"Brightest Light at Blue Hill Fair" 5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  Framed and Shipped for free!  250$

     Today was great fun!  Two painters stopped by my house to invited me painting with them at Blue Hill Fair.  I had gone to Mount Desert Island to take photos of waves.  There were no waves.  So I came home earlier than usual.  I headed to Blue Hill Fair when I heard the news.  I loaded up the baby jogger with my painting equipment.  I was strolling around the fair with the baby jogger.  It was my second lap around the fair when I discovered the painters.  They were off the path behind food venders.  They had the perfect view to paint! 

     I have discovered professional painters don't like to have their photos or names mentioned.   Both of their paintings were great!  They were working very large.  They both worked high key.  We didn't talk much.  It was very loud at the fair.  Music, bells, and machinery made having a conversation difficult.  One of the painters said she loved my painting.  I appreciated her complements.  I was pleased with them both. 

     I was working with a very limited palette.  I used only Cobalt Blue, Quinacradone Red, Cadmium Yellow Light, and Zinc White.  I think it made painting easier.  I concentrated not on matching a color to the scene, but values. 
  "The Night Carousel" 5x7 Oil on Copper panel. Framed and Shipped for Free!   The other painters left before dark.  I parked my self under the light of the ice cream chart.  I really had great fun!  One of the painters warned me the crowd might get wierder after dark.  This didn't seem to happen.  The crowd was very respectful and enthusiastic!









     I could have stayed there all night painting!  I think I had a break through tonight.  I had been at the fair each day, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  I didn't paint because I was too shy to paint at the fair.  I think I realized I am good enough of a painter to not feel shy or embarrassed.  This is what I like to do.  I can't worry about what people might say.  Besides, people are always positive about my painting on location.  I really have not had a single person say anything bad about my painting.  So I will be brave and paint where ever I feel like!  You too!

  "Cadillac Mountain View of Porcupine Islands"  Sold today!

     I sold a nice painting today!  I painted this painting in the Spring, April 12.  This was the first day Cadillac Mountain's road opened for tourists.  I remember it was very cold 40's.  The wind was severe.  I painted this scene all day!  So now I found a really good home for it. 

     Daisy and Duke came up to me while I was sitting on the back porch.  Duke put his feet up on my chair's arms.  Then he did a little howling noise.  Daisy barked loudly with him.  This is their latest trick at night for their new Frosty Paws icecream treat!  They really love this new ritual.  Thank you for buying a painting today! 

     September 15, 16, 17, and 18, I am going to Monhegan Island!  I hope to paint in Catherdral Woods for two days.  I would like to hike down under Whitehead to see the view where Frederick Waugh use to paint.  He also stored his painting equipment in a fish shack I am sure is long gone.  I would like hike to pulpit rock to paint.  I might try to hike down the steep mountain for a water view of pulpit rock.  I may even have Rusty drive me in the skiff to Manana Island to paint for a few hours!  Exciting!  Usually Cathedral Woods is full of mosquitoes.  But the mosquitoes hopefully will be gone by then!  I am not sure what size I will paint.  I will bring a variety! 

     Tomorrow I hope to paint on Mount Desert Island somewhere!  Get out and paint! 

  "Monhegan Island Nest" 5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  Framed in gold wood.  Shipped for free!  300$

     It finally cooled off today!  I went to the Blue Hill Fair to take photos.  I came home and worked on this painting!  These nest paintings are not easy.  I think this one was successful.  Each time I find a nest, it is exciting!  Nests with eggs inside are enchanting at any age!  I have seen a lot of nests on Monhegan Island towards Whitehead.  Once I saw a tiny nest hidden in the grass with the tinest light green spotted eggs!  So amazing!  This nest is a seagull's nest.  Their eggs are bronze colored with dark brown and bluegrey spots.  They are special.  I think very few people ever see a seagull's nest.  This will look nice in a gold frame!

  Here is a photo of the Blue Hill Fair with a nice moutain in the distance.  I would love to come here at night to paint plein aire with my book light.  I just don't want to paint by myself.  I wish I had a plein aire buddy to paint with!  Darn! 

  The alpaca on the left looked like he was ready to spit on me.  Luckily this did not happen!

  Nice family of pigs!

  He looked very happy sleeping!  I wonder what he was dreaming about? 

     Tonight we are expecting the Hurricane Earl!  Hopefully we will only get a bit of rain and wind!  Tomorrow a customer is visiting the gallery to purchase a present!  I sure hope the winds are not severe enough for him to drive!  I am having a hurricane sale in the gallery tomorrow!  I will be open all day!  Come by if you are near by! 

  I found a very inexpensive Walter Foster book showing 60 color reproductions of Frederick Waugh's paintings for 7$ on ebay.   Here are just a few of these photos.  The book does not go into how Frederick Waugh painted these seascapes.  It would be an excellent book as a reference for an artists working on seascapes.  We are expecting Hurricane Earl here in Maine Friday night.  There may be a few large waves finally!









     Tomorrow should be cooler so I should be able to paint again!  It was 94 degrees.  I couldn't leave Daisy and Duke in the house without an AC.  I took them to Sears Island.  This time I put on a swimsuit, grabbed a towel, and my itouch!  I read a book not about art!  I had to keep an eye on Daisy and Duke roaming all around the beach.  Duke was looking for frogs in the ocean all day again.  Poor dog. 

     Daisy would run up to ladies on the beach.   She would walk with them all the way down the beach.  Then she would return to me.  Boony, a dog with black and white spots, was there today.  Daisy and Duke let him drink out of their water bowl.  They were happy to see this dog.  In the Winter we run into Boony taking his walk.  

     I really enjoyed just sitting at the beach for hours today.  It was cooler!  Maybe it is good to take a small break from painting to absorb things I have learned!  Get out and paint!  I hope too!

  I used three oil paint colors, Cobalt Blue, Quinacrodone Red, Cadmium Yellow, and Zinc White to mix all of these colors.  It is amazing how many different colors a person can get from just three!  The three colors are on the left hand side.  Then I mixed the yellow with the red to get orange.  I mixed and mixed to get other variations.  This is a good exercise to use before you go out plein aire painting with a new palette of colors.  I am really suprised at the dark values I could achieve!

     It was in the 90's here in Maine all day and night again!  I closely watched my 10 year old golden retrievers.  It was cooler 80s in the house until 1:30.  I cleaned!  The house was a bit of a disaster as I have spent most of my time painting lately!  At 1:30 Daisy and Duke both came up to me with sad eyes and long faces.  I took them to Sears Island for a swim!  I put on a pair of shorter shorts and a tank top!  I waded into the ocean.  I just stood there for an hour.  So did Duke.  He was confused as to why there were no frogs at the ocean.  At Craig's pond there has been many frogs for him to chase.  Daisy put one of the frogs into a coma.  A boy screamed he caught one, the coma frog!  He brought it over to his mom to see.  She said for him to get rid of that dead frog! 

  For the last week Daisy and Duke have been celebrating painting sales with their "Frosty Paws" dog icecream.  You can buy this dog treat in the freezer section of the ice cream department in the grocrey store!  There is no sugar in this ice cream.  Daisy and Duke just love it!  I hope it helps them through this terrible heat wave!  Most Maine residents have no air conditioners in their houses.  Schools are closing tomorrow!  We are expecting a hurricane on top of this! 

  This is my new plastic red bird house.  This is also the view to my backyard.  The body of water is the penobscot east channel.  The island in the distance is Verona.  My new bird house has been us many days.  No birds have been eating the sunflower seeds.  Hopefully soon a few birds will discover my bird house!

     Get out and paint!

  I have always loved this picture of Duke cuddled up in my bed in the Airstream.  He use to jump 4 ft up into the air and land on me while I was sleeping!  We were very cozy in the Airstream.  Duke's morning ritual was to leap up into my sleeping area.  He liked for me to pet him for a half an hour before we really got up.  Sometimes he would lay on his back with his feet up in the air.  He loved to put his head on my pillow like I did.  Daisy could not jump up that far.  Later we discovered at the vet, she had contracted Lymes disease from a tick.  She was given a month of antibiotics.  Her mood is better.  She still doesn't jump. 

     It was 94 degrees today in Bucksport, Maine where we now live.  I took Daisy and Duke to the lake early in the morning.  My plan was to paint all day.  When noon came around, temperatures inside the house were too hot to leave Daisy and Duke.  So we sat under the tree in the shade for parts of the day.  It was just too hot today to paint.  I took them again back to the lake for a second time!  They love chasing frogs.  The water at Craig's pond is crystal clear and cool.  It is beautiful there.  If Daisy and Duke were not such a handful, I would have painted!  Robert went with us the second trip.  He swam across the lake.  Loons were making their beautiful calls.  The colors were great.  I should have brought my camera. 

     I had a great time this August painting nearly each day.  I painted a total of 32 paintings.  I sold a lot of them!  I am ordering three cords of oak firewood!  That should keep us very warm.  Thank you very much for participating in the sales of August Painting Marathon!  Duke and Daisy have a lifetime supply of raw hide bones.  They have been enjoying "Frosty Paws" a dog ice cream treat each night!  Sales were great!  Thanks!

  "Cadillac Mountain View of Otter Cove" 5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  100$ unframed and shipped!  Call me at (207) 479-9553 if you love this painting and would like to purchase it!

     Today was a very hot day here in Maine.  I headed to Mount Desert Island up on Cadillac Mountain.  I expected the temperatures to be cooler there.  I was wrong.  It was still 90 degrees on top of Cadillac.  There was no breeze.  There were no clouds in the sky!  It was broiling hot.  I felt like a chicken in a frying pan! 

     I used only three colors plus white today.  It was very fun!  The Art Mentor suggested using Quinacridone Red, Cobalt Blue, and Cadmium Yellow.  I decided on Zinc White as it is very translucent.  I was really amazed at all of the colors I could mix with just these three colors.  White is not considered a color.  

     I decided to not describe the scene infront of me with bright blues.  I decided to go with a combination of Cobalt blue and a tiny touch of Quin Red with Zinc White.  What a beautiful lavender color this created!  I decided to use purples, greens, and a touch of oranges for my color scheme.  This is suppose to be an emotional palette.  It did make a atmospheric painting! 

     I couldn't paint another painting on top of Cadillac Mountain.  The air conditioning in my car felt great!  I drove around taking photos.  I was at Little Long Pond.  I met another professional painter, George Martin.  He was very nice.  He was painting a small canvas mounted on birch panel of the mountain.  Here is the scene he was painting.



     There was a beautiful golden retriever working hard at retrieving a tennis ball!  So beautiful!

  I went by Somes Sound.  I stopped and admired this painting spot!  If only it were a few degrees cooler, I might have painted another painting.  

     I checked Park Loop Road for waves.  No waves.  So I headed home! 

    

      This is my Mom's watercolor painting, Catherine Bottelman.  She lives in Winter Park, Florida.  She is a prolific painter.    I have given her dried seahorses, crabs, shells, and other natural items I find.  I asked her how she created this painting.  She told she drew the dried seahorses, crabs and seashells from life.   She kept drawing these seahorses in one area until she was satistified.  Then she drew the crab in a few places.  She drew some seaweed here and there. The painting just developed spontaneously.  

     Some of my happiest memories are painting next to my Mom.  We seem to laugh alot.  Sometimes one of us accidently splatters the other with paint.  I might take one of her brushes to use instead of my own.  

       I saw this painting in her livingroom while visiting in Florida this last Winter.  Luckily it fit into my car!  I absolutely love this painting.  Each morning I get up and admire her painting.  I am lucky to have a Mom who paints!  What a great gift she has given me.

      
  This is a watercolor by my Aunt Madeline.  She gave my Mom and I each a painting many years ago.  In return, my Mom and I each gave her two of our paintings. 

      My Grandmother also painted.    We don't know which medium or what she painted.  After she passed on, her paintings all disappeared.  She started to paint later in life.  I have always wondered what they might look like. 

     I went to many galleries in Camden and Rockland yesterday.  I just felt like taking a painting break!  I saw a lot of really brightly colored paintings in these galleries.  I found myself walking by these paintings very quickly!  It was as if these paintings were shouting at me!  They looked very artificial.  I went home thinking a lot about painting more subtle.  I saw skies straight bright blue!  I liked more red and greys in the skys.  I saw many drawing failures.  Horizons were crooked.  I shook my head wondering how such a successful painter might get into a gallery with a crooked horizon!  I decided to use a T Square to check any of my horizon lines, if I do paint one!  Suprising too, were the prices!  I didn't see very many smaller oil paintings.  They were many very large paintings.  I did see many great paintings.  I think it is a good idea to take a painting break and look at other people's paintings! 

      I saw two Fitz Hugh Lane paintings in the Farmsworth Museum.  I really liked his colors, very pastel.  They were easy on the eyes and mind!  I saw a great Thomas Moran painting.  I really liked the details! 
Of course my favorites were paintings by Stapleton Kearns.  There were the best!

     I am going to get out to paint tomorrow!  Thanks for reading this blog.  I love all of the comments! 

  "The Colors Of Thuya Gardens"  5x7 Oil on Copper.  ON HOLD

     I drove to Mount Desert Island to paint in Thuya Gardens.  I found an obscure place by the pond under the White Cedar trees.  Once in a while a small child would discover me painting.  It was fun to hear the high pitch squeal!  Some people didn't see me.  I was almost finished painting for the day when I looked up to see yesterday's gallery customers walking through the garden.  They were suprised to see me! 

  Here they are in Thuya Gardens!

  These are the hand carved doors by Joe Savage at the entrance of Thuya Gardens.  These doors make you feel as if you are entering a very special garden. 

  I stopped to take photos at a pumpkin field in Trenton.  I painted these pumpkins last October.  I may paint them again.  I spent all year thinking I would love to paint the pumpkins with their green leaves in a field.  When I saw some pumpkins still on the vine, I didn't like them as much.  I guess I like the pumpkins after frost has killed the green leaves.  The charcoal color of the leaves and the orange of the pumpkin seem to go better together! 

     I am beat!  I hope you had a great day!  Get out and paint! 

  "Girl With A Plan" 5x7 Oil on Copper 300$ Framed and Shipped!

     I worked more on yesterday's painting.  I think it is great now!  I wanted this painting to look similar to "Thirsty Girl", the white chicken drinking water from the aluminum container.  They might look nice together in the museum show coming up Sept 19 in Yarmouth at the Skyline Farm.  

  These two ladies have a huge collection of art in two houses here in Maine and in Pennsylvania.  These just love to support artists and they love paintings!  They called to make an appointment at Lammers Gallery today, my own gallery.  I cleaned and bought some sparkling water for them to drink.  They arrived and had in their minds to purchase one painting. 

      I had over 200 paintings of mine to show them.  Luckily I had them separated by subject matter in scrap boxes with felt material in between each painting to protect them.  Most of my clients select paintings unframed from these scrap boxes and then select a frame at my gallery.  My husband Robert goes into the basement and frames them professionally for them!  

     While I was showing them paintings, I told them if they see any painting they liked, to let me know, and we would set it aside.  Soon we had several paintings set aside.  Then occasionally they decided to put back a painting into the box.  More paintings would be set aside.  We set all of their favorite paintings up on the floor against the white walls.  They admired them while I poured them sparkling water.  Sparkling water that is flavored everyone loves.  There is no caffine, no calories, and it is refreshing!  I let them take their time deciding.  Eventually one lady decided on one for her room.  Then the other lady really loved two of them.  So they ended up purchasing three!  We found nice frames that flattered each painting.  Robert came home, framed them!  They left so happy!  There is nothing like painting and handling my own sales.  I like being incharge of my own destiny! 

     I am going to paint late this evening!  Daisy and Duke are getting a "Paws" ice cream treat!  I am going to have an icecream sandwich as a treat for myself!  I deserve one!  Have a great night.  Hopefully we will have good weather tomorrow so we all can get out and paint!

  "A Girl With A Plan" 5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  300$  I worked more on this one the next day!  Now it looks great! 


     It was raining all day!  So I painted in my studio.  I practiced some brush work and Puffopods.  I might touch it up some more tomorrow.  I lost my light!  She is looking great!

     I sold two more paintings today off my website!  I love this website!  Fineartstudioonline is a fantastic art website!  I have made more painting sales on this site!  Incredible.  Yesterday I made two other painting sales!  Daisy and Duke have enough raw hide bones now for their Winter!  Now they would like "Paws" doggy ice cream treats with each sale!  Thank you very much!

  "Gliding Over Sand Beach"  SOLD!  I thought you might like to see the finished results of the seagull.  I found a really goodt artist who will own this seagull.  I wanted it to look really good.  I think James will be pleased! Yesterdays birch trees sold to the sailboat owner!  Yeah!  "Three Goats on Manana Island" and "Amazing Grace" sold yesterday!   I think my painting ability has improved greatly because of The Art Mentor!  He decided to let you know who he is!

  Here is The Art Mentor.  His name is Stapleton Kearns. 

      He is offering a three day workshop for all levels in Acadia National Park this September 25, 26, and 27.  He hopes to have participants stay at Bass Harbor Campground or hotels nearby.  The cost is only 300$ for the workshop.  The campground is giving a discount for all artists.  A tent campsite is usually 25$ a night.  I am sure the cost might be less if you are an artist!  This is a great opportunity to get one on one teaching from The Art Mentor.  He is only accepting the first ten students.  He will be planning campfire talks each night after a whole day of painting plein aire.  Participants will be dining together at a local restaurant for dinner.  I know you will learn so much during this three day period.  I hope you can get a workshop space!  Go to his blog to sign up.    Here is his website.  http://stapletonkearns.blogspot.com/

     Http://www.stapletonkearnsgallery.com/    You can see his paintings.  I love to read his blog each day.  He has great daily art information on his blog!  If nothing else, try to read his blog daily.  I know this will help you become more knowledgeable about art! 

      Stapleton Kearns will be dropping off many new paintings at Bayview Gallery in Camden!  Go check them out!  Buy a few! I think his paintings are great!  He is the best teacher also!  Thank You! 

 

"Another Summer Day" 5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  SOLD!  To a wonderful lady who owns this sailboat!  Amazing! 

  "The Robin's Nest"  This painting was accidently destroyed.  I worked on it the next day.  It just turned into a pycho nest.  I sanded it down!  Such is life!  Nests are hard to paint!

     Today was another amazing Summer Day!  I went to Fort Point State Park with The Art Mentor.  We painted birches again as you can see.  The Art Mentor was on fire today!  He was giving me such great information I had to start writing it all down!  Here are some of the things he told me!

     Norman Rockwell was asked what materials he used to create his paintings.  He replied because of the deadlines, as an illustrator, he used many types of dryers not known for their durability.  He then stated he hoped his paintings wouldn't blow up. 

     The Art Mentor was painting on canvas.  I was painting on copper.  A tourist came up to me and asked me about the copper.  I told her I painted on copper because it was the most archival substrate to paint on.  The Medieval artists painted on copper and their paintings, 500 years later look perfect in museums.  The Art Mentor replied, "My paintings are going to blow up!"  We all laughed as he explained he was painting on canvas and it would disintegrate the minute they purchased the painting!  So funny!

      Yesterday The Art Mentor told me about Sandlers Sales System.  He took this sales class each morning a long time ago.  Sandler would make a customer sick and then cure them to make the sale.  He would ask them why they came out to the car lot that day?  He would listen to their answer knowing then what happened to their car.  Then after listening to their story, he would find a cure for them by finding a car on the lot.  The Art Mentor told me much of Sandlers is dated.  Some of the information would be useless.  He did learn about how to help a customer to make a sale.  

      The Art Mentor was working on a painting he had started a few days ago.  He asked me to come take a look at what he was doing.  He had lightened the painting on purpose.  The shadow the birch trees casted was lightened.  He then put lavender in the grass shadow up against the sunspot that was a light greyed orange.  The lavender made the grass look flat on the ground as well as brightening the sunspot by being the complement of the sunspot.  It also introduced a nice new color. 

     He then told me about a PUFFOPOD.  He learned this from another landscape artist Anthony Sirrino.  A puffopod are accents scattered through painting or spots.  They break up areas that are too flat.  They add vibration to a painting.  An example of a puffopod:  He places a color he invented called Porn Star Pink into grass shadow areas.  This Porn Star Pink looks to me like hot pink salt water taffy. He throws this Porn Star Pink in the shadow areas of the cool green grass colors to make a dull area look lively.  Puffopods add sparkle into dull areas and enhance liven the painting.  He also added dark accents that would be leaves fallen on the grass.  These few dark accents on top of the shadow grass areas lightened the shadow area. 

   He called me over to his easel again to show me how he makes the sky a positive shape instead of negative.  He paints in the tree leaves in the sky.  Then he paints the birch trunks.  Then he paints the sky to make the sky positive shapes.  He paints the sky holes darker than the actual sky.  

    He then told me about a very important principal.  Painting is a dance between observation and invention.  The strickly observation artist will have his lunch eaten by the inventor artist.  The observation plein aire artist is the artist who paints only what he sees.  He copies exactly the landscape infront of him in terms of composition nature provides and colors.  The Inventor artist creates a better composition, changes values, changes colors to create atmosphere and emotion.  He may change or introduce anything he feels will make the best painting possible.  Because after all, a painting should not exist unless it is painted well! 

    I asked The Art Mentor about the color he invented called Porn Star Pink.  "How do you make this color?"  He answered giving this some thought.  For a moment I didn't think he would tell me his secret.  Then he answered, "You can buy this color made from Williamsburg oil paint called Persian Rose.  You could also create this color yourself by mixing the right combination of Quin Red, White, and a Dioperolyperol Red."  I am not really sure about the name of the last red there. 

     He did say this Porn Star Pink can be a hot or cold color.  It can have an orange glow which is the perfect complement to green! 

     Several days while out painting with The Art Mentor and his famous painting friends, I heard several say, "The light is failing."  I didn't think the light was gone at all.  They would look at each other.  I didn't get it.  Finally he told me.  Ives Gamble his teacher would tell him, "We will paint till the light fails."  This meant until the golden hour was over before sunset.  There would still be sunlight, but the light for their subject was gone.  The light they were looking for was over.  Complicated!  A secret saying!  Ahhh!

     He told me to come look at what he did next.  He took a rigger brush, loaded with a mixture of Ultramarine blue and Permanent Alizarin.  To create rhythm he made convexes and concaves in the branch areas within the trees.  He added these dark similar shapes that interchanged across horizontally gracefully and subtle. " They related to one another." he explained.

     He then showed me how he used this massive two inch flat brush and lightly very lightly dragged this brush over some areas of the painting to "fuse" the painting together.  He showed me how he took a small flat brush and tapped along the island in distance to soften the line.  

    He told me of another secret.  Professional painters (people who only do painting for a living) and NOT a persona called  Artists too ( people who come up to Professional painting while they are painting and claim they are artists too)
Artists too do not show their work in galleries.  They do not work to support themselves as an painter.  They work another outside job and try to learn how to paint.  They may sell an occassional painting.  After I understood this principal, then he shared another insider secret.  A "Pagoda" is a location a plein aire painter goes to that only has one thing to paint.  This location does not have many paintings all around, but one subject.  Painters will gather near this one "Pagoda" and paint the same thing of course, in a different manner.  A "Monet Garden" is a location a plein aire painter goes to that has many painting possiblities.  

       The baby seal presented himself on the beach while we were painting.  A man and his son told us the seal might be injured.  The seal's flipper seemed not to be working.   I went down to see the alleged injured seal for myself.  The Art Mentor was ready to carry the seal down to the water.  Instead the seal decided to scurry over the rocks back into the water.  He swam away.  He must have been resting from swimming.  He was very little!  He seemed fine!   I think this was a great photo.  I may paint this seal.  So tiny!  Sweet!

     I sold two paintings today while I was painting!  This is just great news! Not 100$ paintings either!  I had given Daisy and Duke a raw hide bone earlier this morning.  When I came home Daisy had stolen Dukes bone.  He looked so sad!  I gave him back his bone!

 

     Tomorrow Daisy and Duke will receive ice cream made for dogs called "Paws" as the painting sales was exceptional this week!  Thank you!  

     When I came home I also received more great news!  I was invited to a beautiful hotel on Nantucket called The Century House.  They have excepted me into a Fall Artist In Residency.  I will travel to Nantucket.  They will allow me to stay in their hotel for almost a week!  They will select one of my paintings completed during this stay for their permanent collection.  They are also hosting a "Art on their Veranda" on Thursday night.  They invite dealers, galleries, neighbors, and hotel guests to see what I have painted during my stay.  They sometimes sell paintings during this event.  I can keep these painting sales.  I am so excited about this! 

     I hope you had a great day.  I am going to paint really hard tomorrow!  It may rain outside, by I will be painting inside!  Paint outside when you can!  The Art Mentor says, "Painting a landscape from photos is like learning to swim inside on the couch!

  "Gliding Over Sand Beach" 5x7 Oil on Copper. SOLD to my wonderful friend James!  What a seagull collection he has now!  Thank you so much James.  Daisy and Duke thank you too!  

     Today was just so much fun!  I had a call from The Art Mentor.  He wanted to use my art studio as it has such great skylights.  He is staying with relatives nearby without an art studio.  The weather was too overcast and rainy to paint outside.  I learned a lot while we were painting in my art studio.  The Art Mentor learned how to sell paintings by listening to sales audio tapes a long time ago.  These tapes called Sandlers Sales Systems were expensive but worth.   They cost 65$ on Ebay.  I seem to do fine with sales, but maybe I could do better?  Ya never know!  If I am going to be a pro, I need to be great at more than just painting!  

     Daisy and Duke, my two golden retrievers decided to sleep under The Art Mentor's easel. It was cute until Daisy came up to me with Viridian on her tail and above her eye.  She had gobs of white paint on her hip!  I couldn't believe this!  I laughed so hard! The dog was painted today!

  Here is Daisy's hip with some paint globbed on!  I had to take her outside and give her an emergency shower with dishwashing soap!  So funny!  She still has a stained green tail.  

     The Art Mentor showed me how he scrapes his dried oil painting with a palette knife really hard to remove any oil paint that is thickened.  I put my hand on the surface and it was pretty smooth!  Amazing.  I wonder how this might work with a dried oil painting on a copper panel?  I usually paint only wet into wet.  The reason for this is I don't like to paint over a textured surface.  If I could get rid of the dried texture I may like to rework a painting.  John Caggiano showed me how he sprays an old dried oil painting with retouch varnish.  This makes the surface wet again.  

     I worked on a second painting for an upcoming show at a Museum in Yarmouth, Maine.  I completed a nest full of five robin eggs.  They were a beautiful blue green!  I will show them tomorrow.  It was too dark outside to take a photo.  

     I sold a painting today to a famous Rock Star!  He is the leader of Savoy Brown Band!  Pretty amazing to have a painting in his collection.  I have many successful people as collectors, but not yet a real live Rock Star! 

    Are you bored of watching soap operas, sitting in your chair all day, or shopping at the mall?  Why don't you order some oil paints on line?  Http://www.ASWexpress.com  Gamblin oil paints are great:  Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Red Light, Permanent Alizarin, Ultramarine Blue.  Brushes: Flat 4, 8  Gesso Board for something to paint on.  Turpenoid for something to wash brushes. Plein Aire Easel!  If you need any other information, you can call me! 

Get out and paint!  You will feel great!

  "Monhegan Nest" 5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  100$ unframed and shipped!  

                              If you like this painting, call me at (207) 479-9553. Thank you!

     Today was a rainy gloomy day.  I decided to work in my new studio!  I turned on some 1970's music.  I decided to work on more eggs.  The smooth surface of a brown eggs looks great on copper.  I left some copper shimmering through the oil paint.  I took my brush and pulled out some paint in the dark areas.  I then started to layer the straw from darker values to higher ones.  I used my brush to soften some straw.  I liked how this painting came out.  Seagull eggs have an interesting pattern.  There are gray spots and dark brown spots overlapping each other.  There is a pearl like iridescence to these seagull eggs.  I had a good opportunity to paint one of these eggs on Monhegan at Whitehead in June.  I was working on the second egg when the mother seagull sat down on this nest.  I didn't want to abandon the painting and so I painted the seagull on her egg.  At least I could paint one of these eggs!  I might like to go back to Monhegan next June to study more nests with eggs.  

  Here is a Frederick Waugh seascape painting.  Frederick Waugh was one of the best seascape artists.  I was reading more of "Frederick Waugh, American Marine Painter" by George Havens today.  This book is usually very expensive and out of print.  I was fortunate enough to find a paper back copy of this book on Ebay.

     I opened up the book to see what the page might read.  It was Frederick Waugh speaking to someone about how to paint the sparkles of the sea.  "Sparkle in painting, Waugh said, is obtained by keying pictures way down in tone (darken the values).  "There is more sparkle in a strong contrast of highlight against a dark background than if the whole were high in tone.  You can make sunlight perfectly dead and chalky by a overdose of white.  Pure color is more sparkling than white."

     Waugh spoke of painting sunlight breaking through clouds by mixing his white with a yellowish or reddish tint according to the color scheme of the painting.  He uses Cadium Yellow Light with Raw Sienna or white with Venetian or Mars Red.  If the colors are cooler as in later in the day, he uses a little Madder Lake or Alizarin.

     Waugh says it is best to paint the seascape as result of direct painting.  "I say, if you can do so, grab the whole thing in one continuous period of time, unaffected by breakfast, lunch, dinner, or the evening's amusements or other preoccupations. Take hold of the motif, of the technique, of the enthusiasm of the whole unbroken day if possible.  Your work wil have the vitality and snap it needs in order to convey its full significance.  Do everything in one whack.  Even if it remains incomplete in places, no matter.  The frame will often take care of this.  Put a roughly executed picture into a highly finished frame for best results. The very fact that there is an edge binder all around your canvas will, if the roughness is not too pronounced, finish up what you have done."

    I have discovered from The Art Mentor waves become larger during the Fall and Winter.  The rest of the year unless during a storm I suppose, there just aren't very big waves here in Maine.  Something to look forwards to!

     I hope the weather clears so that we all can get outside and paint!

  "A Maine Summer Day" 5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  SOLD to a nice lady who loves this view!

     Yesterday I went painting with The Art Mentor and another of his painter friends.  They were painting this birch tree scene.  My painting failed miserably.  I did the "Wipe Off!"  Then I went home to paint an egg painting that looks disturbing.  Too disturbing to show!  How about that!  I was tired.  But I did get out there and paint! 

     The painters were very entertaining as usual.  They told me a funny story about painting in the Thuya gardens.  Apparently this was when they were younger.  Paintings were selling like mad.  They were working on very large canvases for days at Thuya.  One of them even put in a check for 100$ as he was appreciative of the painting sales made from Thuya.  One of them spilled turpentine which killed a grassy area in their beautiful manicured gardens creating an eye sore!  They were not really asked to leave, but someone asked when they would be finishing! 

  Here I am at Four Point State Park painting birch trees!  You might see the baby jogger next to me which carries my equipment safely and effortlessly!  This jogger has been the best equipment I have purchased lately! 

     Today I went to paint with The Art Mentor.  I brought him two tastey sandwiches he really seemed to enjoy!  We were painting these birch trees by the sea again today.  He was working on a new smaller canvas.  He used a technique he showed me with his palette knife to keep the birch tree areas clean of paint.  He scraped really hard with the palette knife.  So hard I wondered if the knife was going to go through the canvas!  He painted the trees the very last.  Today he showed me how he kept the sky, island, water in the distance much darker in value so his beautiful white birch trees would sing!  What a great idea!  He has shown me this trick before at Seal Harbor.  There he kept his sky, island, and water much darker so his white boats would really gleem!  Many old master painters used this technique.  The Art Mentor knows all about their techniques. 

     Today I decided not to use any more Diox purple.  I decided not to use dark brown as a very darkest dark any more.  The darkest dark is going to be a cool dark and probably not a warm brown.  I experimented with Cobalt Violet in the shadow tree leaves on the left.  Cobalt Violet is a warmer cool purple lighter in value than the Diox Purple.  It gives a more restful and beautiful look in the trees vegetation in shadow.  The Art Mentor just doesn't like Diox Purple.  I think he has good reasons to not like it!  

     Here are some good tips concerning painting birch trees I learned today.  There are no browns in a birch tree.   There are more purples in the shadows.   There are many types of greens in the birch tree reflected from the grass and leaves surrounding the birch.  Birch trees look best not straight.  They can bend and twist up to the sky. They look best painted not all growing in the same line.  Stagger the birch trees.  Make the birch trees different thicknesses.  Variety of shapes make a painting much more pleasing.  The lightest highlight on the Birch is not all the way up the tree on one side where the sun is hitting it.  Birch trees have highlight areas periodically up the tree.  This highlight is probably not straight Titanium white but Titanium white with a tiny touch of a yellow.   The shadow of the bark of the tree starts right after the highlight and can be more purple like.  There is a reflective light on the opposite side of the highlighted area but subtle.  All brush strokes should be horizontal and curved with the direction of the tree.  Most people paint trees with vertical brush strokes and this is a mistake.  If a tree is to look like a trunk, there must be horizontal brush strokes.  If it is a really thin tree then use a really small brush and do just a few horizontal strokes to make it look curved.  Flat brushes make great birch trees!  

     Use counter change in your design for birch trees.  Counter change:  The tops of your birch tree trunks are light against the dark foliage of the background.  But the lowest trunk of your birch trees are dark against the lighter highlighted grass area.  Tricky to understand at first.  Knowledgeable painters know this technique and use this.  A great painting wasn't created by accident but by a knowledgeable painter! 

     A few days ago I was leaving Four Point State park after finishing the bell tower.  I had my wet painting luckily in the guerrilla painter wet box.  I had all of my heavy painting equipment in my Scwinn Baby Jogger.  I was quickly bustling by with my equipment very proud of myself I might add.  I went over a larger bump.  My equipment went air borne!  I actually saw my bag, wet box, and umbrella jettison out of the jogger like a rocket!  Crash!  I checked the wet painting inside of the wet carrier and it was still in perfect condition!  I was so pleased.  This has been the only accident yet.  I guess I could bungee the bag inside of the jogger.  Still it has been working great! 

     Feeling bored?  Get some art supplies at Michael craft store or online at ASWexpress.com.  Then you know what to do!  Get out and paint!

  "Rackliff Island's View"  5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  250$ Framed and Shipped!  I reworked this painting and now the blues are very cool.  The Art Mentor was right.  When I got home, I saw the water looked too tropical!

     Today I drove to Rackliff Island to paint with The Art Mentor and two of his painter friends.  I learned a lot today as usual!  This was a beautiful place.  On the Rackliff Island itself, there is no access for an painter unless a wealthy home owner would allow a painter access!  Too bad!  There are a lot of great views there!  There is a causeway over to Rackliff Island with a dirt parking area.  This is where we decided to paint.  The owner of this land came over to me angry.   We were on his property.  We all didn't think it was private land.  The owner allowed us to stay and turned out to be a nice fellow.  He gave me a copy of an old map so that I may see the island's names I was painting.  He even offered the use of his restroom and water!  How nice.  We worked all day!

  One of the smaller island's in the distance I was painting was called Eagle 1.  This is the smaller island on the left in the painting. 

     The Art Mentor looked at my finished painting and suggested a few things.  He said to put more reddish blues in my water.  Maine is known for it's cool blue water.  So I did put in more cobalt blue and ultramarine blue in the water.  He suggested leaving the warmer blues under these cooler blues.  Then he suggested I still needed to put a cool color in the shadows of the rocks and a warm color for the rock's highlights.  I had used a diox purple for the shadows thinking this was a cool purple.  Wrong I was!  Diox purple is a warmer purple.  Ah ha!  I asked him if I used a mixture of Permanent Alizarin and Ultramarine Blue for the rock's shadows, would that work?  He said yes.  The problem with that mixture is I dislike the color it produces.  It is very opaque.  It looks like a mud.  I have to figure out a cool purple that looks realisic and translucent.  I asked The Art Mentor why I don't see this cool purple in the rocks shadows?  He suggested if I don't see it then I shouldn't paint it.  Hmmm.  Now what.  I guess I will think about this.  I like realistic paintings.  I think painters push colors in order to make the painting look sunny.  There needs to be a dramatic color difference to look like the sun is shining.  I know he is right!  I just need to work on this.  

  "Sea Horses"  5x7 Oil on copper panel.  SOLD!  To a famous Rock Star!  Amazing!

     Next I painted this scene.  It was so beautiful here today.  Perfect temperatures of 70s.  The sun was shining with no clouds to make the light go in and out.  We were very happy working away!  Beautiful paintings were being created here today!  Amazing to watch!  I really enjoyed myself.  I was happy to be invited.  I liked how this painting turned out.  The actual white house is only an inch by an inch.  Really small.  It is difficult to paint this small!  I like to do this.  There are two horses in the backyard overlooking the sea!  What a life!  What a life I have too.  

     I showed The Art Mentor this painting when I was finished.  He told me the same thing, cool the water, cool the rock's shadows.  I need to work on this.  I did cool off the water in this painting.  He was right again!  His painting was turning out terrific.  

  Here is the view from the causeway going to Ratcliff Island.  Beautiful!  See how much green there is in the water?  But in order to make it look like Maine, I need to paint it cool! 

Get out and paint!  Be brave!  If the painting doesn't turn out well, you can wipe it off! 

  "The Fog Bell Tower" 5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  250$ Framed and Shipped!

     I drove to Fort Point State Park in Stockton Springs to paint with The Art Mentor and two of his painter friends.  They had been painting since 8:00am.  I arrived at 1:00 pm.  I slept in this morning giving myself extra sleep!  I was still trying to get rid of a migrane headache.  I drank a quart of sparkling water and started to feel better!  I like how this painting turned out!  I removed the chain link fence in the painting. I also trimmed some trees!  Exhausting!  I wanted the ocean to be more pronounced.  The Art Mentor says it is always a good idea to have ocean in lighthouse or bell tower paintings.  Another good idea!  If you love these paintings, just give me a call and it will be yours!  (207) 479-9553.  

  "Three Seagull Eggs"  5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  250$ Framed and shipped!
    I did another egg in the nest painting.  I decided to have three eggs in the nest this time.  I love how these nest paintings turn out on the copper panel.  The copper shows through in the darks and really illuminates the straw!

 

  

      I hope you had a great day!  Get out and paint!
 

 

  "On The Rocks" 5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  This painting is no longer in existence!  I disliked it.
 

        "Monhegan Seagull Nest"  Sold.  



     Here is a clearer photo of the nest I painted two days ago.  It is amazing to me the feather looks like it is really floating on top of the nest.  I think I will do more of these. 
 


     I went with The Art Mentor and a few of his sucessful painter friends to Acadia.  We left my house at 8:00 am.  We went to Mount Desert Island's Park Loop Road.  There is a really beautiful view here The Art Mentor loves to paint at.  I have not yet succeeded to paint such a massive view.  I still try each time.  I did somehow get a nasty migrane.  It was more challenging to paint with a migrane.  I was popping baby aspirin left and right!  I wiped off my 9x12 of this scene.

  What a beautiful place!

     I had asked The Art Mentor how many smoked turkey sandwiches I should bring for everyone.  He replied, "600!"  I did pack up 10.  They seemed to be appreciated by all.  All of the painters painted great paintings.  They had such large canvases I couldn't really tell who was who! 

     One of them told me how he paints rocks.  He paints in the middle values of the rocks all over the canvas in the rock area.  Then he uses a lighter color for the top surface planes.  Then he uses a dark to paint in some crevices of the rocks. 

     One of the artists fell down and sprain his hand.  Luckily the injured hand was not his painting hard.  Still he had to pack it up and go.  The area where we were painting was very rocky with steep cliffs.  Beautiful but dangerous carrying equipment. 

     The fog kept coming in wiping out our view completely.  Then an hour later the view would magically return. 

     I can not remember ever being this tired!  Still...try to get out and paint!

       "Monhegan Morning"  5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  300$ framed and shipped!

             If you love this painting, just give me a call and it will yours!  (207) 479-9553!

     It was a rainy day today!  I had the gallery open for a while.  Then I decided to drive to Walmart to get a few photos developed.  I talked to a reporter from Ellsworth newspaper and decided to turn around to clean my house!  The reporter wanted to interview with me at my gallery.  When you have two golden retrievers hair can be all over the place!  I used my Oreck vacuum cleaner!  Every golden retriever owner should have one of these Orecks!  Any other vacuum cleaner will break as the golden's hair just kills any vacuum motor.  So Oreck came to the rescue again! 

      Not long after I cleaned my house Deborah, a new art collector from Florida just visiting Maine came to the gallery!  How amazing!  I was so delighted and suprised at the same time.  It took a few moments to realize what an amazing visit this was!  I was so glad to have turned around and cleaned my house!  She was so nice!  I knew she would be special from her comments to me. 

    A few moments later The Art Mentor came by to see the gallery with a friend!  I showed them yesterday's painting "Monhegan Seagull Nest" and they both loved it.  The Art Mentor told me to make sure I had good photos of this painting and put it in my portfolio.  Then they were off!  

    One minute later, the reporter for the Ellsworth Herald entered the gallery.  I answered all of her questions.  She took a few photos inside of the gallery.  Then I asked her if she could take a photo of me infront of the gallery outside.  I think the interview went well.  I wasn't nervous at all. 

    After all of the excitement, it did take awhile for me to settle down to paint!  I need to retake the photo of today's painting.  It was after dark and so sometimes the colors are a little off.  It is a pretty painting.  There is some copper showing all over if you look closely.  I think it is elegant!  The Art Mentor told me Redfield painted this very spot on Monhegan Island.  It is near Swim Beach.  

  

     I thought I would tell you more about painting on copper.  I use 16 ounce copper panels.  There are several sources to purchase copper.  Sheet metal shops are the least expensive.  I sand down the copper panels in circular motions.  Any sand paper will do.  I like smooth or a little rougher.  You don't have to use any sand paper.  It just roughs up the surface a little so it is not like painting on glass.  Some medival artists used raw garlic with their fingers to smear all over the panel before they started to paint.  Some medival artists painted the panel before painting with a lead white ground.  I imagine some did this so they could better see a drawing. I use a fine felt tip pen to draw a preliminary drawing.

      I use Gamblin oil paints with Le Franc Titanium white.  I don't use any mediums or turpenoid to thin the paint normally except during the Winter.  Then my choice is Liquin.  Liquin seems to work best in temperatures lower than 35 degrees.  I do use turpenoid to clean my brush.  I have tried turpentine but I couldn't concentrate with the strong odor present. 

     I find using kolinsky brushes works best on the copper.  I like Old Holland flat kolinsky brushes.  I also do like kolinsky filberts by Dick Blick.  I love kolinsky watercolor riggers.  I have not been able to find any of these lately.  I have tried a Winsor Newton synthetic university rigger recently.  I always buy the smallest rigger possible.  A number 1 works great.  I think 2 and higher is too large.  Especially for a 5x7 panel!

    I like a covered plastic palette by Masterfield.  I like Richeson gray palette wax paper.  I can roll up the palette paper on location and put it in a bag.  I don't have to get oil paint all over my hands wiping a glass or wood palette clean.  I have run into problems with the wind and wax palette paper.  I have ended up with an entire palette paper full of oil paint flying into my face!  Yes, the paint and paper stuck to my face.  No, no one was around luckily to see this!

     I use a guerrillapainter.com 8x10 cigar box easel with a tripod.  I find a piece of guerrilla tape rolled and stuck to the inner lid of the cigar box secures any copper panel even up to a 30 mph wind gust!  I used two of these tape rolls.  I can reuse them for months.  I have not lost a painting since then!

     After I paint the painting, I use a guerrillapainter.com wet panel carrier.  If you call then and ask them for "seconds" you might save a lot of cash!  I have many of these wet panel carriers.  There is also a light weight very inexpensive carrier called a Handy Porter.  These are great too but need to be replaced once in a while. 

     I love my Schwin Baby Jogger that has 16 inch all terrain tires for any kind of trail!  I can carry all of my painting equipment and maybe someone elses!  This was an important find recently.  I went to Monhegan and was able to paint anywhere!  

     Oil paint on a copper panel dries at the same rate as an oil painting on wood or canvas.  When it finally dries, I take a finger nail and see if I can make an impression.  If not, I give the painting a final coating of a product by Gamblin, "Galkyd".  I called Gamblin Art Products and asked to speak to an art conservator.  She advised me to use this "Galkyd".  Galkyd is a non yellowing polymerized oil.  It seals the oil painting on copper and prevents oxygen from oxidizing the copper.  The copper under the galkyd will never turn green or brown.  This galkyd is a permanent finish.  They said I could also give the painting a coat of cold wax or watersoluble varnish. 

     Oil paintings on copper are framed just as any other painting.  Paintings on copper are very archival.  Copper has a few qualities unique such as thermal cohesive expansion being similar to the oil paint.  When the temperatures fluctuate, the copper and oil paint expand and contract at the same rate.  Painting on copper have very little cracks over time. 

     I hope you enjoyed this!  Get out and paint!  No excuses now!

  "Monhegan Seagull Eggs"  5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  SOLD to an amazing artist and gallery owner!  So pleased to have one of my paintings in her collection!  Duke and Daisy also thank you!

     I saw these eggs up on top of Monhegan Island at Whitehead.  I sat down to paint them.  I was a third of the way done when the seagull mom or dad sat down on the eggs!  I decided to just paint the seagull over these eggs.  I liked how this painting turned out and sold this one recently.  Here is a painting from a photograph of the scene before the seagull came around.  I had never seen seagull eggs before.  They are quite beautiful. 

    The nest in this painting was very fun to do on the copper panel.  I used a combination of translucent diox purple and Indian yellow to create a wonderful dark brown.  I painted the whole panel with a thin layer of this color.  When I painted the nest, I worked my darkest colors to lights.  Before I painted my lightest lights on the nest, I used a clean rigger dipped and dried off in turpenoid to lift up some dark brown paint.  This revealed some of the copper.  The copper still had enough of the dark brown paint but it looked like another dimension of grass within the darks.  The effect is very subtle.  This is just an amazing thing about painting on copper.  I haven't ever seen this quality with canvas or board.  The light sparkling from the copper under the paint looks like a type of reflective light in the darks. 

      I am thinking of paintings for the 5th Annual Invitational Fine Arts in Yarmouth at Skyline Farm.  Their theme of the exhibit in their carriage museum is "Homegrown".  I think seagull eggs would be in that category.   If you would like to own this nest painting, give me a call, (207) 479-9553!

  Today we headed to an art exhibit of Bjorn Runquist on Route 131 near Port Clyde.  We arrived almost at 2:00pm.  When we walked into the Grange Hall where the exhibit was taking place, Bjorn Runquist was there preparing for a talk.  He announced he never ever gives these talks.  I was thinking what luck it was to arrive right at the moment he was starting his talk.  Quite a coincidence.  Especially because I had not thought of attending his show until 12:00pm when I read my email from Sylvia, a friend and art collector, who advised me to go to the show today!  She was right!  Thanks Sylvia! 

    He painted four seagulls paintings.  They were all backlit with mostly lavender clouds in the sky. The colors were very pastel!  Infact all of his paintings were very pastel in color. There were two seagulls in each painting.  The titles contained a question one of the gulls was asking the other gull.  Their eyes were just a charocoal dash of paint.  Their legs were thinner and longer than normal.  Their legs contained more detail than their eyes.  One of their beaks had more detail.  The anatomy of the gull was very noticeable.  There was not very much of a highlight on the gulls.  The sky surrounding the gulls was very large in comparison to the gull.  It was fun seeing another artists take on a seagull.  His seagulls were graceful and peaceful. 

     He painted several series all shown in this show.   One series was the gulls.  Then he painted a local street scene series.  He painted a Monhegan Island scene series.  He also painted a sunset over the ocean series.  I noticed he sold half of these paintings which is very impressive.  He sold large and smaller works.  I couldn't help but notice the red dots on the Monhegan Island series. People do love Monhegan Island.  The sunset harbor scenes seemed to sell as well.  I was very curious whether the house street scenes sold as much.  I actually went back in a second time to look at this.  It seemed the top sellers were Monhegan Island, sunset over ocean with clouds and islands, and one gull.  I was happy to see him sell!  

     I heard him speak for a while before Daisy and Duke started to bark out in the car.  A few people were glancing around and Robert headed out the door to take care of them.  Runquist told how he had to repeat the second grade twice as he had difficulty reading.  He did later get a PHD.  He had private art lessons when he was seven from an excentric elderly man named Neil.  Neil had no time to cut wood and so he just dragged in a tree limb and stuck one end into the fire.  Runquist and his teacher would sometimes sit on this tree limb, draw or look at art books.   He did talk about his interest in simplifying subjects.  He also talked about wanting to do abstracts again.  

     We head to Port Clyde next!  Daisy and Duke wanted to swim.  Here are photos of Port Clyde.





     I hope you had an exciting day!  I know I was going to tell you all about painting on copper!  Tomorrow maybe!

     I am getting outside to paint tomorrow!  I hope you do too!