This is a sketch of The Sarah Mildred Long Bridge. It's a challenge to observe a landscape and paint the way it feels without specifically naming things. That is what I am trying to do here. This process forces me to respond directly to the canvas as things make sense to me instead "painting the bridge". I really enjoy working in this way.

These sketches are from a painting session with dancers from the Portland Ballet. Respectively, two 5 minute poses, a 15 minute pose, a 20 minute pose, and a 35 minute pose. I am after gesture and light as well as the relationship between the figures. As usual, big brushes, and working quickly. No time to get into the details.

I used a fairly limited palette. However, I use an unlimited amount of paint. Always a lot of paint.

Mark making helps express the energy of things. Large, clumsy brushes help me stay loose. As do knives. I am not interested in painting the details, but the essence of my subject matter. These tools often leave unexpected marks. Those are the happy accidents that I marvel at.

Colors on my palette are typically: Titanium white, cad red light/dark, cad light yellow, lemon yellow, naples, alizaron crimson, burnt sienna, colbalt blue, french ultramarine, veridian, and some times a few adds like: ochre, raw sienna, kings blue. it depends on whether I'm inside or outside.

I did this little 12"x12" painting today. I was getting my lunch at one of my favorite local spots and saw a the salt and pepper shakers sitting so beautifully together in some great light. And, since it is Valentine's Day and it's all about relationships, I thought, perfect inspiration for today's work. Enjoy.

It was quite a nor'easter. But great after the storm scene at north Hampton nh state beach.

Here are two fifteen minute studies I did at an open painting/drawing session at Rivertree Arts in Kennebunk, Maine. There were two dancers from the Portland Ballet posing. While the subject matter was outstanding, the light was not. And it shows up in these sketches. You just can't get that luminosity if the light isn't right.