Artist Renee Lammers

  This was Sand Beach today!  The colors of the water were gorgeous!





     I decided to take off a few days from painting!  I was digesting all of the new information I have learned about painting lately.  I am waiting on a new copper panel order to be cut!  Out of copper.  I am heading back to Monhegan shortly to do a few more paintings! 

  I saw this baby seal today at Thunderhole on Park Loop Road.  The seal had a head injury.  A park ranger was waiting near the seal for someone to arrive to help the seal.  Poor seal.

  I went to Bernard on Mount Desert Island.  Next to Thurston's lobster restaurant is a wharf I buy my lobsters at!  This is one of their dogs at Thurston's Wharf.  He is really beautiful.  What a great life this dog leads.  He lives at the wharf.  I asked an aquaintance of mine for 20$ worth of lobsters.  He put 6 lobsters in the bag for me!  Wow!  Jackpot!  They were put in the pot and boiled as soon as I returned home.  I am enjoying my Summer.  I hope you are too.  I am going to get out and paint tomorrow!  I hope you do too!

  Here are four drawings of Daisy and Duke.  When they fall asleep at night, I start to draw them.  I think of this drawing exercise as my homework.  Most of these nights my dogs allow me to draw them.  There have been a few nights when Daisy will growl at me.  Then if I don't stop drawing her she will get up and sleep behind my chair. 

 





     Today I cleaned my house, delivered three paintings to their new art collectors, mailed off two paintings to Florida, did grocrey shopping, and labeled every single one of my paintings.  I have so many oil paintings on copper now I can not remember the titles, prices, or origins. I have 187 paintings to sell.

      I purchased large document white stickers.  I put a number, title, size, price, story of it's creation.  Then I copied this on a master sheet.  I then went around finding the sticker for each painting.  Then I put the sticker on the back of each painting.  If I am not home and Robert is here, he can have the gallery open.  If a buyer is interested, Robert can look on the back of the painting to tell them the information.  Then if a painting is sold, I will write down the new art collector's name and information.  I am also starting a index card full of information about the painting.  I will include the day it was painted, when the Gamblin's Galkyd was put on to seal the copper, when a cold wax was applied.  I will write down the frame information if there is any.  I know in order to be successful with my sales, I need to be very organized.  I have been lucky up till recently to rely on my memory only! 

     I had a chance also to look over all of my paintings.  There were many I really liked.  Any really terrible disasterous paintings were wiped off before the oil painting had a chance to dry.  I can see a lot of improvement.  I have really been working hard.  I am still not as productive as The Art Mentor.  I ate a lot of beets and steak tonight.  Hopefully this will help me keep up with The Art Mentor!  I was WEAK sometimes this week.  Great weather here in Maine tomorrow!  I will be out painting.  There are no excuses for you either!  Get out and paint!  Create some excitement in your life!

  "Sailing In To Seal Cove" 8x10 Oil on Copper Panel.  300$ Framed and Shipped!

     The Art Mentor came to my house today to take me to Acadia to paint.  He decided to do a seascape demo in my driveway before we went to Acadia.  He set up his Aldro Hibbard like easel.  I discoved The Art Mentor does not like eggs.  I made him another smoked turkey sandwich.  He loves smoked turkey sandwiches!  My husband Robert smoked the turkey a few days ago.  My artist friends have eaten almost the entire turkey!  Robert said to me, "Where did the turkey go?"  I answered, "My artists friends are very hungry!"  Robert laughed.  We left Robert with  two turkey wings.  I told The Art Mentor, more turkeys will be smoked for his sandwiches!  The turkey must be available to keep The Art Mentor happy and fed!  He does seem to paint even better with these sandwiches.  We usually eat our sandwiches on the drive to Acadia from my house in Bucksport.  It only takes 45 minutes to drive there.  We also look at Frederick Waugh's seascapes or art in magazines.  I learn about art even while we are driving. 

    In my driveway The Art Mentor painted for one and half hours to complete a fantastic seascape.  One breaker was the center of interest.  He told me a really great artist gavee him seascape demonstrations.  This guy would make seascapes in his spare time from memory.  This is how he became really good at doing seascapes.  He suggested I paint seascape from artists who have died like Waugh.  He also suggested I paint some seascapes from photos.  He suggested I do small sketches of seascapes as I have been doing on location.  I will need to paint thousands of seascapes to understand the shapes of the sea.  It was very obvious The Art Mentor really knew what he was doing.  It came easy to him and the results were spectacular!  There was one rock in this painting so I could see how he did rocks too.  The top of a rock is the same color as the sky!

     After this demo of a seascape in my driveway we were off!  We went back to Park Loop Road which was fairly empty today.  We hiked to the spot where we have been painting for two days.  The sun was not out.  The Art Mentor decided we should paint at a new location.  We were off!  He has a very comfortable luxurious car.  We travel in style! 

    We decided to paint at Seal Cove near Bar Harbor.  There is an island in the distance with a wharf and fish shack.  We set up and started to paint!  I decided I would make my painting high key (mostly light values with very little darks).  He decided to lower the actual key of colors on location.  He asked me to come over to see the results of this.  The white boats really glowed when he did this.  He said this was a good way to handle these harbor scenes.  I liked it.  My high key painting was pleasant, but his darker keyed painting was stronger and more Summerish!  It was a great idea!  Of course!

  Here is the island I was painting at Seal Cove. The sun was leaving and the fog was coming in.

 Here is the beach to my left at Seal Cove.  It was beautiful when we first arrived.

  The fog rolled in just as I finished my painting.  What a dramatic difference!  The people still remained at the beach.  The temperatures dropped from about 80 to 67 degrees.  It was heavenly!

     I sat behind The Art Mentor to quietly watch him paint.  He had painted in beautiful colors in the water area with large flat brushes.  Then he was using a 4 and later a 1 flat sized brush with a variety of colors.  He kept his brush strokes horizontal at all times in the water areas. He was using a Aldro Hibbard like technique with the water and really the whole painting.  The results created a very translucent water with opaque paints!  Magic!  He layered the horizontal dashes of different local colors in the water area.  They blended naturally but were separate colors.  Water is not all one color.  I don't know why I see so many artists painting the water or the sky one color.  It is as if they are painting the side of their house!  Dreadful.  I probably do this still once in awhile!  Maybe if I write this I won't ever do it again!  

     The Art Mentor really loves to eat smoked almonds on the ride home!  He is very happy doing this.  The first week out with The Art Mentor he was eating large amounts of spiced donuts on the ride home.  I think he does like the almonds better.  It is better for him too!  

    Yesterday I learned if I am asked to do a commission by a collector, to paint three paintings of the scene.  Then the collector can have his choice.  The Art Mentor said sometimes the collector will purchase more than one.  He always sell them all anyway.  Another thing I learned was:  If someone asks me what I do for a living, do not say:  "I am a professional artist".  This sounds very snobby.  It is better to say: "I am a painter".  The Art Mentor says any professional New England artist he knows calls himself a painter.  If they hear you say you are a  professional artist, it is very frowned upon.  It is a vaux pas amoung artists. Good information!  I hope you had a great day!  Get out and paint!  I sure am! 

     

    

  Here I am painting with very successful painters today in Acadia National Park.  It was very hot painting on the rocks at the edge of a cliff.  I found a spot with a rock overhang.  I was so tired today.  I didn't get to sleep until 3:00am because I had some coffee that day.  Coffee just doesn't agree with me.  I finally went to sleep.  All day here in Acadia I couldn't draw out a painting I liked.  I wiped off at least five possible paintings.  The artists were working away.  A few other artists came by.  We all stopped painting to speak to them.  Of course the topic of conversation was painting!  I learned a lot today listening to them. 

     The more successful an artist becomes, the more difficult painting is.  Their prices are higher.  Their quality needs to be higher also.  They paint large.  They can not decrease their prices because of the economy.  They just must hang in there.  Most artists are suffering economically right now.  Some artists are still doing well.  Creating a great painting is very hard work.  Not all of their paintings will be placed in a Gallery.  Only their very best paintings will go to a gallery. 

     When an artist is represented in a Gallery, the Gallery owner doesn't always share the buyers information with the artist.  They don't want the artist to sell directly to the buyer.  So an artist can't send letters or cards reminding the buyer of their new work.  They rely on the Gallery owner to do all marketing.  I feel lucky right now to know my buyers.  I send out watercolor paintings to my collectors thanking them for their purchases.  I am content with painting smaller paintings.  I am very content with my business plan right now.

  I really tried hard to paint today.  I wasn't intimidated painting with these artists.  I was just bonking!  I was sitting down on a rock with my easel.  I took off my shoes and socks!  It was so hot!  I gave up trying to paint this huge scene.  I decided to hike around and look for something smaller. I carried my equipment all over the place.  I watched waves for four hours.  I just tired myself out further!  I drank all of my liquids.  It was a wash out!  I am lucky to not have more of these days.  I felt so discusted with myself.  I think I am usually a hard worker.  I just looked like a tourist today of all days!  Tomorrow will be another day!  

  Duke is such a cute dog!  I am drinking lots of gatorade and eating bananas and apricots!  I am going to get out there and paint!  Tomorrow!  Hopefully!
    

  "Grand Acadia"  3x4 Oil on Copper panel.  200$ Framed and shipped!

     I went to Acadia National Park to continue working!  I took the day off yesterday.  A blog reader suggested I give myself a treat also.  Daisy and Duke have been recieving a lot of treats with each painting sales.  I ordered a banana split at the Dairy Port in Bucksport.  It was great!  I went to an area in Acadia past Otter Cliff.  Poison ivy lined the path.    I am very allergic to this plant.  I am recuperating from just having my arm touch a leaf a few weeks ago.  I took a bath with dishwashing soap when I arrived home.  I hope this works. 

    When I arrived at my painting spot in Acadia, I climbed all around the cliffs looking for THE spot to paint.  It was all beautiful.  Here is a photo.



  I really liked this but couldn't find a spot to paint it.  I guess it just makes a great photo.

  Here is the side view.  

  "View From Acadia"  4x6 Oil on Copper Panel.  200$

  Here is a photo of me painting the first minature painting.  I used guerrilla tape on the lid of my easel to keep it from moving.  It is tricky to paint these miniaures plein aire.  I haven't painted one this small in quite a while.  Design is important for these smaller works.  I worked for many hours on these paintings.  I still need to work some more in my studio!

     Daisy and Duke went to Sears Island yesterday!  It was 91 degrees here in Bucksport.  Too hot for dogs with a lot of hair. 

  Here is Duke laying in the cool ocean water.  They enjoyed themselves.  Duke and Daisy saw a family picnicing.  Duke seized the opportunity trying to steal a man's chicken drumstick he was eating.  The man who was sitting on a blanket had to raise his arm as high as possible while Duke leaped up trying to capture the chicken.  The man was able to keep his chicken.  Daisy also scurried around the blanket full of people looking for a tid bit.  She didn't find anything either.  Robert was able to call them back over to us without any incident. 

  Here is Robert filling the baby pool for Daisy.  She has always loved a cool dip in a baby pool!

  Daisy is ten years old and still loves the pool.  She recognizes the pool and still gets excited! 

     I had Yorkshire Terriers before I bought Daisy and Duke (golden retrievers).  I didn't know how to train a large dog.  They were very badly behaved dogs before Robert came into the picture.  The dogs were 5 years old when I met Robert.  For the last 5 years Robert has tried to train them.  They are much better.  At times they do regress back to their old behavior.  Someday I will have to tell you about Daisy and Duke's renegade neighborhood pranks back in Florida.  They were well know by all of my neighbors.  They would escape from their half an acre backyard while I attended college.  They were smart enough to return to their backyard before I came home.  During their days of running wild, they did many pranks.  Ok, I will tell you about one of their days.
  
     I left to go to Stetson University an hour away in Deland.  I lived on a dead end dirt street in Winter Park.  Daisy and Duke (named after the Dukes of Hazard) would either dig out of their fence yard or they would pry one of the wooden slats to escape.  One day they were out on the dirt road of Easter Street where we lived.  They saw my neighbors across from me.  The whole family, Father, Mother, two daughters, son, and baby were in the carport relaxing on a hot day.  The Father told me the story years later.  He said, "At first we thought it was great to see Daisy and Duke come up to see us!  We were petting them.  The kids liked them.  After a while the dogs seemed to get bored.  One of them went over to the baby who was crawling around.  The dog was interested in the baby's diaper.  The dog started to pull on the diaper.  We thought it was funny.  We were all laughing at first.  Before we could come to the baby,  the dog was able to pull the diaper off the baby.  As soon as this happened, the dog ran with the diaper in his mouth.   The other dog ran too, but then came back.  He grabbed my flip flop and took off catching up with the other dog.  They ran across the street and diappeared under the fence.  They were thieves! 

      When I came home from school, the son came and knocked on my door.  He said, "You owe my Dad a size 10 flip flop".  That was all he said.  I couldn't figure this out.  Strange request.  I took a nap and completely forgot about this.  I heard about this story many years later at a party the day before I moved.   All of the neighbors took turns telling these stories of Daisy and Duke! 

     I hope you had a great day!  Paint outside!  It is a blast! 

  "Along Acadia" 8x10 Oil on Copper Panel.  300$ Framed in Gold and Shipped!

     I headed to Acadia to Park Loop Road.  I had stayed up all night reading my how to paint seascape books.  Most of them were confusing and abstract like.  One of them I liked.  "Marine Painting in Oil" by E. John Robinson.  His drawing of waves are completely confusing.  The first time I gave up reading the book after trying to analyze his demonstrations.  Last night I just ignored these drawings and concentrated on the written word.  I made notes.  Sometimes rewriting can help my mind really understand something complex.  Painting the sea is very complex.  Here are a few notes I thought were interesting.



     There are several types of white stuff in the ocean.  
1.  Whitecap-  The top of a swell during high winds gets blown off  and becomes foam. 
 
2.  Breakers-  The swell of a wave moves into more shallow water.  The ocean floor pushes energy orb upward.  The energy orb looses it's concave shape and size.  The orb breaks.  The leading edge continues forward from the highest point and strikes the tough below.  

3.  Boiling Foam-  Created as breaking water stikes through the trough ahead.  Sheets fly upward.  

4.  Horsetails-  Wind creates foam and spray off the top of breaking wave into the air.  All edges are soft and fly in same direction as the wind.

5.  Combers-  Rough seas create foam cascades down the face of swells and are left behind.  

6.  Foam Burst-  When waves strikes a rock or another wave.  Water is impacted skyward reflecting light and atmosphere.  

7.  Surface foam-  Between the waves and beach.  This foam is clear, subtle, with soft edges.  There is more contrast and sharper detail because this is closer to the viewer.  

8.  Scud-  Waves that break on a beach rather than a cliff.  This wave has sand in it.  The foam is more varied, has shadows below the foam, is uneven, and irregular.  

9.  Foam patterns-  Are created by calm surf.  Great way for artist to show the contours of water's surface.  As the foam pattern recede into the back grounds, so does their size.  They are less white and are soft edges.  

     As you can see this information is difficult to understand.  In order to paint the sea well, I need to know these differences.  Today there were no waves.  I was disappointed.  I found a great spot anyway!

    Today was a little exciting.  My parents gave me a birthday check last week which I spent ordering a Scwinn Baby Jogger with 16 inch all terrain tires.  I used the baby jogger today to transport my easel and other art equipment to my painting location!  Here is a photo!  I think having this contraption will open up many new areas for me to paint!

  I was able to walk very quickly to my painting location.  Normally I have to select a painting location near a parking spot for my car.  I found myself pushing this jogger along sight seeing!  I have tried four other carts.  Their wheels always fall off.  Sometimes they are just too large to transport in my car.  This jogger works perfect!  I am very mobile now.  It collapses with the squeeze of a lever!  It even has breaks!   Incredible.  It is the perfect thing for any artist.

       I have always admired donkeys at Haffas Farm.  They had a yard sale today so I asked permission to take photos.  Here are cute donkeys and a baby goat!

  There are some donkeys who were rescued.  Now all are pets.  They are friendly!



  This baby goat was put in a fenced area as he has been known to bite guests.  He was not too happy today.  After the yard sale then he will be allowed out.  

  I saw this interesting plant today with large blue like berries in Acadia National Park.  I was tempted to take a bite of one. I have learned not to do this anymore.  I have tried to eat lupines gone to seed thinking they were green beans.  I have eated tree ferns thinking they were a special type of fern Mainers eat!  I need to discover more about Maine before I start harvesting things to eat!   They looked almost artificial.  I wonder what they are called?  Anyone know?  

     Hope you had a great day!  Get outside and paint!

 

  "Saint Saviour Church" 5x7 Oil on Copper  (Unfinished)
     
     Today I was asked to help a friend drive to Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island to see her husband in the hospital.  It took an hour to pick her up and two hours to drive to the hospital.  He was thrown from a horse carriage.  He broke many ribs.  He was in a lot of pain.  I left her alone at the hospital and went downtown to Bar Harbor.  President Obama is in town.  The streets were packed.  I went to Saint Saviour Church.  I sat in the shade in the graveyard to paint this scene.  I have always admired this church's Tiffany glass windows.  I always love to paint paintings of art.  I have painted sculpures and museum spaces.  The Tiffany glass windows I thought might make a nice painting.  This church is full of Tiffany windows.  It is very inspirational to walk inside.  Today I just wanted to be near a Church.  I said a prayer for Les.  I hope his pain will subside. 



  Daisy was still chewing on her bone.  Duke was relaxing on the leather couch.  Such pampered lives they live! 

     I am heading to Park Loop Road to paint tomorrow.  Should be jammed packed with tourists hoping to see President Obama!  Get out and paint!

  "First Wave" 5x7 200$ Oil on Copper panel. Framed and Shipped!  Choice of wood frame.

     I headed to Acadia National Park today!  It was crowded of course.  President Obama is coming to Acadia National Park tomorrow!  I wanted to paint waves today.  Luckily there was plenty!  These two paintings today are just sketches and not finished studio paintings. They have a raw rugged look just as the surf has.  I will do many of these to understand how the surf looks.  They are painted quickly as the tide changes and so does the scene within a half an hour.  Here are two photos of the waves I saw today!





   I went down to the water very close to the big waves to paint "First Wave".  In fact my tennis shoes got wet three times from giant waves rushing up as I painted.  I was nervous about these waves.  My heart was pounding as I painted.  It was so much fun!  Such a challenge.  In the wave photos you can not see the light purple shadow of the wave as it lifts up from the rock after it hits.  I guess this light purple is the juxtapose colors of the rocks themself.  I love being near the sea painting all day.  This is my favorite spot to paint.  My sinuses and skin love the salt air.  I think also it is the most fun a person can have. 

  In between paintings I took photos of where I was painting.

  "Double Whammy" 8x10 Oil on Copper.  250$ Framed and Shipped! 

     This painting took me a few hours.  I had to pull my easel back a few times as the tide came in.  I wasn't really worried about rouge waves as there was no storm.  After storms, sometimes rouge waves, 20 to 40 feet tall waves can come ashore unexpectedly.  Last year in Acadia there was a rouge wave.  It was so tall Park Loop Road's highway was hit with pounding surf.  The rouge wave came up over the tall Spruce trees onto the pavement. 

     I sold two paintings today!  "Pumpkin Time" 3x4 and "Painting Sunflowers" 3x4.  Daisy and Duke celebrated with "Paws" a icecream made for dogs.  This dog icecream contains a lot of vitamins.  They seem more playful the day after eating this treat!  They love it!  They also recieved two raw hide bones each!  They don't really understand the gifts are from painting sales.  They just are happy!  Here are two photos of them enjoying their treats today!  Thank you again for all of the paintings purchased this week!  I sold 7 paintings total!  Fantastic week.  I will be ordering the oak firewood early! 


 
    
     Have a great night!  Get out and paint by the sea!

  "Serenity" 11X14 Oil on Copper panel. Sold! 

     I am so happy to sell 5 paintings this week!  One from my website to a past art collector.  It was very nice to speak to him again.  I am pleased he purchased this painting.  I have used this image on my business card.  I have really enjoyed looking at this painting.  

  "Seagull Nesting in Monhegan" 4x6 Oil on Copper panel.  Sold!  A art collector of mine, Pat, brought two of her friends into my new Lammers Gallery today!  Her friend, Mary Sue, loved this painting.  I asked her if she wanted me to keep the seagull feather that had flew into the wet paint.  She said, "Yes, of course!".  I was painting this seagull on top of a cliff on Monhegan when a small little chick feather flew up and landed on to the painting.  It was sort of an amazing thing to me.  I am glad she liked the feather!

  "Sunset at Cadillac"  8x10 Oil on Copper panel.  Sold!  Sue Ann loved this painting also!  She decided she must have it!  I love when this happens.  Daisy and Duke, my golden retrievers also love these painting sales.  They each recieved three more raw hide bones each.  Because I sold three paintings today, they also recieved "Paws" a dog ice cream treat and a two pound bag of puperoni.  They are smiling and say, "Thank you". 

  "The Boys" 8x10 Oil on Copper panel.  Sold!  Teri loved this painting!  She had passed up a painting once of cows on the beach.  The cows on the beach sold before she could purchase it!  When she saw these nice cows, she knew they must be hers.  This painting at the Bar Harbor Art Show created quite a stir.  I love cows...to eat!

     I spent most of my day mailing off paintings to new art collectors!  I also put Gamblin's Galkyd, a non yellowing medium on finished copper paintings to protect them.  My house is now clean!  Food is in the refrigerator!  John Caggiano is enjoying his stay here.  He has been working hard painting on Mount Desert Island!  Some of his paintings are incredible! 

     Have a great day!  Get outside and paint!

  "Acadia Surf" 8x10 250$ Framed in gold wood and shipped!

     The Art Mentor drove me to Acadia to paint today.  We were expecting rain so I was pleased to wake up to sunshine!  The Art Mentor called and said he would be over in a half an hour to paint.  Off we drove!  When we arrived in Acadia there were tourists everywhere!  Cars lined Park Loop Road!  Buses drove slowly.  People were crossing the road.  The path was filled with tourists hiking.  We were lucky to find a parking space!  We hiked across the road down onto the rocks facing Sand Beach in the distance.  It was high tide and beautiful!  In fact it was more beautiful than the last few days if that is possible.  There was a lot of big waves. 

      The Art Mentor dropped his bags and watched the surf for about an hour.  He took photos and studied the surf while I painted.  I loved how this big wave pounded on a huge rock monument near the shore.  I quickly and bolding painted a larger copper panel 11x14.  It was pretty rough.  I felt very lost without any prior wave painting background at all.  It was a stretch for me.  I knew I didn't have enough knowledge to refine this painting any further.  The Art Mentor was standing behind me looking at this painting I had finished.  I asked him if he thought I might do anything else.  He suggested softening most of the edges and then leaving a few hard lines.  Anything moving will be a soft edge.  Anything round will have a soft edge.  I should have put aside this painting and softened lines in my studio later.  Instead I took my large flat brush and began to sweep over some edges.  This created a mess.  I then poured turpenoid on the painting and wiped it off.  I was not going to repaint this painting.  I didn't want to feel badly about it.  I did the "wipe off!"  I love to do this!  Such freedom the "wipe off" provides.  The problem is completely gone.  The lesson is learned!  No sweat!  No remorse!


     After this "wipe off" painting, I pulled out a painting I worked on all day a few days ago.  I don't usually like to work on dry surfaces.  I added some highlights!  

    The Art Mentor called me over to his easel to see how he softens edges.  He made dancing brush strokes very lightly in the line and back out of the line.  He used a paper towel to clean off his brush.  If he would have cleaned his brush in turpentine, he might have had excess turpentine on his brush which might have ran down into his painting.  He wanted a dry clean brush.  He used the paper towel to gain control.     I like to do this too.  He glazed over some edges lightly.  He didn't do one big horizontal light stroke across the painting as I had  done.  He used small strokes.  Small curved strokes.  

     I also watched his paint the Great Head in the distance.  I have always wondered how to make Spruce tree tops high into the sky area.  He kept the line fairly straight.  He used the tip of his 4 flat brush to create small jagged lines.  He then softened some of these in the manner I described.  I also seem to paint one of two Spruce trees higher than others.  In the background he kept these trees the same height.  In the foreground or middle ground he allowed Spruce trees height to differ.  

     He showed me how to drag the brush back down into the surf some after painting the light foam spraying into the air.  The water is always moving forwards and backwards at once.  He also said to not have the wave go up in the air into a straight line along the coast but to cut in at least a few times. The day was very interesting.  I learned much again! 

     I asked The Art Mentor which body part he would like to show my blog readers.  I thought it might be more respectful to allow him to decide.  I did mention some body parts readers suggested, the ear and a belly button with lint.  He said, "No!" to the belly button.  He said it was too personal.  He decided upon the elbow.  His painting hand elbow. So if you can figure out which hand this elbow is on, then you may discover if The Art Mentor is right handed or left handed!  This could be a valueable clue to discovering who this guy is!  Here is The Art Mentor's elbow without further adiue:

  What a nice elbow The Art Mentor has huh?  You can see some black hairs on this elbow.  Very interesting. 
You may also see a bit of his painting!    Spendid! 


  Here is the view we were painting on Park Loop Road.  Beautiful colors and waves!

     I hope you have a spendid day!  Hope you are painting!

    Here is a seagull painting I am working on in my studio.  It isn't finished yet!  It is a 8x10 Oil on Copper.  It rained all day long so plein aire painting was out for me.  The Art Mentor worked in a studio all day too.  He likes the photos I have been posting of him. 

     I woke up this morning and recieved a phone call from a collector.  He purchased "Serenity" an 11x14 boat painting.  I have this image on my business cards.  I have always liked this painting.  I am pleased to find a good home for this one! 

     I opened up Lammers Gallery today.  I was writing thank you cards with original watercolor paintings on them to collectors.  I heard a car door slam!  I turned on Josh Groban music and soon three customers entered Lammers Gallery.  I knew one of the customers, Nita.  Nita had brought with her two other professional artists.  They were all driving in a caravan style up from Massachusetts to a rented beach house in Lubec.  One of them purchased a painting.  Two painting sales in one day! 
    
     Daisy and Duke celebrated the painting sales with an dog icecream treat called "Paws".  This treat is especially made for dogs and has vitamins and other good tasting ingredients.  John Caggiano wanted one too.  But Robert said no.  Here are a picture of Duke and Duke enjoying their icecream.  They also will recieve each two raw hide bones!  Thank you! 

  Here is Daisy!

  Here is Duke.  He has the closed eye approach to eating his icecream.  I wonder what technique John Caggiano might have used.  Poor John.  He doesn't understand why he was denied his treats.  

      Have a great night!  Get out and paint!

  "Foggy Day in Acadia" 4x6 Oil on Copper panel.  200$ framed and shipped!

     Today The Art Mentor took the day off.  I headed to Acadia National Park to Park Loop Rd.  There was lots of fog and it was nice and cool!  I was happy!  I stood on the path to paint.  I admired the foggy view.  I met lots of nice people as I painted. 

  "Otter Cliff Point" 4x6 Oil on Copper panel.  200$ framed and shipped!

     I relocated down the path on Park Loop Road after my first painting.  I was expecting rain so I painted smaller than usual.  I do like these mini paintings of Acadia.  I think they are very marketable.  I enjoyed painting fog.  I don't do this very often.  The first year in Maine I avoided painting fog.  I didn't know how to tackle painting fog.  Now I love all of the pastel muted colors.  Maine is truly beautiful in fog! 

  Here I am today painting on Park Loop Road.  I loved my office today.  Wonderful!

     After painting these two paintings I went in search of waves.  I hiked down cliffs to the water's edge on park loop road.  I was a little worried a rouge wave would sweep me away.  I just had faith!  What beautiful waves today in the fog.  Wow!  I almost hiked back to get my painting equipment.  I decided just to enjoy it.  I have been working super hard lately.  I do need to just stand and study waves.  So this is what I did!  I love the ocean here in Maine.  Here are a few photos.







  No this is not a part of The Art Mentor.  I just thought you might like to see a close up of seagull's feet.  They are interesting huh?  Have a great day!  I sure did!  Get out and Paint!

  "Acadia Surf"  8x10 Oil on Copper Panel.  350$ Gold wood frame and shipped!

    Today I found myself painting with the two greatest New England landscape artists!  One was John Caggiano.  The other was The Art Mentor who enjoys his privacy, but here is a photo of part of his body.  He likes this idea. 
  If you are good with your computer, you may be able to stategically piece all of these photos of The Art Mentor together to get an idea of who he is.  He has a good solid thigh doesn't he?  I guess of those years of plein aire painting have developed good thighs. 

     I learned a lot today again!  We drove to Acadia National Park.  John Caggiano followed in his own car because The Art Mentor had too many frames and paper towels in his backseat of his car.  We stopped at the bank so I could take care of a chore, to deposit my husband's check!  I came out of the bank to find these two artists outside of their cars talking!  I would not have ever imagined two great artists waiting for me!  Anyway, we arrived at the thunderhole parking area at 1:00pm.  We painted in the same spot as yesterday.  The Art Mentor wanted another crack at this beautiful scene.  We all painted on the cliff overlooking the Great Head and Sand Beach.  I was painting a smaller works while they painted huge paintings.  They had the old style of easel popular with Aldro Hibbard.  I have one of these easels newly manufactured but it was assembled wrong in the factory.  I would like to fix this easel so I could get a try at a larger panel plein aire.  I was admiring their large paintings all day.  I finished mine after four or so hours.  They worked all day until almost 6:30.  Fog had come in covering Great Head and Sand Beach.  John was still working hard.  In fact we left him working away as night fell. 

     I had watched The Art Mentor paint for several hours after I finished my painting.  I noticed he placed warm tans in his sky before he painted in blues.  Then he laid in his blues.  He cut out around areas with a darker vibrant blues.  He had tans in his rocks in the lower region of his painting.  When he placed tans in the sky, your eye was able to travel in a circle around the painting as if it was all connected.  I noticed he shortened the scene to create a stronger composition.  I really admired how he painted Great Head in the distance.  He used cobalt violet in the shadows and cool greens for the trees.  It was a lighter value than the trees closer.  He was placing a few warm darks for shadows under the round pink bolders in the foreground.  

     When we got to my house, The Art Mentor looked at my painting completed today.  He told me, "Your lights are the same temperature as your darks."  He had told me this many times.  I just didn't understand what he meant.  Funny how the simpliest things are the hardest to get sometimes.  I had warm shadows that were browns and purples for rocks.  Then I had warm peaches for my lights in the rocks.  In reality I should have painted the lights of the rocks, a grey or light blue.  The sky is reflected in the lights of rocks.  The other day when he had told me to use ultramarine blue and permanent alizarin in my grass shadows, he was telling me to use a cool color.  Then for the light sunlight areas of the grass, he told me to use another warm color.  He sometimes reverses this to create cool lights and warm darks.  I guess as long as the artist is consistent with the temperatures, then the painting will read correctly.  Interesting huh?  Painting is really hard.  It just doesn't get any easier!  It sure is fun though!  I hope you give it a try!  Here are some photos of Acadia today!

  At first the colors were vibrant! 


  Then the fog came on and cooled the scene off!  Beautiful both ways!  Have a great night!  Thank you for commenting.  I really do enjoy reading them!

  "Fog Lifting in Acadia" 8x10 Oil on Copper panel.  350$ Framed in gold and shipped for free!

     I painted with The Art Mentor in Acadia National Park.  The fog was lingering over Great Head by Sand Beach.  It was an amazing view!  I quickly set up and started to paint.  I knew the fog over Great Head may clear so I tackled this area first.  It was cooler here near the surf.  Many tourists lined the cliffs above looking down on us.  None were as brave to climb over all of the giant rocks to get to us!  It was peaceful!  I watched The Art Mentor who appreciates his privacy here.  But here is a photo of him.

  What nice feet he has.  He is one of the top landscape artists in America.  I am so lucky to be able to paint with him this Summer!   

     I watched him paint the surf for a while.  He used many beautiful colors and had amazing brush strokes!  He was showing me how to create vertical lines in the sky to compensate for all of the horizontal lines of the surf.  Later I watched him paint the water.  It is difficult to paint the moving waves.  You really just have to know how the waves operate.  It takes years of practice.  But it was very challenging and fun to do!  I am learning a lot!  I am really admiring his giant Aldro Hibbard like easel!  It looks like so much fun to paint big!  Who knows!  Maybe...

    John Caggiano is visiting Maine and staying at my house.  He is a great New England plein aire artist.  You can see his art here:  Http://www.JohnCaggiano.com   Here is a photo of him painting down by the edge of the ocean in my back yard! 

All kinds of exciting things are happening!  He is participating in the Argosy Gallery Invitational Plein aire event in Bar Harbor.  He is represented my many galleries.  We chatted about art till 1:30 am.  He gave me great advice while looking at some of my work.  I am learning so much.  I am painting with some of the best New England landscape painters!  I am loving Maine!  Get out and paint!

  "Sandy Point Beach"  8x10 Oil on Copper panel.  350$ Framed and Shipped!

     I painted with The Art Mentor at Four Point State Park in Stockton Springs.  I have never painted birch trees before.  I remember reading in Emile Gruppe's book on painting to make the brush strokes of the birch horizontal not vertical.  I painted the shape of these birch.  I thought it was amazing all of the colors in the birch trees.  Light was reflecting off of the green grass and the sky!  It was magical.  I learned alot today.  Shadow colors of grass can be painted with a mixture of Ultramarine blue and Permanent Alizarin.  Then local color (Greens) can be thrown into this.  The highlight or sunlight areas of the grass should be a completely different color.  This is how an artist creates the feeling of sunlight in a painting.  I was shown how to use my flat brush to pull up on the grass to create the "look" of grass.  I am still using the same color in the shadow as in the light!  I have got to figure out a way to stop doing this!   I loved painting in the shade on such a hot Summer day!  It was in the high 80's! 

     After a quick bite to eat, we headed to another location.  Here we concentrated on a garden.  I learned to put down a light pink hue in the sky to block out this positive area of the sky.  Then put down blue of sky on top of this pink.  This creates a broken color sky so that the sky is not all one color. This also saves sky area so trees do not overtake the sky!  I alway have a tree that gets too big when I am painting!   We painted from 10:00 am till 8:30 pm.  I am getting use to these long days.  I am learning a lot.

  "The Flower Garden"  4x6 Oil on Copper.  200$ Framed and Shipped!

  Here is another photo I took in Baxter State Park at Sandy Point Pond.  What an amazing Summer I am having!  Have a great night!  I hope you get out and paint!

  I went to Baxter State Park again today and headed to Sandy Point Pond.  I have been to this pond several times in search of the elusive MOOSE!  I had never seen one here.  In fact I was quite shocked to finally see this moose!  I took a few photos of this moose from 500 ft away.  I watched for about an hour.  She was half way submerged in the pond water.  Sometimes she stuck her head all of the way under the water.  She emerged quickly with a splash of water.  Her mouth was full of a light colored vegetation.  She chewed until she finished.  Then she would put her head under water again!  I enjoyed listening to her lips smacking!  Once in a while she shook herself creating small waves all around her.  It was pure magic!  After an hour I hiked around the pond to a big rock viewing area.  The sun was directly behind several eager photographers.  They were all smiles!

  Soon the moose started swimming closer and closer!  There was a photographer was a giant 600 photo lens behind me.  Another set of photographers with 400 lenses.  My friend Kathleen herself had a beautiful Nikon D200 with a giant lens.  I sat on the edge of the rock with my feet cooling in the crystal clear water.  I had my modest Kodak Easy Shre Z1015 IS.  This camera is smaller with a 15 x zoom lens built in.  It has been working just fine for me.  It is covered in paint which does get a few critical looks from photographers!  Oh well!  I probably use my camera more than they! 

  The moose seemed to be swimming directly to us!  Some of the photographers noted this.  One was having trouble already because of his super large lens.  Pretty soon he announced, "I am out!  All I am getting is an eye!"  We all chuckled.  Then Kathleen said, "Yeah, I am out too!"  The moose continued to get closer and closer. 

  Pretty soon the moose was 10 feet away, on our side of the pond, next to us!  Most everyone scattered.  I watched the moose and thought, she seems peaceful and unaggressive.  I remained seated at the edge of the rock.  I knew I could get up and run fast if need be!  Finally my camera size was a benefit!  Great shots!



  She was just standing there watching us.  Then she disappeared into the woods!  What great shots! 

     I also took a video of her.  I have not figured out how to show videos here yet!  I have a video of a moose peeing.  Very cool.  Probably would be the only video on UTube of this! 

     I took the day off from painting today!  It has been a while since I have had a day off!  Hope you had a great 4th of July!  Get outside and paint!  It sure is great fun!  Maybe you might see a moose!

    "Stump Pond View of Mount Katahdin"  5x7 Oil on Copper Panel.  Framed and Shipped!  250$

     We drove into Baxter State Park and set up to paint at Stump Pond.  I was trying to find mountain views that didn't require too much hiking!  Kathleen and I are not spring chickens!  Our painting equipment is over 50 pounds.  My tripod is at least 15 pounds.  I am going to purchase a new one which weighs less than 5 pounds!  I did order a baby jogger with 16 inch all terrain tires!  Rock and roll when that jogger comes!  Who knows where I will be painting when this contraption comes.  It was peaceful here at Stump pond.  I think it is a good idea to think of two adjectives to describe the painting scene before an artist starts to paint.  I decided my adjectives were peaceful and majestic. 

  Here is Kathleen, my Florida art teacher friend ,and I painting at Stump Pond.  I was being lazy sitting down! 

  "Stump Pond Mountain View"  5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  Framed and Shipped!  250$

     I like to paint a painting that has a strong sense of place.  I think this Stump Pond is a popular place to come out and search for a moose.  I kept my eye open for moose while I painted.  This really was fun!  I didn't see any moose.  

  "Daicy Pond Katahdin Mountain View"  5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  Framed and Shipped!  250$

     This is a favorite place of mine to visit in Baxter State Park.  Last year my parents and I visited this area.  We spent a few hours here poking around.  There is an old smaller library in a cabin on this Daicy Pond.  Here is a photo of the view here.  It is beautiful.  No hiking required!





     I had a great day!  You are never going to believe what happened to me next!  Get out and Paint!  I will tell you later tomorrow!  It has to do with a MOOSE!

  "View From Sandy Pond"  8x10  This painting doesn't exist any longer!  I will tell you what happened!

     I decided to take Kathleen, my artist friend from Florida to Baxter State Park for a few days.  We were given a three hour pass to park at Sandy Pond.  The hike with heavy artist equipment for o.4 miles seemed longer!  The view at Sandy Pond was incredible.  Mount Katahdin was visible with the pond.  We started to paint right away!  I saw a deer come out of the forest across the way.  It was a peaceful beautiful place to paint!  Here is a photo of our view!



     After painting for four hours, I realized we were past our three hour stay at Sandy Pond!  Time fell by quickly here.  So we started to hike back to the car.  We were talking away.  I took a photo of Kathleen hiking with a heavy easel above her head with lots of other bags too!  She decided to take a similar photo of me. 

  This was a nice photo of myself hiking, happy, carrying equipment.  I was laughing, stumbled on a rock, and before I knew it I was in the bushes!  The following photos Kathleen continued to take!  They are pretty funny.  One is missing because it showed too much skin!





 

     I recovered from my fall and was fine.  I think my neck and back are a wreck, but luckily Robert is a physical therapist and can fix me right up!  The painting I did today did not survive the fall.  I had placed the painting in a "handy porter" a cardboard box wet painting carrier.  It didn't seem to protect the painting as usual.  It is getting old.  I guess I need to purchase a new one.  It was really cheap.  My mom purchased it from Guerrilla Painter.com.  I have used it almost everyday for a year.  It is very light weight.  

     Outside of Baxter State Park on the same road, we saw two mooses!  I stopped.  We took photos!  Here is Kathleen taking a picture of a young moose!



  Here are a few other moose pictures.  We saw a total of three moose!  Exciting! 







     There is a new restaurant in Millinocket!  Robert and Daisy and Duke are coming up to Millinocket too!  We are going to stay here for a few days!  I will keep posting our photos and experiences!  I hope you are painting outside!  Have a great night!