Nicole

Random Musing No. 1

The human eye has a range of 120°, mostly peripheral vision, compared to the camera’s typical 200° or more. That is why the figures sometimes seem distorted at the edges of a photograph. We make up for this seeming deficit by moving our focus (in movements called “saccades”) around a scene to build up a gestalt awareness of its appearance.

A painting, curated by human intelligence, is superior in every respect to a photograph, except for how long it takes to make it. If cameras took three hours to create the exact same image as they do now in a split second, there would be no question as to which medium people would choose when they needed an image recorded.

New Portraits

Kris (left) and Dave.

Recent Portraits

Mollie, below, was the last portrait I painted in 2017. I’ve been experimenting with an imprimatura but I didn’t have a toned canvas ready so this is painted on a white background. Just as well, as the model was so pale I would have done the entire piece in pale tints of white.

Mollie

That is precisely what happened with this portrait, the first oil painting of 2018. The tone is way too dark and as a result this is a chalky, unsuccessful painting.

Chrissy

This last painting was done on a much more delicate background, and is perhaps the most successful of the three.

Elizabeth

All from Kate Huntington’s Tuesday portrait session.

Recent Stuff

I always forget to update this blog. Here’s some new stuff since October:

Dauna

Tomatoes II

Hatch

Paul

The “Tomatoes” watercolor is a replacement for another painting of the same subject I sold. Dauna, Hatch, and Peter are from Kate Huntington’s portrait painting session. I’m experimenting with imprimaturas again (every 40 years, need it or not). I can’t help but feel it’s cheating.

Aurora

Some Figure Drawings

I finished off an 18×24 drawing pad the other day. Here are some of the pieces I particularly liked.

September – Part 2

Some more paintings from the past few weeks. FYI, I now limit myself to one self portrait per yer.

Rumford River, Norton

Emma’s

2017 Self Portrait

September – Part 1

Thought I’d put this in now and, hopefully, remember to update it at the end of the month. That’s Hull, a lovely little town on an island in Boston Harbor, a view of the Neponset River in Foxborough, and yesterday’s painting, a meadow in Mendon, MA.

Hull, Oils

Duckweed, Oils

Mendon, Oils

August

OK, the first painting is a still life I painted in grad school 30-odd years ago. I was showing it to someone on Facebook. The Dighton painting is a result of a little game I like to play, “Ask the Local.” I stopped a pedestrian and asked her where I should paint and she sent me to this beauty spot on the Berkley line. Westport is on the Massachusetts south shore, Third Beach is in Newport, and Squantum Point is in Boston 1000 yards from the big painted oil tank on 93. The airport is in the distance and I couldn’t resist including one of the jets that flew directly overhead at a disconcertingly low altitude regularly.

The Still Life That Dare Not Speak Its Name, Oils

Dighton, Oils

Westport, Oils

Third Beach

Squantum Point, Oils