Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Ben Okri


"Beware of the stories you read or tell. Subtly, at night, beneath the waters of consciousness, they are altering your world." - Ben Okri

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Seagull in Flight


For the past few weeks I have been taking a course in animation. Annie Bailey and Trelawney O'Brien taught it through the Farnsworth Art Museum down in Rockland. For my personal project I animated a seagull in flight using pencil sketches and watercolor. For the 30 or so seconds of the flight I produced about 400 different drawings of the seagull and found that, when I'm up against a deadline, I can paint 200 paintings in one day. I'll post the video in the coming days...

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Charlotte Church



A church on S. Brevard St. near 4th.in downtown Charlotte. I guess that would make this a Charlotte Church. :) In my 8x10 Handbook journal.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Divorce Court


This is about my divorce in 2007 but it's also about my marriage. If you read it from left to right it starts with the Toyota T100 truck I bought when we first moved to Maine. Simpler architecture transitioning to more complex. Two buildings that are so architecturally different but connected. The actual divorce decree is printed on the parking lot and was presented to me behind the large grid work of windows in the center reflecting blue skies. And that's my little Mini that I currently drive on the far right.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Kat


I tried this portrait from Tuesday night 3 times - this one was my favorite. 11x24 on Fluid - pencil and watercolor.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Home Kitchen


Quote by a waitress when she saw my sketch. I thought it was funny.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Divorced


I had this idea when I was working on the Courthouse painting to make it about my divorce in 2007. It is the site of the finalization and when I see this building it is what I remember. 

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Longfellow Square


This is Longfellow Square in Portland, Maine - the intersection of State Street and Congress. The statue on the left is of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - one of America's most popular poets and much loved in Portland. I sat here last Sunday and sketched this scene. Many people walked by me as I was drawing - most of the ones that stopped appeared to be homeless. My experience with the homeless is limited to mostly seeing them when I'm in my car at busy intersections with signs asking for money. I would say, in the course of the hour and a half I spent sketching this out, maybe 15 or so stopped to see what I was doing. Nobody asked me for money - they just wanted to see the drawing. Some would chat for awhile. Others would toss out a compliment and move on. One guy offered to pay me to do a painting of his church. Now I know this is sad, but for the first time in my life, I didn't feel like I was on the other side of them. They weren't asking me for my money or help - we were just relating on equal terms - human to human. Isn't Art (and poetry) great at bringing us all together?

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Boulder






These sketches are in my 8x10 Handbook watercolor journal. Pencil, Pitt Brush pen and watercolor

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Sketching at Boynton McKay


I sketch here at lunch often. Going after Alvaro's feeling. 

Alvaro!


I was in a workshop last week with Alvaro Castagnet - amazing painter from Uruguay. I like the atmosphere, mood, passion, and mystery in his paintings and I wanted to see how he comes to it and get a better sense of where he paints from.He did 2 demos every day and we usually painted for a couple of hours each day. This is one I did that he performed some "surgery" on. I found it isn't easy to paint like Alvaro - he is a master of what he does. 

Friday, July 26, 2013

Frontin #4


Down in Rockland near the grain silos, this Coast Guard ship is having some work done on it. This a 10"x22" watercolor but I brought it into Artrage when I got back to repair a mistake I made with drawing the changes in the tide while I was painting. So it's kind of a hybrid watercolor/digital sketch.

Gary Alan Isakov


A few months ago I discovered a great singer-songwriter - Gary Alan Isakov. This past weekend Valerie and I drove down to see him perform at One Longfellow Square in Portland. I had a few minutes before the show started to sketch the stage, then finished it up at lunch the other day. I think I used up all my black paint!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Tracy Martin


Speaking before the new Congressional Caucus on Black Men and Boys, Tracy Martin said he wouldn't 'let this verdict sum up who Trayvon was.' Martin called his son 'my hero' and vowed to never give up the fight, not only for Trayvon, but also 'for so many other young black and brown boys.'

Friday, July 19, 2013

Lunchtime Sketch


One of these days I'm going to collect up all the sketches I have made at Boynton McKay and make a book.This is in my 9x11 IBOW sketchbook.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Hurricane Island


Technically this is Frontin #3 but I liked the "Hurricane Island" title better. At Hurricane Outward Bound this morning. 9" x 22" Saunders Waterford paper.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Workshop Paintings - Day 1



I'm taking a couple of watercolor workshops this Summer. The first is with Joseph Zbukcik, which I didn't know I was taking until Saturday. First day of painting and I learned a lot. He did a demo in the morning and we copied that approach and subject and we did the same thing in the afternoon. 

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Bartlett's Cove


This one was for Tess and Ryan. 10"x29" watercolor, ink, and pencil on Twinrocker handmade paper.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Blue Joni


From a dream. But it was less about shading, which I did, and more about line quality. I just grabbed my tablet and started drawing when I awoke. It's from a Picasso Blue period drawing but Joni instead of the couple.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Hanlon


Life drawing at Waterfall Arts this morning. A pencil sketch. I added some color in Artrage later - just for fun.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Steps


Steps from the harbor up to Rockport Village. Today was my first day outside painting in a long time. I'll be out a lot this Summer so I need to get my groove on. A new restaurant - Salt Water Farm - is in the building at the top of these steps. I went up and got a ham sandwich and ice tea when I got hungry. At $11, I thought it was a bit pricey but it sure was tasty. Today was also Alex's first day of work at the Waterfront restaurant in Camden. By all reports, it was a good day for him.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Maho



Life drawing at Waterfall Arts this morning. Today's model was Maho. These are watercolor sketches in my 9x12 Strathmore mixed media visual journal. 

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Susan

Life drawing this morning at Waterfall Arts. Today we had a new model - Susan. Watercolor in my 9x12 mixed media Strathmore Journal.