Marais Park, Bonnard and Fairfield Porter

It may take me a couple days to get back on track. Here is another pencil drawing from the sketchbook. At Giverny, I saw a large Bonnard exhibition which had many landscapes and drawings, which one does not usually see. I learned that Bonnard routinely did preliminary drawings for his paintings.

Another fascinating thing I saw firsthand: Fairfield Porter said that he learned his ultimate direction in painting from seeing late Vallotton and Vuillard paintings in Paris. At the Musee D'Orsay, I saw some paintings that validate that statement. I mention this only because I have not seen these paintings before, and was amazed at how directly Porter evolved out of Vallotton and Vuillard, something that no one seems to have expanded upon. I think there's a future exhibition there for some curator.

Nice Drawing

Sorry for not checking in sooner, but I didn't have access to the Internet during the last week and a half. This drawing is a page from my sketchbook. I tried to fill it up during that time, which I spent in Provence and Paris. You will see some different images in the weeks ahead. Among other places, I visited, Arles, Aix-en-Provence and Giverny to pay homage.

Oil Sketches

Two oil sketches: the bush on a rainy day, and a path on the edge of a field at Field Farm on a bright day. It's hard to figure out right now if these are junk, or not, but they need to be done to get from one point to another. At least they inform me how a painting's beginning influences how it ends.

I came across another intriguing painter yesterday: E.M Saniga. His paintings are low key and haunting. He is situated not far from me, and has a computer technology background, another similarity. There's a fascinating interview with Saniga at the Jerusalem Studio School site. Check it out.

Drawing on Reserves

This weekend I spent the time looking out the window, since it was rainy, cloudy and cold. The only thing to see outside the window is the bush. Here it is in pencil. I will have more later, in paint, I hope. I have been using a soft pencil, instead of charcoal, for the last week, trying to stay painterly as much as possible. The pencil and sketchbook is not as messy, just a quick, and easy to carry around.

Lone Tree on Sheep Hill

Right now I want to paint in oils, which takes a bit more time, given the time that I don't have, or do have. In any case, the oils have it. This is a view from above looking down towards a single tree on Sheep Hill.

Greylock from Field Farm

A view of Mt. Greylock in the distance from a path on Field Farm. This is a 9x12 oil.

Pond View

The view from the wharf that juts out into the pond. There's more sky and water than land from this vantage point. Some kind of fish kept disturbing the surface but the glare kept me from seeing them.

Landscaping

This weekend I spent hours drawing outside. Above are three samples of the results. I also visited Shangri-la again. There's a small pond there, and I plan on doing a series of paintings of the pond.

Other Side of the Canal

This is a view from the seldom used side of the canal. The sky was overcast making the greens more vibrant.

Sad Bird

Another view of an abandoned plane. I have always been attracted to defunct technology, whether it's old falling down barns, or airplanes that will never go up again. Also the demands of working loosely within and around the hard forms of mechanical objects can improve my approach to landscape painting, which often allows too much freedom, or I should say, less discipline.

No More Flights

Just flights of fancy. This fanciful bird is 9x12 on pastelmat with pastel over acrylic washes.

A correction: last night's woodpecker was really a common merganser I was informed by a wise and perceptive neighbor, who saw the photo I took of the bird. It was a very uncommon bird for me, in an uncommon location, my backyard instead of the river. I think it recovered and flew away, a flight of desperation.

Buying Time

This weekend in between family events and rain, I spent several hours outside drawing. I think I was trying to make the impossible drawing, either of the bush or the tree. The possible drawing becomes the impossible drawing, when I don't know when to stop, and do another instead of plodding on. Buying time is a reference to not having time to paint this weekend. If I could buy time, I couldn't afford to buy much.

In the midst of writing this "remark" I heard some banging on the back glass door. I found a baby, a large baby pileated woodpecker in the back yard. I opened the fence door, so it could get out, since it doesn't appear to be able to fly. I don't know how it got here. I haven't noticed a large nest in the trees, though my google search seems to indicate that the nest is a hole in a tree. My cats are staring out the back door at it.

The Flippant Painting

I have replaced my red barns with this red falling down hangar, and its abandoned airplanes. It's really just a rectangle with red and green, and an X in the middle. People ask me why the painting is upside down. I tell them it's the plane that upside down. There's actually a photograph of the plane somewhere on the Internet that shows the plane right side up, tied down, facing the hangar. A later storm blew it against the hangar.

Canal from Bridge Near Faherty's

Lately there's been a wonderful aroma in the air around the trees and bushes in the park and along the canal, a smell of pine, honey suckle, with a pinch of burnt earth. Nature's kitchen at work. Possibly because the air is so moist, and the trees and bushes still flowering. Faherty's is a closed pub. Hard to imagine a pub near this view, but there's also a parking lot, and an old house, the remnant of a hotel that once stood at this location just to the left.

Flippant

A while back, I did a few sheds because they say something about being human, and I think abandoned airplanes also comment on the human condition, or I should write that drawings of abandoned airplanes do that. Seriously. Anyway, they are fun to make. I will get back to the serious stuff tomorrow.