The Newport Paintings: Part II

This one I painted during the day. Again, this landscape painting features Newport Harbor, and is 5 x 7" done in oil on canvas board. This is another view from where I stayed looking to the bridge and Goat Island. The U.S. Naval War College is on the other side of the bridge. I would sleep with my windows cracked, although it was cool at night. This way I could hear them play the National Anthem at dawn, and Taps at night. I did not mind waking up so early. It was beautiful the way the water was so deserted that the sound carried over the Harbor. I chose analogous shades of green and blue to represent the brightness and crispness of the day in Newport.

Check back on Monday for my third painting in this series.

The Newport Paintings: Part I

Here is the first of the 3 landscape paintings I painted entirely en plein air while I was in Newport, Rhode Island a few weeks ago. This one is an Impressionist 5 x 7" small oil painting on canvas board. In all three, I featured Newport Harbor as my subject, as we were staying right on the edge of it, and it was quite comfortable to sit outside and paint these small ones.

This painting was done at dusk on my first day in Newport. I felt relaxed, but filled with anticipation as I thought of all the beauty I would be sure to see in the next week. The sun slid behind the other side of the harbor, turning the sky orange, and lit up the harbor water until it turned a very light yellow. The homes across the way at Goat Island are deserted until the season begins. A lone sailboat is docked in the harbor, waiting patiently for its owner to come back as the day slips away with the sun.

Check back tomorrow for my next painting in the Newport series.

Newport, RI Cliff Walk and Childe Hassam

Here are some photographs from the Cliff Walk in Newport I took a few days ago. The Cliff Walk is a great path on the Atlantic Ocean side of Newport, that parallels the mansions. Though the mansions were stunning, I was more interested in the rocky coastline. I had never seen anything like it in New England, let alone the East Coast. It looked like something from another country, or the West Coast.




Now I understand better what American Impressionist Childe Hassam painted. He was constantly painting the rock ledges of New England.


I adore the way Hassam paints. He is one of my favorite artists of all time. I wrote a paper on him in college in which I suggested that the rocks he painted were symbols of the permanence of American tradition. They are massive and unchanging to me, although the landscape is always changing around them.


You will be sure to see future paintings inspired by the Newport Cliff Walk and the rock ledges on the coast. I have been working on 3 small paintings on canvas board here, all of the Newport Harbor. I will post them soon after I return to Virginia.

Newport, Rhode Island

I am currently visiting Newport, RI for Easter weekend and for the next couple of days. Although I heard the weather in Washington was amazing this past weekend, I wanted to get away with my family for a bit to explore a new place.



April is the off-season, so as you can see from the photographs of Newport Harbor, the docks are empty of of seafaring folks. Despite this fact, Newport is beautiful this time of year. Every day has brought good weather, with different skies and dazzling colors each day.

Update and Sketchbook Peek

Here is another peek into my sketchbook from another trip to Old Lyme, Connecticut in July:
This one is a quick sketch I did of the sand in front of my chair, the miniature dunes it formed from people walking across the beach.

This one is the view across from me at the time, of the front of a home with dune grass and trees in the background.

Sunday Sketchin'

I spent yesterday in Old Lyme, Connecticut, relaxing on the beach for a few hours.  I spent a couple of minutes producing this quick sketch of the view in front of me, using a soft charcoal pencil in my Moleskine sketchbook:

Looking from Old Lyme, you can see across the Long Island Sound, and a tiny strip of Long Island is visible.  I've sketched it so many times from my position on the beach, but this time was different.  I drew this after observing the way the thin, dark line of Long Island, fades into the horizon line of the ocean, just as the clouds do right above it.  It was so similar in fact that it was hard for me to distinguish which was the cloud and which was the island.  It is just another example of how amazing nature is, constantly mirroring itself right in front of our eyes.  I hope you enjoyed this peek into my sketchbook.

New Painting: "Sunset Over the Rooftops, Portsmouth"

Here is one of my recent paintings, painted en plein air (outdoors, on location) last week.  It is 9 x 12", oil on canvas.

"Sunset Over the Rooftops, Portsmouth", 2009

I finally had good weather so I could take photographs of it in the correct sunlight.  I painted this one, starting at 8 PM here in New England, so  you can imagine that I only had a short stretch of time to complete this outdoors, especially as the shapes and colors of the clouds and the light were all the while changing.  I painted this outside of my house in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where I spotted a beautiful little patch of sunlight and clouds behind the rooftops of neighboring buildings.  I love how the colors of the shadows and highlights are repeated in the clouds and the buildings themselves.  

I also took photos of my progress, if you would like a sneak peek inside my process for painting landscapes.  I chose Cadmium Red Light for my underpainting, quickly painted as I observed the cloud formations.

I then mixed my colors and values for the clouds, and quickly painted them in while they were still not moving too fast, and before the sun completely set.

After I finished putting down the colors I saw, I blended them as I saw them blended in the sky, twisting and heightening the shapes as I usually do with my abstracted clouds in my landscapes.

After the sky was done, I completed the buildings, which were not changing colors and values as quickly as the clouds to complete the painting.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

I just finished moving in to a beautiful 18th century home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on the Seacoast.  I have never been this far north before and I am really enjoying the landscapes I see all around me.  I also joined the New Hampshire Plein Air group and am looking forward to painting En Plein Air for the first time!  I am hoping to go to the Isles of Shoals this week to start, traveling in the steps of my favorite artist, Childe Hassam.  Look for new paintings soon!  I plan on painting many small paintings this summer.

Happy June!

Please excuse my lack of new work lately, as I am making the move from Newark, Delaware to Portsmouth, New Hampshire for the summer.  I am not sure exactly where I will be after that, but probably in the DC area.  Moving and packing does not give me a lot of time to paint, but I will start again once I am settled in to Portsmouth.  I have joined the New Hampshire Plein Air group so I'm sure there will be lots of work to share with you this summer.  Please be sure to check out my last painting and hopefully I will post about other things this week as I make my move.