Nick

This is Nick. You can see the first portrait of Nick that I did a couple of years ago here. You really have to see both of them to get a better sense of Nick's personality.

For this portrait, Nick came over to our house a few days before heading back to college after Christmas break. He sat across from me at our dining room table while I sketched and we talked.

Today I took a photo of my sketch and was trying to decide what else it needed before posting it and I thought back to the first time I really got to hang around Nick. I had just separated from my first wife and Alex (my son) and I had moved into a small cottage that happened to be right next door to Nick's family. Alex and Nick became fast friends and spent a lot of time hanging out together in and around that cottage. We only lived there a year or so and then moved to another house a few blocks away from the cottage. Anyway, I remembered a sketch I did about 10 years ago sitting at the dining table in that little cottage and sketching the view out of the window and I thought that would make a perfect background to Nick's portrait. It took me awhile to find the sketchbook it was in but I did and scanned it into the computer and put it "behind" Nick's portrait digitally. It's a little strange in a twilight zone kind of way but it carries a special meaning for me now, and maybe it will for Nick too.

12x16 Pencil, pen, ink, and watercolor in my huge Moleskine sketchbook.

The Unfinished Truth

Truth and I got together a couple of weeks ago at Drouthy Bear for a drink and I sketched this portrait of her. Doesn't feel finished but that's just the way it goes sometimes.

Patty

Watercolor and pencil in my huge Moleskine sketchbook. This was about a 15 minute pose.

Mt. Battie

I hiked to the top of Mt. Battie and sketched the tower yesterday with my badass little dog. While I was sketching the sky was spitting a cold rain and three teenage boys were exploring around the tower. One boy read aloud from a plaque at the base of the tower to the two who climbed to the top -

"All I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood;
I turned and looked another way,
And saw three islands in a bay."

Edna St. Vincent Millay

My Studio

Testing out a new watercolor kit and Gopro setup.

Camden Harbor

I'm testing out my sketching kit for a hike I have planned in a month or so. I walked down to the harbor and had a sandwich while I sketched this scene. There's a feeling of spring. Not many boats are in the harbor. And this one looks ready to take it's coat off and get out there

Karen

This is Karen. She got in touch with me a few years ago to help her and a group of kids with the design of a sculpture for a contest that would benefit our local food pantry. The rules of the contest required the kids to collect 1000 cans of food and then construct a sculpture. My job was to figure out how to build the sculpture using the cans and provide some drawings the kids could use to construct it.

Anyway, she does all sorts of cool volunteer stuff working with the Rotary and youth groups. Also, a couple of years ago she posted a photo a day of her morning walk - amazing sunrise shots of our picturesque little town.

8x10 pencil and watercolor. #148

Michael

This is Michael. I have known him for almost 10 years. We worked in the same building downtown for a few years. I saw him at the end of October last year walking down the street I live on wearing this overcoat and sunglasses. I had just pulled into our driveway so we stopped and talked for about 10 minutes. He told me he really liked a painting I had posted and he told me about his love of art and photography which I hadn't known about until then. Shortly after we became FB friends and shortly after that he recommended me to a friend of his for a painting commission. He's as cool as he looks.

12"x24" Graphite and watercolor.

Sketching at Boynton McKay

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

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.

Frontin #2

This is the Camden Public Library - 10"x29" on Twinrocker watercolor paper

Windows to the Harbor

I sketched this a couple of weeks ago the same time I was sketching Tugboat in the previous post. I started this one first and put a wash of color on it. While I was waiting for it to dry, I started sketching Tugboat and worked on that until I was cold and it started snowing. I sort of forgot about this one until I opened up my watercolor block and saw it waiting for me. So this morning I added more color. I'm ready for warmer weather...

Tugboat

What a frustrating painting. I kept coming back to this one. I probably should have just left it alone but I kept coming back to it. I may come back to it again but for now it is done. This is 10"x22" on TR paper.

Tugboat (in progress)

I was down at the harbor again yesterday. They are still dredging. This time I got a little better view of the little tugboat that moves this massive barge around. Here is a link to the news story (yes, dredging is big news in Camden!) 10"x22" on Twinrocker paper.

The Smiling Cow

8x20 on Fluid watercolor paper. Ink, graphite, watercolor. The temperature dropped significantly as I sketched this. I took a break and warmed up in the library and found a book I hadn't seen before on Andrew Wyeth - Close Friends. I checked it out for inspiration.

Dredging the Harbor

This is my first painting of the year. I have a goal of completing at least one painting that I'm happy with every 2 weeks for the next year and I'm just squeaking this one in with hours to go. The scene is so complicated I could keep tweaking it for days but I think it sort of tells the story now. A couple of things I was playing with here: Line - I used ink and a stick on the excavator, a ballpoint pen in the middle and pencil in the background. Color - Saturated color in the foreground and more muted color going back.I sketched this down at the harbor and did most of the painting in the studio. This is 10"x22" on Twinrocker handmade watercolor paper.

Dredging the Harbor (in progress)

Lucky me. I walked down to the harbor and I found this. Every 15 years or so Camden dredges the harbor as silt from the river builds up. It was way more complicated a scene than I was looking for but I couldn't resist. 

Amphitheater in Winter (in progress)

I walked down to the library this morning and sketched one of the buildings to the entrance of the amphitheater. It was about 20 degrees so I couldn't paint because my paints would freeze so I just sketched out the scene. After 30 or 40 minutes of drawing I was cold, so I packed it in, took a photo with my iphone and walked back up to the studio. I started by wetting my paints differently. Instead of spraying them with a bottle I used the skipper brush to drop a good teaspoon or so of water into each color. This is a change worth remembering - paints got so much juicier. I used a #10 round Escoda brush for laying in most of the color but scumbled a lot with my 1" skipper brush when I didn't like the application. It's "in progress" but I like the mysterious feeling here at this stage so I wanted to capture it. Also, it's noon and I have some other things I need to do today.

Red Barn in Snow

It's too cold and snowy to go out and paint. I sketched this from my desk. 6x18 on Fluid Block. Pencil and watercolor.

Camden Center

10"x22" watercolor on Twinrocker paper. Ink, pencil, watercolor