Nostalgia

I can't predict when these things will happen, but every so often I get a recollection and a yearning for Mt. Desert Island and Acadia National Park--not of course as they are today, but as they were sixty years ago.  So this happened to me this week, the day after our mid-summer 'critique' at Painting Purple & Other Colors in the Food Lion/Sheetz shopping center, corner of Portertown Rd and Route 33.

The 'critique' began almost promptly at 7:00 with about 20 people present, mostly Brushstrokes people, but we were delighted to see Bob Carr and his wife (and the next day, Art Tyndall and his wife dropped in to see the studio/gallery and to chat for awhile).  It was good to see all the old friends, and we plan to hold another session in Mid-August.  For any of this blog's readers who missed the first session, please try to make the next one.  We'll send out the date via this blog and via Louise Sharpless' Brushstroke newsletter.

It was especially nice to see what folks had been painting this summer.  As always we were delighted to see the places that Louise had visited in her artistic journey as expressed in her "peaceable kingdom" painting.

Although the participants were primarily Brushstrokes members, the 'critique session' is open to all artists, and we encourage all to attend.

After all that, I became hungry for Maine.  Hence picture one, a painting of Ocean Drive on Mt. Desert Island, from a reference photo taken a decade ago on a trip back to Maine:

The second was painted the next day, largely while with our Wednesday night group, and results from a video on the LL Bean site in appreciation of the Maine Coast Islands Trails Guide.

Hope you enjoyed this trip into the past as much as I did!!

The weekend activity

On Friday, Art Tyndall wisely elected to paint in the shade and led us to Washington Park, where there was not only shade but a lovely breeze off the water.  John Groesser, Bob Carr, Art and I were the fearless foursome who painted.  When I arrived at 9:30, Art was pretty well along with his first (of two) oil paintings, depicting a view of the riverside road, looking back toward Washington.  Before long, John appeared, and he and I painted a pickup that was catching the morning sun:

Bob Carr  arrived late and left early, having some tenant problems to deal with, but he did share the previous week's finished, careful rendition of some industrial buildings near the river.  A very detailed painting which had required a lot of patience and drawing skill. 

On Saturday, Donna Davis and I painted at the Farmers' Market on County Home Road, a nice outing that finished around noon when our watercolors were rained on!  Into every life . . .

The resulting picture is titled "Wild Caught Shrimp"

Wild Caught Shrimp

As you can see, we were intrigued by the clouds, which were perfectly alluring for Miss Donna, the "cloud lady."

Estuarium Ducks II

Painted in studio, July 4, 2012

July 2, 2011

On Friday, July 1, 2011, I painted with Bob Carr and Art Tyndall near the Pamlico in Washington.  It was hot, but there was a breeze off the water.  Bob looked in one direction, and I looked in the other, and we had a good time.  The painting took about 2 hours.  I call it (what else?) "Edward Jones"!