You are What you Consume

Everything you hear or see goes into your mind.  It stays there even if you "forget" it. 

Watercolor Plein Air Sketchbook Acadia, ME

Its like sound waves in a wall. The sound from Beethoven's music he played in a concert hall in 1800 are still in the walls. What does this say about what is in our minds?

Watercolor Plein Air Sketchbook Acadia, ME

One time when I was out painting with a group a fellow painter wanted me to paint standing behind him.  I told him I wasn't  interested in painting that specific view. 

Watercolor Plein Air Sketchbook Acadia, ME

 He responded by saying that the intent of his suggestion was not for the landscape but to provide me the best view of his easel and what he was doing.

Watercolor Plein Air Sketchbook Friendship, ME

He thought hat I could learn a lot by watching him paint.  Now this is a very kind and generous thought. But...

Watercolor Plein Air Sketchbook Friendship, ME

 ...what if I do not want to paint the way he does, or want my paintings to look like his... 


I was thinking about having all this extra unwanted stuff in my brain... 

 I'm having trouble enough trying to paint what I do want to paint ... without adding all this other stuff to the mix. 

I also don't watch TV...but this probably doesn't surprise you.

Fall Foliage in Cummington

A few water color sketches from my recent trip to the Berkshires.

William Cullen Bryant's barn.

Looking from the house down to the five corners.

Another small sketch of the barn...

Painting the Landscape with Confidence

The 20 minute field sketch...or how to get a sure fire handle on painting en plein air.

So many  people go outdoors to paint and get overwhelmed when on location. 

That used to happen to me when I first started painting outdoors.

It wasn't easy being in the middle of my subject! 

Not to mention the wind, tides and the light changing all the time. 



I really needed some guidance. 

I registered to take some workshops with some of the top landscape professionals in the field...only to be wait listed...

Then one day the tide turned. I was accepted ! I went to Idaho to study with Scott Christensen for 10 days... It was painters boot camp! I returned to New England with a different perspective.  

The night after I arrived home I drove to the York River to see what I would do with this paradigm shift. After sunset I painted a very quick painting of the York River.  

York River Autumn, oil 6x12. 

In this class I will share what I learned.

  

The 20 Minute Field Sketch ~ Painting the Landscape 

Plein Air Class

Half Day Outdoor Class

MEDIUM: Oils, Acrylics, Watercolors
LOCATIONS: Southern Maine & New Hampshire Seacoast 

DATES: October 15th to November 12th ~ 6 Weeks ~ Saturdays 

TIME: 1:00 ~ 4:00 PM 

TUITION: $180  

LEVEL: Beginning Plein Air to Intermediate 

CLASS LIMIT ~ 12

INFO: & Registration: Great Works River Studio: MARY BYROM; info@marybyrom.com 

CONTACT: Mary Byrom, Great Works River Studio, 102 Wells Street ~ North Berwick, Maine 03906 ~ 207-676-9933

This class will hone skills and improve painting and decision making abilities. Each week the class will be in a different location (seacoast, woodland, marshes, ponds, farms, village) to learn the specifics of working with diverse settings, subject matter, light, and changing weather. Each class will help you to learn to think on your feet through the process of making choices and decisions of subject matter and design that are influenced by location, light and weather.

This class is for anyone with some experience painting with oils (in plein air or the studio) who wants to improve their skills.  We will paint at different locations and situations that might be challenging on your own. 

We will follow good, solid procedures using the guidelines of the fundamentals of landscape painting en plein air. The more you understand the fundamentals of making good paintings the more you will be in control in the field.

We will learn and practice 6 steps for use on location to guide us in making decisions. We will ask questions, make decisions and work deliberately as we focus on rendering the motif. We will learn to study outdoors, learn to design and to make deliberate choices. We will key paintings, mix colors and select elements to make a good design. 

In each class we will be painting at a new location covering the specifics of the motif, lighting and weather for that day.  This will give the student good tools for painting in all seasons and all kinds of weather. 

Suggested canvas/panel/sizes (6x8, 8x10, 9X12).  Paper sizes can be larger.

If you are a beginner, intermediate OR experienced painter you will gain confidence and skill. 

Materials list provided upon registration. 


QUESTIONS? Email me !  mbyrom@maine.rr.com

FRESH PAINT FRESH AIR

Fast & Slow

I was looking through my sketchbooks the other day checking out the way I respond to situations.

House at Mackerel Cove 8x10 pen & watercolor 

Outdoors I am racing, zip, zip, zip getting it down before the light, tide, wind... changes.

Pears & Glass 8x12 watercolor

Indoors doing a still life with fixed light, no moving objects, a stable temperature.... all is calm.  I still paint fast...its instinct.  But you can tell its indoors by the way the painting looks....all is calm.  

Surf

 The Nubble is a great place to paint surf. 

 Waves I , 6x6 watercolor 

You can drive up, park and set up in minutes! I did a bunch of sketches in watercolor  before I painted a couple of oils.

 

Waves II 4x6 watercolor

Pink in the waves? Heck, I thought I was reaching for a violet...

Waves III 3 x6 watercolor

...never know what you'll end up with when you are moving fast...

Quick Sketches ~ A Young Model

This week I finally got to go to a figure group....we did 45 minute sketches of a lovely young girl....I did these on unsized paper ...next time I'll try watercolor paper which will be able to bear more water and techniques...

A bit rusty after doing landscapes for so long....I tried a first one...

6x7 watercolor on Rives BFK

The second pose I left the lights white and liked the effect...

6x7 watercolor on Rives BFK

The third pose was lovely .... Marry Bullock put a halo of stars on her ...she became an instant angel !

8x14 watercolor on Rives BFK

Thank you Mary for hosting this group! 

In the Barn

Marcus caught a few moments of me sketching on our trip to Pineland Farms.  It is tough sketching lambs & ewes... They move all the time ! Then again what else is new? Its what plein air painters deal with...

For more details of our adventure see : FRESH PAINT, FRESH AIR 

Ten Weeks of Color! Starts March 1st

Ten week Color class starts Tuesday, March 1st.  6-9 PM.  All levels welcome. Beginner through Advanced.  All Mediums ~ Oils, pastels, acrylics, watercolors - any medium that uses color.  A Small class for individual attention.

Color is mood, feeling, cold, warm, bright, dark, light, dim, weak, strong...it can mean a number of things and evoke many feelings... learn how to see and handle color. 

Learn about color relationships and how you can develop an eye for color.

Learn how to mix color.

Work with hue, chroma, and value....

...warms, cools, analogous and complimentary...

Gain an understanding of the strength of color gamuts.

Work with harmonious color.

Learn to mix clean colors and beautiful grays.

Vaughn Island Fog 

6x8, colored pencil, gray marker, watercolors on Rives BFK

10 Week Class   $295 

REGISTER FOR CLASS HERE

Snow Sketching

I go through this thinking process when I'm out painting.  I try to absorb the feeling of a place. The kind of day it is, the weather, the light, the forms and shapes around me .....

This is a bit of the location.....

The charcoal sketch I did ...

The color sketch I painted with the late warm sunset light...

6x8 Charcoal sketch with water color on 98 lb. multi media paper 

PRINTS MAY BE PURCHASED HERE. 

THE WHOLE PAINTING STORY ON LOCATION 

Very Old Houses in the Snow

A few days ago I met up with two friends in Strawbery Banke to paint on a beautiful, cold winter day. 

Here's a detailed report of that outing: Postcards from ME & NH

I wanted to be flexible to walk around and study a number of subjects and experiment with different views so I concentrated on sketching with ink and water color pencils. 

This is the view up the small dirt lane we were standing in.

4x8, pen & watercolor on Aquarelle

In front of us was a open area of snow with the shadows of the houses  behind us stretching across it. 

8x10, pen & watercolor on Aquarelle

Around the corner I found a small back garden with a single window on the rear side of a house.

11x11, pen & watercolor on Aquarelle

Another lane headed toward the harbor.

7x9 pen & watercolor on Aquarelle

Some of these houses are very old.  They are funny shapes, have no back doors and have windows in odd spots or entire walls with only one or two small windows.

6x10, pen & watercolor on Aquarelle

 As we packed up to head home at sunset a half moon was up high in the sky.

Heaven Above the Earth below....

I'm painting from my field sketches in the studio.... 

I'm using my watercolor sketchbooks and oil sketches as guides for these larger paintings...

I really like painting skies and water. 

6x8 sketchbook, gray marker, watercolor 

I discovered its because they change so much so fast.

6x8 sketchbook, gray marker, watercolor 

Here on the coast an interesting phenomena occurs when clouds encounter the air mass over the ocean. They often break up and some times completely disappear in minutes. I face west if I want the clouds to hold their form a little longer while I draw or paint them .

8x8 sketchbook, gray marker, watercolor 

  

Or I move away from the edge of the ocean into the marshes where I know they'll last a bit, I have the long view and the unobstructed "big sky" I want.  I sketch and draw nonstop. Its a habit I have. I take notes that will help me later on remember what really was going on.  Forget sky photographs, the camera is useless for this.  

Lobster Boat And Fish Shacks

 I'm looking through all my sketch books and using them as the starting point for paintings...  trying out some new approaches to handling oil paint.  I'm in this place where I like sketches more than "finished" paintings... will this lead to "looser" paintings ? Which of course require more thought...We will see where this goes...

Looking west across the cove in Cape Porpoise you can see a street with these old fish shacks. I parked my car on the edge of the clam flats, sat down on the rocks, opened my sketch book and did a bunch of quick sketches. 

6x8  Cool Gray marker & watercolor on Aquarelle 90 lb 

I Remember Summer and...a 1934 Burgundy Ford

It was in part shade, part sun ...

A quiet corner of the big event...

What a personality! And I could park myself in the deep shade where it was a bit cooler... 

....to sketch and paint this little beauty...imagine on a day like today, almost winter... I was looking for a cool spot !  Nice thought isn't it ?!