Month: August 2014

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Relationship

Red Truck at the Lumberyard, 10X8, oil on canvasboard, sold.
Saturday, I did Waldoboro’s Paint the Town with a student. It was his first plein air event and his painting sold. “The true gift of the evening was the buyer telling a story about how much it reminded her of a very special time with her mom,” his wife said.
I have sold seven paintings in the last six days. That’s enough to establish some kind of idea about what sells. And what sells is relationship—painting which are universal enough to capture the imagination, but specific enough to evoke a response. A painting can be technically perfect but anodyne and unmoving.
The Three Graces, 10X8, oil on canvasboard, $300, available through Camden Falls Gallery.
Of course, a painter can’t predict what will be meaningful for his audience. All he can do is paint his own feelings and reality.
On Friday, I painted some of the amazing wooden boats that were in Camden Harbor for the Camden feeder of the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta. To paint sailboats from the deck of another boat has been a lifelong dream of mine, so I was ecstatic. And then it got better. Howard Gallagher, owner of Camden Falls Gallery, took me out on his own boat to see the start of the race. Words cannot express how ethereally beautiful and moving it was.
Evening Reverie, 8X6, oil on canvasboard, sold.
All in all, I painted The Three Graces in a state of great happiness. I hope that comes through in my painting, and I hope that translates to something important for its future buyer.
Maine Morning, 8X10, oil on canvasboard, sold.
Camden is high-intensity and highly social. Waldoboro is small, relaxed, and raffish. I went there expecting to know nobody except Loren. So it was funny that I ran into a bunch of painters I know (Ian Bruce, Daniel Corey, Michael Vermette, and Laurie Proctor-Lefebvre) and I met a Facebook friend in real life for the first time (Becky Whight).

Sorry, folks. My workshop in Belfast, ME is sold out. Message me if you want a spot on my waitlist, or information about next year’s programs. Information is available here.
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Love stories

Waiting out the Fog, oil on canvasboard, 12X9, sold

A few days ago, I sold a painting to a couple about to be married. They were enjoying a quiet day at Pendleton Point in Islesboro, and the bride wanted the painting to as a remembrance of the day.

Some incredible boats assembling in Camden for the Camden feeder of the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta.
Yesterday I painted in Camden, which is home to the Northeast’s largest windjammer fleet. There are even more gorgeous wooden boats than usual right now, because they are gathering from all over for the first turn of the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta. I had to remind myself that I was there to paint, not drool over their brightwork.
The public restrooms in Camden always have the most entertaining graffiti..
When having trouble choosing, ask an expert: harbormaster Steve Pixley duly recommended a ketch (which may or may not have been named Saphaedra). Several hours into my painting (top), a man stopped to chat with me and then moved on. A little while later, he came back and asked me if I would paint a similar painting of the Lazy Jack II, on which his cousin will be married in mid-August. I’ve painted the Lazy Jack II before, and I am thrilled to be asked to do it again.
Deflated, oil on canvasboard, 8X6, $150. Available. Contact Camden Falls Gallery if you’re interested.
How awesome is it to be part of two different love stories in the same week?
A note for my workshop students: bring bungee cords if you plan to paint on floating docks. It’s a real pain to fish an easel out of the ocean.
People come to places like Camden for the experience, and they often want to take a tiny bit of that home with them. Yes, they can buy lovely things in the shops in Camden, but a painting will remind them of a moment in Maine every time they look at it. Long after we have all passed on, that painting will still say something about a beautiful day, a time and a place.

Sorry, folks. My workshop in Belfast, ME is sold out. Message me if you want a spot on my waitlist, or information about next year’s programs. Information is available here.