TM9302 A Day at Bass Rocks #53 7×7 oil on paper
TM9300 A Day at Bass Rocks #51 7×7 oil on paper
TM9301 A Day at Bass Rocks #52 7×7 oil on paper
The raw power and quaking tremors that one feels when standing on the rocks can be breath taking. It travels from the feet up through the legs, sort of a deep bass vibration, especially after big storms. These three small paintings, two with the tide coming in, one with the tide going out, provide a 7×7″ version of the experience. Enjoy!
TM9304 From a Luminous Day 7×7 oil on paper
TM9305 Pearlescence 7×7 oil on paper
I happen to love luminous gray days by the sea. The value range may be narrow, but the feeling of walking into a (nearly) black and white photograph is soothing. Colors are so full of emotion that a bit of gray can be restorative. It doesn’t make as many demands on our senses. With that in mind, i decided to push the minimalist limits of gray in two small beach paintings. There is still a sense of sound from the waves, and I hope you feel the spray. But equally, I hope you enjoy the subtleties in the palette knife handling of the paint, and the gentle contrasts of warmer and cooler in the grays. In fact, the more you look the more color you will see……..
Still cold and stormy, but maybe these are the last winter studies for this year?
Practice, practice, practice they say…..and so I do. Working on studies of a particular subject for years does deepen one’s knowledge and response. It also offers the challenge of finding new ways to interpret the familiar. These four winter studies explore a few of the different moods of winter, with associated palettes. I look forward to the more luminous light of spring….but first there is March….enjoy!
TM9276 Watching the Waves Come In #236 6×6 oil on paper
TM8675 Watching the Waves Come In #175 6×6 oil on paper
TM8410 Watching the Waves Come In #131 6×6 oil on paper
When is a painting finished? I was cleaning up in the studio recently, and found a stash of studies, some that (were) finished and some just started months or even years ago. Seeing them now, with more experience, I knew I could develop them further. I present the results. Moody Atlantic waves and skies, reinterpreted with a palette knife and more viscous paint. No longer studies, but small finished paintings.
I guess a painting is permanently finished when I no longer have access to it, when I can’t change or add anything. Until then, if it’s in the studio, it may continue to change and improve as I learn more about painting. Or sometimes it’s the painting that tells me what to do – if I listen.
TM9271 Thinking about Due North 7.25×7.25 oil on paper
TM9270 Snowy Dune #2 7×7 oil on paper
TM9269 Snowy Dune #1 6×6 oil on paper
Winter’s big, open, wind-swept spaces have their own stark beauty. These studies, two from the coast and one overlooking a snow-covered pond, offer longer views. The colors are muted. The air is crisp, clean, and cold. You can hear the silence. Listen again. It won’t last.
TM9272 Winter’s Creek #7 6×6 oil on paper
TM9267 February Morning 6×6 oil on paper
TM9268 Sugaring Season Starts 6×6 oil on paper
Painting the landscape (almost) daily makes one intensely aware of nature’s changes – the angles of shadows, the quality of the light as the sun gets higher in the sky, and the changing colors of the ice and snow are all evidence of the year’s passing. Winter’s Creek #7 is clearly deep winter, with its deep shadows. February Morning is lighter and seems a bit warmer with the sun higher in the sky. In Sugaring Season Starts the snow is thinning and there’s a hint of melt water in the creek. More to come…enjoy.
