Warm and cool at Halibut Point
Posted: June 25, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized 69 CommentsAfter a week of painting in Rockport, Mass., I’m starting to scan the paintings I did when I was there. This holiday I decided to work large — mostly half sheets of watercolour paper (15″ x 22″) — so scanning them all is a tedious process. Each painting takes eight scans before I can stitch the image together with the magic of Photoshop.
Halibut Point State Park is a place I visit almost every year. Apart from the gulls sunning themselves on the rocks, a pesky fly that tortured me for hours, and a few hikers strolling by, it is a totally serene place to spend a bit of time. I’ve painted the granite walls of the abandoned quarry many times, but this time I focussed on simplification of shapes and contrast of warm and cool tones in the rocks. If you squint your eyes when you look at the rocks from a distance, only the biggest masses stand out. That is what I try to capture. Think of each rock as a volume is space with sides that face the light and sides that are in shadow. The ones facing the light are often warmer looking and the ones in shadow are cooler. That is the pattern I try to set up. At the end I add some details in the closer rocks — finer lines and a bit of texture. Painted on Fabriano CP 200 lb paper, 15″ x 22″.
Shari Blaukopf's Sketchbook 
Beautiful painting, Shari…but I don’t understand why you are scanning the image??? Just take a digital photo with your iPhone or iPad and download it as a JPEG. You can easily crop the photo. It only takes minutes.
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HI Rene,
Thanks so much for writing.
In answer to your comment, if I am travelling I do take a quick pic with my iPhone or iPad and that usually suffices. But for archival purposes, as well as for entering my paintings in shows, I need to have a more accurate image that reflects the colour well. I find that scanning is the best way to do this. If I take a photo, it requires a lot of colour correction in Photoshop whereas a scan is near perfect from the start. That’s my long explanation for why I spend all this time scanning.
Shari
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Thanks Shari, I understand your method. Somewhat tediois and time consuming. I use a Canon EOS, photoshop the image and it turns out pretty good especially when I use the directive from the NWS or AWS. They have specific rules to follow to get a pretty accurate color image.
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A fabulous painting.
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Thanks so much Doug!
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Wow..that is beautiful! One of my favorite places to visit! I need to take my sketchbook next time..;)
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You sure do Nancy. There are so many incredible vantage points in the park.
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Oh it sounds so easy!
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Just a few decades of practice…
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I saw something on the net recently: When you buy something from an artist you’re buying more than an object. You’re buying hundreds of hours of errors and experimentation. You’re buying years of frustration and moments of pure joy. You’re not buying just one thing, You are buying a piece of a heart, a piece of a soul, a small piece of someone else’s life. HOW VERY TRUE!! … Just a few decades of practice…
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Wow! Stunning Shari. I love the abstract quality. Wonderful composition and textures. This is a truly spectacular painting. I feel I could never tire of looking at it.
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Alison, I think you would just love this place. Complete serenity. Something about those deep quarry pools.
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beautiful, shari )
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Thanks!
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Wow! And the trees are just perfect too. Hope you had a great week and looking forward to seeing more.
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Thanks Tony. It was a great week and I am always sad to leave the place.
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Thank you for the lessons in this gorgeous painting
Besides simplifying your rocks, it’s going to be an enormous help next Plein Air
Really appreciate this
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I’m so glad it was helpful Soni. Thanks so much!
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I can absolutely feel the cool waters in this piece. Great job!
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Thanks!
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LOVE this Shari! Did you mix your greys and if so — which colors did you use? LOVE how you use greys!
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Hi Lin. I did mix my greys. There are so many colours in this but the main blue/grey on the shadow part of the rocks has a lot of Cobalt Blue in it.
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Wow! Love the water and the craggy cliff side. 😍
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Thanks Michele!
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GORGEOUS Shari…tfs
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Thanks Marylin!
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Gorgeous… love the way you paint!
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Thanks Chris!
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A really pretty painting!
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Thanks Kailin.
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I am drawn in by your colours and use of light…terrific.
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Thanks Jane!
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Shari, this is lovely. I’m fascinated by rocks and am struggling with how to approach painting them. I always examine your works. What are your go -to grey/brown mixes?
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HI Lee, My go-to mix is Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine but this time I also used Cobalt Blue because it’s more opaque than Ultramarine. I also used a little Alizarin Crimson to get a more purplish hue in the rocks. Hope all is well with you!
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Very good advice about focusing on the large mass first. Excellent.
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Thanks Andre.
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I didn’t think it possible but you just keep getting better. This is superb. Thanks for going to the trouble of scanning. I’m lazy, it’s just an iPad photo for me.
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Thanks Ros. I scan because I want more colour accuracy. I thought this one might be good to enter in exhibitions and for that I need better colour. If I take a photo there is too much colour correction to do. Scanning is more accurate.
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Shari wish you would teach us how to do plain sire in the way that you do !!
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Mary, you will have to come to a workshop with me!
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Sorry about the typo 🤔
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That’s ok. It took a second but I figure out what you meant eventually.
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Beautiful, Shari. A sense of solitude.
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Thanks Linda!
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That is wonderful! I just tried doing reflections without much success. Yours are so believable.
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Thanks Jane.
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Wow
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Thanks!
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great work – with your permission I’ll reblog this.
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Of course you can reblog Roger. Thanks for checking first.
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Absolutely stunning piece.
Carmen
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Thanks Carmen.
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Stunning. I love it.
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Thanks Connie!
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Great use of flat and near flat value passages to define the volume/form in light (esp. for the rocky outcrop at center/middle of the image). This makes a really nice contrast with the similarly painted but less volumetric rendering of areas of the further shoreline and deeper background.
Handsome painting.
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Thanks John. The rocky outcrop in the middle of the image is the whitest part of all the rocks so it makes an obvious focus for the painting. I appreciate your comments!
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You’re welcome. I believe you are going to be in Chicago for the USk Symposium?
If so, I hope I bump into you there.
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I will be there for sure John. Are you participating in the event? It would be nice to say hello.
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Yes Shari, My wife and I will be arriving on Wednesday morning and I will be attending W-F, and PART of Saturday.
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Really beautiful painting Shari!
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Thanks so much John!
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Love this painting!
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Absolutely amazing such a beautiful piece of work.
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Spectacular!! Thank you for sharing this!
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Beautiful!!
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Thanks so much!
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Gracias por tus explicaciones, son sumamente expresivas muy profesionales.
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Gracias por tus explicaciones son sumamente enriquecedoras.
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Gracias Jaume!
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