Today's sketch is another from my Monhegan files. This couple were sitting on the dock one afternoon. I loved their pose, she leaning on his leg as she looked out over the harbor; he providing her some support while he unlaced his shoe, removed his sock and stretched his toes in the sun. They look so comfortable, so familiar, so different in their outlooks and yet as one. I'll add some color tomorrow, and see where it goes.
Thanks for looking!
From my sketchbook tonight, a quick drawing of the path up to the lighthouse on Monhegan, and the same sketch with some color added. I like them both, but enjoy looking at the progression from first to second with the light turned on. The hill is a short, steep climb up a twisting dirt road, and then the world opens up with the village and Manana below, and the mainland 12 miles distant. Doesn't matter if the day is clear or cloudy, calm or windy, arrival on the hill is wonderful. And, the Lighthouse Museum is fascinating. I visit every summer, and always find a favorite among the exhibited work and artifacts. One year, there were several of Kent's small, sensitive sepia ink and water sketches... stopped me in my tracks.
Can't wait to see what's up there this coming summer.
Thanks for looking, and anticipating with me.
Today's sketch is a study from an oil of mine; an interior from a house in Maine where I have stayed with artist friends along the coast of Maine... great house, updated last in about 1975. You know the look, the formica, the tile floor, and the variety of arm chairs into which you sink about 4 inches farther than expected. The house has a big cellar with stone foundation, and Maxwell House coffee cans filled with nuts, bolts, screws, and nails. There are lots of coffee cups, with accompanying saucers in the cupboard, and a cornucopia of mismatched glasses and plates. I love every quirky inch of its wallboard, and oddly arranged lighting. And, I loved the room off the kitchen with life jackets, old chipped croquet set, badmitten nets, and citronella buckets. Takes me right back to our house on Cape Cod as a kid, with the same jumble of equipment waiting for a family to drag it all out into the sun, and salt water.
Thanks so much for looking, and reminiscing with me.
A couple of images from my visits to Monhegan Island, both painted in Cathedral Woods. There is a glade, in the woods where everything opens up, sun streams through the trees, and you are far enough (tough on Monhegan) from the water not to hear and sense its presence. All sounds are muffled by the trees, and pine needle carpet. It is a holy place.
It's very interesting for me to look at my choice of palette in both these images, done in different media a couple of years apart. I use more limited palette with my oils. Hmmm..
Thanks for looking!
First take on this image from a local burger joint. I liked the backlit family having lunch one afternoon. I am enjoying the juxtaposition of figures against structural framing, and the light streaming in the doorway. People watching is one of my favorite pastimes. Last year I brought each of my 8th grade math classes to a local sandwich shop. I gave them each a math packet which they worked on while they ate and chatted. This year, I plan to bring my art project students with their sketch books. I'll give them some direction ahead of time about how to sketch scenes without making anyone self conscious. Should be fun! I'm planning to make another go at this image.
Thanks for looking!
Continuing to reminisce about and anticipate summer days during our very cold new year. Every day, the dock on Monhegan Island undulates with the comings and goings of residents, summer renters, and day trippers. It is a lovely spot to sit, sketch, and people watch while the energy shifts. This couple looked like weary day-trippers, ready for the ferry back to Boothbay Harbor after a day hiking and exploring.
We've arranged our dates for next summer!
Thanks for looking.
Once in a while, during my daily comings and goings, I'll turn and catch my breath as nature wows with its grand majesty... the kind of wow that leaves you gobsmacked, stopped in your tracks, jaw dropping... glad to be alive. Such was the case one night this past autumn as I left a nearby parking lot. I tried to catch it in today's sketch. I love those moments, and never want to be so preoccupied, so busy, so rushed, distracted, intent on my destination, that I don't pause, rejoice, sometimes say a quiet prayer of thanks, and just enjoy.
Thank you for looking. Keep your head up!
Today's sketch is a view from Monhegan's Horn Hill down into the harbor past artists' Arline and Mo's home. We have become friends with them over the years and I've posted a couple of times about our visits with them on island, and once down in NY at Arline's solo gig a couple of years ago. Wonderful people, so smart, and quick-witted, and welcoming... part of the Monhegan fabric we are lucky enough to visit each summer.
Temperatures are plummeting here this evening and into the latter half of the week.... I'm dreaming of summer.
As always, thanks for looking!
Today's sketch - the view out the front of the Island Inn on Monhegan Island. I don't eat there each time we visit, though the food is wonderful. But, every summer, the elegant dining room displays a beautiful show of a local artist or artists' work and I make a point of visiting. The work is always captivating, and worth the visit. It must be, else how could you tear your eyes away from the inside/outside contrast going on along the entire west wall of the dining room? I love the porch rockers with visitors reading, thinking, resting, being... above the active harbor. Maybe that's why I don't eat there very often, as with the empty chairs in this sketch, I can't bear to be inside that long away from Monhegan's light and air...
Again, thanks for looking, and I love your comments.
Next in my series of watercolor sketches for the new year. We are lucky to be able to spend two weeks on Monhegan Island each summer. Oddly, we rent a house for a week, head back home for 3 weeks, then back to Monhegan to a different house for another week. Just played out that way over the years. We enjoy the variety.
So, the path we take down to the village during our first week has this lovely long view.. if you see it, and stop in just the right spot, neither 2 feet left nor right will do.
As January begins gray, I'm enjoying revisiting the sunny days of summer.
Thanks for looking.
It is a new year! Last year I opened each day by drawing in my sketchbook. This year my plan is to create a small watercolor sketch each day. The first is "Sister Cottages", a sketch of two of my favorite houses from Monhegan Island, with another cottage behind them. Back in 2007, Monhegan held a historic house tour featuring ten of its houses built a hundred years earlier. On a gray, drizzly July day, I was overjoyed to tour each of these graceful, beautiful homes carrying the patina of their age. The sister cottages (as I call them) were on the tour. They are mirror images of one another. Elegant stone fireplaces with staircases neatly tucked behind them, graceful front porches facing the ocean.
Jamie Wyeth's wonderful exhibit at Boston's MFA closed this past week. What a joy to see each of his paintings, including many of Monhegan Island. The painting below was among them. The "Twin Cottages" as he painted them in 1969. Breathtaking, isn't it?! Aren't they?
As always, I love your comments. Thanks for looking. Stay tuned for tomorrow's watercolor sketch and Happy New Year!
The Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge theme for December was "memory". We have spent part of New Year's Eve in Boston each of the past few years. Our plan has always been to head in town late afternoon, wander about enjoying the pageantry and excitement. We then watch the parade. I love parades!!! Always have. After the parade, we grab dinner somewhere and meander back home well before midnight. We brace for the cold, (New Englanders, after all), and love the evening. My memories of these Dec 31st outings are vivid, the lights, the fireworks, the congenial nature of people walking about, cold fingers and face, warmly glowing windows. The city is beautiful and elegant. History pours out of its alleys, nooks, crannies. Lovely evenings each.
See all the Girls' entries here. Thanks for looking and may your New Year be just what you are looking for.
