John Cosby Workshop!

                                                     
                                                       Garden Days  6x6 oil on panel

This past week I had the privilege of attending a workshop with California Impressionist painter John Cosby. I traveled to Cape Cod Massachusetts for this. John comes to the Cape to teach once every two years. It is a 6 hour drive for me from my house.
I learned an amazing amount from this talented painter and teacher. I got a chance to try out some new painting methods that will be very helpful to me as I continue on. John's lessons on values, composition,and edges were just some of the important things covered.
It is always so much fun to be around and work along side other painters and share some of the workshop experiences together.

 

Heading In  6x8 oil on panel

 

Hope you enjoy seeing these paintings that I did at the workshop.

Thank you John Cosby!

 

 

Lunksoos Continued:

       

                                     Photograph   Morning Mist Lunksoos Camps         S. Dolan
    

   I wanted to share a few more images from the Lunksoos Aritsts Retreat.  Many of us would get up before the sunrise to catch the most interesting light. It was often so cold that mist would be rising off the waterways and valleys.

                                                                 6"x8" oil painting

I was drawn to the way the vibrant colors mingled with the cool water. I was painting this standing in the shade of the shoreline trees. It was very cold. At one point I had to put down my brushes and go for a run. I think the other artists got a chuckle out of me trying to warm up. In this painting I tried to capture the gesture of the water passing over the rocks and the reflection of the bright colors from  the surrounding trees.

 

                                                                   6"x6" oil painting

During the winter months I sometimes work on paintings in the studio that I have started earlier in the year outside.  These two paintings fall into that category. The one above I came close to throwing out. It is important to me to edit as I go.  I think I managed to rescue this one though with some extra work. I try to learn from each painting that I do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunksoos Artists Retreat sold

Sunrise on the East Branch  of the Penobscot River

 In September I was invited to an artist's retreat held at the Lunksoos Camps on the East Branch of the Penobscot River. There were ten artists who came to this retreat. I was there for 5 days. We stayed over night in small cabins with three artists in each cabin. I got up before sunrise on the first day. It was very chilly. It was probably about 37 degrees out that is why there is a mist on the river. This is a painting I did that morning. While I was painting this beaver was swimming in the river near me. He came over to have a look at me and then went on his way. Several times he slapped his tail on the water and dove down under the water. He put on quite a show for me. This was a great time and I feel very fortunate to have been a part of this first time event held at this location.



A reflection I liked.



My friend who visited on that chilly morning.

A beautiful sunset over Mt. Katahdin many of us saw from the camp porch.

A Tug and T.V. Commercial SOLD

"Harbor Guardian" 6x6 oil  SOLD

 
   
            Here is the tug boat painting that I spoke of in the last post. I went down to the water front in Belfast. A painter friend and I started to walk around the area to look for a good painting location. As we passed The Front Street Pub a funny thing happened. A local T.V. station was at the pub making a commercial for the pub. The pub owners asked us if we would be willing to be stand in customers for the recording. Soon we were sitting on the front deck sipping pretty drinks and pretending to eat mussels as the cameras rolled.  That was fun!  We were given coupons for meals at the pub in return! Off we went and decided that painting the tug was the thing to do that day. Just another day in the life of a plein air painter!

6x6 oil on panel "Harbor Gaurdian" Belfast, Maine

Three to Get Ready SOLD

"Three to Get Ready"  SOLD

                         This is a painting I recently finished. I was attracted to this scene by the lyrical shapes of the boats lined up and the interesting shadows they were casting on the street. I spent two mornings painting plein air for about two hours each session getting the boats and shadows the way I wanted them. I struggled a bit with the light on the small building directly behind the boats. I wanted to get the reflected light on the left side of the structure. These boats were hauled out of the harbor because of pending bad weather so I decided to name it "Three to Get Ready".
                        This coming weekend I will be showing this painting and others at the Belfast Arts in the Park.  I have been down at the waterfront in Belfast this week painting a scene that includes one of the tug boats there. I will post that painting when it is done. Hopfully it will be finished in time for the weekend show too.

Show Season is Here

                         This is a plein air oil painting I did of the clock in downtown Bar Harbor.

                                These two paintings were painted plein air on Monhegan Island.

            These are a few of the paintings I will be showing and selling this weekend at the Bar Harbor show. This will be my eighth year participating in this show. I always look forward to it because I get to meet people there from all over the country and world.  This show also gives me the opportunity  to see a lot of my artist friends, some that I haven't seen since last fall. If you happen to be in the neighborhood I hope you will stop by the show and enjoy all the great art on display. I have many paintings and photographs for you to see.

Beginnings

Welcome to my new blog.