Marsh Sky  O/C 12x16

So I finally got around to doing some painting yesterday here in Longport.  This was painted from under a bridge coming into town.  I forget how hot it gets here and how tricky it can be to paint in full sunlight.  The advantage if the bridge is that it provides a large area of open shade, which is perfect for painting.  The problem is that I don't want to paint the same marsh over and over.  That's where waiting for an interesting sky comes in.  I started this one as the tide was coming in and finished it standing in water.  

Tree Study o/c 14x11

I painted this in a favorite spot I thought I had pretty much mined. Instead of trying to paint all the marshes and the river and the sky as I usually do, I decided to focus on this clump of trees and call it a study. Somehow, calling a painting a "study" freed me from thinking I had to produce a masterpiece and I began to find interesting details to consider in a tiny piece of what can be an overwhelming landscape. That last line stirs the urge to preach, so I'll stop, but there's a sermon in there somewhere.

I have been gluing linen on gatorboard panels in anticipation of painting on vacation. For the last twelve years I have been doing services at a little beach church for a few weeks in July. I hope to do a painting a day this year, and I will have more to say about that here in a couple of weeks.

And my Darling daughter sent me a Father's Day package, which I thought about waiting until FD to open (fat chance) and it held, of all things, an anchor and a large plastic map case. In the card she challenged me to guess what the present had to do with some good activity at the

beach this summer. It took a minute, but when I figured out that my favorite small painting box would fit in the map case I began to see myself anchored in the marshes painting from the kayak. Thanks Margie! Can't wait.

Morning Glow o/c 6x8

Good morning for painting. I did this little painting before putting in an appearance at the church for the day school's last day celebration. The sun had not been up long.

Chance of Storm o/c 12x16

I went back an hour later with a bigger canvas. I had not done anything this large on site in a long time. It is four times larger than the earlier one. I really liked the room to paint and the dynamics of a larger canvas. I tend to throw paint around and paint quickly, and the extra space was really nice. I will be preparing a bunch of larger canvases for the coming weeks.

Marsh Path o/c 8x10

This one was done along the same marsh trail last Saturday. Dyke Marsh is pretty quiet even during rush hour. There are all kinds of birds and today there were two eagles. All this in sight of the Capitol.

Here and There o/c 6x8

My friend John and I took off a little early for clergy conference a week ago and spent a couple of hours painting before things got started. John and I have painted in the Virginia mountains and in England and Wales, and it is always good to get caught up in a painting and then turn around and realize, "all this and a friend to go smoke a cigar with later." Life is good. We chose a little parking lot in the middle of nowhere between two churches and a few other interesting buildings. I expected to paint a church, but I was drawn to the fields in the other direction. There's something about that bit of "there" glimpsed through trees that really speaks to me. I hope to do a big version of this one of these days.

Riverside Late Evening o/c 9x12

The weather here has been good the last few days. I did a little painting yesterday on the mall in D.C. I wasn't happy with that one. I had to work a while today and was sitting watching the news at 6 when I realized there were clouds moving through and I didn't have to be anyplace. I drove up to the local park and came back with a beginning on the plein air season. I met some great folks, including a volunteer ranger and a photographer who was enjoying the same sky. Good afternoon.

Still Life with Brushes O/C 16x20

Another still life, and if it keeps snowing through Spring around here there may be more. Actually, I have enjoyed these still lifes and I do plan to do more. I am also dreaming of long warm days painting outside. In the meantime onions, bottles and whatever is lying around the studio can be fun. This still life is set up on an old painting box that belonged to my grandmother. I still paint out of it sometimes, and here it has found another purpose. I hope to take it outdoors soon.

Still Life with Blue Vase 0/c 16x20

For some strange reason I have resisted doing still lifes this winter until just recently. I have spent too much time dreaming about warmer days and painting outside. I finally got around to rearranging the studio so I could set up larger still lifes and this is the latest. The joke on me is that I somehow got all worried about the onion in this one. I scraped it off and repainted it a half a dozen times. Last Friday when we had record warm temperatures and I should have been painting outside, I was inside painting the stupid onion. I eventually solved the onion problem by cooking it in a stew for Friday's diner.

Blue Vase Sketch oil 8x10

Part of the learning for me in these still lifes has to do with trying to balance the spontaneous energy of the quick sketch with the longer working time involved in larger paintings. There are more still lifes in my future, but it snowed last night so I'll probably go outside to paint and end up complaining about the cold.

January Marsh o/c 8x10

So today was my day off, and I was determined to make it a real down day. I'm on at work for the weekend so I wanted to make the most of today. I haven't been out painting in more than a month, and though it was cold and I couldn't stay out as long as I would have liked, I had some great time with the winter light in a favorite painting spot. I did stop by the hardware store on the way home to check out their gloves. I now have a spiffy pair of wool gloves with no fingertips for the next outing. I ended up at home putting the finishing touches on this one and working on a larger studio painting that is almost finished. All in a good day off.