Chapmans Paint Out

The Potomac from Chapman's Forest, oils on canvas panel, 11" x 14." Contact artist for price.

Last Sunday there was a MAPAPA-organized paint out at Chapman's Forest. Naturally, I wanted to be part of it, so I arranged to spend the weekend with my friend Patrise in Acokeek. I wanted to paint in Piscataway Park on Saturday afternoon, but it was so hot, I put it off until late afternoon, when the shadows started lengthening. I knew just the view I wanted: the small inlet at the mouth of the creek with a strip of trees framing the distant banks on the other side of the Potomac. The short walk to the bridge across the creek, dragging my equipment in that heat exhausted me, but the light was inspiring.

A small group of fishermen appeared up just as I was setting up. The clouds in front of me were a light peach color in the late afternoon as I was laying down the sky in my painting, while behind me, deep gray clouds were moving in. I had the hazy banks blocked in and started on the water. One fisherman leaving passed me, but the rest stayed put. I was beginning to hear the low rumble of distant thunder in the clouds... perhaps the storm would pass us by? I held off packing, but soon, the other fishermen started to pack up and I had to admit the deluge was about to overtake us. I knocked down my gear as fast as I could, barely cleaning my brushes in my rush to leave. I picked up my stuff and took off running; it started to pour as I ran down the path. The trees there are so thick they protected me from the downpour until I reached my car, where I got drenched getting my gear back in the trunk.

I changed into some dry clothes back at the house. In the evening we made a lovely dinner with some baby back ribs I'd brought; several of Patrise's neighborhood friends joined us for a potluck dinner.

Next morning we got a late start--it was already too hot for Patrise to join the paint-out (as a Michigan native she's not well-adapted to our muggy summers) so she led me there, to take her dogs for a walk. I dressed in my coolest linen & cotton painting duds, but by the time we arrived at eleven AM, the heat was already oppressive. It took me two trips to bring all my things to the house (I included a chair so I could sit comfortably while painting). There was only one logical place to set up in that heat: the back porch of Mont Aventine, where the view is fabulous.

The organizer, Barbara, and three other ladies were there. Their paintings were already quite far along, so they must have been there for a couple of hours. I started mine, trying the composition devices I'd found useful for this particular view, but had not covered all of my panel yet when Barbara asked us to break for lunch and a critique. She and the others had finished their paintings, (in fact one lady working in pastels had done two) and she and one lady left after that. I struggled with my colors all afternoon, trying to convey the atmosphere of the hazy, humid day, and chatted with some of the volunteers. I finished around four and packed up. On the second trip walking back to my car I saw my teacher, Lee Boynton, coming down the drive with his kit. He had told me he was interested in painting here, but wouldn't be able to get there until late in the day. As it was, he seemed to be arriving just in time for another afternoon downpour--the skies were darkening. He was painting furiously when I left.

On the way back to Accokeek, I drove through a bit of light rain--the tail end of a shower that seemed to be centered over Fort Washington--it cleared up quickly. I showed Patrise my day's work, packed up and said my goodbyes to start back home for our usual Sunday dinner with David. I drove home in the most beautiful light, wishing I could have stayed to paint at Chapman's until then. I can't wait for our Friday morning class to see how Lee's painting turned out.

Funky Barns

Funky Barns, oils on canvas panel, 11" x 14."

Last Friday our plein air class met at a farm belonging to one of the students. There we found these wonderful old barns with sagging roofs and tumble-down pillars, old barrels and feed carts. The complex form of this group of buildings was the perfect challenge for the class at this point. It forced us to draw accurately in perspective and think of how to articulate the forms with color.

The weather couldn't have been better--a lovely June morning, not too hot nor humid. The space for us was a bit tight as the view was contained between other out buildings, but I managed to snag a corner where I was fairly certain the shade would last until around noon. We expect to return next week for the last class of the session.

Strange Flowers and Nocturnal Sightings

Photo by Herb Borkland

Yesterday afternoon, walking back to the house from the mailbox, I happened to see this strange organism in one of my flowerbeds. What on earth? It appeared to be the fruiting body of some fungus growing on the bark mulch, so I googled "orange-red fungus" and came up with the stinkhorn family. I'd never seen nor heard of these before, but evidently they are common in many parts of the globe and they are weird-looking, some might even say disgusting.

The most likely species I would say are either Clathrus columnatus or Mutinus caninus. According to the website, the brown slime that covers the tip of the fungus (and smells like rotting meat) attracts flies and insects which eat the slime and thus spread the plant's spores. This specimen was already disintegrating, so it's hard to tell what the original configuration might have been. The pine bark mulch must have carried the spores that grew with the recent rains. I'll have to keep an eye out for more, in hopes of a positive identification.

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A few nights ago, Herb and I were outside sniffing the night air (we like to do this before retiring for the night during the warm weather) and happened to see a red fox high-tailing it up the street on the opposite side. The fox was carrying something in his mouth--a small rodent, a rat perhaps? He heard us talking softly and hesitated a bit as he was crossing under the street light. Herb remarked that the poor creature looked nearly starved, yet here he was taking his prey somewhere... I figured he was taking it back to his brood; fox kits born earlier in the spring would be weaned by now but not old enough to hunt on their own. The fox continued at a pace close to a run and disappeared up the street--our encounter lasted perhaps all of ten seconds.

The Rain Garden at Londontown

Rain Garden at Londontown, oils on canvas panel, 12" x 9." Contact artist for price.

Yesterday promised to be another scorcher, so I was happy our class met at Londontown again. The shady Rain Garden was a lovely cool spot to paint in.

This time we spent a bit more time developing our drawings, actually shading in the values in charcoal on the canvas before going on to the actual painting. This new start was immensely helpful to all of us. When we began to paint, Lee's specific hint to me was to try to use my brushwork more to describe the shapes, rather than relying on just flat strokes. He demonstrated for me, skimming the surface of the paint to suggest leaves and foliage. I like the effect this gives the painting.

I believe I managed to balance the val-hues to good effect: the patches of sunlight on the grass create a nice path to invite the eye into the distance, with a bit of mystery in the shadowy foreground.

Memorial Day Painting

Brookside Pond on Memorial Day, oils on canvas panel, 9" x 12." Contact artist for price.

I'd planned to paint at Brookside Gardens with my friend Susan on Memorial Day. The gardens were beautiful in their late spring finery: the pink roses by the gazebo, a few late azaleas including a bright orange native azalea, probably bakerii species. The gazebo up the hill from where this was painted seemed the perfect location to try the same scene as last weekend, now under very different light.

Susan wasn't there when I drove in, so I just set up my palette and gear, and dashed off a 5" x 7" black and white study, with a horizontal format this time. After about hour, I walked back to the car to get my cell phone and find out what had happened to Susan. She was on the phone the moment I picked it up, wandering about the garden but not finding me, so I directed her toward my gazebo until she spotted me.

I explained to Susan what I had been working on while helping her set up her brand-new French easel, and that I thought a similar value study would be good practice for a budding artist (it's good practice even for experienced painters). I presented her with an identical blank panel and got her started with oil paints. Then I went on to work on my full color painting, telling her about Kevin McPherson's term "val-hue" and the orderly steps one should take from a sketch to a finished painting.

It was around 12:30 by the time I had my color painting blocked in and Susan was done with her B and W study--a good time to break for lunch. We chatted away pleasantly while munching. Of course, by this time the sun was coming around to the side of the gazebo where we were, making the temperature rise dramatically--typical for summer in our area. The humidity was palpable, giving a bluish haze to the distant trees.

It became so hot standing in the sun that I had to move my easel into the gazebo so I could stay in the shade. The light had also changed just enough that I decided to modify some of my colors and shadows to reflect the afternoon light. Meanwhile, Susan opted to practice on another black and white value painting, doing a larger version of her study.

We finished our paintings as the shadows were getting longer--it was almost five--tired, but pleased to have shared a wonderful day of painting on our holiday.

In Londontowne

Londontowne Garden, oils on canvas panel, 11" x 14."

I had been wanting to return to Londontowne to paint in their fabulous gardens overlooking the South River. Today I got my wish--our painting class met there to avoid the commencement weekend traffic in Annapolis.

The day was overcast and after last night's downpour, cooler than recent days-- a welcome change. Our teacher Lee had brought a copy of Kevin MacPherson's book, "Fill Your Paintings with Light & Color" to show us MacPherson's approach to blocking in a painting, which is very similar to Lee's. BTW, I met Kevin MacPherson and his wife in Santa Fe when I was there a number of years ago (he lives near Taos) and he's not only a very nice person, but an excellent teacher and writer. I treasure two of his books--this one and "Landscape Painting Inside and Out: Capture the Vitality of Outdoor Painting in Your Studio With Oils" (both these books are available from Amazon.com).

Lee prefers to start with the lights rather than darks in his painting, to keep the colors more pure, but also recommends we work on areas that are adjacent until the white of the panel is completely covered. Today we also talked about how to select a site conducive to a good composition and what elements are desirable. We walked around the garden until we'd found a propitious site, so we got started a bit late.

While we worked, the clouds thinned out and a patch of diffuse sunlight illuminated the grassy edge of a flowerbed, providing a nice focal point for our paintings. Most of us stayed late to develop the paintings as much as possible. I'm not sure my colors are convincing or very harmonious here; I don't believe further refinement would improve this one. As it was, I didn't get home until three in the afternoon.

We'll have another chance to paint here again next week. I'll have to remember to bring my camera and a lunch so I can stay later if I want to.

Before the Rain

Before the Rain, oils on canvas panel, 12" x 9." Contact artist for price.

I felt totally drained after a rough week at work (a fifteen-and-a-half-hour day on Monday), and a bit gloomy about my art prospects. Our usual Friday class had been canceled so I'd driven up to Havre de Grace to pick up my artwork at the Riverview Gallery--it had been three years since I joined the gallery and in that time made not a single sale. It seemed as good a time as any to pull out and save myself a long drive several times a year. For lack of anything better to do, in the afternoon I applied half-heartedly to the Ellicott City Paint It juried plein air weekend in August. Why must the Howard County Arts Council schedule a plein air event during the muggiest time of the year?

On Saturday morning I puttered in the garden, setting out my summer veggies and a few marigolds. The marauding deer had eaten all the tops of the sugar snap peas, setting back my harvest to perhaps just a handful of peas this year (sigh!). The forecast called for rain in the afternoon, so I thought of Brookside Gardens, where I could paint under the shelter of one of their gazebos.

I found my favorite gazebo had been "improved" with the addition of a concrete-and-resin chess table and two seats right in the middle--leaving no room for me to set up my easel (why can't these people leave well enough alone? They've been "improving" the garden ever since they got a bad review from some snooty British gardening magazine decades ago, much to the garden's detriment).

I set up my Guerilla paint box on the low stone wall surrounding the gazebo and managed to sit stradding the wall to paint this view of another gazebo tucked on a small island in one of the ponds. The subdued light and the lush foliage offered a great opportunity for a study in greens, something I've been wanting to tackle. It began to rain just before I finished, but my spirits had risen greatly in just a few hours of artistic exercise.

Boats on Spa Creek

Boats on Spa Creek, oils on canvas panel, 11" x 14." Contact artist for price.

This Friday our class met at a different location. Lee wanted us to deal with a more complicated subject this week and boats, whose geometry is always challenging to draw, seemed the best way to kick up the difficulty one notch. He led us to Spa Creek, to an inlet where this beautifully kept-up old tug boat was moored. Of course, there were lots of other boats everywhere (we're in Annapolis after all) so judicious editing was called for.

The class spent the first hour just doing a pencil drawing and Lee corrected our drawings, explaining the subtleties of getting a realistic look to the boat's hull lying on the water. The day had started out overcast and cool, but the sun began to break through the clouds as we started to paint, and it soon got very hot and muggy. I regretted wearing a long-sleeved black T-shirt.

I kept my color key to the cloudy, overcast atmosphere, since that had already been established at the beginning. But I spent so much time on the landscape around my boats that there was not enough time left to work on the tug boat. I would have liked more time to get the color of the hull and the reflections on the water truer, as well as other details of the boat, but by that time my brain was totally fried by the heat and I was ready to call it quits--it was an hour past the end of the class. We're going back to the same spot next week, so there will be a chance to try this again.