Lewiston with Sherrill Primo

Summer. Painting season, a chance to plan multiple dates with artist friends to paint outdoors and capture that day's joy, to listen to birds and boats, kids and campfires. Plein air is such a pleasure, to actually experience one single place for the better part of a day, record feelings with vivid colors and have a beautiful product to preserve that memory. June seemed mostly wet and chilly, I missed several great locations due to weather, distance and other appointments, but it ended with my week in the mountains and a magic experience with painters from all over, people who are now my friends with shared experiences.

On the last day of June I joined Sherrill Primo for a stolen day, a last minute decision to leave other responsibilities and get out with my easel. Meeting in Lewiston, it was natural to head for the water. I just wanted to sit and swivel my head 360' to drink in the view, indecisive about choosing my composition. There was so much to select from, piles of colorful stones, blossoms bursting, seagulls, boats, underwater rocks, miles of Canadian shore were all in my view.

After a period of sketching ideas, I selected a small canvas and laid in the shapes of the Silo above me and the craggy hill of wildflowers. I was most interested in the horizon with seagulls soaring and distant clouds rolling along, perhaps from Lake Erie, yet underneath the Silo Restaurant on North Water Street.

As that was completed more people arrived on the waterfront, calling to friends, fishing and eating lunch. Mostly they remained for a short time and then moved away. One young man, perhaps 10 or 12 patiently fished the entire time, someone who was enjoying the beauty of calm winds, clear skies and soaring seagulls at the same moments as Sherrill and I. Painting the second image calls attention to the peace and pleasures of solitude in nature the three of us experienced.

It was a long day with a lot of painting, a perfect start to a great summer. I have completed several new falls and water scenes that may eventually be posted here as well as parks and city life. Now that the first of Fall has arrived, I am watching the tinges of color and have my sights set on another Buckhorn meadow picture as well as many other forest and field scenes of crimson and gold.

Above the Clouds, 5x7 oil 2011
Lewiston Dock, 5x7 oil 2011