens are greening up and the snowmelt is quickening rivers such as the Uncompahgre. Here is one spot that caught my eye along the river -- I never thought I'd see such gorgeous colors in the springtime!

"Uncompahgre River: Full Tilt Spring" (8x10, oil/panel, en plein air)

Ponderosa Tall

This isn't your typical plein air painting -- it's more of a study or sketch than a full-fledged effort at Art (with a capital "a"!) I was intrigued by the silhouette of the ponderosa pine's trunk against the distant hills. For some reason, I kept seeing these as blocks of pure color rather than as tree and hill. And this is the way I painted it.

I also wanted to make sure I was capturing the value relationships of the different shapes. Color and value -- these are what I was working on here.

"Ponderosa Tall," 10x8, oil/panel, en plein air

By the way, I will be taking a sabbatical from the "weekly paintings" for a month or so. We have sold the New Mexico house and will shortly be on our way to our home in the Canadian Maritimes. You can look forward to more weekly paintings after June 1!

Not Yet Spring

I went out with a student yesterday to Carissa Springs, which can be quite lovely in the spring when the cottonwoods and willows leaf out. We were a tad disappointed, as it is already early April and the trees had barely started!

Fortunately, I found myself a little stand of gambel oak nestled against a hillside. The sunlight came filtering down through their empty branches and set aglow last year's leaves on the forest floor. The shadows were very cool and the light very warm. I am very happy with the bold strokes and even bolder color.

"Not Yet Spring," 11x14, oil, en plein air [SOLD]