michael gaudreau art & story

Henry and Gus

2012-01-19T18:35:00.000-05:00

This little painting was done on commission for one of my dog walker friends. On weekend mornings as many as 12 dogs (and their owners) go romping through the woods in Bel Air. Only one thing more fun than watching one dog run is watching two. 12x12in oil on birch panel

Sleeping Kate

2011-12-16T13:05:00.002-05:00

18x26in pastel

A pastel that I have recently brought to completion. My goal was to paint the figure with the same layers of color linework and crosshatched color as I paint my rocks and most importantly I wanted to achieve a likeness. That's the technical side. I also wanted to paint a portrait of my wife who is always moving about when she finally found peace at the end of a stressful day curled up in the living room chair. I started from a sketch and some photo references(she never woke) and finished it up in the studio. I haven't painted alot of figures let alone portraits over the years. I lost interest after hundreds of drawings in college. But lately the figure has been creeping back into my landscape painting and after seeing the MPS show I thought it was time to tackle it again. I recently finished a unit on the figure with my students. They did not want to draw from the model, mostly because of a fear of failure. The figure and portraits can be very intimidating. This began a discussion on risk. I often tell them that without risk there can be no art and finding and facing that moment of risk is a constant struggle for artists. I was recently reading a great book called "How to be a Graphic Artist and not Lose Your Soul" by Adrian Shaughnessy and he came up with an equation that defines creativity in the best way. RISK+DISCOMFORT+SWEAT(+-INSPIRATION)= CREATIVITY

He says that there can be no creativity without risk and he goes on to say that "We have to flirt with failure if we are to produce anything with genius in it."

Now, I'm not saying this is any work of genius but it is an excursion out of my comfort zone into new territory.

Dawn Light, Live Oak

2011-12-16T09:42:00.001-05:00

When the sun hit this Live Oak tree in Oldfields SC. it cast a rosy, orangish glow that gradually faded to gold then disappeared. I started it on site last summer but didnt quite get the shadow colors the way I wanted. Tweaked it in the studio last weekend and as a color sketch I'm satisfied now with the result. 9x9in oil

Dawn on the Severn

2011-11-21T20:31:00.001-05:00

Here is a view of the Severn River looking over to the Peninsula, a view I have painted many times but never drawn in pastel. I started this about a year ago but never completed because I couldn't resolve the foreground. I got inspired by the many pastels at the MPS show and decided to tackle the sails. It was an interesting dawn. The day was hot and overcast. The light was a pinkish white. The "white" sails were salmon pinks and deep chocolate browns. The photo of the drawing is a bit on the pale side. It's a little warmer in good light. I treated the sails like my rock drawings, just building up layers of lines and colored textures. I tried something new in using water on a brush and painted the darks in using the pastel then drawing over the underpainting. This view is my "Chapel Pond" down here. a very peaceful, unique piece of land that never ceases to give me pleasure in watching how light plays over the surface of the land like the human body. 18x24 in pastel on sanded paper.

SHADES OF PASTEL- National juried show

2011-11-07T08:38:00.047-05:00

Maryland Pastel Society’s “Shades of Pastel” National Juried Exhibition, October 24-November 20, 2011, at Workhouse Art Center, Lorton, Virginia. Juror: Liz Haywood-Sullivan.

One of my pastels was picked to be in this years exhibit ("Vista", a self portrait of me on Noomark Mt) If you ever thought pastel was a a medium subservient to oil paint then this show will change your mind. The color nearly jumped off the walls. There was such variety in style, technique, and subject from pieces that echoed Post- impressionist paintings of the 19th and 20th cen to bold modernist color abstractions. Truely inspiring. These are paintings of pure pigment that glow. My first juried exhibition where I had to ship my work and it made me quite nervous but everything turned out ok. The gallery is beautiful as well. The Workhouse Art Center is a spacious renovated historic site like Alexandria's Torpedo Factory where many artists work . I hope folks get to see it.

Storm Along Pocock Rd

2011-10-22T18:58:00.000-04:00

Another one painted between rain showers last week on the Leake farm. Of course when I finished up so did the storm and there was incredible light. No matter. Being in the moment was incredible and pushing paint around trying to capture those scudding clouds was feeling alive. .

Bud Leake's Barn

2011-10-22T18:01:00.001-04:00

Painting in the pouring rain, it was still great fun. One of the little oil sketches I painted out on the Leake property. Looking at his work gives one great permission to just jump in and paint. One good thing about painting in overcast or rainy conditions is you don't have to worry about changing light conditions.And when it begins to rain you don't have time to think. You just get it down. Another reason to compare oneself to a flyfisherman. They're out there in the rain as well. I think I got a small one but a keeper, none the less. 10x10in oil

Robin Hood Beach

2011-10-22T16:39:00.000-04:00

Finally got it the way I wanted it. This little oil sketch was begun on site at about 5pm and the setting sun was painting the beach in warm peach colors and casting great blue shadows from the trees behind me. Most of the foreground was blue so I took some out and put some back trying to get the right balance. I had to do most of this in my studio from memory because as I was painting cars started arriving and parking right in my view. It seems there was a big party going on and everyone was parking at the beach. Always a party in Sherwood Forest. The pavilion is on the Severn River. You can just make out the bridge in the lower right corner. 12x12in oil on birch panel

Painting at Eugene Leake's Farm

2011-10-18T14:33:00.004-04:00

MAPAPA (Mid Atlantic Plein air Painters Assoc) hosted a very rainy day of painting at Eugene Leake's farm in Baltimore Co.Eugene "Bud" Leake was the much revered president of MICA in the '70's and a formidable landscape painter who sought to tie together both the Impressionist landscape with the modern Expressionist world. He passed in his 90's a few years ago but his studio and house look like he just stepped out for a coffee. I met Mr. Leake many years ago at a workshop he gave on his farm and he influenced me profoundly. His brushwork was bold. Details did not exist and he took scenery as it was, leaving street signs, poles and wires. He didn't "pretty them up". He came at the landscape with a moderinst sensibility but honoring the traditions of the Barbazon painters (pre- Impressionists) and his hero Corot.

Eugene Leake (detail)

Leake's Easel

his studio space

Eugene Leake

photo by Robert Stark

the down jacket he always wore in the field

living with art

MAPAPA members Michael Gaudreau, Bruno Baran, David Diaz

My work on the easel during a drenching rainstorm. I kept thinking "What would Bud Leake do?" He would just keep painting away and so I did , thanks to a great Utrecht umbrella.

my pallete after the storm

Trinity Falls

2011-08-16T12:01:00.005-04:00

I found this location completely by chance because I was sitting in front of the Keene Valley post office( the only place that has cell phone coverage) when I ran into a fellow artist who needed to phone as well. She told me about the falls and together we searched it out. This magnificent spot is in the backyard of some very generous folks who let Tim and I come back and paint the following day. Thanks , Hedvig for showing us the way. 8x101n oil on panel

Dawn at Chapel Pond

2011-08-14T09:36:00.003-04:00

Caught the dawn light as it came over the mountain. I may move the shadow back up a little. It moved so quickly as I painted. This turned out to be a wonderful painting day. I started with this one and later painted on Johns Brook. Three paintings today!

Painting on Johns Brook

2011-08-14T09:25:00.006-04:00

Friend and painter Bear Miller took me to one of his favorite painting spots on the Johns Brook yesterday where we painted all day. The first one iI did was of this crooked tree. It was a small 6x6in piece and I had a lot of fun with it. I think the background needs to recede more so I will play with it when I get back to the studio. The rock painting was a no holds barred barrel of fun. It is larger , 11x14in and I used my largest brush. I created a thick impasto of texture and built the painting rock by rock. Once the paint covers the canvas it is great fun to move it around. SOLD! AT THE MAPAPA SHOW at the Subtl Rebellion Gallery , Abingdon MD

revised version. SOLD

Island in a Sea of Grass

2011-08-11T13:00:00.005-04:00

It's very challenging to paint Plein air in the Adk's. You can go from overcast to bright sunshine and back in seconds. Sometimes little openings in the clouds will illuminate a hillside and you go "oh, WOW!" and you want to paint it in and then it's gone. Decisions must be made. That's why I like to paint small. This little hump of land is a local landmark in Keene Valley. Some say its an Indian burial ground but I got it from the source(Pat Quinn of Mountain Meadows) that it is a KAME , something the glaciers left on their journey back north some thousands of years ago. This feature has been painted by artists since they've been coming up here in the 1800's. The field was once a farm but being state land now, is gradually reverting to forest and wetlands. There is on old barn nearby that is the most photographed barn in the park . We both chose not to do that. I have to thank my painting buddy Tim for picking the spot and getting me out here to paint early in the morning. We had a very limited time (1hour ) so we had to paint fast and furious, the only way to do it.As much as I like painting as a solitary experience , painting with a friend is like running or hiking. It gets you out there when you might be sleeping late or reading the paper. And it"s great to bounce ideas off each other and see just how differend each persons vision can be. We arrived after 7 and set up our stuff and walked around for a vantage point. We set paint to canvas at 8. From there it was a light show, every second bringing new revelations. What do I paint? What do I leave out? I decided to"break the rules" and place the kame dead center. It works in a square, like an island in a sea of grass. 6x6in oil on birch . SOLD

October Nocturne

2011-07-14T10:23:00.004-04:00

Here is another I will be showing up in Keene Valley. I was up there in Mid October staying at the Mountain Meadows B&B in KV and this is the view off the back porch! The small stream flows down to the Ausable River. It was dusk and the sun had just disappeared behind the mountain. It had snowed that afternoon but it all melted away by morning. oil panel 9x12in.
SOLD!

Painter at Hulls Falls

2011-07-14T10:11:00.002-04:00

Here is a little painting I did en Plein air last summer of a classic Adirondck waterfalls in Keene Valley. I will be bringing it up to Keene Valley in August for a show. I was out painting with Bear Miller and the seeing reminded me of the landscape paintings of the early 1800's where the painters would include small figures in their landscapes to highten the majestic . Bear just happened to be painting in my foreground so I included him. His painting of the falls is in the Corscaden show. While we were painting we noticed brook trout swimming UP the falls. What I didn't include was the iron bridge directly over the falls just out of the picture frame. That's the romantic in me. Perhaps next time, as a statement. oil on panels Diptych . 6x12 in.

2011-07-11T07:59:00.003-04:00

THE CORSCADEN BARN

Summer Gallery 2011

40th Anniversary!!!

ART IN THE BARN

paintings, drawings, ceramics and sculpture

open Saturday, Sunday, Monday

noon till 6pm and by appointment

58 Beers Bridge way (1.5 miles south of Keene Valley on rt 73)

518-576-9850 martha@kvvi.net

Chapel Pond

2011-07-03T15:01:00.006-04:00

Chapel Pond is aptly named. It is a spiritual touchstone to many artists (as well as swimmers) here in the Adirondacks.You can see me painting over there in my profile picture. My favorite time to be here is at dawn when the sun rises over Giant mountain and a sliver of light touches the tops of the trees and slowly descends down. This morning was hazy and alternating between sun and rain. My intention was to compose the painting with interesting marks that would coalesce into a readable image when viewed from a few feet away.18x18in pastel on sanded paper. SOLD

Deep End

2011-06-30T16:56:00.006-04:00

detail

Heart Lake is a small lake in the Adirondack Mts at the foot of Mt. Jo near Lake Placid. It's nestled in the heart of the High Peaks at the Adirondack Mt Club and makes the most refreshing swim after a day of climbing. When seen from the mountain the lake is heart shaped. I was attracted to the patterns in the water and how the rope led my eye into the distant mountains. The water allows me to play with different markmaking, like with my rocks. I will live with this one for awhile to see if I want to break the shapes up more. 18x26in pastel

Okatie River SC 9am

2011-06-22T08:28:00.005-04:00

I am down in Oldfield, South Carolina painting on the Okatie River. It's early in the morning and the day hasn't reached the 90's yet. It's only in the 80's. The air is hazy, like fog because of the wildfires in Georgia. You can smell the smoke in the air. I painted these on site on two little 8x10 panels to create a diptych. As a composition, I find this preferable to one large panel for some reason. Why is that? 8x20 oil

The Peninsula Series

2011-06-16T22:34:00.017-04:00

Over the past year I have been fascinated with a singular part of the Severn River landscape. This peninsula juts out into the river like a crooked arm shielding and protecting what we called as kids the "lagoon"or Brewers Pond. I find it restful just looking at it. It is the last piece of land on the Severn without palatial houses and the last wild place. Some call it "the Green Cathedral" and parts of it are protected. I used to explore and go camping here as a boy and I always loved what the sun did to it at different times of the day , especially at dawn. When I was a teen and trying to be a painter I attempted to paint it and failed miserably because I had no idea how to do it. It was 40 years before I tried again.

Boathouse on Round Bay

2011-06-08T10:40:00.003-04:00

The Severn river still has a few remaining historic boathouses. Here is one of them in perfect condition. The owners have been on this site for 15 years and have built a beautiful home on the bluff (just completed). I was commissioned to do a drawing of the house but instead of driving there the builder took me over by water. I completed the drawing but was so impressed with the site that I felt compelled to do a little painting. High texture on a small surface area appeals to me so I built up the surface with a thick application of a turquoise acrylic paint and let little pin holes show through the green in the trees. The water always gives me fits. Because the Severn is green the water rarely ever looks blue.10x10in oil on birch panel

Sherwood Plein Air. 5 o'clock Sun

2011-05-29T12:04:00.005-04:00

I painted these two pieces plein air as quickly as I could to catch the shadows. The top piece is a view I have painted many times. I am just fascinated with this majestic piece of land. The bottom piece is of the little gazebo at Robin Hood Beach. It is unfinished because as I was painting, people kept parking their cars and golf carts in my view.Typical Sherwood, someone was having a party and using the parking lot so I had to move very quickly, which was kinda fun anyway. I will touch it up later using some photo references and try not to lose the color and spontaneity so I include it here as a "before". It was a beautiful painting day with great light and cool breezes. top 10x10in bottom 12x12in oil.

Night Sail

2011-05-01T13:49:00.004-04:00

Walking along the Beach Road on the Severn just after sundown I watched this classic wooden boat sail slowly into the Idle River. 9x12 oil on panel

Evening- Cromwell Bridge Park

2011-04-26T17:51:00.002-04:00

There is a big, white stone barn just across the stream of the Cromwell Park property in Baltimore Co. The evening sun turns the whitewashd sides a warm pinkish/orangy white.

9x12 oil on panel

Boatyard , Havre de Grace, MD

2011-04-21T14:17:00.006-04:00

I was really drawn to the reflective qualities of the sailboats on this cold spring evening. It is also very odd to walk about these crafts that seem to be hovering in the air.

9x12in oil on panel

Off the Pier

2011-04-21T14:16:00.001-04:00

I just wanted this painting of the Peninsula in the morning sun to be about flat, thick planes of color. 16x22 in oil on panel

The Road to Beth's House

2011-04-05T15:12:00.010-04:00

SOLD -Beth Vaughn was a wonderful storyteller, mentor, and friend. Her home was always filled with stories and laughter, and friends dropping in for a warm welcome.She and her husband Chuck (and their Border collie Cei) lived in a Victorian farmhouse house among shade trees. I painted this in the height of summer, taking many breaks to sit around their kitchen table and drink tea. Chuck appreciated that I got the vapor trails of the jets flying overhead “just right.”

This is an older painting but it brings back the memory of hot Maryland Summers and two lovely people as well as a very important lesson learned about life and painting. I had just finished the piece after many hot visits in the sun. It was pretty large ,by my standards( 3ftx2ft) When I started the field had just been plowed. When completed , the corn had tasseled. The clouds were added on the last day. I was getting really fussy and detail oriented having painted it out and starting over many times but now I was done! Just then a bee flew up the pantleg of my cargo shorts and I began to do the Bee Dance, knocking my painting off the easel and sending it flying through the air to land face down in the grass. All those weeks of work, gone. after dislodging the bee(no sting) I picked up the painting to survey the damage and found I liked the result better than before! The detail was gone, the clouds were blurred. Things looked simpler and less strained. A few minutes of touch up and I was happy. All because of a bee up the pantleg. I think many paintings could use a bee up the pantleg. When I told Beth and Chuck they laughed and laughed. I didn't think I could part with this painting, but it's time . I am now happy to be sending it out into the world in the care of two other old friends.

Robin Hood Flats

2011-03-31T10:47:00.004-04:00

"The weather outside is frightful." As I write, our "Spring" weather in Maryland is raining/sleeting and snow is forecast. I want to paint but plein air is not what I want to do at this time. During these times I like to do what I call a Memory Painting. I have no problem in working from my photos. My goal, however is not to reproduce a photo-realist image but to work on my color theory, capture a spontaneous moment, and I must add, to recapture a joyful memory. How do I mix these odd and unexpected colors? In working out my issues with with color mixing in my studio I have found my I can mix colors faster and make decisions much faster when I go outside. . For instance, The orangey green found in the trees is a combination of a golden ocher (a new find) and permanent green. Morning sun on summer grass can actually be a from the tube hansa yellow if it is next to greens made with a color I found called Arylide yellow. I think I could even push it more. I also like to see how much information I can leave out and what kind of marks I can make that suggest information without being explicit. oil 10x10in

Morning- Keene Valley

2011-03-22T17:30:00.004-04:00

I wanted to try a new color for a ground, a dark reddish-brown. I used an acrylic product that is made up of discarded paint left after manufacturing. The ultimate recycling. After priming my birch panel I was left with a very grainy fine textured surface almost like my sanded pastel paper. I think I like the effect. Like painting on a window screen (only a Baltimore person would understand this). This is a memory picture from an old photo. When the sun finally comes up over the mountain and shines into Keene Valley everything is bathed in this yellow-orange glow. It is now that I start thinking about the summer. My show has been very successful so far. Many pieces have sold. After the big push of production I now need to think about what direction I want to go. I want to play with the effects of light, let surface textures play a part , flatten and abstract the images and, if using a photo, continue to go beyond what the photo does. If I can take that spirit into my plein air, great. oil on birch panel 10x10in. SOLD

red snapper

2011-03-17T10:50:00.004-04:00

Took a little workshop with the Maryland Plein air painters and created this little still life. I haven't attempted still life in years and had never painted a fish! What great fun. When dry I will "tweak" the ellipses and colors in the white. I was really attracted to the reflected color of the lemon in the skin of the fish.

2011-03-03T15:21:00.001-05:00

SOLO SHOW at the Lireodendron Mansion

2011-02-10T08:31:00.002-05:00

On March 6 Sunday from 1 to 4 a reception for my first solo showing of my work will be held at the Lireodendron Mansion in Bel Air, MD. Most of the work seen below will be on display for 7 weeks. I had 4 rooms to fill! A daunting task, at first, but having a show looming on the horizon really makes the work happen. The mansion is open on Sundays from 1-4.

My Irish band "Faire Isle" will be providing the music.

Chorus Line

2011-01-25T10:45:00.007-05:00

These cows live along Bradenbaugh rd in Harford. Co. As I walked by they lined up to check me out. I wanted to break away from a realistic portrayal and play with color in oils the same way that I enjoy working with pastel. 12x24in oil on birch panel. SOLD

Better Days

2011-01-18T10:01:00.005-05:00

I found this car on a morning walk in Keene Valley behind the old gas station (now a health club). I was attracted to its patina of rust and paint. I wanted to paint it fast and thickly and play up the rich browns and lavenders. This was a color mixing exercise for me. I bought some new colors , Venitian red being one of them, I won't think twice about how to get certain colors when I am out in the field. Being snowed in last night I worked from several photos I took on site, eliminating other cars in the picture and composing a new background. 10x10in oil on panel

Jerusalem Mill

2011-01-15T20:26:00.002-05:00

SOLD!

Boathouse on the Severn

2011-01-15T20:25:00.000-05:00

Cairn on Noonmark

2011-01-15T20:22:00.001-05:00

First Snow

2011-01-09T13:41:00.005-05:00

Still wet off the easel. one is some apple trees on the Crocker Farm on Somerville rd. just down the road( about 100ft. from the painting on the previous posting). The snow was just beginning to fall with a light dusting. The other painting is the woods next to the house at sunset. I always look for places to paint far away from home and these last are from my own backyard. both 9x12in. oil on birch panel. LEFT -SOLD

Somerville Rd. 4-6pm

2010-12-29T18:18:00.004-05:00

This plein air piece was done on a clear cold evening when the setting sun turned everything orange/green. This is my favorite time of the day. I am attracted to the bands of orangish light that travel up the tree and eventually disappear when the sun finally sets. I had to paint quickly. I also wanted to show the sun hitting the tree limb in the gap between the trees. It's a little suprise "moment of light" that I like to seek out.

9x12in oil on panel

McLhinney Building-Havre de Grace, MD

2010-12-23T18:13:00.011-05:00

oil pastel study 8x101n

I have always admired this old building on the corner of Washington St. I think it would be a cool place to live and have a studio on the top tower. 10x10in. oil

Dinghy

2010-12-15T07:55:00.008-05:00

At dawn while I was out on Main Pier ,down in Sherwood Forest, I was attracted to the blue shadows cast on the white dinghy. My work seems to be about what happens to colors when they go in and out of shadow. Whether its rocks,or white houses, or cups and saucers I find the effect beautiful and I like catching these quiet moments.

oil on panel 10x 22 in SOLD

Brewers Pond

2010-12-03T07:32:00.003-05:00

After I spent a full afternoon in the early fall painting at my favorite spot in Sherwood Forest on the Severn River I had a full palette of paint and a little panel left over. I turned to the left and dashed off this little painting in about 15 minutes. My aim was to react quickly and leave out ALL detail. The resulting painting has a freshness and vitality that sustained longer paintings sometimes lack. I worked on it a little last night from memory to clarify the trees in the center a bit but left it alone for the most part as a record of a magic moment. 8x10 in oil on panel

Along Castleton Road.

2010-12-02T20:05:00.003-05:00

I started this painting on site at a plein air gathering with painter John Saurs last summer. I was really attracted to the golden light on the house. I finished up last night using some photo references. That's when I added the figure walking down the street.

Fort McHenry II

2010-12-02T19:57:00.004-05:00

I discovered Fort McHenry as a painting destination at the end of the summer and did a few on site paintings there. The fort is surrounded by rows of sycamore trees that line a walkway along the water. At around 7 pm the setting sun lit these trees up. I did this pastel from some photo references, taking out some fencing and scaffolding. 18 x 26 pastel

Playing Fields

2010-12-02T19:50:00.003-05:00

I have my studio in the former convent on the school grounds where I teach. My window looks out over the playing fields where I can watch the kids play soccer and track from my window. One evening the sunset was so clear that I did a pastel watching the shadows reach across the grass. 18x24 in

Marcy Field

2010-11-13T13:25:00.003-05:00

The Farmer's Market in Keene Valley, NY is on a grass airstrip outside the town. I watched this brilliant orange plane sail over our heads and land just a few yards away. I dashed it off very quickly. 10x10in. oil

Farmers Market II

2010-11-13T13:20:00.002-05:00

When the pumpkins are placed out on the parking lot at the Bel Air Farmers Market great colors and shadows abound. 8 1/2 x13 1/2 oil I did a substantial re-working of this painting with oil pastel.

Pennsylvania Farmhouse

2010-11-13T13:11:00.003-05:00

On the way home from Harrisburg PA, driving back roads, I came across this farmhouse. It was around 5pm and the low sun was creating the shadows I look for. I had to pull over immediately. I will never be able to find this house again. 10x10in. oil

SOLD

Fall on the Peninsula

2010-10-27T16:17:00.008-04:00

Here is Sunday's plein air painting of the Main Pier and Peninsula. It is essentially the same view I painted earlier in the Summer. I was lucky in that a very grey day turned into a beautiful sun filled evening. The sun does interesting things to this beautiful land form. As I was painting the owner of the sailboat rowed out to his boat, raised the sail and sailed away. I'm glad I painted it in first. oil 13.5 x 19

Painting with Maggie

2010-10-26T12:25:00.004-04:00

Got busy last Sunday on another painting of the penninsula. I happend to catch a splended clear afternoon with just a little fall color.Will show when complete. Here is my set up in my Honda Element. I took the seats out and use bunjies to strap stuff to the sides. Maggie is very content to hunker down as I spend the day painting behind the truck. I sometimes use the tailgate as a seat and when I put a windshield cover over the back window which pops up, it creates a great sunshield. I prefer to paint on birch plywood panels called "elephant board."I prime them red as an underlayer for landscape because it can make the greens pop. Sometimes I use a light sienna. My wet boxes are pizza boxes. Light, fit 10-12in panels and they're free.

Farmers Market

2010-10-10T09:22:00.008-04:00

When I go to the Bel Air farmers market Saturday mornings I marvel at the colors and shapes of the produce the venders place out in front of their stalls. The morning sun in October creates long raking shadows and the vegetables provide that shot of color I enjoy so much. Isolated by the asphalt, the tomatoes and gourds are like sculptures in a gallery. 8x10 oil on panels ROMA TOMATOES-SOLD

Valentine

2010-09-28T20:08:00.004-04:00

I am working on another pastel of the Bouquet river. My wife and I walk along rivers ,streams and even the seashore and often find little heart shaped rocks and pick them up. I had no idea there was one hidden in this wash of stones.

work in progress. 18x26in Pastel on sanded paper

Beach Road Boat Rack

2010-09-28T20:07:00.001-04:00

Main Pier, Sherwood Forest,MD

2010-09-26T21:05:00.004-04:00

This was painted at the end of the day in late September between 3:30 and 5pm. The sun is backlighting the peninsula and the wind has kicked up a froth and taken all reflection away. It was a very satisfying day. In all the years of drawing and painting down here this is my first of the pier. I like how it juts out into the river in straight geometric shapes counterbalanced by (or even nestled in) the arm of the magnificent peninsula. One more site visit should finish it. 10x22in. Oil on panel

West Annapolis Artworks and Fine Framing

2010-09-26T20:57:00.003-04:00

West Annapolis is a bright cheerful gallery space on a street filled with antique stores, coffeshops and boutiques away from the madding crouds of Main St.

Annapolis Plein Air Show

2010-09-13T10:27:00.002-04:00

Three of my Sherwood Forest painting were accepted for the Annapolis Plein Air Show.

The Address of the Gallery is 4 Annapolis st.

2 blocks east of Navy Stadium.

Plein Air Paint Out

2010-09-10T12:30:00.005-04:00

16 local plein air artists have been invited to paint for 16 hours on locations throughout Baltimore city. The artists are able to choose their 16 hours and paint between August 28th and September 11th.

View their results during the opening reception on September 12, 2010, from 4 to 7 PM. Show on display through September 25th

Artists include: Hai-ou Hou, Steward White, John Brandon Sills, Crystal Moll, Murray Taylor, Michael Gaudreau

Bill Wilson, Michael Gilbert, Barb Kiwak, Claudia Brooks, Bill Tamburrino, Michael Bare, Joanne Bare, Susan Graeber, Tim Kelly & Marshall Kinsely.

Crystal Moll Gallery 1030 South Charles Street Federal Hill Baltimore Maryland 21230

410-952-2843 fax 410-391-3166

vwww.crystalmoll.com

WET PAINT ! plein air show in Baltimore at the Crystal Moll Gallery

2010-09-10T10:49:00.007-04:00

Last week I got a call out of the blue to join in with 15 other plein air artists to paint anywhere in the baltimore city limits for only 16 hours. Two of the sites i discovered were Cylburn Park and Fort McHenry. I was really impressed with the austere beauty of the fort. What an oasis amid industry. I did 5 paintings in 3 days. This was my first "paint out" and way out of my comfort zone but I have to say I enjoyed the challenge and I discovered parts of the city I never would have visited.

noonmark mountain

2010-08-31T15:00:00.004-04:00

Here are a couple of photos to show you of the actual mountain to compare with the oil sketches done below.

Noonmark Mountain

2010-08-27T08:27:00.008-04:00

These are a series of oil sketches I painted rapidly, one after each other, to capture the fleeting color effects of light and weather as the day passed on Noonmark mountain. Each painting took about 30 min. As the light and clouds changed moment by moment I would pop another panel on the easel. It is truely exciting and challenging to observe and paint while the light and scenery is rapidly moving. You have to make split second decisions as to what stays and what goes, how to simplify, what to leave out, how to match color in minutes making choices without over thinking. It is a race with the light and you lose yourself in the landscape. oil on panels 8x10 to 8x8 in

Painting Noonmark Mt

2010-08-25T12:48:00.003-04:00

This summer my wife and I stayed at a B&B (Mountain Meadows) in Keene Valley where we painted right off the back porch. It made it so convienient to leave the easel in place and get right out and paint every day. It was mighty nice when it rained, too. I was told that Constable once defined Plein Air painting as "finding a comfortable place to sit under a tree and when the sun comes up paint what happens" I don't know if that is near to what he actually said but I like it. There is an old Irish folktale where the hero Fionn Macumhail asks his men "What is the greatest music in the world" and the answer is "The Sound of What Happens" Being present and seeing nature unfold and adapting to the constant changes in light, color, shadow is much more challenging than studio painting.

Idle River ll

2010-08-25T12:45:00.002-04:00

A nice plein air experience on a hot afternoon in late August. 10x10in oil on panel

The Peninsula -Severn River

2010-08-25T12:43:00.001-04:00

Here is a finished version, done on site , of my favorite spot on the Severn River. Oil on birch 12x25in.

Hulls Falls

2010-08-18T16:19:00.002-04:00

Painted on site just before a deluge of rain

8x8 on birch

Corscaden Barn Show 2010

2010-08-15T12:54:00.007-04:00

LANDSCAPE

PAINTINGS

NEAR AND FAR

August 5 - October 12

Samina Quareshi

Marjorie Morrow

Robert Stark

Stephanie DeManuelle

Michael Gaudreau

Bear Miller

July 1st to October 12th

Open Friday, Saturday, Sunday10 a.m. to 5 p.m.& by Appointment

1.5 miles South of Keene Valleyon Rt. 73 518-576-9850

marthac@kvvi.net KVARTBARN.COM

Art Show at the Corscaden Gallery

2010-08-14T13:33:00.010-04:00

The Corscaden Gallery is located just outside the town of Keene Valley, NY in the heart of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mts. It is owned and run by Martha Corscaden. The show she put together is not a room of separate artists doing their own thing. It seemed more like a unified installation of a much deeper exploration of what the Adirondacks is to the people who encounter this magnificent part of the world. As I tell Bear Miller (see his blog on the right) his paintings express how I FEEL about being at the base of Giant in the snow even though I have never been there. And that is what the artists all do in their very different ways. They are much more than pretty pictures of the High Peaks suitable for framing. Martha put together a show that goes right to the essence of the stunningly beautiful, hard, sometimes dark, spiritually nourishing, and always changing landscape of the Adirondacks. I was honored and very grateful to be included with such a gathering of fine artists.

6pm Severn

2010-07-14T11:20:00.005-04:00

The evening sun created deep shadows. I painted quickly, on site, in around 1-2 hours. I will now take it back to the studio and sharpen it up some when it dries. The day was hot but pleasant in the shade.

The Penninsula -detail

2010-07-14T11:06:00.002-04:00

Painted this yesterday and still consider it a work in progress.
It takes awhile to see the jumble of trees and leaves as distinct shapes. I had started this picture in the Spring and put it away as "what was I thinking?" Then, on a whim, took it back to the site looked at the "skyholes" and tried to paint them individually on top of the previous jumbled mess. I approached it like I painted rocks, one at a time,working from the middle to the left. I have great admiration for those artists that can bang out a complicated plein air piece in one sitting and call it finished. Me, I seem to have better results revisiting pictures either on site or in the studio. This painting will still need another day to get the water right. This site has great emotional significance for me. I camped here as a kid and grew up being mesmerized by it as one of the last wild places on the Severn.

Rocks on Chapel Pond

2010-07-08T13:38:00.004-04:00

To get to the water at Chapel Pond you have to walk down a rocky hill so you look out on the water from above. I started this painting from the top of the hill on site and finished it off from memory with very soft Sennelier oil pastels. 8x8in. oil paint and oil pastel on birch panel

Rapids on Deer Creek

2010-07-08T13:20:00.005-04:00

I went back to a spot I have painted before back in the Spring. It was a very hot day but painting next to fast water seems to keep one cool. I was not pleased with the colors. What appeared to be a warm tan in the sunshine became a cool greenish grey when I brought it indoors. But I think I saved it by waiting until it was dry and working into it later with thick applications of Sennilier oil pastels. I painted on a rigid panel so the pastels went on quite nicely. I then sprayed it lightly with an oil pastel fixitive that really brought out the colors. 8x101n oil paint and pastel on birchpanel SOLD

Arcadia Farm

2010-07-08T13:16:00.002-04:00

Here is the finished painting.

8x10 1n oil on birch panel

Painting at Arcadia Farm

2010-07-06T19:29:00.002-04:00

A beautiful day at Arcadia, the Von Paris farm, where I am painting a wedding present for a friends daughter who will be married there on the 3rd of July. It was a beautiful wedding.

Big Crow Cairn II

2010-06-21T18:40:00.005-04:00

I wanted to revisit an image from a year ago with darker, more intense color and a little more expressive markmaking.

18x26in pastel on sanded paper SOLD

Giant Mt, Keene Valley- late afternoon

2010-06-09T08:58:00.005-04:00

Here is the most recent in a series of paintings of my favorite buildings in Keene Valley. They are just behind the firehouse and a short walk from the inn. I like to walk down in the morning and catch the sunrise backlighting these houses. Here it's around 5pm an the sun is coming from the other side behind me. This is the largest of the lot. 18x18in oil on birch panel

The 49 West Group

2010-06-03T07:58:00.008-04:00

We took down our show last night and had dinner together. (great food at 49 West, by the way)From L to R Nan, Myself, Cynthia's niece Allison, Terry, Betsy, and Cynthia. It was an honor to be included in a show with these talented artists.

Dr. Leach's Cottage.

2010-05-07T09:33:00.002-04:00

One of the original structures when Sherwood Forest was built in the 20's. New owners wanted to renovate but found the old farmhouse was not sound so they rebuilt, but instead of creating some huge "palace"on the cliff they were so in love with the history of the building they made an exact copy.

It is now owned by another Dr., Peter Van Houten,who grew up one cottage over. 9x12in oil on canvas

GROUP SHOW-49 WEST

2010-04-25T12:23:00.007-04:00

Opening Reception May 2 from 5-8pm

I am happy to be part of

a group show at this cool, little bistro on West Street in Annapolis. Thanks go to artist and teacher Betsy Heeney for putting the show together.

I am glad to be able to exhibit some of my Sherwood pictures.

The Peninsula- Severn River

2010-04-25T11:58:00.005-04:00

This plein-air piece was started from out on Main Pier down in Sherwood Forest, MD and re-worked a bit in the studio. I am happy with it now. It's at around 8am on an early April morning before the late morning wind picks up. It was the first very warm day of Spring and the leaves were just starting to pop. In the Summer the hill is a mass of green. As I was painting the sun came out briefly from under a cloud and turned the whole hill an electric day-glo green that disappeared in a second.

I have been reading lately about the Group of Seven, Canada's landscape painters of 100 years ago. I admire their immediate response to wild beauty, their fast, thick application of paint, and their admiration of Thoreau. 12x24in. oil on birch panel

Morning Mist- Keene Valley

2010-04-25T11:46:00.004-04:00

A new one in the series I am painting of the two white houses in Keene Valley, NY. As I have written before, these buildings are like a still-life of white objects on a tabletop that changes as the light changes and I find the endless compositions fascinating. 10x10in. oil on birch panel
SOLD

MEETING GOD on the GROUND IV

2010-04-11T19:40:00.010-04:00

Celebrate Earth Day with Art and Music!
Meeting God on the Ground is an Art exhibit and Sale curated by Gwen & Stephen Howard

of Darlington, devoted to artists who have found their spiritual connection to the Creator in the study of landscape painting.
APRIL 21-25th ARTIST RECEPTION APRIL 23, 7-9PM WITH LIVE BLUEGRASS MUSIC!
Deer Creek Presbyterian Church , Darlington , MD Call 410-734-6087 for details

(LATER NOTE: THE SHOW WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL.

I SOLD 10 PIECES , OVER HALF OF MY WORK.)

Downstream - Upstream Deer Creek

2010-04-11T19:01:00.007-04:00

The last Saturday of my Easter break was a beautiful crisp, clear day. I was at work in the studio but my wife told me how great the weather was and I shouldn't be inside on such a beautiful day. She was right. So out I went with my french easel and Maggie the dog and found myself driving north up to Rock State Park. I scrambled along the shore over rocks and boulders along Deer Creek and set up on an outcropping right below the King and Queen Seat.

I worked all day listening to the water and saying hello to trout fishermen as they would walk by thinking "why haven't I painted here before" but I knew the answer to that. Seeing the stream paintings of Robert Stark 4 years ago inspired me to paint what I really loved which is painting along the Ausable and the Bouquet in the Adirondacks. I can think of very few things more pleasant than spending the day by a beautiful river and losing oneself in sound of moving water. 8x10in and 10x10in. oil SOLD

April Cows I II

2010-04-11T18:42:00.009-04:00

These two little 6x6in paintings on birch boxes are of the cows that belong to the farm behind our house. We watch the cattle walk across the ridgeline in all seasons. The land has been sold and another piece of rural Harford Co. goes to the developers. I think because of this I hiked through the woods and crossed the stream to take a closer look at the cows (and they to me). It was dawn on the first day of April. I had some fun with these oil paintings by re-working them in oil pastel and giving them a nice coat of fixative. April Cow I, II - SOLD

Meeting God on the Ground IV

2010-04-10T21:39:00.005-04:00

Celebrate EarthDay with Art & music! I will be one of six artists featured in a landscape show at DEER CREEK HARMONY CHURCH in Darlington MD. April 21-25. Artist's reception on April 23, 7-9 pm Featuring live Bluegrass. Call 410-734-6087 for details.

Painting on the Severn

2010-04-07T11:23:00.003-04:00

A snap of my painting of the Peninsula in progress on a warm Spring morning. Sherwood Forest MD. 12x24in oil on birch panel

Painting with Bear

2010-04-07T10:15:00.004-04:00

This week I had the opportunity to paint plein air with fellow artist Ed "Bear" Miller. Bear is a painter well known for his Adirondack landscapes and was a guest in my neck of the woods, Sherwood Forest, MD, where we painted along the Severn. Bear paints with an energy and verve that seems to channel the intensity of George Bellows and Harold Weston. Painting is a solitary business but when painters get together the shared experience is enlivened with stories, challenges (like jumping into the freezing river,YES!) revelation and learning. Always learning. A link to his blog can be found on the right in the Art History links.

The Peninsula

2010-04-03T22:56:00.003-04:00

It was a grey blustery Spring day today, under 70deg. The trees were just beginning to show some color. I sat out at the end of the pier and painted. As much as I enjoy painting in the studio, painting outside with the wind and the waves can't be beat. It is truly enjoyable to Not Paint Green.

In the spring there are subtle shades of reds, pinks and lots of warm greys. Painting is a lot like fishing.( thanks Robert Stark, although I thought of it too) Lots of gear, you're outside in a beautiful spot and sometimes you get one and sometimes you don't. I think I got one today. Some of my earliest memories are of being out on the end of Main Pier watching the ospreys flying over this piece of land. 10x10in oil

Severn Sunset

2010-04-01T16:27:00.006-04:00

A tiny painting I dashed off last Summer that I found this morning(Thurs.) and did some more stuff to. There is a land mass on the Severn that we just call "the Peninsula." Some call it the "Green Cathedral" It is the last uninhabited piece of land on the river reaching out into the water, a thin arm of sand and pines. I have camped there as a child and and like to canoe there now to admire the cliffs. This one painting was started after a particularly dramatic Summer sunset but it was not executed very well and I put it in the closet (listed under Too Cliche) I found it while Spring cleaning the studio and just started fiddling with it from memory and I am pleased with the result, so much so that I returned to the site today (SAT.) and did a plein air that I will post later. I think I will be doing more with this unique view. 5x9in oil

Red Truck

2010-03-26T10:18:00.005-04:00

Still working on this one in the studio. I like to sit a painting aside for a while and study over it. I have some unresolved issues with the windows. If I paint them as dark as they really are I feel they will distract from the truck which is the real subject of the painting. Happy for suggestions.WWHD (what would Hopper do?)12x12in on panel

SOLD at the High peaks Art Show 2010

Frissy's Wheelbarrow

2010-03-26T10:13:00.004-04:00

A little quick color sketch. I enjoy seeing a shot of color in green landscapes, like my firetruck paintings. 6x6in. oil on panel

First Light

2010-03-14T19:20:00.002-04:00

First in a series of small Chapel Pond studies that will track the light as it moves down the mountain. 6x6in oil

On Noonmark

2010-03-14T15:47:00.003-04:00

Noonmark mountain is a peak in Keene Valley with a commanding 360 view. It gets its name because, viewed from the valley, the sun seems to rest on the top at noon. During the dark days of Feb. I wanted to relive the feeling of a summer climb. A self portrait from a combination of sources in pastel.

18x26in

morning still life

2010-03-04T08:00:00.005-05:00

One of my favorite painting sites in Keene Valley right next door to the school. These two buildings sit on the landscape like porcelain china on a tabletop catching the morning and evening sunlight. There are endless possibilities for exploration of light and shadow. 10x10in. oil on birch panel SOLD

Garden Chair

2010-03-02T20:31:00.006-05:00

Here's a little painting of a garden chair I saw on a lawn in front of the Dartbrook store in Keene early one morning. It was that brilliant cad. red that I like. I believe it's a personal take on the Westport chair which some consider the original Adirondack chair. At any rate it's an ADK icon. This is a color sketch I did quickly just for fun then I found that it fit in an old gold frame that was chipping the same red color which made it kind of special. 9x12 oil

SOLD At the Corscaden Show 2010

Keene Valley Fire Truck

2010-02-16T12:57:00.005-05:00

On a cold/white/grey day I felt the need for a burst of color. So I painted this image from the Summer. This antique fire truck appears all around Keene Valley as the days pass. I found it one August morning sitting on the front lawn of the Roostercomb Inn, a new inn filled with beautiful rustic furniture made by the the owner.

I love how the light reflects off the surface of the almost pure cadmium red of the fire truck and contrasts with the green grass.

I had done a small painting of some kayaks on the porch of this house a couple of years ago(older post) but the house was yellow back then. The truck is also in an earlier painting (Sentinel).

10x10in. oil on birch

SOLD

On Chapel Pond

2010-02-16T12:40:00.003-05:00

These two girls were sitting on the edge of Chapel pond when I was out painting one morning last summer. I don't have any figures in my landscapes (too many hated life drawing classes, I think) but when I saw these two with the light playing off the water behind them I couldn't resist.The vantage point is unique there because you have to decend down a steep rocky hill to get to the water so you are looking down at the water's edge. Chapel Pond is a beautiful and restful spot on a hot summers day. Just the thing to keep my mind off the storm raging outside.
10x10in oil on birch panel

White Barn

2010-02-16T12:29:00.007-05:00

About a mile from my house in Bel Air is this white barn. When the sun rises the white pines behind me cast these great blue shadows. I painted it at sunset before in an older post.

10x10in. oil on birch panel

Dr. Leach's Cottage

2010-02-16T12:09:00.004-05:00

During the Feb.blizzard here in Maryland I thought I would keep warm by revisiting some images from the Summer.

Dr. Leach lived next door to my grandfather's cottage on Thorsby Hill in Sherwood Forest MD. overlooking the Severn River. It was one of the original farmhouses saved when Sherwood was planned in the '20's. The big tree on the right was planted by me from a seedling when I was a boy.

9x12in. oil

Stone Beach- Monhegan

2010-02-08T10:30:00.007-05:00

I was going through some old sketchbooks and I found this little sketch that I realize now was the catalyst for my interest in painting rocks and cairns. One Summer in the late '90's my wife and I took the ferry over to Monhegan I. off the coast of Maine. I wanted to walk and paint in the footsteps of Kent,Bellows, Hopper, Wyeth and others in painting this beautiful Island.

We hiked all over the island and I was completely overwhelmed. The scenery was magnificent but nothing I did worked. I was still new to plein air .There was just too much to take in. The shapes just fell apart and whatever I did just seemed like bad calendar art. The temp was in the 90's and I had had it. We found ourselves on the west side of the island at the end of the day on a rock beach. I had put away my materials and just sat and admired the view.

After awhile I began to notice how the rocks fit together and I thought"what if I begin a drawing with ONE rock, not by taking in the whole scene." A drawing teacher I once had used to describe his drawings as "knitting", one stitch at a time. What would happen if I proceeded one rock at a time?

I began with the one small stone at the very bottom of the paper. I then drew the next one touching it, then the next and the next with no thought of outcome and composition and I actually started to feel pleasure in the act of drawing. The day went away. The scenery went away and I was totally into the moment. 9.5x7in. ink and watercolor

Bouquet

2010-01-30T17:56:00.005-05:00

Pastel on sanded paper

18x26in.

The river bed along the Bouquet offers endless possibilities for color, shape, and texture. I will live with this one for awhile to determine how "finished" I want it to be.

Severn River Pine

2010-01-18T13:19:00.004-05:00

I went down to Sherwood Forest MD last Sunday. The sky was almost cobalt blue and the Severn a deep shade of ultramarine. I usually am down here in the summertime when the colors are rich warm greens and cerulean blues. The river is a different color in the wintertime. Colors are simple, flat and stark. The weather has been so overcast this winter in Maryland. When there is a clear sky everything seems new. I walked by this pine and just happened to see the sun hit this crooked branch. That is what sparked the painting for me. Was it cold!

I finished the painting off in my warm studio using reference shots from my cell phone.Yeah technology.

oil on birch panel 10x10in. SOLD!