December 1st

My friend Martha celebrates her "Birthday Month", and I think this is a wonderful idea!  I am going to give myself a gift every day, it won't be "things" but real gifts.  One is permission to use my good paper and don't worry about using it up!  I am going to set aside 31 pieces of Wallis paper to "waste" every day this month and I am going to enjoy it!  I am going to give my self permission to burn a few paintings too, and gesso over even more. 

This is of Sand Beach in Acadia on Wallis paper.  There are a lot of things I love about this painting, mostly that I did not approach it as precious, I just had fun.  Having fun will be my biggest gift to myself this month.  I think that is an awesome way to honor the gifts I have been already given by the one who I share my birthday with! 

Acadia Drive

Today is the last day of rifle season here, so tomorrow no more excuses for long walks.

I moved my french easel upstairs  for the winter...it worked well last year to have a painting in progress that I can work on in bits and pieces throughout the day. I hope to keep a painting going on in my studio also, but it can get chilly this time of year.

 This scene is from Acadia.  I even love the rainy days there.

October 27th.

Today was the first day of deer season here in Maine, but I did not remember that until I got home from my early morning walk, safely.  I heard a shot when I was coming out of the woods, but I just assumed it was someone after birds....

I took this reference as I came out of the woods, it was a foggy morning, punching up the intensity of the colors.  This is a mixed media, starting with a triad of watercolor, then a little acrylic for fun, and then I rescued it with a dash of pastel.  Then I spent a productive but painful hour breaking my pastels in half.  It hurt a bit, but they are much easier to use this way, and I have room for more!

Rainy Morning in the Studio

We stopped for a picnic at the newly landscaped scenic turnout at the "height of land" just south of Rangeley.  I painted the typical view of Mooselookmeguntic, but as I was getting in the car I looked up the road and took the reference for this.  It was a perfect day all around.

Today rain kept me inside and I did this quick pastel sketch.

Summers Final Month

I did this pastel two weeks ago, it almost ended up in the woodstove, but after careful consideration I kept it, for now.  It was one of those very hot humid days, and a winter scene was in order.

Owyn, and getting back on track.

I purchased some velour at the art store in Rockland, and decided to actually try it out instead of saving it, (for what?).  Owyn is my grandpuppy, and he is a cutie.  Some parts of this really bother me, and I will try again, but one thing with velour, you cannot remove the pastel and it gets full, so you can not add any, so at some point you are done.  I am fairly satisfied with this, as it does look like Owyn, and people keep telling me I am to hard on myself.

I have a still life on the easel and I am going to try to get back to painting daily.  Looking back I could see that I was making progress, and now I have to start all over.  Daily painting works.

Fourth of July in Weld

This pastel is the view of Tumbledown I had from my kayak this past 4th of July.  I will someday work on painting from the kayak, but for now I have my trusty waterpoof bag and camera. Yesterday I made a few more sheets of pastel paper, using old failed watercolor paintings and gesso with pumic.  I still have to perfect the technique, as the brushstrokes in the gesso interfere with the pastel application.  This was a quick study, and that is why I want to reuse material....still worried about wasting paper.  Under this scene is a pretty horrible painting of birch trees.

Life has certainly been in the way of my painting lately, with the latest thing being the death of my father.  He of all people would be telling me to get back to work.  And so I dedicate this and all my future work to my Dad, Arthur Davis. I doubt he will be spending time reading my blog from where he is, but I know he is watching!

And after a bit more time on the easel, I calmed the greens down a bit, I hope!