Sommer

Sommer

40x30 oil 2014

About two weeks ago I sat up my easel in my yard, painting the scene seen across the river. Today I sat the easel across the river, looking at my yard. I painted it during two consecutive days, about two hours per session ending around noon, when the sun and warmth is at its apex. Yesterday, when I was carrying the half-finished canvas home, a neighbor commented that it was a summer picture. That it is.

Rafnes gaard

Rafnes Gaard

30x40 oil 2014

Luck with weather has held, bringing yet another warm day. Yesterday was 17. May (the bicentennial of Norway's constitution, no less!) It was a day of festivities and socialising, not really a painting day. Today was another story. I headed to the nearby Rafnes gaard, a park that is landscaped and maintained to come alive with a serene feeling of bursting color.

The Hidden Quay

The Hidden Quay

30x40 oil 2014

This morning the overcast sky and chilly wind appeared to usher in yet another dreary day. But  around noon the sun made an appearance.  Quickly, (all things need to be quick with plain air painting)  I threw my palette and easel in the car and drove a short distance to Vold, an area I often drive past, but rarely dally at. I figured it might have something that strikes me, and so I wandered around, finding a hidden spot with a little beach and quay.

Among marshy reeds I settled, choosing to stand with the easel erected higher (I am often tempted by a rock or log to turn into a bench, but this spot had no such temptations.) The sun and clouds fluctuated a lot, but I managed to finish the painting in one sitting of about three hours.

As I painted I mused a little about Impressionism. I feel that we associate Impressionism with photography, inasmuch as impressionist painters are thought to seize a moment. This is ironic; it could well be, as David Hockney proposes, that the painters centuries earlier (Caravaggio, Dutch still-life painters, etc.) employed photography far more as a tool than did the later impressionists. When one paints directly on site, one is seizing a moment--but a long moment, lasting hours, compressing much together.

Path by River

Path by River, Herre

40x30 oil 2014

My motifs are getting ever more local. I finished this one today from our yard, abutting the river. All winter I look out to this scene, the path seeming so slippery and icy, lit grimly by dim street lamps. I prefer it now, awoken in spring, raked by morning light.

River Reflections

River Reflections

30 x40 oil 2014

1. May, Herre, Norway. The day was a brisk one, with a chilly wind, despite the bright sun. The light, as well as the breeze, made for good painting weather if one kept his coat on and stayed in the sun by the river bank.  Gusts of wind changed the water surface minute by minute. Likewise, swiftly moving clouds changed the light. No problem--just cast your eyes to the palette and mix a color. When the paint's on the brush, the scene has changed back to what you remembered.