Cape Cod

Art, Nature & Soul #66

Lemme Take You To The Beach~

There’s a pond behind our home, another at the park we walk everyday and I’m walking distance to the Fox river…Lake Michigan, Superior & Erie are all bodies of water I frequent annually, but it’s the vast Atlantic ocean that beckons me. I love sitting around bodies of water and painting them, but its beach time that calls me home, whether we are there alone or surrounded be 100’s of others that have flocked there for similar reason’s, the peace, calm & serenity, joy & bliss that bodies of water instill.

The ever changing seasonal flora & fauna around bodies of water make them especially attractive to me. There’s a peaceful and all encompassing sense of universal belonging & forever, that fills my every sense. I’m lost in my thoughts near these areas where land & sky meet water, transcending all else, accept my feeling of connectedness to all life… a thought, a realization. a meditation of oneness.

This grouping of paintings, where the subject is the ocean & beaches. From top, left to right is, a group of plein-air artists on Herring Cove on Cape Cod, the 1 st day of harvest moon rising over Martha’s Vineyard, the lighthouse at Race Point in Provincetown, MA. with a few beachcombers, a pier over the Pacific, swimmer’s, a piece inspired by a film and a snorkeling adventure in Key West & a film, the pier that reaches out over St. Augustine Beach Florida, Marconi Beach on the Cape in Massachusetts, Seagulls & Sand Pipers on a beach, either St. Simons GA. or Flagler Beach FL. & the path on the beach that reaches out to the Atlantic from a favorite little eatery in Ptown, the Canteen. These are the places that inspired me to paint them, but what they remind you of , where they bring you & your imagination and stories you create, is up to you.

I paint on location, take lots of photos references, to paint in the studio & use my imagination to create these compositions. I’ll do a kinetic high energy, drip & splatter painting in acrylic paint, to compliment or spike the colors that will become the painting, Then using my arsenal of oil paints & utensils, brushes, palette knives, sculpting tools, tissues and a finger or 2, I go to work in a high energy, free flowing, & spontaneous way, to share the mood & movement of the scene. The initial concept is the thing, for once the image is in my head, it’s a simply a matter of getting in down on canvas as quickly & honestly as possible. Often times with this Frank Zappa tune repeating it self, over & over again, in my head…so, ”Lemme Take You To The Beach, la,la,la,la…laaa.”

I hope you’ve enjoyed this bit of insight into my process & mind.

Message me with any thoughts or questions you may have,

Richard

Art, Nature & Soul #58

It was a happy 1st Day of Fall, September 22, 2021~ Just days earlier the Harvest Moon had appeared, September 19, 2021 from ferry leaving Martha's Vineyard. We had boarded the Steamship Authority Ferry leaving Martha’s Vineyard, after a beautiful day of exploring it for the first time. When we were about 2 miles out, as the sun began to set for the day. I had got out on deck to search for some photo opts. I had been thinking, sunset over the ocean, the vineyard, when low and behold, there it was, over my shoulder. It was Sunday the 109th and the Harvest Moon had begun to rise. Luckily I had my camera with me and captured a beautiful scene of the the moon rising near an edge of the Island, one which had homes & a lighthouse atop the bluff. When I got back home, it was the first painting I created on a large canvas. Here’s the thoughts, approach & results…enjoy.

We had got back home, a couple days later and look what happened when I woke up at 3am that morning. With a vivid visual memory of both the image & the experience, coupled with the my emotions & a photo reference, I set out to convey my excitement for the event. With a 30” square, drip & splatter toned canvas, my paint, brushes, palette knives, scratching tools, paper towels and a box of tissues, I began my translation.

Painting the painting and working quickly, my intuitive nature, took hold from the beginning. I tend to paint and build these landscape compositions, in the order it would have appeared in nature as created, sky, water, land, trees buildings…etc. I’ve felt when you build in this order it has a more authentic order that allows for a natural perspective, even in the most static perspectives, and then a sense depth is achieved. Plus, I have felt more than a bit dis-enchanted when I see the sky painted over the leaves of trees, in others work. It always looks forced, an obvious oversight and not thought out to me, hence making me more aware of it. Just a side note and observation.

Before long the painting was completed and the sun rose out my home window. As you can see, the photo reference is in fact only a reference point. I’m not doing an illustration, trying to duplicate or paint the photo, but create a whole new experience, based on my own. In other words bringing my own light and sunshine to everything I do, and hoping to bring some to you and your life too .

Your comments & questions are always welcome~ Richard

'Harvest Moon off Martha's Vineyard' 30"x30" oil

‘Harvest Moon off Martha's Vineyard' 30"x30" oil

Photo taken from the ferry leaving Marth’s Vineyard, Sunday September 19, 2021