Two Big Paintings
Ebenezer Sunset at Sugar House | 3x5 feet | acrylic on canvas
Three and a half months on the easel, this piece is finally complete. I worked from a photo I took on a wedding anniversary at Sugar House Creamery in Upper Jay in the Adirondacks. It was a magical night that Kate and I both remember well. We were staying at a B&B at Sugar House where there is a small farm and a most excellent creamery.
This painting was a good exercise for me because I painted the same scene about 8 years ago. That painting hangs at home. When I got a request to sell it, we realized that it had too much personal value for Kate and I to sell. So Kate suggested that I simply paint it again. She reminded me that lots of artists have revisited a subject, (think of all those VanGogh sunflowers) and wondered why I rarely did.
I learned a lot about how I paint now as opposed to then, and I see so many differences. Because I like to believe in progress in my skill, I think this painting is better in many ways: The overall values are far more open, and the dynamic range of values is much higher. Particularly in the highlights, there are a greater number of pastel hues. I employed an old time technique of using a warm underpainting (in this case a fairly brilliant cadmium orange), and allowed it to show through where I needed it. If you look closely, you'll see it in the sky in the upper left, all along the horizon, and also in the backlighting of the foreground trees on the right. Now I wonder how I will be painting eight years from now.
Oystercatcher holds the Swash Line 3x5 feet | acrylic on canvas
With the pounding surf just a few feet away, this oystercatcher forages, casually probing the swash line for dinner.
By painting at life size, I wanted to give you a walk down the beach, with this crow-sized bird so close and sharp you could touch it.
By freezing the action, the big seafoam spheres at the top left are suspended aloft, while the fine spray on the right descends in gauzy tendrils.
Because it was painted at bird’s eye (or child’s eye) level, the double wave appears high overhead. The foam at your feet feels familiar, like when you were a child first playing in the waves. I hope you can feel the cool, firm sand underfoot, and maybe you can hear the surf and the cries of the gulls.
This 3x5 foot acrylic on stretched canvas recently sold at Full Fathom Five Gallery in Eastport Maine. Drop in to say hello to Greg and Carol and browse the many fine paintings and photographs. Along with this big painting, I have ten other paintings for sale. You can preview thumbnails here.
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