Crisp Maine Autumn

We're still painting the seasons in my art class with Lyn. Tonight our topic was fall. Since I now live in Florida I had wanted to do a Floridian scene. And, believe it or not, I actually have some photos from this past fall that show some lovely autumn colors. Maybe I'll try to paint one this week. But I was still irresistibly drawn to this scene of a lovely red-orange tree at the height of the fall colors that I took up in Maine in October 2010. I painted another version using the same reference photo here.

Autumn Glories

It's December now and winter is coming. The trees are mostly bare, but back in October, when I drove home from Canada, the autumn was at its height, with glorious trees in fiery reds, flaming oranges, vibrant yellows... It was a marvelous ride, and a wonderful autumn. I kept seeing vast vistas of trees that I wanted to photograph, but it was not an easy thing to do when you're zooming along a highway. :-)

But I saw this bright red-orange tree beside a little stream in Maine, and just *had* to pull over to the side of the highway to take a picture. I can't even tell you where in Maine this is. Best I can do is to say it's somewhere between Bangor and the Canadian border, LOL.

This was done on 9x12 Art Spectrum.

The Sentinel

This is one more for my lighthouse series! This is the Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The original tower at Portland Head was first lit on January 10, 1791. It's now set in a beautiful 90-acre park along the Maine coast. My dog Bran and I visited the park on my way home from Canada last week and I took a bunch of photos of the light.

Unfortunately my version of the light seems to have come out a bit shorter and sqatter than the actual light, LOL, but I'm still pretty happy with how the painting turned out anyway, as a painting.

It's on my usual 9x12 Art Spectrum. One interesting fact. Portland Head Light is entirely white, yet no white whatsoever was used in the creation of this painting. :-)

Misty Maine Morning

This is my second painting from day one of my workshop with Maggie Price. This was just from an old snapshot of an early morning on the coast of Maine. I can't even remember exactly where it was anymore. The snapshot itself is sort of dull looking, but I love taking dull photos and seeing if I can make them into more vibrant paintings. Like the first one this was done on 9x12 white Wallis paper, with a pastel and turpenoid wash underpainting.

Little Deer Isle

After several lovely cool, gray and rainy days it has become hot and sunny again today, Grrrr. Oh well, almost September so I tell myself these hot days can't last! The coolth is sure to come soon. I'm still on "baby watch", waiting for my daughter-in-law to go into labor. She is three days past her due date now.

I'm feeling tired and sluglike and too hot to want to do anything, so I decided I would try to paint a picture today - something not too physically demanding. I chose a reference of a photo I took several years ago up in Maine - maybe a way to remind me of the lovely fresh cool air and the icy waters up there. Ah, to be there right now ....

Quoddy Light

Here I am in North Carolina for Thanksgiving. It would be great to try some plein air painting here, but I'm staying with my dad, and just no time in the day to spare. But if I wake up early I can paint for an hour in my bedroom. So I brought some photos with me and am working on the idea of trying to use less than ideal photos to create my art. This is not *quite* part of my Canadian maritime series, being in Maine, but very close to the Canadian border. This is from a photo I took years ago when I took my son to see Quoddy Light, the easternmost point in the US.

The day was foggy and overcast, with a very flat light, and no shadows - so my photo is flat and faded too, so it left me free to try to imagine how it would have looked on a bright and sunny day.