Sky Friday - A Reflected Sunset

Clouds and sky reflected in water seems to be a common theme for both photographers and painters, and it's a recurrent theme for me as well; here is another post from last November of the same subject.

On our drive back from Watch Hill on Tuesday, I asked Wayne if he wouldn't mind another two stops before we headed home, and he was happy to oblige.

The first stop is a rather good sized marsh that is in east Stonington, known as the Avalonia Land Conservancy nature preserve, and located right along the road.  There are many of these small nature preserves around the area where I live, which is a great thing to see; human encroachment is everywhere, it seems, and these preserves are as much a sanctuary for the local flora and fauna as they are for humans wishing a view unspoiled by man.

The sun was just dipping behind the trees along the edge of the marsh, producing soft light and shadows on the overhead clouds.  While most of the marsh is a wet bog, there are a few mini ponds of still water, offering abbreviated snippets of the sky above.

Reflections on Avalonia preserve

Both land and sky are reflected in the marsh

Closer to our house, towards Groton Long Point, was the second stop.  It's an area that I've been to on different occasions, and an image from the same location - Esker Pt. - is in the November blog post linked above.  It's a favorite area for kayakers to put in, and in fact, was the very first place that we went kayaking 2 years ago.  The Amtrak and commuter train runs right along the edge.  

By the time we arrived at Esker Pt., the sun was just setting right in the inlet notch between tree sets.  

Sun and Reflections at Esker Pt.

A few homes and small boat docks line the southern edge of this small cove.  A few scattered cumulus clouds remained in the sky, their pinks and purples intensifying in the fading light.

Sunset over the Docks

The colorful clouds and marina are emphasized in this shot

Reflections in Pink and Purple

The still water of the cove  reflects the clouds not seen in this southern view

Sunset colors in the clouds are most intense when viewed to the west, right at the location of the setting sun.  The northern latitude of New England is not enough to produce the brilliant reds, yellows and oranges of a southwestern sunset, but the skies do their best anyway.  

Sunset Symmetry

The land and clouds form a nearly perfect reflected image in the cove waters

Memorial Day Walkabout - photos

I'm working on my next painting in the "aerial skies" series, which has gone down the "abstracted realism" road, and that I am now compelled to follow to the end, so in the meantime, here are some photos taken on Memorial Day.

It was a beautiful sunny day here, and not too hot or muggy, and I decided it would be a good day for a walk downtown with the camera (still using the Olympus 3.1MP PnS) to maybe get some good water and/or boat photos for painting references.  We live about a mile away from downtown Mystic, so it's a nice walk.  I didn't know when I set out that there was a Memorial Day parade schedule for the early afternoon, so that made it even busier than usual on a holiday weekend.

Walking down Water St. (where Wayne's office is located), with its various docks along the west side of the river helped fill some of my "odd reflections" fix.  I find these patterns just mesmerizing.  It's like a spider meets a Spirograph.

Hull Reflections

Continuing on towards the downtown area on Water St., some of the local fire trucks were lining up for

the parade.  Lots of red, polished chrome and bold, in-your-face vehicles driven by their human counterparts.  I love this: 

S.B.F.D. Logo

After negotiating the narrow sidewalks of the main downtown area filled with shuffling out-of-towners (aka "tourists"), I finally got across the famous Mystic drawbridge (correctly known as a "bascule bridge") and headed north up the river on the eastern side.  The Mystic Seaport is located up the road here, along with some other private and semi-public docks, where there were some neat things that caught my eye for various reasons.  

 Still Life with rope and shadows

Randomness is about all these images have in common.   And surely overlooked by everyone but me.  I chuckle sometimes when I think of what people might think when they see me kneeling down and taking a picture of what is clearly nothing.  

Abstracted Reflections

But, of course, there is *everything* there.  Colors and strong values.  Linear, non-linear.  Hard edges, disappearing edges and repeating shapes.  Patterns.  It's all there.

Dry-docked

Sometimes there's a story or question as well:  why is this little boat tied up on this private dock, for example?  Surely it's not going to be blown into the river by a strong wind, nor is it going to suddenly develop a consciousness and move itself.  Theft deterrent?  Hardly.  I'm guessing it's just out of habit of its owner to do so.  

Pretty Pair

Sometimes, there's no explanation needed.

After walking back towards downtown and in the general direction of home, it was clear that the parade was gearing up to start.  People had situated themselves along the streets and the police were starting to clear out traffic from Main St.  I figured that I'd sit and watch for a bit; parades in Mystic aren't huge, drawn-out affairs.

I ended up taking some photos, most of which are nice personal reminders of the event, but nothing much more than that.  Groups of veterans representing all branches of the armed services, VFW, and what appeared to be currently enlisted troops were present.  It made me happy to see them and to be reminded that they served and continue to serve our country and make sacrifices to protect our freedoms and liberty.

Vintage Pontiac

The shiny red fire trucks passed by, then a few old bygone-era cars.  I'm not sure what those had to do with Memorial Day, but I did get a few photos, including the one above.  Proud owners were behind the wheels of these, and I actually wish there had been more.  

We are now 6 weeks away from our move to Durango, and I've now a few more reminders of my time here by virtue of these photos.  As much as I'm really not a New England or east coast type of person, I have to say that there is probably no better place to live in the state of CT than Mystic.  It's an attractive little town that manages to hold on to a bit of the positive New England stereotype.  

Red Canoe - pastel

My friends here in Mystic have been telling me to paint some Mystic landscape scenes, so before I jump into the aerial cloud series, I thought I'd do a piece that would appeal to local tastes.  Another impetus was an announcement in the Groton public library for submissions from local artists for their summer solstice celebration.  I love my library, and I've always enjoyed seeing the various displays and such that they put on throughout the year.  It's not a competition and each artist may enter up to two pieces of artwork.   Sounded like fun!

It was also an opportunity to: 1) work on a larger surface; 2) replace an outdated pastel painting that has been hanging on my wall for the past 12 years or so...one of the first I ever did.  It was done from a photo out of a magazine, and is outdated as far as my pastel painting skills go.  It has a nice wooden frame and the non-glare glass I got when I had the original painting matted.

It's something that appeals to *my* aesthetic sensibilities as well, since I took the photo.   It was of that fabulous red canoe that was sitting on the edge of the marsh side of Brushy point.   Loved the reflections, the contrast of the red canoe with the greens and blues of the distal shore and water.  And the little building...I decided to keep it, as I think it adds another point of interest and directs the eye to the tree line from the boat.

"Brushy Pt. Canoe"

12x18" on Strathmore 400 series paper

available for purchase

It seemed like a pretty straightforward painting - simple shapes and a relatively limited palette.  Well, after doing the majority of my pastels on sanded surfaces where the pastel goes down like butter, this was a bit of a challenge. The hardest part of the entire painting?  The reflection.  Jeebus...I don't want to mention how many times I re-did that particular area.  It's even been re-done after I took this photo, and still, as I am looking at the image and writing this, I see a few other areas that I need to re-work slightly.   That's one of the benefits of taking a photo - for whatever reason, it allows flaws to become apparent that  just weren't appreciated during the painting process. 

The original photo showed the trees in their anemic, pre-leafout colors, which didn't appeal to me.  So, they were done to reflect a bright spring green that they are currently.   It will be on its way to the local framer in a short while.

So, it will hang in the Groton Public Library for most of the month of June, along with one of my Mule Mtn. pastels done late last year.  Perhaps it will strike a chord with a local (even the canoe owner - who knows?) and it will sell.  If not, it will be a reminder of my time here in New England after we're 2200 miles to the west...

Marsh Inlet - pastel

Today was one of those days that was a bit of a grind in the studio...where nothing but "blah/ick/ugh" is created, despite what seems to be a good effort.   It's day two of grey skies with no sun, and that no doubt played a part, as I find it really depressing.  The weather here is a constant reminder to me that mid-July [our moving date to Durango] really can't get here soon enough.

I'd started a painting a couple days ago, based on one of the Bluff Point photos I took 2 weeks ago.  It wasn't one that made it onto the blog, but I took a similar one, of the curving shoreline and distal treeline along Brushy Pt., back in Nov.  Well, I couldn't make it work, despite reworking it twice.  So, I decided to move on to something else for the time being.

One of my favorite photos out of that lot was one that I liked because of its very abstract nature, and that's how I intended to paint it.  The design and shapes were simple, and not wanting to get overly committed to it in case it was a complete junker, I decided to use some Strathmore Artagain paper, which I haven't used in a while now.   The smooth surface of the paper forces looseness and dedicated strokes, because it just doesn't hold much pastel at all.  And, some of the softer pastels (Sennelier in particular) just form flakes and don't stick at all (white part of the cloud being the part in this painting).

For most pastels, I either use a white pastel pencil or charcoal/charcoal pencil to draw the shapes and sometimes to block in basic values.  I didn't do any preliminary blocking in - just started grabbing whatever colors suited my fancy at the time, with the only attempt at actual matching done for the water.  It was good in that it helped me get back into a groove a little bit and it's not so gawd-awful that I won't post it.  I may revisit it on a better surface and larger size and with more thought given to the colors, but in the meantime, here it is.  The Olympus did a respectable job, even in the awful natural lighting.  So, at least that's a good thing!

Marsh Inlet - 9x12"

pastel on Strathmore Artagain paper

I managed to knock out two more pastels and start on a third today.  I'll post those tomorrow.  It's supposed to be sunny, which is a good thing.

Spring at Bluff Point - photo essay

Last November, one of my posts featured photos taken at one of my favorite places near where we live - Bluff Point State Park - and can be seen here.  I like it because it's one of the few places with wide-open space, which of course, appeals to my aesthetic sensibilities.   It has interesting shorelines, marshes, inlets, wildlife and things that make neat reflections in the water.  

Like fall in New England, spring - at least as far as the trees are concerned - transformation happens very fast.  The deciduous forests spend about 6 months without leaves, so once the chance of ice and snow is well past, they waste no time getting busy gathering energy from the sun while they can.  Once leaf buds start to occur, the process is like an explosion, and is pretty much complete within 2 weeks.   The leaves rapidly change from pale yellow and acid green to a deeper, more mature mixture of greens as the chloroplasts maximize the production of chlorophyll and other photon-capturing pigments needed for photosynthesis.

About two weeks ago, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather + weekend, and take a walk and photo shoot out along Bluff Point.  It was mid-afternoon, so not optimal conditions for excellent photos.  However, I did manage to take a few that turned out well enough to post here.  Others have far more value as a starting point for a painting.

Red Canoe

Sitting along the cove side of the Brushy Pt. barrier beach, this canoe patiently waits for its next seafaring adventure.

 

Seaweed 

These pieces of seaweed form interesting abstract shapes against the sand in this shallow section of the cove.

Coming Together

Wakes from this delightful pair of ducks form a circle in the still waters of the inlet of the Poquonnock River.

Reflections of Early Spring

This small barrier island, located on the breaker side of Brushy Pt.,  shows off its assortment of trees.  In the clear, shallow water of the foreground, clumps of dark seaweed sway with the ebb and flow of the tide.

Towards the Marsh

A marshy inlet and peninnsula form the backdrop for these strands of marshgrass and bright green shrub.

Side note: regarding future posts, I will probably have to stick with existing material for at least the next few days; yesterday, while we were out on a drive and photo shoot up some of the side roads, I was climbing up a short, grass-covered slope to get a better view of a field, when I slipped.  My camera swung forward and the edge of the lens hit a clump of grass, not even that hard.  However, it was enough to do something to the internal workings of the zoom mechanism, reducing the lens to a fixed 55mm.  That would have been acceptable, and I managed to take a few photos after that.   But, either due to me fiddling with it, or taking photos in the jammed position, the iris (?) is now partially closed.  So, it's hosed.  A new lens is in order, but I'm not going to get the same 18-55mm that came with the camera.  Time to move up to something better...and more durable!

I may have to go back to my trusty old 3MP Olympus PnS to take photos of paintings I do in the meantime.

Fall Color series - Autumn Path

Well, I hadn't planned for almost a week to go by between postings, but time has been moving along very quickly!  This might be the last post I am able to do for a week since I will be heading to AZ this coming Friday, and am going to be shipping most of my art supplies via UPS Ground.  I'll be staying in Bisbee over the winter and possibly longer, depending upon how the work situation goes.  The good news is that I already have a part-time job there.  I plan to spend the rest of my time painting and drawing, and I can't wait to dive in once I get settled!

In the meantime, here is the latest painting in the fall color theme I've been on.   I plan to continue with several more paintings of fall colors and landscapes, simply because I am inspired by ideas I have from the photos I took, and I have found that focusing on a subject or theme has allowed me to "learn" it much more than skipping around would.  Also, I'm pleased to report that both this painting and the previous painting, "Fall in Old Mystic", have been sold.  Thank you Kenny and Sue for your support!

"Autumn Path" - sold

pastel on 400-grit sandpaper, 9x11"

This forgotten dirt road leads to a place unknown

Fall in Old Mystic

Here's the latest fall-themed painting.  I started it over the weekend and wasn't thrilled with some aspects of it, so it sat until I finally had some time tonight to re-work the road (originally in a rather bright blue) and some of the trees.  It's based on a photo taken along the road that leads into Old Mystic.  As is so often the case, the photos aren't entirely accurate for color, saturation and such.  Looking at the photo of the painting, I see some additional things I'd probably like to tweak a bit, but then there's always the risk of over-working it.  Sometimes it's best to just leave it as is and save changes for the next painting.

"The Road to Old Mystic" - sold

pastel on 220-grit sandpaper - 9x11"

Bluff Point State Park - photo essay

The weather was exceptional today, and probably the last warm, sunny weekend day we'll have here for close to 5 months.  I won't be spending the winter in CT, but this was a day for getting out with the camera and going for a walk.  Location:  Bluff Pt. State Park, which is about 10 min. from our house in nearby Groton.  It is one of my favored places in the area to go for a hike or run.  It features a 3 mile loop multi-use road/path, some points of interest and areas to fish and harvest shellfish.  It also has a sandbar beach called "Brushy Pt" that is popular with beachgoers in the summer and equestrians. 

Here are some photos out of the 40 or so that I took today that give a good sampling of this popular state park.  I was on a wide angle kick today, so most of these were shot at 18-25mm. 

Saltmarsh grass along Brushy Pt, cove side

View looks to the west, with New London visible in the distance

Leading the Way

This boardwalk leads from the cove side to the "breaker" side of Brushy Pt.

Unplanned Obsolescence

A section of beach fencing lies forgotten amongst the beach grass

East towards Bluff Point

The "breakers" side of Brushy Pt.  The rocky tip of Bluff Pt. is visible.

Phragmites facing East

The faded flowers of Common Reed [Phragmites australis] sway in a light breeze

Boulders and Breakers

The surf is no match for these huge granite boulders at the eastern tip of Bluff Point.  Fisher's Island, NY, is the barely visible landmass along the distant horizon.

Salt marsh and trees

This small area of marsh wetlands is bordered by a stand of hardwood and evergreens

Reflections: land, sky and water

Here is a collection of photos taken at various locations, seasons and time of day that have one thing in common:  water and its ability to reflect light.  Such images usually evoke a sense of calm and tranquility - something that is always a welcome reprieve from the stress of daily life.

Cloud Reflections - Poquonnock River

Late afternoon reflected light reveals unseen overhead clouds near Bluff Point State Park, Groton, CT.

Sunset Reflections

The foreground reeds provide a sharp contrast to the bright sunset colors on the Poquonnock River

Monsoon Clouds over Trout Lake

The San Juan Mountains and summer cumulus clouds create an interesting symmetry in this lake south of Telluride, CO. 

Fall Afternoon near Esker Point, CT

A sinuous current breaks up the small ripples near the far shore, providing some interesting contrast in this small cove.

Mumford Cove, late summer

The still water allows for a nearly perfect symmetry of the land and trees.  Fisher Island, the land mass seen in the distance, is located in L.I.S. (Long Island Sound).

Fall Reflections in Pond

This small pond in Old Mystic provides a double-dose of peak fall color.  A patch of lilypads provides some texture to break up the glass-smooth surface of the water.

Four seasons - a photomontage

Photos:  4x6".  Total size of composite image:  12x15"

Dates taken:  January 2; May 10; July 17; October 12

This pond and stand of trees, in Waterford, CT, is across the road from a large field and series of rock walls that I drive past every few weeks when I go shopping.  I've been intrigued by the area and always enjoy driving by it.  This past winter, I decided that I would begin to document both the field, rock wall, and this pond and tree stand throughout the seasons.  The primary reason was to obtain references for future paintings, so the photos were planned around my shopping trips, usually mid-day, rather than times that would perhaps result in a superior photo taken for its own sake.  As a result, the individual images are pretty average, and I was at the mercy of unfortunate cloud cover (welcome to New England) for the summer and fall photos.  However, when placed together, I think these four photos provide a far more interesting and compelling image than any individual photo could.  I also took some early fall photos on Sept. 25.  For symmetry sake, I did not include the photo in the montage above, but here it is for additional comparison.  It is quite remarkable the change that occurs in just 2 1/2 weeks:

Pond, tree stand with field of Canada goldenrod