"Pulling Traps" 4 x 5 ink and pencil

The fishing and lobster boats of Maine are fascinating angular shapes against the backdrop of water and sky.  I like zooming in on them where they create abstract shapes and rooms in the ocean.  The shadow shapes are strong and provide a respite from the sun.  It is hard, hard work.... and so beautiful from my point of view.
Pulling Traps is my 61st daily drawing.  As always, thank you for looking at the world from my vantage.

"Southern Vista" pen and marker 4 x 6

A quick study of the Kresge rocks on Pemaquid point, Maine.  The striated rocks angle away southward.  It is a beautiful and rugged spot off Muscongus Bay at the base of the Damariscotta River.  The western side of Pemaquid point is quiet and often isolated while tourists fill the rocks around Pemaquid Lighthouse, just a half mile to the east.  
"Southern Vista" is my fifty-seventh daily drawing.  Thank you again, for looking at the world from my point of view.

"Above and Beyond" oil 9 x 12 - an S-Curve and fly in the ointment

Halfway through our 2-week stay here on Monhegan we moved to the house next door to our usual rental house.  The view is very similar, but feels very different from that to which I have become accustomed over the past sixteen years.  Here is a painting of the new view looking north.  When I looked north I saw the houses close and far leading my eye into the distance in a graceful s-curve.  

I designed the painting with that s-curve in mind, editing the arrangement of trees, rooftops and the sea to support the idea of leading the eye from front to back, then around again into the painting.  
I used a new-to-me surface, a pre-gessoed board.  The gesso is super-smooth and I debated finding some sandpaper to give it a little tooth, but opted against.  The surface responds very differently to the brush, with paint sliding around and lifting off with pressure from the brush.  I adapted by using more paint, applied with a very light touch, almost as if laying it atop itself with a palette knife.   The result is a gooey, gushy paint surface which I like.
Here are some photos of the painting in process.  You can see how I moved some rooftops around from my original block in to support the s-curve.  

Proof of plein air - a curious fly

Turn the canvas upside down sometimes for a fresh perspective.