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The water of Frenchman Bay is often like a giant mirror reflecting the colors of the sky above it. I always love visiting and painting in Acadia National Park.
Acadia~ Dusk on Frenchman Bay
Category: Acadia National Park
Acadia ~ Sails on Frenchman Bay
The view from Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park is sublime. Frenchman Bay is huge and gorgeous as it stretches across the horizon.
You are What you Consume
Everything you hear or see goes into your mind. It stays there even if you “forget” it.
Watercolor Plein Air Sketchbook Acadia, ME
Its like sound waves in a wall. The sound from Beethoven’s music he played in a concert hall in 1800 are still in the walls. What does this say about what is in our minds?
Watercolor Plein Air Sketchbook Acadia, ME
One time when I was out painting with a group a fellow painter wanted me to paint standing behind him. I told him I wasn’t interested in painting that specific view.
Watercolor Plein Air Sketchbook Acadia, ME
He responded by saying that the intent of his suggestion was not for the landscape but to provide me the best view of his easel and what he was doing.
Watercolor Plein Air Sketchbook Friendship, ME
He thought hat I could learn a lot by watching him paint. Now this is a very kind and generous thought. But…
Watercolor Plein Air Sketchbook Friendship, ME
…what if I do not want to paint the way he does, or want my paintings to look like his…
I was thinking about having all this extra unwanted stuff in my brain…
I was thinking about having all this extra unwanted stuff in my brain…
I’m having trouble enough trying to paint what I do want to paint … without adding all this other stuff to the mix.
I also don’t watch TV…but this probably doesn’t surprise you.
Maine: Pink Granite and Salt Water
Every year in late spring and early summer I paint in Acadia National Park. I love the rugged wild coastline of the Schoodic Peninsula where the sea, rocks and pines rule.
Eagle Lake Acadia National Park
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Eagle Lake is a shimmering blue jewel tucked in the rolling green hills of Acadia. The view from Cadillac Mountain is breath taking.
Blue HIll Overlook
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Acadia National park is a Maine treasure. The beauty of high cliffs, crashing waves and distant vistas are a delight to behold. From top of Mount Cadillac you can watch the sun set over Blue Hill and Frenchman Bay
Short Days, Long Nights
I painted outdoors for 5 years. I did not like painting in a studio once I painted en plein air. I knew I’d have to go back inside one day… so in preparation for that day I built a new studio.
It is painted off white(including the floor) and has banks of 5,000 lumen lights overhead with a mixture of color balanced spot lighting. These past few weeks I’ve been in the studio painting…I”m painting large paintings from sketches and field studies; both water color and oil .
I have a practice of doing sketches, watercolors and oils on location.
Some are very rough.
I stand in one spot and keep recording what I am seeing.
I turn to my left and sketch and paint that view …
…then turn to my right and do the same…
I will walk around and try to capture enough detail and a feeling of the place for me to be able to remember what was important to me at that time.
I used the watercolor sketches to put together this oil painting. I’m trying for the essence of the place, the soul of the day…its not quite finished.
I do these very quick value/temperature studies to sample colors and see how much chroma the mood will bear.
I’ll do a fast watercolor just to get the feel of the action. These clouds were racing out to sea after a thunder storm cleared out.
A quick watercolor value study gives me a feel for the simple masses and the shape of things, like wandering with my mind through a place before I decide how I want to depict it. Its very liberating to do this. It helps me to get familiar and comfortable with a place.
On location I do rough sketches first, quick watercolors..then I often will do a series of quick 20 minute oil sketches back to back. Why? I’ve found that if I paint like this I will often have something good from the lot that I can take home and work with. I’m a real process painter. I do hundreds of starts, 5×7, 6×8, 8×10’s on location. So now I’m painting in the studio I have no shortage of reference material for these large paintings I’m working on.
Water colors ~ 6×8’s, 90 lb. sketch paper 6×10, 90 lb. sketch paper 8×12 300 lb. Arches rough
Oils ~ 8×10 linen on panel, canvas on panel
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Schoodic Pennisula
Water’s Edge
In late spring the coast of Maine is chilly and brisk. You need your winter weight wool when you are on the water. This visit to Acadia National Park was no exception.
I stopped on the park loop road, got out of the car, looked north and south and did several quick sketches. This is looking south toward Otter Cliffs. I used gray scale markers and water colors in my sketchbook.
I turned and looked to the north toward Great Head and saw layers of all kinds of clouds moving out to sea. The afternoon light was turning them pink & gold.
When I looked at Otter Cliffs again just before I left the tide had gone out even farther and more rocks were exposed.
The next day the view from the mountain road looking over Frenchman Bay was incredible. It was calm with no wind on the water. So the water was that iridescent blue green and the island reflections were perfect.
By the time I drove to the Blue Hill overlook the wind out over the bay was starting to pick up. You could see the color of the water changing to a deeper blue and patterns on the water surface shifted and changed shape.
Islands, Pines & the Rocky Coast
Frenchman Bay on the north side of Mount Desert is scattered with islands named the Porcupines. They have pine and hardwood forests on them with rocky cliffs and sandy beaches trimming their edges.
I sketched view this from the overlook on Cadillac Mountain. The tide was half way out and you could see the sandy skirts around each island.
The next day I was headed up the mountain in the late morning. The bay was still calm but the wind was starting to pick up out on the water. From the mountain you could watch the wind patterns across the bay as it went from still water that was iridescent yellow green to wind whipped dark blue.
This is Great Head with a huge cloud bank lifting off it.
On the loop road heading toward Thunder Hole you enter an alley of pines.
Great Head and all the ledges facing the open ocean were bathed in foam this day. The water had long ribbons of creamy froth all up and down the coast.