Motif Number 1

I’ve been sketching on my own in Cape Ann, MA, for many years, but it’s always been a dream of mine to share this wonderful area with students. Last week my dream came true. Thanks to Jess at Slow River Studio, I was able to sit on T-Wharf and paint this iconic scene with not one but two very talented groups of sketchers!

On the first day that we went out it was overcast and blustery, but somehow we didn’t notice the cold. We were too busy trying to figure out what red to use to paint Motif Number One. (Alizarin Crimson and Burnt Sienna was my mix, in case you are wondering.) At high tide, a fishing boat was docked in front of Bradley’s Wharf, likely dropping off some fish at Roy Moore Lobster Co. Some of us were able to quickly add it to our sketches.

I love seeing all the Motif sketches together. There’s a reason they call this “the most painted building in America”. It’s so much fun to draw.

The second group of sketchers had a sunnier (and warmer) day on the wharf, and we got to paint some shadows on the building.

Everyone’s interpretation is a little bit different but there’s no mystery as to what the focus is in each of these! Thanks to everyone who was there with me last week. It was an unforgettable two days on T-Wharf.

Cripple Cove and Rockport harbor

It’s been quite hazy and foggy in Gloucester but luckily the rain has held off and I’ve been able to get lot of painting and sketching done. I stood on a floating dock at Cripple Cove Landing this afternoon and was able to do two quarter sheet watercolours. (I think my photos are a little dark but it was a mostly overcast day.) The water was quite calm but the floating dock moves quite a bit and after a while I realized I was feeling kind of queasy from the motion. The first painting was a view of the boats in the Gloucester harbor.

For the second painting, I turned my easel slightly to the left to capture the docks, the lobster traps and the assorted pails and buoys on the dock.

I also returned to my favourite spot in Rockport, and again, did two sketches from the same spot. Not much has changed since our last visit. The lobster boats came in and out of the harbour as I painted, and Motif #1 is as iconic as ever, reliably marking the opening from the bay to the inner harbor.

Low tide at Rocky Neck

It feels great to get back to Cape Ann. I haven’t been to this part of Massachusetts since before the pandemic. In a few days I’ll be teaching a workshop with Slow River Studio in Topsfield, but I’ve arrived a few days early to paint, and visit a few of my favourite spots in Rockport and Gloucester. I’ve really missed seeing the lobster boats and the views of this coast, but I’ve also missed the sound of the fog horn, the smell of sea air and the crying of the gulls.

We’re staying on Rocky Neck for the first time. As you enter this little community, there’s a parking lot with a spectacular view looking across the bay at Gloucester. There’s also a bench and a great view of a dock which is at its best at low tide when you can see all the exposed dark pilings. It’s a complex scene but I tried to unify it by using a series of warm and cool neutrals and adding touches of colour at the end. Painted on a 1/4 sheet of Arches Rough paper.

American Watercolor Society online show

What an honour to have my painting “The Wash at Dusk” selected for the American Watercolour Society Associate Members Online Exhibition. Many thanks to juror Tim Gaydos. The show is on until August 20th. I guess this is a week for sending you to YouTube because that’s where you can see the exhibition. Have a look at all the wonderful paintings here.

Plein Air Sketchbook Flip Through

There was such a great response to yesterday’s sketchbook flip through (thanks so everyone who commented!) that I just posted another one on YouTube. This is the companion book that I take with me on my travels, so it has journeyed from Montreal to Spain to Greece and back again, and in the cold of winter it was completed in Tucson, Arizona. Same size book at yesterday but this one is landscape format so I can do panoramas like the one of the Acropolis in Athens (below). You’ll see the full sketch in the video.

Sketchbook flip through

After yesterday’s post, I received lots of comments from people who are not on Instagram but wanted to see the video of my completed sketchbook. I just uploaded it to YouTube. Nothing fancy there (no music or narration) but accessible to all. I hope you enjoy it.

Another purple bouquet

I picked some purple flowers from my garden yesterday and sketched them in the last page of my sketchbook. Later on, when I looked back at the first page of the book, I realized that it was another purple bouquet. And when I checked the date of that drawing, I discovered that I started this book exactly a year ago today.

It was the first time I had tried a Hahnemuhle 100% cotton book, and I’ve been working in it ever since. I have both portrait and landscape versions in A4 format. I use the landscape one for urban/travel sketching and the portrait one for experimentation and drawing things around the house, like Alice, my wheelbarrow and lots of bouquets.

It’s really interesting to look back and see a compressed version of the year through the pages of the book. For example, I remember how crappy I felt on the day I sketched the windmill. I was recovering from COVID, and I think that’s reflected in the drab colours I used. Or how chilly it was in the house when I did the ice storm drawings. I was too cold to take out my watercolours so I drew in Micron pen.

I did a little video flip through of the book and posted it on Instagram, in case you’re curious to see what’s in between the two purple bouquets.