The Way Maine Makes Me Feel, 6x6 Inch Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

Perfect blue sky, gentle breeze, deep blue ocean... lone island against a far shore.....  shell pink horizon... one tiny puffy cloud.

Slight wind... two, no three more puffy clouds, still small.... then more... then larger, heavier, plump and luscious clouds..... wind picks up... water unsettled...

Then GUSTs of wind.. a parade of chunky clouds, water flipped by the wind that picks up my palette and throws it facedown on the rock bound coast of Maine.....  the growth of a Maine morning....

Laughter of fellow painter....  another rushes with paper towels, scramble to save the tubes of paint skittering away into the crevices... a decision to save the rest of the painting for another day, when the scent of the ocean is a vague memory and the visual of the army of clouds bringing flinging breath disrupting my efforts..... *love* Maine.

Old Barn, 8x8 Inch Oil Painting on Paper by Kelley MacDonald

8x8 Inch Oil on Arches Oil Paper

Another one from Hersey Farm in Hingham.  Loved painting the weathered wood!  Once again, keeping it loose.  It's funny, when I first started painting I wanted to be EXACT EXACT - totally realistic - photo realistic if I could.   I now think that it is actually harder to paint a good, solid, loose piece.  Carol Marine said once that you progress to a certain point, then you have to decide - extreme realism or expressionism.  The masses certainly admire extreme realism ("Ohhh, it looks just like a photo!" *cringe*).  But at this point I"m leaning towards a certain degree of expression.  Even though my darling husband will inevitably say "Couldn't you paint the shingles?

Well, here in our little corner of the world, we have had 2 beautiful days after the 4th of July.  So.... for all the kvetching and napping and reading that got done on the 4th - good!  Sometimes it takes an act of God to make me relax.  So... thank You!

Hersey Farm View, 6x6 inch Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

$100 & $10 S&H

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Last week I had the great pleasure of painting with some fabulous painters at Hersey Farm in Hingham MA.  We decided to paint in 'study' mode - not to get too wrapped up in detail, in a struggle for perfection, and rather to be more impressionistic, to be loose - but correct.  It was wonderful, and we all got a few nice pieces.  This on is a view up at meadow.. with a bit of standing water brightly reflecting the incredible blue sky that day.  The cows will be coming to this farm soon for summer grazing.  We've been invited back.  I cannot wait!

We saw at least 13 different sets of fireworks tonight.  You have to find things every day to be grateful for.  I am.  So grateful.  For my family, my friends, my work....

The Oil House, 6x6 Inch Oil Plein Air Painting by Kelley MacDonald

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Better than a scrapbook, better than a photo, having my plein air paintings from different trips bring me right back to that location.  I spent a blissful day painting at the Pemaquid Light House last week.  For $2, I got to park, wander, paint, check out the lighthouse  station, 2 outbuildings, see a an art show, use the restrooms, get food from the cafe next door and have a picnic.

I also met LOTS of nice people.  There was a watercolor workshop next door with Skip Lawrence - really!  And the participants wandered over and spoke to me - two gals from Montreal and I had a great long discussion of workshops in general, and abstraction, mediums, etc... I await their friend requests on Facebook ;)

Hanna's, 11x14 inch Acrylic Painting by Kelley MacDonald

Been off 'the grid' for a week, as it was my yearly trip to Maine with the South Shore girls.  This year we had phenomenal weather, not that it really matters to us - in case of rain or fog we just set up our easels inside and do interiors, or still life!  

We stay in a big farmhouse at the edge of a cove.  Mornings we wake early (I think every one of us saw 4:58 at least once) because the light is so intense, and we grab our morning beverage of choice and either pad down to the dock and listen to the water lap and the fishermen get ready for their day or we park ourselves on the rockers on the large porch and read or sketch.  Then we start in earnest.... someone found a field of buttercups not to be missed, someone wants to paint the rocks at the point, or the lupines growing almost everywhere.  Everyone is considerate and kind, and we enjoy fabulous food (we each cook one night) and icy beverages (my specialty was Cosmos) and watch the rosy sky, talking about art, families, our struggles and joys.... and THIS week Sally Dean Mello and I cracked the code for using the DVD player, so we watched movies at night.

This painting was done with Sally and Peggy Farrell Bruno and it was my favorite from the week. Please check out their blogs, as well, I think you'll like what you see! After 4 days of plein air painting (boats, crashing waves, still life on the porch, landscapes, etc.) I FINALLY relaxed.  

I'm grateful for this annual trip.  It re-sets my clock.  Takes down my blood pressure.  Gets me to really reflect on a lot of things.  I am simply, now, a Maine-iac.  And I love it!

AAaaaand this year we went to Maine earlier, so I could be with my husband on our anniversary (#36), which is the 24th! 

All Of The Tulips, 6x6 Inch Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

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The last of these gorgeous tulips.  Now I'm itching for other colored tulips.  I've never painted white ones, so there's that, but I do love the orange ones, and then the yellow ones always 'get to' me....  We'll see what looks good when I shop!

Happy Easter, Passover, whatever holiday you observe.  I'm going to try for an Easter without chocolate (I know, right?  What's the point - kidding!).    

Well, I'm thinking that the warmer weather will bring some fun plein air painting.  I'm going to do a 'Safari' again this Spring/Summer, where we go to a different location each week, with a demo, painting and then a supportive critique.  Also, if you are in the Boston/South Shore area and are interested in a one-day Plein Air Workshop, I'm thinking of putting one together.  email me at kcareymac@hotmail.com.  Again... FUN!

Also I have room for maybe one more person in my Saturday class, it's ongoing and there are some very cool people you would love to paint with in it!  10-1 at my Warren Studio.  Just email me to let me know you're coming.  It's week-to-week, $25 each.

Fogland Beach,

$100 & $10 S&H

Sitting in a beach chair... bottle of water, sandwich, good book and loyal dog under the chair... does it get any better?  Paco and I had our first 'beach day' yesterday, and I painted the little town beach called Fogland Beach.  It was so restful.  All Summer I painted in my studio, and now that it's September (my favorite month) I'm into the glittering water, the little boats going by, the lapping waves.   Today - another beach - I'll post that tomorrow.

Cheers to all my painting friends, and new painting friends to come, in my upcoming classes.  Should be GREAT! :)  I have 2 options - a weekly class on Fridays, and once a month, a full day on the 3rd Thursday on the month!!

Jamestown Rocks, 6x8 Inches, Plein Air Oil Painting

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This week's Safari (Thursday) was held on a day that was billed to be a disaster in terms of weather.  3 of us boldly went ahead and re-visited the rocks at Beavertail Lighthouse in Jamestown.  We were steeled for blistering heat.  What we got was FOG, and, man it was chilly!!!  The lighthouse itself had fog drifting around it, so my first inclination was thwarted, as I wanted to take a run at the white stucco walls and red roofs.

But Carole pointed out the gorgeous sea-green spot in the water among the crashing waves - ah!  That's what I had to paint.  Strangely enough what I enjoyed MOST about this painting was the rocks - they seemed to take form on their own, and the lovely colors showed through.

One of those days when life give you lemons.... and you make lemonade!

*Oh, yes, my new easel withstood whipping wind without blowing over the cliffs this time (yup, rocks in the trash bag, and the backpack clipped onto it as an anchor!).  I foolishly tucked about 50 business cards in a baggie under my turp container... nowhere to be found when I returned from checking out my students' work...  Moby Dick, if you see them, you can drop them at my house!

Bristol Swing Bridge, 8x10, Oil

NFS

This was my favorite painting done on location in Maine last week.  It is in South Bristol, I believe, and it is at the location of a tiny Swing Bridge (the whole piece of road spins around like a top to let the boats go by), and in a couple of years from now it will be a drawbridge, as all the Swing Bridges in Maine are slated for replacement.   If you know who Connie Hays is, I think she painted in this area, too.  I was very disciplined about using my new viewfinder with grid lines - as there was so much I wanted to include, plus the wind-y road and the house on the hillside.... it made it so much easier!  

I enhanced the colors on the houses and road, because... well, because I wanted to.  I, at this point in Maine, started feeling freer.  It has continued and expanded since I've come home.  When I show you the first painting I did in my studio when I got back I'm sure each and every one of you will say "Wait.... WHO is this person who painted this???"  And I'm having a walloping good time doing it, that's what I'll say!

Christmas Cove, 8x8 Inches, Oil

Christmas Cove, 8x8 Inches

I am a little technologically challenged here at our retreat in Maine!  I have to drive into the Post Office parking lot to make a call from my cell phone, and make a 1/2 hour trip to the closest wi-fi.   I just loved this little painting I got done the other morning.  The light was perfect and it just seemed to flow.  I don't sell the paintings I do on these trips, they are way better than postcards.

It's like a girls' camp here.  We paint, we read, we tell stories, and eat very well!  We are all lavishing attention on 'Maurice', as we call him (better than 'Hitler, regardless of the mustache!), who literally 'laps it all up'.

Everywhere I look is a painting.
Oh, yeah, and I was almost eaten by a lobster - they're BIG up here!

**forgive me for not responding to comments or emails - I have no internet connection and have to drive a long way to get one....I'll be home soon!**

Maine Morning, 8x8, Oil

I just realized I've hit 600 posts - this is an amazing thing for me.  How quickly time flies!  I can honestly say I've enjoyed every post, and doubly enjoyed the new friends I've made through blogging! 

This was a plein air study done on the dock on the last painting day in Maine.  I loved the pink buoy!  I've got a bit of traveling to do, a little anniversary trip to Quebec where we spent our honeymoon, 33 years ago.  Aside from that I wrenched my neck and shoulder walking Paco last weekend, (he saw something behind us and ran full tilt while I was walking the other way!) and have been unable to paint!  Hopefully by Tuesday I'll be in the swing of things again, and I'll return dying to paint (I am already!).

Pemaquid Rocks, 11x14, oil

$150 & $10 S&ampH

These finger-like slabs of ancient rocks are made up of all types of stone squashed together during the last glacier.  I loved seeing the colors within.  This was done perched on a slab of stone across a tiny cove.  Any move could've sent me and my gear down onto the rocks in the water.  So I was VEEERRY careful.  Hope you're all enjoying family and fun this weekend....

Island at New Harbor, Maine, 6x8, Oil

Blue, blue... my world was blue... sitting on the rocky coast painting the islands around New Harbor, ME last week.  Funny, when I was done painting this I packed up and turned around for a last look, and the water was FILLED with bright buoys!  I guess all the lobster traps got filled!

Demo at North River Festival, 6x8

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This painting of the Photography Exhibit Barn at North River was the demo I worked on on Sunday afternoon.  It was a beautiful day - the actual painting is brighter on the grass and on the tent top.  There's some really fine work at this exhibit.  The whole view, almost, for me, was in shadow, so that in itself was a challenge.  But I just kept plugging away, liking the way the orange underpainting was peeking though.  Thanks for those who visited, and who picked up the older Daily Paintings in the Barn...

Plein Air - Beach! 6x8 Oil

My monthly Challenge Group meets next week, and the assignment this month was "Plein Air - Beach"!  So Paco and I headed over to the beach across the street before anyone else was there (hence the long shadow from the Lifeguard's chair.  The view is looking down the river, past Little Gould Island, with Aquidneck Island (think Newport) on the right bank and Tiverton and Little Compton on the left - of which you can only see a little peek of Tiverton in this painting.  The little piece you can see is called "Fogland" - and I just love to go there when it is foggy - it's like another world.

Now, here's the scene from my evening walk with Paco - facing the opposite way up the river...

Peace.

Bloggers don't forget Leslie Saeta's Radio show "Artists Helping Artists" today - noon-the topic is "Selling Art While You Sleep" - which is OK in my book!

Hazzards Of Plein Air

This 8x10 is one I left for my hostess at the beach house.  I loved the way the light hit the closed green shutters! I did it at early light, and it is a house across the street that you could see from the kitchen windows.  No fear, I did it outside.  However, I foolishly laid it down on the patio to dry out a little in the heat of the day, and left to paint somewhere else - and all kinds of sand, dirt, and debris blew onto the wet paint.  When the paint is dry she can brush this off, but sheesh!  

I love doing this, leaving a painting for the owner of a place I've gone to paint.  I have another paint-a-thon coming up this Fall on Cape Cod, where I get to stay the week and paint like crazy, and they get to choose a painting.  Wonderful for me, I hope also wonderful for them!  They get to collect original art and it's off-season, so they're not really losing any money!  So!  If you know of anyone who has a vacation home and would like to trade a painting for time spent there in off-season, let me know!

Hazy Evening, 8x10, Oil

My plans were to go to the beach last night to paint, but it was so gray/silver with so much haze I thought I'd just wait till sunset to see if that brought any color.  It did, and this was a plein air piece done from my front porch.  Sorry it didn't make it into the post Thursday morning, my laptop 'mouse' froze up and I was WITHOUT INTERNET for the evening and morning.  Talk about withdrawals!

$100 & 10 S&H via Paypal  

Stonebridge Area!!! 8x10, Oil

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With temperatures in the 50's+ and a still, sunny day, I took Paco down to the Stonebridge and looked up towards Coastal Roasters Coffee Shop.  Scene was a little more complicated than I first thought (hmmmm...) and before I knew it 3 HOURS had gone by - the light had changed, and we were DONE!  I am so proud of Paco, he was the BEST plein air dog ever.  I made a bed out of sheepskin (fake) and beach towels with 3 of his babies, a bone and a bowl of water (really, it was easier taking my little kids places).  And he sat, sniffed the salt air, and lolled about, thoroughly enjoying himself.  Only had to interrupt painting twice to pull cigarette butts out of his mouth - do people not think that's litter?  Anyway, it was a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

$100 & $10 S&H via PayPal 

In Little Compton

Yesterday my friend Sally Dean, of the 365 Flowers Blog fame, came by to paint. We went to Little Compton, to a magical property owned by a generous woman who told me I could paint there - and every turn was a beautiful view. We were overwhelmed. I started with this little 6x6 inch oil, above. The view was east-ish, actually over their wall into the land next door.

Then, afterwards, I turned west, towards the Sakonnet River, and painted a corner of their house with hydrangeas in an 9x12 format. Thank you, Mary, we had a wonderful day!

First Forsythia, 6x8 Oil, Plein Air

This is a wimpy photo (the blue of the water is much richer in person and the yellow stands out in more contrast, but I've fiddled and fooled around with the image I'm practically cross-eyed. I have been stuck in a storm of technology, appliance and auto crises, and I can hardly THINK let alone paint! Yesterday, on the long stretch of Metacom Avenue through Bristol and Warren that leads me to my studio, I kept hearing what I thought was a plane flying low overhead. Then I noticed I was hearing it every time I had to stop at a red light. Rolled down the window, and realized it was MY CAR. By the time I got to the studio it was making this grinding noise all the time, not just when I was stopping. So I crawled home at 20 mph (SORRY, anyone who was behind me!) and dropped it at the mechanic. The list of things that was wrong with my brakes went on.... and on... and now I'm car-less for a day. Sorry to unburden!

When I got home it was a gorgeous day - like a wind storm on the back side of the house - calm as can be on the front porch - so I hunkered down on the front steps and painted this less-than wonderful painting of an old forsythia. Behind the forsythia is the road, about 3 feet lower than the grass, and the sea wall that keeps the river from my steps. Bear in mind that it is the FIRST plein air attempt of the year!