Red Tractor

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Time for a little break from the snow. (Though I am loving painting snow.) This is a scene from my trip to Maine back in October. The farmer who was haying Louise’s field was taking a break in the afternoon. I had been eyeing his tractor for a couple days, so I took the opportunity to walk down off the hill and take some pictures.

Maine Woods

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This is the last painting that I did in Maine, and I think it’s my favorite. It was a sunny afternoon in a clearing, near a fox den, and the woods were just so complicated—dark in some parts, glowing in others. Unfortunately, shortly into the process the painting was Not Going Well, and I was getting grumpy. Plus I was tired, hot, and stinky. (Sorry, foxes.) Things continued this way for a while, when all of a sudden something clicked, and the painting came together, and the breeze blew, and all was right with the world. This doesn’t always happen when a painting is going badly, but when it does, it feels like magic. 

View from the Hill

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This is a quick sketch of the view that I woke up to every morning in Maine. I was enchanted with this view and spent several hours working on a larger painting of it, which ultimately, after a bit of cursing and a minor temper tantrum, had to be scrapped. I took a hike to the top of the farthest field that you can see here, got some perspective, and came back and did this little study. 

Morning in Maine

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As it turns out, I was trespassing when I painted this one. But no one was around, and even if they had been, it probably would have been ok. And this view was worth it—one of those vistas that make me laugh, they’re so beautiful. I was up in a high field, looking out over fall forests stretching to the White Mountains in the distance, heavy morning clouds scudding overhead, casting long, fast-moving shadows over everything. I suppose the speed at which the high clouds moved should have given me some warning, but down in the field all was calm and perfect. For a few hours. Then, in what seemed an instant, gale-force winds (OK, probably just 25 mph) were whooshing through the grass, and I was using my body weight to keep the easel steady while I hurried to finish the painting. A 12x24” board can catch a lot of wind. I finally figured I was done, waited for a pause between gusts, and hurried the painting to my car, praying the wind would hold off until it was safely deposited in the trunk. It did. Whew.

Louise's Field

I had a fantastic time in Maine. I’m incredibly grateful to my friend Sarah for offering her wonderful house on the hill, where I spent three days painting, exploring, and relaxing, with only the blue heron (and yes, a few mosquitoes) for company. I came down off the hill to paint this field at just the right time; the dairy farmer haying the field had just baled up the hay the day before, and they were scattered prettily about, with their morning shadows stretching across the grass. The sun moves across the sky pretty quickly up there this time of year, changing dramatically how the light hits the trees in the space of one painting. A good opportunity to practice picking a moment’s light and sticking to it.