"Purple Shadow, Lavender Sky"

"Purple Shadow, Lavender Sky"

6x6

Oil on Panel

starting bid $50

click here to bid

The sun had finally come out on Islesford Maine, and we had one more day to paint in our Henry Isaac/Ashley Bryan Labor Day Weekend workshop. (What a joy THAT was) But seeing the sun after nothing but fog and rain brought our some colors in me I didn't know I had, and it brought out a looseness I can't usually get even if I try. Go ahead and bid, you might get this for a bargain price!

"Harbor Sentries"

6x6 oil on panel

framed with an exhibition quality 

light wood contemporary float frame

click here to bid

When I was painting in Maine, I was remembering an exercise we did in Carol Marine's class where we counted our strokes. The purpose was to be thoughtful and clear exactly what we wanted to paint, how it would be painted and exactly what color so that we did not have to go back. The process is harder than you might think. So I tried it on this small harborscape I did in Rockport, Maine. This piece had about 50 strokes, total, and I am happy with the way it came out. I call it Harbor Sentries because the masts and posts look very much like guards. 

This piece is nicely framed with a contemporary float frame.

"Hidden Town Beach"

6x6 oil on panel

Framed with a high quality exhibit floating frame.

On Auction now: click here to bid.

Remembering good days in this one. I even have it in my office now, but I will give it up if you want to buy it! This painting is one from Rockport, Maine. I was at the little park on the harbor and near the building there. While I was there a schol bus brought a whole bunch of happy kids to swim at the beach that is hidden behind the spit of land in front. But the flag announces its location!

I was again trying to use my limited strokes, but this time I did not count them, just tried hard to make every stroke count. But I had a problem, the rain started and I was only half finished. I was able to finish it in the studio, however, and I like how it came out!

This piece is nicely framed with a contemporary float frame.

"Waiting in Wellfleet"

"Waiting in Wellfleet"

12x12

Oil on Canvas

Framed, contemporary float frame with black liner.

auction: starting bid $175

Special price - Buy it now $400

Permanent price after auction $590

Click here to bid

Wellfleet is just far enough along Cape Cod to make you think you went a long, long way. It's not as far as Truro or Provincetown, but almost. The crowds thin out and the pace slows. Entering the town, there seems to be just enough shops and places to eat. And in the center of it all is a long long town dock. On this day I had been looking for someplace to paint in the shade. I looked and looked but it just didn't happen. So I rigged up a regular umblella and managed to get out of the sun for a little bit. But it really was hot and bright and I persisted. This little sailboat was sitting in the marsh looking like it was waiting for its owners to come back from the city for a relaxing weekend. In this case, I decided it was worth sitting there in the sun, because it made such a nice pattern on the hull of the boat.

Note: Get the best value by bidding in the auction, or by using the buy it now button if you can't wait or take a chance. When the auction is over, the painting will revert to the permanent price if unsold.

Lantern

"Lantern"

12x12

Oil on Canvas

auction: starting bid $175

Buy it now $590

Click here to bid

When I was on Cape Cod, friends of my host invited me to come into their yard and paint. It was hidden, peaceful, set in the woods but open to the beautiful cove. Out beyond (in the upper right) was a small spit of land that divided the cove from a larger Seconsett harbor. These people had traveled extensively and had brought back beautiful artifacts from Japan. This lantern was one of them. I liked the way its presence punctuated the space. For a long time the lantern was fighting with the tree for dominance, but I think the lantern won.

Yellow Boat

Yellow Boat

10x8

Oil on Panel

This piece has been sold. Sorry!

This view was straight from my porch while I was staying in Friendship - and it now graces a wall of the cottage in which I stayed. It's lovely and makes you just want to walk down next to the railing and go out to the end of the dock, where the fisherman bring in their catch. Or maybe just go down there to it and listen to the waves and harbor sounds. 

Islesford Morning Mist

Islesford Morning MIst

12x12

Oil on Panel

This piece has been exhibited and
has a high quality exhibit line frame, contemporary floater style

opening bid $200

buy it now $590

click here to bid

During my time in Islesford - far too short a time - i was socked in by fog or rain during most of the painting time. Somehow, it just seemed to make one painting after another with a different look than I was used to. There's a lot more to a seascape than blue sky over blue sea. This was FAR more interesting to me. What amazing things weather does! This morning, the fishing boats in the harbor rocked gently waiting for their owners. There were fewer and fewer of these boats each day and it was like painting an endangered species!

"Bait Truck Delivery"

8x10

Oil on Panel

This piece has been exhibited and
has a high quality exhibit line frame, contemporary floater style

opening bid $180

buy it now $340

 click here to bid

I was lucky enough to have an entire week in Friendship, Maine. I stayed in a house immediately adjacent to the town dock. From my vantage point on the large farmer's porch, I had enough material to paint for the entire week. I never took my supplies off the porch! If I turned around, with my back to the street, I saw the next dock, and it was one with a lot of activity. This was June and everyone was getting ready for the season. Lobster traps and ropes and buoy of different kinds were piled and made great patterns of color. It looked great. But one day a bait truck came to deliver the necessary product. It was there a while as the delivery was negotiated and accomplished. I loved this part where the two men came together, all their attention on something between them. The perfect moment to catch. This piece was primarily done on site and touched up in the studio.

Fog and Float

Fog and Float

6x6

Oil on Panel

opening bid $100

buy it now $200

This piece has been exhibited and
has a high quality exhibit line frame, contemporary floater style

click here to bid

When I was painting up in Islesford, where we had a lot of rain, we also had fog. A lot of fog. How mystical it seems, even magical to look out into a white and grey world and find some motion, then shapes arranging themselves in front of you? And in this case, the whole monochromatic scene was punctuated very strongly with a bright orange/red float. Mmmm, I like this one.

White Floats and Boat

6x6

Oil on Panel

opening bid $75

buy it now $175

click here to bid

This was done on a lovely day in Manchester-by-the-Sea, on the North Shore of Boston. What a beautiful day that was. There were larger and more dramatic boats around this lovely harbor, but I liked this small white one with two floats nearby. Sort of "the everyday sailor" instead of the "the watered gentry". The touch of red came from a reflected hull of another boat and I thought it was just what it needed. It looks like it might have been an easy painting, a simple boat….but they move constantly and change from every angle. I think this came out all right in spite of that!

Stonington Family Business

Stonington Family Business

6x6

Oil on Panel

Framed with high quality exhibit line frame (light wood, floating)

opening bid $100

buy it now $295

click here to bid

I was painting on the town landing in Stonington and was drawn to a wonderful truck being loaded at the dock over an expanse of water. I especially loved the yellows and how they reflected in the water and seemed to respond to each other. I like that I was able to catch the man loading in the back. Putting my brushes away, a man came over to look. "That's a Stonington family business", he said. "It would be a great gift". But no, he didn't buy it.  

Fisherman's Float

Fisherman's Float

7x5"

oil on panel 

starting bid $75

To bid in auction click here!

This is a small piece I did while sitting on the dock in Islesford, Maine. The days had been grey with fog and rain, but the colors of the fishermen's equipment glowed through that mood and reflected in the water. I painted quickly and I meant to go back and make it more specific. But then it was clear that is was done. Now. So here it is!

Low Tide Chores

Low Tide Chores

11x14

Oil on Panel 

Framed 

Click here to visit auction

I love painting in Rockport and was a little sad that this was such a low tide. Then I noticed activity in the corner. A man was working on his boat standing in waist deep water. As I painted and watched the water got lower and lower. I thought he was cleaning it but all of a sudden the red disappeared! He was painting it instead. I liked the red better!

Port Clyde Refuel (Framed)

30" x 40"

Oil on Canvas

Framed in Cpontemporary Floater Frame

Limited publication time

$2900

 I took a photo in Port Clyde, Maine, where the boats go out to Monhegan Island because I loved the way the sun hit the objects that afternoon. Later, in painting it, I was mystified by the blue, red, and yellow object. I just couldn't figure out what it was and it seemed important to know. So I asked everyone who had a boat or who might know. I kept a list, because everyone had a different idea. Finally, the light. I went to the source this June when I was on my Maine painting trip, and I asked a fisherman who was working that dock. The red/yellow object is a support for the blue water hose so it doesn't get kinked with the tide changes. At last! Also, I found out that the green handled nozzle is for gas and the missing one is for diesel fuel. Now I can relax.

I am very proud of this piece, the largest one that started my new series of items from the working waterfront. I love the light and the way it blesses the everyday objects that serve the need of the sailor. This piece was chosen for a national juried exhibit at the Cape Cod Art Association. 

Ready for the Season (Framed)

36" x 36"

Oil on Deep Canvas

Framed with a Light Wood, Black Lined 

Custom made Contemporary Floater Frame

Limited Time Only

$2900

This piece will grab you and not let you go. It is quite large and uses the bright colors found on the dock. The lobster fisherman is waiting for the season to be ready; that will be when the lobsters are at the correct stage and the laws allow. In Maine, in June, there are piles of equipment on almost every dock. There are traps in every color, floats that are painted in the registered colors of each family, stacks of pallets (which is what those brown things are) The large blue container and the one on top of it are huge coolers and they are full of mackeral for bait. I watched one day as container after container dumped the mackeral into a special holding tank. In this piece, through the pallets on the right you can see through to additional traps and a snatch of the sea.

Through all this identification of stuff, what I really like is how the colors and shapes play against each other, forming an almost abstract composition.

Shack Window, Friendship, ME (Framed)

8x10

Oil on Panel

still wet

Framed with contemporary float frame, light wood

Limited time only

sold

You walk down the rickety pier covered with traps and surrounded by boats and rough beauty. In the window you stop, taken by the wonderful collage of bits and pieces of the fisherman's world: peeling paint, a buoy unique to the family; weathered wood, used, useful, and trashy stuff; you can feel cold water, salt air, hope of a good catch, memories, despair, swelling seas, and hard work. Suddenly this is more beautiful than the sky and sea.

"The Survivor" (Framed)

Oil on Canvas

12x12

Framed in Contemporary Light Wood Frame

$590

I did this painting in Plymouth, right in the middle of the tourist area, with Plymouth Rock and the tour busses behind me. I had some time to paint, and was dropped off. Looking around this was what I chose. It was a lovely park on the waterfront, with large shade trees and great shadows. All that beauty, and I was drawn to this small tree, bent, twisted, and pruned until there was just one limb left. Maybe I felt a kinship....Later I found out that the tree has a huge fan club, who came out in huge numbers to prevent it from being torn down, and that it is photographed more than the Mayflower! Also people come out and water it in the winter. I guess it's struggle and survival touches us all.

I wish I had painted all fishing boats, but there is a pleasure boat there. I would have called it The SurvivorS, because of the struggle the fishermen have now and how many of them have quit.

"Painting Motif #1"

8x10

Oil on Prepared Panel

framed

$295

It was the first day of my painting outdoors season. I went to my favorite place, Rockport, and decided to start with a classic, Motif #1. It was very cold by the sea. Because it was the first time that year, I forgot stuff. Like my solvent. Like my white paint.Like my gloves. I did the best I could but it remained in my studio for two years and every time I looked at it, I could feel the chill in the air. This week, I took it out and dressed it up and warmed it a bit, allowing some bells and whistles, including a bit of white paint. I don't know if I like it better of not! Comments welcome. It doesn't look quite so chilly now. 

"Red Boat"

6x6 oil on panel

$295

It's a good idea not to get too complacent. At all......It was my last day in Rockland. I had struggled all week to put the learnings from Carol Marine's class into my normal way of working, and had finally had a pretty good day on Thursday. So I took on this boatyard (see below) I LOVED the way the tugboat in drydock contrasted with historical and contemporary vessels both in and out of the water. Well, first my panel fell into my palette. Then I had to bungee everything because of the wind. And when I started painting, it was like painting with stickum on formica. I was painting on a surface I did not realize was extra slick. It was awful, but I kept plugging. The "drawing" part was very hard, getting all the parts in scale and place.Three hours later, I finally had a basic cover on the panel and quit. Trust me, you will not see this one., it was really bad. So I had to end the week with something I could handle successfully. 

So I turned around and found the little red sailboat, waiting patiently for me in a small cove. Simple, straightforward, kinda sweet. Ahhhh. at last. A better ending to my two weeks in Maine.

This piece is nicely framed with a contemporary float frame.

"Sweet Spot"

"Sweet Spot"

9x12

Acrylic on paper

$85

This 50 day project has been a lot of fun because I do things I would not normally do. Which, brings up complicated questions, such as "why not"?  Normally I don't use much orange, or do abstracts, or have so much fun when I am painting. Hmmmm.

I am participating in the Hurricane Sandy fundraiser through Daily Paintworks. Artists donate a painting for auction and all profits go to Hurricane relief. I am currently looking for the best place to send funds and am open to suggestions.
The piece I am entering is now on auction. The minimum bid of $150 is far below the regular price of $470 so you are likely to get a good deal! The location pictured is at Colton Pond in Vermont, along rte.100 just past the intersection of rte. 4 and rte.100. A nice quiet and beautiful place to stop for a picnic! Long range views of the mountains and a very private setting. I was the only car there the day I painted this. It is a good sized piece at 12"x25"

Colton Pond 12x25  oil on panel   opening bid $150