In an earlier post I mentioned posting my paintings from my plein air trip to Chatham, Cape Cod back in October, so here they are. I won't be finishing these...I have other plans for the year so I will not have time to go back and touch these up.
Since the end of the summer I concentrated on plein air painting in preparation for my trip to the cape. I definitely feel it helped. I went into the weekend hoping to be successful with my color mixing, identifying shapes and values and really becoming familiar with being able to evaluate a scene under pressure. Throwing away everything you normally study completing a painting and relying more on instinct and raw painting talent.
It is a very challenging process with really pushes you to the limit. Plein air painting alone is difficult...throw in some of the obstacles we came upon and you are really put to the test!
DAY 3 Chatham, CAPE COD - "Untitled" 6x8 on Gesso Board
I actually really like this painting...this was the last location on a wonderful weekend trip. This was another very, very windy location. This was a beautiful area, a gorgeous marsh to paint. We had rising tides, wild coyotes and wind gusts of probably 50mph. I literally had to hold my easel the whole time with my left arm as I painted. This was a very challenging location.
I love the colors in this painting. I feel I captured them well. I love the clouds and the depth of the marsh. I wish I had more time to finish it.
DAY 3 Chatham, CAPE COD - "Bridge Street, Chatham" 8x10 on Canvas Board
This was another great location in Chatham. One of the fondest memories I have from this location is talking to some of the wonderful residents from the area. So many people stopped with such kind things to say, very friendly people out enjoying a walk on such a gorgeous day. It was actually quite overcast and cool when we arrived, by the time we wrapped it up the jacket was over the back of the easel.
This is a tough one to let go. I love this painting. Maybe I will go back and finish it some day. The sky, the trees, the water, however I'm not crazy about the grass. I don't feel I've been able to accurately paint marsh grass yet. I really need help with it.
DAY 2 Chatham, CAPE COD - "Untitled" 8x10 on Gesso Board
This was a location that we could have painted at all weekend. An amazing place! Beautiful marshes, boats, GIANT horse shoe crabs...a stunning location! This is a place I could visit every day and just reflect. Probably the least windy days also. Robin did a great demo here which was a very helpful way to start the trip. I remember the excitement I felt...the nerves...adrenaline...a lot of emotion.
As for the painting...originally I loved it. The more I look at it, the more I find things I'm not crazy about. I REALLY struggled with perspective this week. I don't feel I captured the depth at all. I don't like my trees, I don't like the values, I think the sky holes are awful. I don't like the water, I hate the marsh grass....the thing I DO LOVE is the sky and the clouds. Those are most important...I spent so long struggling with clouds. As long as I have those right, I'm good to go.
So this concludes my wrap up of the Cape. An amazing weekend. One of the best weekends of my life. Robin worked so hard to make sure we had an amazing weekend and we all did thanks to her. As I said before it was a very important weekend for me...a very special weekend for me. A weekend I will never forget. Thanks for looking, I hope you enjoyed my post.
