Add a duck!

Some progress shots of another river painting in the works. While I was working on it last night, I showed it to Robb for feedback. He said, "It needs something....why don't you add a duck?" He was being (at least half) serious, but I giggled so hard that I'm afraid, "Add a duck!" might become his standard response to all future painting questions. I will post the finished painting in the next few days. Probably without a duck.

3: Ocean City Harbor scene

"View from The Shark" - 5"x7", acrylic and china marker on canvas panel, 2015.



One of my high school teachers asked me if I had any beach or boat paintings. When I told him that I'm mainly into farms and trees, he said I needed to expand my repertoire. Thanks for the challenge, Fred Husman! Using a picture he took of Ocean City Harbor looking toward Assateague Island for inspiration, I made a series of sketches. The painting above is my first stab at it. And I'm working on a looser, larger version as well.

2: Three years thinking about this one

"Dave's House" - 11" x 14", acrylic and china marker on Gessobord, 2015 -- SOLD.

Dave lives along the highway in Snow Hill, Maryland. I was a little nervous when he marched toward my car. But he wanted me to pull my car into the driveway, so I would not get clobbered by a chicken truck. He was pretty proud of the fact that the old house frequently attracts artists.

A friend said to me, "Such a nice story," and I told her, "Oh, that's not the story of this painting."

Dave is a tall, thin man with his long hair tied in a low, uncombed ponytail. He walked up shirtless in his Levis and work boots to give me fair warning that he was about to do some target shooting out behind the house. He didn't want me to hear gunfire and freak out. I remain grateful to him for having the forethought to leave his rifle on the porch before coming to talk to me. If I'd seen an armed property owner coming at me while plein air painting...then this would be the story of how I soiled myself and drove like a bat outta hell.

1: Into the mist

"Going Wander-Ways" - 7x5, acrylic and china marker on canvas panel.

The title is from something Keats wrote in a letter to a friend before embarking on a walking tour of Great Britain. Shame he didn't pack a scarf... This painting is of the Pocomoke River as it meanders through Snow Hill, Maryland. I painted it from memory and imagine this to be a misty morning in early spring. There is a fresh, wet, green smell in the air.