Thursday, September 1, 2011

Monhegan Workshop Wrap-Up



well you think i died didnt you? well i didnt, ive been burning up the road. right now i'm in the mid-coast maine area teaching and painting and the cell/wi-fi coverage is really spotty ( and at times non-existant). well here's what ive been up to.

i drove up from cape cod on saturday just in time to get to maine in front of hurricane irene. didnt do a whole lot here but blow and cause big waves, and then we lost power for about 14 hours. but Monday ( the first of a three day workshop) thru Thursday was sunny and gorgeous. i fell in love with the maine coast. i know, i say that about every coast dont i? but its phenomenal and there are paintings everywhere. we painted in port clyde for two days and then i took the class to monhegan island on the third day. monhegan is one of the most visited and painted islands by artists anywhere. the rugged landscape and gritty little fish houses are backdropped with Manana island on one side and huge sheer cliffs down to the atlantic on the other side of the island. i saw a painting everytime i turned around. the six i had in the class did three paintings a piece that day and i could see they were listening to my advice to edit,edit, edit. move the brush very fast and make solid and rapid decisions. this is how you paint plein air fast and loose. it was a great day on monhegan and the captain of the ferry took us past the atlantic ocean side of the island with its majestic craggy 80 foot tall cliffs. it was breathtaking.
i'm planning another workshop there for sure. whether its a day or a week i'm not sure yet. you could paint for a month over there and not get bored!


note: i'd like to thank my friend chris (and scully) moses for their graciousness in letting me stay with them and being the tour guide of sorts for the port clyde/monhegan extravaganza. thanks chris!

1 comment:

Paintdancer said...

I visited Monhegan Island and the Maine coast about a month ago. I loved it, too. Would move in a heartbeat if I could. There definitely is a painting round every corner.

Just watched one of your videos (I think it was called beach houses) and enjoyed it very much. I use a similar technique on my landscapes (studied the Cape Cod method, too)but I love how you don't get fussy and that's why all your paintings turn out more painterly then mine.

Do you always block in the shadows with magenta? I think that is a wonderful color for the shadows.