light on the river

Last week in Philadelphia the weather was uncommonly beautiful... 3 days of bright sunshine with high temps in the 70's made for amazing painting weather. It felt like Fall in August!  Luckily for me, my schedule was clear and I was able to get up and head out very early to paint 3 days in a row. The first 2 mornings yielded some potentially decent starts in the Rittenhouse square area of the city, but the 3rd day I was awestruck with the light as I drove down Kelly Drive and saw the light on the Schuylkill river. It was a rich gold color with the Columbia Bridge reflections, packed with rowers, onlooking geese, and even a fisherman showed up to bring some interest to my painting.

This sketch, 12 x 24, was done en plein air, followed by a studio session...

vacation sketching

Artists know they can never really take a vacation as they must always be looking for new material...
One of my favorite spots is Squam Lake in New Hampshire, a vacation from the reality of cell phones, TV and internet, but not a vacation from artistic endeavors! Here are 3 oil sketches I was able to complete during a recent week at Squam...

Squam morning view from Shafer dock   9 x 12

Morning mist rising   9 x 12

Fishing near Durgin Bridge