More Sketches

Hello Fellow Artists-

Today I am posting another favorite sketch. This is Chatham Light on Cape Cod. I like the energy of the sketch the play of the light off of the red roof(s) and the clapboard. I have done a few finished pieces of this scene.... but none has had the sparkle of the sketch. that is one of the best things about sketching on location. I am much freer in my sketchbooks. Maybe it is not thinking so much about the choice or the distractions of the elements that prevent me from getting bogged down. Lets face it painting outdoors while great fun you many things working against you getting that wash done evenly and maybe not worrying too much about that is part of the key. After all it is a sketch right and not meant to be a finished piece... yet there is that something special about the sketch that shines brightly.

One thing the sketches do for me is to inspire me to keep painting and give me subjects to work on in the studio during these cold winter months.

Carl

Sketchbook

I love my sketchbooks! I use Canson watercolor sketchbooks w 140lb coldpress paper. It is close enough to the Arches block paper I use for my finished work. I keep several. One is full of my favorite Cape Cod scenery and has inspired several finished works. I have one for general painting ideas and one for drawings and value sketches.

This little sketch is of a house on Whig Street in Dennis Ma. I have this and a photo and will work on a finished painting for the next couple of weeks.

Speaking of Cape Cod.. After seven years of visiting the same house in Dennis on the Cape we will head to a new bigger location in Sandwich this year. I am excited about the change of scene, but also a bit nervous. I know the area around the old place so well and the light there in late August, but it is time to stretch and try new things again.

Keep painting!

Carl

Still life with Crock.

I did not paint this weekend. The boiler quit at home and there went my Sunday morning paint time...

Oh well. It happens right. This still life is painting I did last year. It is 8x10" and I am pretty happy with it. I feel it got a little overworked and I lost the shape of the top of the crock. On the other hand I think I really nailed the apple and the painting has a nice feeling of depth. I think I will make a project of trying this one more time. I will post my progress as I work on this new painting. Wish me luck. How about you? Do you wind up doing the same painting several time until you are happy? Do you visit subjects you like and have painted before just because you like them. As I have mentioned before I am a sucker for lighthouses and have painted most of the lighthouses from Cape Cod several times.

Happy Painting!

No Turner, but it is a start

Hello Painters:

It is not a Turner... but I am happy with this little painting I did of a pear. I will probably take one more pass at the shadow side to give it a little more depth. I'll post it again in the next few days. This humble little painting is important. It got me brain connected to paints and a brush again. I had not painted anything since August (Way too long) and the excuses to not paint were becoming way to easy to say.

This little painting helped me get over the fears (or whatever they are) that sometimes keep me from the studio. I have found that when long stretches of not painting lead to even longer stretches of not painting. I keep having to relearn this lesson.

It is so easy to forget how restorative half an hour in the studio can be. I am happy for this little painting and also for the 2 hours it took me to clean the studio enough to find my drafting table. I'll post the finished painting later this week.

Keep Painting,

Inspiration to Paint

Hello Fellow Artists:

OK. I am on my way into the studio to paint. What am I painting you ask? I am not sure yet, but I was inspired the other day. I went to the National Gallery of Art and saw the Turner exhibit. First of all catch it before it closes this month if you have the chance. I was inspired by the draftsmanship and rendering of detail in the early work and the explorations of color in his later years. Turner took landscape painting and elevated it to a grand form. His influence on the Hudson River School painters is undeniable. Enjoy this painting of the Grand Canal in Venice by Turner while I go find the bottom of my drafting table and start to paint.

Lesson for today... When you need inspiration to spark your own work. Go to a museum and look at art created by others. It never fails to get me ready to start painting after some time away from the brushes.

Happy Painting