Second Moser Workshop

I have a few things coming up, but one of them is an intense workshop on the figure in Harpswell, Maine June 2 through 6. This workshop is just about filled and one of my favorites to teach.

Long Pose Workshop

I will be doing a long pose figurative workshop on January 8, 9 and 10 in the studio. Students will draw one pose for 9 hours and we will work on value, tone, proportion, anatomy, structure and composition. Particular attention will be paid to putting down consistent areas of light and shade within the figure.
I have been doing some long figurative paintings with a concentration on the draped figure. Here is a recent effort.

Private Island Workshop

Last weekend I taught a four day painting course out on a private island here off the coast of Mount Desert Island. It was like returning to the 1940's as the house has not changed and the island is pristine and magical. We did have some rain but we built a big fire inside and our model lounged by it's warmth as we painted. Here are a few pics from our days out there. I will be doing it next year so stay tuned.

 Working on a student's painting.

 Set up inside on a rainy day. Exercise...doing a poster painting with a palette knife.

 Showing a technique on a student's painting

 Have to have an eagle eye! This companion settled on the rocks by the dock.

 On the porch at lunch and my model taking a break.

Summer Work

Lately, I've been out painting in Bass Harbor in early morning and late evening. In the evening, I head out to the Swans Island Ferry Terminal after the last ferry has departed. It might just be my favorite painting spot at present. These two paintings are views from either side of the pier and the weather changes daily. The first night there was a beautiful fog bank lighting up a boat yard. I love the way white looks in the fog. The second painting is one looking back over the old cannery pier in Bass Harbor off to the mountains of Acadia. A storm was moving in later that evening and you could feel the shift. The air stills and the light in the sky has an ethereal glow.

Katahdin

David Little has published a book titled, "The Art of Katahdin".
My painting, "Spring Comes to Katahdin" was selected for the cover.

This painting is presently in the collection of Colorado Mesa University.
This summer I will be participating in three shows with works of Katahdin as the theme.
Here are some of my paintings that will be on display. These were done on a frozen trip to Katahdin in February.

Long Pose Workshop

I will be teaching a workshop at the studio on Sunday, February 10 from noon to four.

Recent Portrait Commission

November Figure Workshop

There will be a long pose figure workshop on November 8 in the studio with a demonstration on the anatomy of the head and portrait. Send me a message if you would like more information.

The Still LIfe

I recently taught a class on the still life at the Woodlawn Museum of Art in Ellsworth, Maine.

This prompted me to look back at some of my still life paintings. It was really fun to do both and re visit this wonderful exercise in composition, color mixing, tonal relationships, surface approach and manipulating paint. Here is one in a series I did incorporating cards I've collected from my travels to museums. This is called, "Vermeer Still LIfe".

The Model on Islesford

I recently taught a drawing class on Islesford with a model who was absolutely terrific! The students were instructed on how to put a figure in the context of the environment. It allows them to work on proportion, perspective and most of all composition. It helps them eliminate detail in the landscape because they are focusing on the figure.
I was inspired to create this painting from the day.

Some new work...

I have been painting plein air the last few weeks. Here are a few of the new works....some in gouache, some in oil.

I will be teaching a workshop on the figure in the landscape on Islesford, July 12.

Sketching at the Pitti Palace

While in Florence, I visited the Pitti Palace and checked in on one of my favorite paintings by Caravaggio, "Sleeping Cupid". I found a space with one of my students to tuck in and sketch. The mischievous cupid is asleep with his bowstring broken and arrows by his side.

Venice and Florence Sketches

I just returned from teaching in Venice and Florence. The trip was packed with spectacular visits to view art with side trips to islands like Burano and bike rides in Lucca. I also managed to fit in some sketching in watercolor and graphite. I plan on posting a more complete description of the trip and the great art housed in Venice and Florence so check in later.

Plein Air Past

I've been organizing my images and have come across one of my first plein air paintings in Maine, a view of Bass Harbor. I still go to the same place to paint every summer. It never tires for me.

I recently spent a week in New York where I gave two lectures regarding the history of the scenes depicted in the Maine Labor Mural at Long Island University in Brooklyn. One was to an arts and culture class and the other to an art history class. The students were very engaged and asked some probing and intelligent questions. They were kind of amazed as to what is happening to us here in Maine.

I also took my nephew who is almost 8 to a friends studio in Long Island City where he sat for a small portrait study. It is not necessarily true that a child has a hard time holding still. I have found that they are completely intrigued by the process and delighted to see the outcome.

It is such a wonderful way to introduce them to painting. I love it.

Figurative Workshop/February 12, 2012

There will be a workshop on the figure at the studio on Sunday, February 12, 2012 from Noon to 4:30. The model will take four different poses based on themes and students will complete four drawings during the day with emphasis on constructing the figure contextually within a space.

Portraits

These two portraits were commissions of siblings. The paintings have a completely different lighting and mood so I thought it would be interesting to post them together.

Working Harbors in Maine

The following paintings are a few from my travels around to the working harbors of Maine which also include outlying islands such as Frenchboro.

About the Johns Hopkins Portrait Collection

In the last quarterly issue of the Johns Hopkins Magazine, there is an article on the portrait collection from it's beginnings with the commissioning of a portrait by John Singer Sargent.

I was happy that the article included the painting I did of Dr. Barton Childs. If you would like to read the article, you may click on this link and go to the fourth main article titled, "The Greatest Veneration". http://magazine.jhu.edu/