Station Wagon, Farm

It was great to be back painting after a few weeks. And painting with oil. While traveling I had brought acrylic paints, pastels and drawing pens, but none were as satisfying to me as working with oil paint again today. It was windy at the farm, and the sheltered spot next ot this old station wagon was a good place to set up.

Scraping Away

I painted, scraped down and then have just started to put paint back into this canvas. I hope the weather holds for another go at this on Monday.

Agricultural History

One of Montgomery County's old farms, now preserved as an example of agricultural history.

One More Time

I went back to the scene of the painting I did 2 weeks ago, with the plan to repaint it, switching warm and cool colors. The banana plants were gone, replaced by fall mums. Not the effect I was looking for. I recreated them from a quick look at a few banana plants left in a nearby bed and my memory.

Drawing Fencers

I might as well have been trying to draw frogs catching flies. The fencers were moving pretty slowly and then blades clashed faster than I could see. I had to catch several fencers in motion to get one quick drawing done. It was interesting to try to work out the proportions of the body when the legs are in lunging position.

Soccer out in Centreville MD

Very hot out on the Eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, where I got a quick sketch in of the soccer field and farm as the teams were setting up. Wind -- which did nothing to cool off the field -- came up in big easel-tipping gusts.

Hit It

The Fencer

I haven't picked up a paintbrush for weeks.

Today my daughter posed for me, just 20 minutes, but enough for me to sketch in a large portrait of her in fencing costume, holding her mask and saber. Unbelievable happiness was the result. I have been thinking about painting her and other fencers, their graceful poses, their masked faces, the swift movement when they go from "ready..." to "fence!" Just a start!

Tremont Marsh, Maine

This is one of the most beautiful marshes, ever. Sorry, I haven't seen that many marshes, but I'm just sure. It can be violet and scarlet at sunset, blanketed in fog in the morning or reflecting the blue Maine sky with the mountains of the quiet side of Mt. Desert Island in the background. It takes a well-applied coating of bug spray to stand in this marsh and paint, but I'm a pretty fast painter and I know I'm done when the mosquitos have figured out there's a human around.

Maine

It's hard for me to express in words just how much I love the house that we rent in Maine. Thank goodness I have paint to say it for me. I have painted the house every year, at least once, for the past 12 years from every angle. The watercolor is one I painted probably 12 years ago when we first rented the house. This year, I worked on my view of the rugosa roses on the beach, looking up at the house. The rugosa rose painting is going to hang in the Foundry Gallery next month, for sale (1318 18th St., NW, Washington, DC), if you want to see it close up and personal. For the house itself, you'll have to go to Maine.