Walking back from Fish Beach.

This is another scene from 'Fish Beach' on Monhegan.
This was late afternoon around dusk, as the sun was low (off to the right behind Fish House) in the sky. I was entranced by this little alleyway and went there often.
The land at the back of the painting is Manana Island, which has only one house.
The stretch of water between Mongehan and Manana is narrow, but you could occasionally catch a boat sailing down there towards the dock.

(11 x 14 inches)
28 x 3.6cm approx
Oil on Gessobord

Early Morning at Fish Beach

So I finally got back into my studio and started painting again!

This is a view of a hut (or row of huts) on Fish Beach on Monhegan Island.
It's a composition from a number of photos I took while I was there.
I went down very early morning just after sunrise. The sun is still quite low on the horizon behind the huts. The rising sun was throwing some illumination onto the side of the hut at the left and just a tiny bit of sunlight was reflecting through onto the interior of the hut on the right. (I think that's an old fridge on the porch on the right - these huts are very 'rustic'!)
I guess the huts used to be fishing huts originally.

The rowing boats were in constant use so they were in a different position most days.

(10 x 10 inches)
25.4 x 25.4cm
Oil on Gessobord

Plein air on Monhegan - An island for artists

It has been soooooo long since I have posted to my blog. What can I say, things have been busy.

So now time to catch up.


My week on Monhegan was one of the best experiences I have ever had. It was total immersion in art and talking about art - with other artists!
I was generously invited to be part of this wonderful group of people: Margaret Sheldon, Maria Bennett Hock, Jean Graves and Marji Harmer-Beem. Everybody brought something different to the group. Some oil painters, some watercolor painters - and lots of experimentation.

We rented a house with just the most wonderful peaceful view of the ocean and Manana Island just across from us as can be seen in the photo above. We brought much of our own food and everyone chipped in to cook and wash-up. It was such a delight!

This was the first time I have been able to experience plein air painting fully.
Monhegan is an island for artists. It is just 1 mile wide and 1 1/2 miles long. There are no cars on the island. In every conceiveable nook and corner of the island you will find an artist set up with their easel, painting away. 

The first day or so, we spent walking the island, getting to know our surroundings and observing the light. 

By the third day I decided that the light was best early morning, so for the rest of the week I was up before dawn to set up my easel. We could not have been luckier with the weather. It was perfect almost all of the week, apart for the last day when we experienced some fog. 

Here are some of my paintings from the week. Some you will agree are more successful than others, but this week for me was about the learning experience. I learned to gain confidence with my set up, to paint faster and to eliminate what is not important. I leaned that I need to focus harder on how to achieve a better depth of field - something I will be determined to focus on on successive landscape painting trips. 

Manana

My first and least favorite painting from the week. I painted this in bright, bright sunlight and thought I had painted a wide range of greens, until I brought it inside and it was clear I hadn't!

Although Manana island was very close by, I felt that the depth of field was not at all obvious. Something I need to work on.









Lighthouse at dawn

This was a total experiment. I got up well before dawn to start this painting. Around 4.30am.

I feel it was a partial success but I would like to attempt this again sometime. I want to achieve a more yellow hazy cast than I was able to here to capture the atmosphere of this scene at sunrise. 

Two little boats at Fish Beach


Easily my favorite painting from the week. 

I'm very happy with the composition in this one and I felt that I achieved a looser brush stroke and confidence with it.

 The Barnacle

This one was a real challenge.

The perspective was tricky as I was fairly close-up to the cafe. Also as I was painting there was lot of coming and going of customers and staff!


It was such a pleasure painting in such close proximity of the ocean though.





The house we rented was rustic but charming and comfortable. We had electricity (though many houses did not) but the water was not drinkable so we bought water each day from the one small store on the island.

As well as the store, there is also an art gallery, a couple of gift shops, two hotels. A brewery, a pizza cafe and a seafood cafe.