Maryland's Eastern Shore is an artist friendly place!

The Eastern Shore of Maryland has lot to offer for the plein air painter. In my vicinity I can paint the harbors, wetlands, and charming little villages like St. Michael's, Oxford, Tilghmand Island, and Easton. The people here seem pretty used to plein air painters too, since Easton just recently hosted a plein air festival and paint out. It is really nice to visit an area that is so supportive of the arts. Everywhere I go, the local establishments in Easton have plein air paintings on display. Even if I didn't paint at all, there are lots of shops, art galleries and restaurants to enjoy. If you're into antiques they seem big into that as well! And of course there is fishing. Lots of fishing! But what I like most is the natural beauty combined with the local charm of the area. You can drive out in several directions and hit the water, as small creeks, tributaries, and larger bodies of water finger their way into the land. It is fairly easy to find potential painting sites. It is also easy to pull off on the side of the road if something catches your eye. I love that there are bike paths along the byways, and big wide shoulders. I will definitely return to paint here again. I imagine spring or fall would be lovely (and a bit gentler in terms of the outside temperature!)

Tilghman Island Wetlands; Plein air painting

This piece was painted at about 5 pm. after a full day of painting in the hot, hot, sun. Sun sets around here at around 8 pm. but even so the light changed very quickly. There was a pinkish haze in the clouds and sky which may not be showing up that well in the image here, and the greys are really have more color in them, but I'm using limited image editing software on the road. This painting is 8"x10" and painted with the same 6 color + white palette I used yesterday.

A hazy day at Tilghman Island

If you are on the east coast, perhaps you witnessed some of that torrential driving rain that came through various parts yesterday. Well, I drove through it to get to the Eastern Shore! But I finally made it in one piece and got out to Tilghman Island to paintthe boats near the marina.  It was a very hot, hazy and humid day. The sun was out but it was a rather diffused, flatbut ever changing light that made for fairly close value ranges and a bit of a challenging subject. I started rather late in the morning but made this oil sketch with a limited palette of 6 colors plus white:

For this painting I used cadmium yellow light, raw sienna, alizarin crimson, permanent rose, ultramarine blue, ivory black and titanium white.  This is not my usual palette which is more of a double primary plus an extra color or two (and also devoid of black). But I'm practicing with the limited palette en plein air because it really helps to learn how to mix colors. It is also much lighter on the load if you can carry fewer paints!

Off to the Eastern Shore

I'm taking off for a few days to the Eastern Shore of Maryland with the intention of doing a little painting on location.  Blogging may be spotty if at all due to limited internet access, but I will try. I have been taking advantage of travel this summer since things always seem to kick into high gear in the fall and things at the gallery can get pretty busy. In light of my travels I will not be participating in the August First Fridays Richmond Art Walk (I'll gear back up again for the Art Walk in September). But there will still be a lot going on at the other venues, so be sure to check them out if you are in Richmond.

Watercolor/pen and ink - Ocracoke Lighthouse

Getting back to the topic of my recent visit to Ocracoke Island, here's another sketch from my travels. I haven't painted many lighthouses in my day (okay this is the first one!) but the lighthouse of Ocracoke is such a visible landmark on this tiny island. In fact it is also historically significant as is the second oldest operating lighthouse in the nation. (In case you're wondering, the oldest is the Sandy Hook Lighthouse in New Jersey.)

"Ocracoke Lighthouse" Original Watercolor & Ink on Paper