For The Birds...

I've been sketching birds, from life and from photos (mine and 'found' photos).  I like to study them as they're sitting, eating or just hanging out.  It seems to me they have a very complicated system of communication.  I have great empathy for them, and contrary to many people, find them 'lucky' and 'good omens' rather than the reverse. 

The top image is from a sketch I call "Visiting Hours".  The pigeon on the right is injured in it's leg, and is unable to walk around and peck for food.  This was in San Miguel, and the children were relentless in making it fly instead of leaving it alone.  I had to leave myself, or get in an argument with the parents.  These other two pigeons stuck with this injured one, where ever it landed, and kept it company.  You can't tell me they don't understand what's going on.  

The bottom image is the one I dreamt about.  The Friday version I did at the studio was very stilted and the birds were all dead-on frontal.  The wings were very stiff.  In my sleep I painted them like this.  Thankfully Tim felt like walking the Bristol Bike Path today and we went over to my studio and I just dived in and re-worked it.  Maybe still not 'final' but definitely getting there.

Plein Air Falmouth, Marshfield and Norwell, MA

Yesterday (I have no idea why this is all underlines, and I can't undo it!) I was on Boston's South Shore for a 'blonde-ening' and I went early and painting this acrylic  painting of the marsh off rte 3A between Marshfield and Scituate.  Then after the hair appt I met up with my friend Nancy Colella and we painted the North River in Norwell, this time, I used oils.

Tuesday I went to the Veterans Cemetery in Bourne, MA and while I was there I stopped at Old Silver Beach in Falmouth.  It was unbelievable.  The water was aqua!  I don't like the composition, but you know what they say about a bad day of painting....

This Week's Figures, oil

I did go to a figure class this week - it's one of those drop-in... no instructors classes, and the model was good, so here's trying to keep the lessons at learned at Peggi Kroll Roberts workshop in mind...

A Cottage Called Al-Fred, 9x12 oil

SOLD

This little gem of a cottage is on Cape Cod, and my friends and I paint there a couple of times a year with my dear friend Joan Brancale, who is a fabulous painter. (She's been featured in magazines, and her art has been advertised in American Art Collector). This painting started out as a plein air painting, and I worked on it in the studio to fine tune it a little bit. I love the feeling of crispness of the air, when I look at it I can smell the salt water off to the left. I wanted to sit on those red adirondak chairs and watch the water!

Oh, and we were so curious as to the whole 'Al-Fred' sign - turns out that the couple is something like Aline and Fred, hence Al-Fred, :)

Glow At The Quarry, 20x24 Oil

This is finally finished.  It went through many phases, but it was done from a plein air sketch that I did just before sunset one night last summer.  It is a good thing for me to see often, because it reminds me of how blessed I am in this life.  I was painting at this spot where there are always people fishing (for food, not for relaxation).  There was this large Cambodian family there, and upon seeing me set up my paints, the grown up urged the many children to go watch the artist (and get out of their hair for a while).  Why does everyone do this?  I was a little annoyed, because many times I've had to babysit kids and I really didn't have much time to paint before the sunset.  Anyway the kids stayed for a while and asked a million questions which I tried to answer patiently.  They straggled off, all except one girl, 12 years old, who watched with such intensity, I thought, maybe she'd like to be an artist someday.  So I stopped and talked to her about her future.  Which turned out to be bleak.  In two years, at age 14, her parents were sending her to care for her aging grandparents and living in Cambodia.  When they pass away she has other older relatives that she's got to care for before she can come back.  She accepted it with aplomb, but refused to let herself hope for a wonderful future for herself.  Wow.  No more belly-aching from me.  I don't want to hear 'poor me' from any of my own children, either!

Cloud Dance, 20x24 Oil

Well, OK, this may look bizarre, but occasionally the little tufts of clouds seem to 'dance' down the river.  Here, one night at sunset, they caught the rosy colors cast into the sky, making them look like little flames.  No apologies.  If you can't believe it, you are welcome to visit my corner of the world and see it for yourself sometime. :)

Sakonnet Sunset, oil, 22x28

This painting is hot off the easel.  I decided that since I am entranced at dawn and sunset by the light hitting the clouds, giving the skies glowing colors, I would paint a bunch of skies from my own view.  Here's #1.  I'll be putting it in the Members' Show at the North River Art Association, Marshfield, MA, which I have belonged to for a very long time.  It's a great group and they have a number of venues to display your work.  Anyway, hope you like it.

Update on 'The Birds'

This is now on view at the James Library in Norwell, MA at the Codman Building Reunion Show, through February, 2008

A while ago I started this painting of small birds, and since then I've asked for criticism and/or comments from lots of people, then foolishly tried to respond to each suggestion.  I feel I've lost the original intensity of the piece, and am unhappy with this result.  I don't even feel like I can bring it back, but must start again (and don't know that I will...)  But this is one of the pieces I'm working on in the studio.

East Beach Date, Oil 18x24

In Westport, MA there are a few great beaches.  Some are great to swim in, some to fish in, some to walk, or just take in the view.  East Beach is a place where a lot of people just go to feel the sun and the breeze and gaze at the beautiful horizon.  One day last Summer when I was painting there, this couple showed up at lunchtime just to sit and talk.  The red jeep and young people enjoying the day was just impossible to pass up, and I had to take a picture.  I knew this image would make a great painting, and there's an upcoming show about the color red, which I mentioned in my Daily Blog.  So.... this was painted fast and furiously, in one fell swoop, and hopefully the energy I felt painting it can be felt by the viewer.  

I also used a few new colors that I'm enjoying from a trip in to Cambridge (Pearl Paint)... Carribean Blue (Old Holland) and some of Gamblin's Radiant Colors.