Pastel Sketches from Front Ridge

These are some sketches that I've done over the past couple of weeks of the view from the Front Ridge Road here in Littleton, looking West towards New Brunswick. I have had to work very quickly on these because of the temperamental weather – I never know when a thundershower is going to strike. If we get a good, clear day I would like to bring a canvas up there and do a painting.

Fox's Hill (oil on canvas, 2009)

This is a view looking south towards Wiley Road down the ATV trail that will eventually take one to the Meduxnekeag Ramblers Club House. It is a spot that reminds me more of England than northern Maine, oddly enough. I can honestly say that I've lost about a pound of flesh and at least two pints of blood to the black flies over the past four weeks while making numerous drawings of this view. I found the geometry of the paths and newly tilled potato fields to be particularly interesting. I know that I went too far with the yellow-greens and the oranges, but it works for the picture.

There's a big red fox that lives on that hill in the upper right and he sat there watching me draw on two different occasions.

View Down the Front Ridge (pastel, 2009)

After six days of rain, the sun came out briefly last Thursday and I did this pastel from the Front Ridge Road which offers some fantastic views looking east out over the numerous Littleton potato farms towards New Brunswick. I had to work fairly quickly as the sun was setting behind me. Given the plethora of subject matter in front of me, it was a good exercise in editing out unnecessary information. I liked the way the fence posts help to establish the space going down the hill in the foreground and there was a big cloud out towards Fredericton that was catching the light from the setting sun and giving off a pinkish-orange glow.The drawing has some problems, but I look forward to returning to this subject some more over the next few weeks.

Fork in the Road (oil on canvas, 2009)

A Very Green Spring (oil on Canvas, 2009)

(Private Collection)
This is the old Henderson sheep farm on the Carson Road, which I have drawn and painted many times in the past and which I still find to be a subject that offers numerous possibilities for composition and color. This was based on a pencil drawing, that had quite a few sheep in it, and a pastel sketch (see below) that didn't have any sheep.

Path on a Hillside (oil on canvas, 2009)

(Private Collection)
I did most of this during my Open Studio Masterclass this past Thursday evening, with some finishing touches added on Friday afternoon and Saturday. Usually my students paint while I walk around the studio offering advice, suggestions, criticism, relevant comments, etc.. They suggested that it might be educational for them if I were to work along with them so that they could observe my process directly. So, I worked on this painting, which is based on a pastel sketch that I did last week.

Through the Hollow (pastel, 2009)

(Private Collection)

Sketchbook Pages

Now that the snow is (finally) gone, I've spent the last few weeks going out almost daily, getting eaten alive by black flies and drawing, either in pastel or pencil. I've tried painting outside during this time of year, but I always end up dozens of insects stuck in the paint – a real nuisance! By the first week of July it's pretty easy to work outside, bug-free. I have also been stretching and priming a dozen canvases and looking forward to painting with green again. When I do these drawings, I focus on finding compositional and color relationships which may be developed into paintings later on, rather than "descriptive" information. Rather than bringing my big bag of expensive pastels, these are done with the remains (mostly very small pieces and crumbs) of my first pastel set, a set of 30 Rembrandt half sticks that I bought in 1999. Because of the rapidly changing light and the insects, I have to work very quickly. I do a lot of these types of drawings and it usually feels like I'm panning for gold. Usually I come up empty, but once in a while I get something that has promise. Here are a couple of those.

This is the old Henderson sheep farm that I've draw dozens of time over the past three years and which continues to give me inspiration. Lately, the sheep have been out en force, but they usually flee to the top of the hill as soon as they notice me.


This is the entrance to a field on the Carmichael Road, directly across from the two barrels that I painted last fall. I went back to this spot on three different days.

Dexter and Pam's House (oil on canvas, 2009)

My wife's car had to have the engine replaced and, as a result, was at the mechanic's from early March until the end of April. This left me without a car during the day so I was forced to work within walking distance of my house. This is a painting of my neighbors' house and dairy barn, about a mile up the road, when we still had a great deal of snow on the ground. I did a number of drawings just after noon time over the course of about a week and worked the painting up in the studio. The house, like my own, is over a hundred years old and probably doesn't have square corner anywhere on it at this point. Because of this, I left the drawing of the house a little loose.

Ides of March (oil on canvas, 2009)

Valentine's Day (oil on canvas, 2009)

(Private Collection)

Halloween (oil on canvas, 2009)

(Private Collection)
This small painting (10 x 20) is based on a charcoal drawing that I did on Halloween last year, in between my kids' party at school and taking them out for Trick or Treating. This is an old house a few miles up the road from me that's been for sale for a long time. I fear that having been unoccupied for so long and not heated during the winters, that it may be starting to sustain some structural damage. I pulled in to the driveway and was immediately struck by the long shadow cast on the wall. I thought it was kind of spooky, but maybe it was just the day. The original drawing included all of the dormers and much more of the roof, but I think it works better cropped this way.

Gerry's Barns in Winter (oil on canvas, 2009)

(Private Collection)
I finished this painting about 5 weeks ago but I misplaced my digital camera so I haven't been able to post anything. These are the same barns from a painting called "Last Days of Summer" that I did a couple of years ago. When I was out drawing these back in September 2006 the owner came down to see what I was up to and we talked for a little while. He indicated that he was planning to have the barns pulled down before the end of that year, but I am glad to see that, two and a half years later, they are still standing.

Blue October Sky (oil on canvas, 2009)

(Private Collection)
First painting of the new year. I didn't get much work done during the holidays. Well, not much art work, anyway. Plenty of baking, writing out Christmas cards, shopping, wrapping, cleaning, and entertaining house guests. Then, I almost managed to burn my studio down when I absent-mindedly left a plastic can of black house paint on top of my heater and the bottom melted out. It has taken me two weeks to finally get the smell of burnt plastic out of the building.

I laid out the composition for this painting back in November and, prior to the holidays, I did about half a dozen small color studies, mostly experimenting with different colors for the sky, which for some reason, I thought had to be any color but blue. In the end, I couldn't decide and figured that I should stop thinking about it and just start the painting and that I would know what color to paint the sky when the time came. It turned out blue after all. At least I know that I didn't choose blue out of indolence – it was chosen to bring out the oranges in the grass.

October Light (oil on canvas, 2008)

(Private Collection)
I actually finished this right before Christmas but haven't had a chance to photograph it and post it until now. These are one very old and two fairly new barns next to the ITS trail where it crosses Wiley Road here in Littleton. I parked my car across from here one Saturday afternoon in late October and hiked south on the ITS trail with my pastels and easel to a nice clearing with a tractor path meandering through it and a very old tree that held a lot of promise for a compositional subject. Unfortunately, after setting up, I heard far to many rifle shots to feel comfortable (I have been told by a reliable source that a stray rifle bullet can travel as far as two miles.) so, dejectedly, I hiked back to the car and as I was loading my gear into the back I saw the afternoon sun hitting the side of this old barn and once again, as so often happens, found my subject in a place where I hadn't expected to.

Cold Winter Morning (pastel, 2008)

Since the ground is covered with snow and I'm freezing inside my house, I figured I had better post something more recent, and with some white in it. I did this drawing yesterday and decided to use it on my Christmas cards. The wind chill yesterday morning (and today!) was about 20 below zero...and it's not even winter yet. But I'm not complaining. It's supposed to get up to 40 degrees tomorrow – a heat wave, no less!

The sunsets here in northern Maine can be breathtaking, especially when there are clouds in the sky and they light up pink and orange, but the pink sky early on a winter morning is also quite beautiful (if you're willing to go outside at 7am when the wind chill is 20 below zero). That's the same barn as in the "Lonely Barn" painting below, but seen from further down the hill, and I've included the house and other structures so the barn isn't as lonely, especially with it being so close to Christmas.

Tractor Path (oil on canvas, 2008)

(Private Collection)
I have been out running and on sketching hikes on this particular tractor path on numerous occasions over the past year and the geometry of the path, as it snakes through the fields, down the hill and back up again, has always been interesting to me. The mound of earth in the distance to the left of the path always reminds me of Thomas Hardy's "Return of the Native" (and if you know the story, you'll know where the name of my studio comes from...). That's the Littleton Baptist church on Route 1 in the distance.

Lonely Barn (oil on canvas, 2008)

Two Barrels (pastel, 2008)

This is a field off of the Carmichael Road, about 2 miles from my house. I have taken my 4-year-old son for walks past here dozens of times and have often wanted to make a picture from it. The view always reminds me of Andrew Wyeth, probably because of the high horizon and the old empty barrels. I did this drawing about three weeks ago on a beautiful October day.

Rainy September (oil on canvas, 2008)

(Private Collection)
I saw this view on Ingraham Road, about a mile and a half from my house, one day while out running just after it had stopped raining. I walked up there the next day with my backpack full of drawing materials, my portable easel and my drawing board to make some compositional studies. As I was walking up Route 1 on the way there, I happened to notice one of the Border Patrol vehicles drive past me. About a half an hour later, I had my easel set up on the side of the road and was well into my drawing when I sensed a car approaching from my right and slowing down to a stop. I looked up and it was the same Border Patrol truck that I had seen earlier. The driver rolled down his window and asked me the strangest question: "Are you looking for something?" Had I been quick-witted, I might have replied "Yes, inspiration." but instead I just asked him what he meant. He said, "I saw you walking up the road earlier and I thought you might be looking for something." I am not sure how he came to that conclusion, but I explained that I was an artist and what I was doing and he wished me well and drove away. Very odd...

Tractor Path studies (pastel, 2008)

These are a couple of pastel studies that I did of a subject that I am currently making a painting of. It is a view from a tractor path through some corn and potato fields, facing west towards US Route 1. The first one (bottom) was done on an overcast day in early October. I liked the composition but wasn't happy with the colors. I went back a week later on a nicer day and moved my easel over to the left. I liked the colors better in the second one (top) and the view of the Littleton church at the top, but I was not happy with the tractor path in the foreground. I went back again last Sunday afternoon but there were gunshots all around (it's hunting season up here and not everyone adheres to the "No Hunting on Sundays" rule.) so I turned around and hiked back to my car without getting any work done. I have incorporated the elements that I like from both of these into a painting which I have been working on for the past week.

Littleton, Maine (oil on canvas, 2008)

This was a painting that I had done in early September (see below) and thought it was finished. However, after hanging it in my gallery and having to see it every day, I became dissatisfied with the "blueness" of the sky so I put it back on the easel and repainted the sky. To compensate for the changes, I ended up repainting most of the canvas.

Barn Over a Rise (pastel, 2008)

I have wanted to make a picture of this subject for a long time. I did another drawing, which was a horizontal composition, and I was not happy with at all. I did some compositional studies in my studio and discovered that it worked better as a vertical so I went back to the location and did this, which I am happier with. I wanted to do a painting of this subject, but where I was happy with the pastel, I was afraid that I would end up just trying to copy it. I eventually did the painting (see above) but changed the colors and eliminated one of the fence posts from the composition.

Harvest Time (pastel, 2008)

Field at Sunset (oil on canvas, 2008)

This was a painting that I did last summer which, at the time at least, I was very pleased with. However, as the year went on I began to have misgivings about it. It was hanging in the window of a gallery in downtown Houlton over the summer and when I saw it there I was horrified and realized that I had completely missed the mood that I was trying to capture so I took it home, sanded it down and repainted the whole thing over the past two weeks. I am much happier with it now. The sanding down and repainting has given the surface a very dense texture that reminds me of some of JWM Turner's paintings that I love so much and I am eager to explore this kind of textural surface build up some more in the future.

Littleton, Maine (oil on canvas, 2008)

This is from a view looking south on the Framingham Road in early September. I had done a pastel of this view, which I liked, so I took my easel out to the location and began the painting there, finishing it up in the studio. It is a wonderful time of year here for color. The potato fields, almost ready for harvest, are a brilliant green and they often neighbor fields of wheat which have an intense golden yellow color. By early October the potatoes will all have been dug up and the wheat mowed down and the landscape will take on a radically different color. Of course, not long afterwards it will all be covered with three feet of snow (but let's not think about that!).

Saturday Morning, Presque Isle (oil on canvas, 2008)

(Private Collection)
This, along with the pastel below, were done as part of the "Paint Presque Isle" fund raiser event sponsored by the Aroostook Partners for the Arts yesterday. Artists were invited to paint within the confines of a specific area in downtown Presque Isle and the work was auctioned later in the evening to raise money for educational arts events for school children. I ended up spending a lot more time on this (almost five hours) than I originally thought that I would. I am sure that my love of Edward Hopper had something to do with my selecting this particular view, but I also have always enjoyed the receding perspective of railroad tracks, which I don't get to see very often near where I live.

Bench Swing (pastel, 2008)

(Private Collection)
I did this yesterday as part of the "Paint Presque Isle" fund raiser event sponsored by Aroostook Partners in the Arts. I had worked all morning and into the afternoon on an oil painting (see above) but still had a couple of hours left before the work had to be turned in for the auction that was to take place that evening. I had thought this view of the bridge was nice when I was scoping out locations early in the morning but it seemed that it would be better once the sun was a lot further to the west. I had originally intended to work from a spot more to the right, so the swing was not in view, but another artist had set up in that location so I was forced to find a new one, which turned out for the better, I think. The new location had the added advantage of allowing me to work in the shade of a big tree; a much needed relief after baking in the sun for five hours while I worked on the oil painting.

Framingham Road (pastel, 2008)

I saw this view this afternoon while out running and thought it would make a nice composition, especially the contrast between the green potato plants and the yellow wheat field. I drove out to the location later, around 5:00, intending to make a small painting of it. After setting up my easel and painting table and getting all of my supplies out, I realized that I had forgotten to bring my jar of solvent to clean my brushes. Luckily, I had packed a drawing board with a sheet of red paper taped to it, and my pastels were still in the car from last night, so I made this drawing instead. Last Saturday I gave a class on painting outdoors and I advised my students to make up a checklist of everything that they need to bring and to go over the list before they head out. Perhaps I should heed my own advice....

Big Pink Cloud (pastel, 2008)

(Private Collection)
I did this earlier this evening after dinner. I had to work fairly quickly as the sun was setting to my right. As often happens, I had intended to do a drawing of something else, in this case a view looking northwest, but when I started to unload my gear from the car, I looked up to the south and saw this big pinkish-orange cloud formation and decided to do it instead. A man drove by in a pickup truck and stopped for a few minutes to watch me work and provide a little encouragement. It was nearly dark when I made the finishing touches to the foreground.