Daily Musings

May 31st.

Another late day session painting the top-lit boats in Mangrove Bay as the sun sinks. I was pleased with the way this one unfolded. In the background, there is a second row of bushes with hints of oleander that runs in-between the foreshore and the background trees. It’s the other side of Mangrove Bay Road. I worked it into the piece for a while there but it made the backdrop a little confusing and busy, so I edited it out. I was happy that I didn’t over manner the shapes of the boats and managed to capture the overall impression as the light sparkled off them. It’s easy to be drawn into adding too many hard edges and start picking away at the boat shapes where you can end up losing the spontaneity of the scene.  Less is more.

May 30th.

A late afternoon session at the beach. The first painting, I looked towards Daniel’s Head, where I tried to encapsulate the scale of the light-drenched scene by including a good deal of the sea and pushing the headland into the background. For the second piece I tackled the big yellow bathing rings that the hotel supplies for the guests to use just off the beach. They make for an interesting abstract element superimposed against the nuances of blues in the water. There was a couple having a late dip and using one of the rings so I gestured them in.

May 29th.

A nice bike ride along the Railway Trail with no particular subject in mind. I alighted on platform Lantana to take on the big impressive ficus tree, with its branches reaching across the cutting in the rock and its tendrils hanging down towards the trail. I was painting shade to light and there were a million fragments of both bright and muted colours in between. I found myself squinting frequently to re-establish the relative values in the myriad of elements. Pink rocks glowing warm in the shade and cool green leaves in the relatively light areas.  I spent some time mapping out the structure of the painting. It wasn’t obvious. I think this is because I was incorporating pretty well everything from my feet beyond rather than looking at something more distant, though I’m not absolutely sure. Several tourists and locals walked and cycled by as I worked, it was a nice vibe.

May 28th.

I parked my bread van at the ferry stop at Watford Bridge with the tail gate open to shelter me from the rain. The view is of Boaz Island, the side of Watford Bridge and the remnants of the old bridge/ferry workings from many years ago. As I worked, the rain lifted and a light grey glow appeared that was actually quite dazzling on the eyes. I gestured in a fisherman on the bridge. It’s a favourite fishing spot and there always seems to be two or three people dangling a line over the edge. It took a certain degree of recklessness to add him and the hand line, painting over a decent passage of the painting and altering it, but I think that having a tendency to take risks as an artist is what helps you grow. Afterwards, I drove across the bridge and painted the second piece while I was still “in the zone” where everything is tone, shape and form. I worked it up using hazy information in the very far distance, determined to stay loose and suggestive.

May 27th.

“Paint what you see not what you know.” Mantra. “Paint what you see not what you know.” Let nature be your guide.  The view from the top of Scaur Hill as veils of atmosphere move in from the West. Vast, etherial, spartan.

May 26th.

The beach was busy this morning with the Memorial Day weekend upon us. This is a very similar view to an earlier daily painted on April 23^rd, from almost the same spot. Looking back though, this time I have incorporated the view of Breezes restaurant so I must have been standing closer to the water on the left. I tried once again to keep this busy painting loose and suggestive. I didn’t end up labouring and going into overtime today which is a good indicator that it all went down fairly decisively.

May 25th.

It was super windy on the beach this morning, so I opted to paint in the shelter of the garden here at Sea View. I tackled one of the windows with the traditional push out shutters, the sun making interesting abstract shadows on the side of the house. I didn’t get bogged down in getting the proportions exactly correct, but rather a feel of the image. I whipped this one out in half an hour, which pleased me as I had been labouring on some of the other dailies for over two hours and this can have a detrimental effect on the spontaneity of the painting. Mantra, once again…Make a plan, focus, don’t fuss, paint fast!

May 24th.

Bermuda day, a National Holiday, a time when everyone gets together. It’s traditional for cold-blooded Bermudians to take their first dip in the ocean as it’s a sign that Summer is truly here. This ambitious raft up was anchored off the beach amid the hum of partying boats and celebrations. It was short on flags, so I took artistic licence. Painting a scene like this requires you to look at the whole and interpret; it’s futile to count the boats and paint them individually. It’s about putting in the mass, then picking out variety and detail later, but not too much. Leave the suggestion for the viewer’s eyes to make up their own story. Happy Bermuda day everyone.

May 23rd.

The banana trees, the first one painted looking out from the shelter of the studio with a threat of rain in the air. The second one I moved in closer. I spent a good deal of my formative artistic years painting banana trees. It was good to go back through the mists of time and rediscover that world. I approached the subject using broad slabs of colour and light, trying not get bogged down in detail.

May 22nd.

Almost the same view as the first daily of the year, looking into the walled courtyard here at Sea View. Framed and cropped by the outer wall, it makes for an intriguing and enticing lead in.

May 21st.

A struggle today.  I selected the bay grape framed against the bay with Daniel’s Head in the background to emphasis recession, and also because it looked nice. Somewhere along the way, though I lost some of the cool shapes of the plant, as well as the interesting negative spaces within the confines of the bush.  I should also have extended some of the branches up through the top of the panel. It’s easy to get enthusiastically carried away, adding leaves and branches, whilst not stepping back to observe the whole. I won’t say I lost the battle, let’s call it a draw today. We are our own harshest critics on the search for excellence. Some things went ok and maybe someone out there wants a little plien aire painting of a bay grape tree overlooking Somerset Long Bay.

May 20th.

Happy international bee day! These hives are on the hotel property next door, tucked away in the old Sea View Estate gardens, the appropriate subject for the day. I did a fairly radical redesign in both paintings, as although it’s a cool country scene I didn’t want to include the piping and concrete footings the bee farmer has placed the hives on to get them off the ground. I stood a while, watching the busy bees zooming in and out of their homes, to formulate a plan on how to explain them. I decided to frame them against the dark background of the undergrowth with some elevation above the hives to emphasise the pattern the bees in flight made coming to and fro. I was very pleased particularly with the second piece as I was able to stop myself before overworking the painting despite its graphic spartan qualities. It’s a bit of a moment artistically really. More of a departure from reality and into abstraction than my usual work. It left me buzzing 🙂

May 19th.

I returned to paint the boats rafted up at the beach. It was Sunday, sunny and the sounds of laughter and music were drifting over the hedge so I knew there would be plenty to paint. I chose a boat with a couple of flags flying from the hard top. One Bermudian and one Canadian, and most of its crew trailing off the stern enjoying the water at low tide. There was another boat right behind and somewhat shielded by my subject, which I chose to edit out, deeming it too confusing a shape. I put Daniel’s Head up high on the horizon to give a sense of place. The boat stayed well into the evening and we enjoyed the onboard DJ who had a good sound system and played music enjoyed by this fifty-something indie/folk/country painter. Later on, we took our sundowners to the beach as the boat was finally hauling anchor and we watched them leave with the music growing fainter as they rounded the headland.

May 18th.

May 24th is almost upon us and the raft ups are starting. These three boats, one with a Bermuda flag blowing in the breeze, were rafted together off the beach in an ocean saturated with warmth. While I painted, a wedding was getting underway.  As I zoned out and entered the abstract world of painting, wedding guests in beautiful bright clothes glided by and chamber music drifted on the breeze in a surreal Alice in Wonderland experience.

May 17th.

Another view of ‘Tween Walls, painted this time from the Mangrove Bay end, set up across Mangrove Bay Road so as not to block the entrance. There is a lot going on looking down the lane; you get hit with loads of stimuli, it’s a fairly tricky composition and for a while I floundered. I went with it though, soldiering on, laying down and recording the incoming information as best as I knew how. It was a case of nature teaching the artist, and I gleaned something of a sense of place as well as hopefully bottling some of the energy of the scene.

May 16th.

I took a short cycle along Daniel’s Head Road, searching for a good view portraying the overgrown rural lanes prevalent in Somerset.  The point where I stopped had initially attracted me partially because of a frond of bamboo hanging into the road, which late on in the painting, I edited out, considering it distracting. I wanted to use and portray the shadows of the telegraph line to lead the eye round the corner and tie the painting together.

May 15th.

I had some jobs to do “inland” from the West end so I threw the painting gear in the van and took the opportunity to paint in the distant lands of Flatts Inlet. It’s such a pretty spot rich with subject matter. I wandered to the end of the aquarium pier, intending to paint the opposite shoreline with all its houses and boats, but was distracted by the view of the inlet out to North shore. It was flat calm and the sky melded with the sea. The boats in the soft light conjoined in muted cools and snaked awards the entrance. There were the faintest ripples at my feet from the inlet behind me. Careful not to step back to inspect my work as I am prone to do while painting, I had an enjoyable hour or so there. I did lose a brush overboard which floated off before I could retrieve it but it was a fair price to pay.

May 14th.

I had to paint looking out from under the porch into the courtyard at Sea View today due to the rain. It’s a complex tangle of allamanda, roses and bougainvillea that tumble up and over the walls. It makes for a busy abstracted subject that I guess could be tackled in a number of ways. Today I worked at it in a pretty detailed fashion after laying down the big shapes.

May 13th.

I painted from exactly the same spot as yesterday, but of Eric the palm and the roofline of Sea View as the sun went down. The sunlit area of the roof moved visibly as I worked and Eric lit up in various different parts too. Some of the flowers of the palm that spring out like a firework were not noticeable until the sun caught them. It was bit of a conundrum of values with all those bright elements going on, but it read ok at the end.

May 12th.

Bicycle racing in the morning required a lunch time nap and a subject very close to home. The coconut palms and a sign tree we made a couple of years ago form an interesting composition around the path to the beach. It’s full of dappled light, cast shadows and interesting shapes.

May 11th.

My OCD personality announced that I was one hundred and sixty steps from the front door when I stopped and set up at the near end of Tween Walls to have another crack at this elusive little lane that provides so much visual material to paint but doesn’t give up its secrets easily. I think this is in part because its orientation means that shadows often fall on both sides of the road and the patterns of light on the bushes are pretty random. Because it is so narrow it’s also a bit tricky to find that perfect spot with space to set up. I spent a while dithering about whether to have the wall cropped before it wanders off in the foreground RHS, but in the end chose to include the turn and added the sunlit grass. I unified some of the bush colours that were getting a little out of control, but tried to retain a variety of brushstrokes that would help explain the character of the plants.

May 10th.

I set up half way down ‘Tween Walls to paint the oleander overhanging the little lane. It wasn’t the easiest spot as I was orientated with the sun behind me and it threw dappled light on my easel, which can be confusing to the eye when mixing colours. I also had to move the easel a couple of times to let cars squeeze by, but I persevered and got what I wanted.

May 9th.

The familiar, scenic and comfortable subject of beach shadows cast by the plants on the shore gave me a clear pathway into the realms of what this painting thing is all really about.  Entering that world of edges, shapes, relationships, harmonies and pattern, where the reality in front of you is subjugated to these other priorities.  Working, experimenting, searching for that elusive state of transcendence where the balance is perfect and nothing can be added or taken away to improve the whole. It’s an ultimately futile task of course, if you ever expect to reach the destination. The journey is intriguing though and there are stages of enlightenment on the road.

May 8th.

I utilised the abstract beach umbrella and the grass bank to lead the eye into the bay where I chased around trying to capture the millions of elusive sparkling silver pennies shimmering on the surface. Feint shifts in the greys of the water below the dancing, sun-dappled surface help to provide variety and perceive distance.

May 7th.

A blustery evening on the beach. The water periodically flooded with light, then gun metal grey/blue when the clouds moved across the sun. Sometimes it was somewhere in between and that was what I ended up with.

May 6th.

A small beach in between the rocks looking towards Mangrove Bay Road. The light was still catching the sand and the rows of oleander were noticeable even though I was quite some distance away. I gestured in a few punts leaned against the back of the beach. They are likely there but it was too far away to peer into the deep shadows so I took artistic licence.

May 5th.

Earlier today I had my students sketch the old falling down potting shed door next to the studio, then come back inside and use their sketch for a painting. They did very well!  Later I returned to the same subject for my daily, though staying in situ. I moved a couple of things around in my design but the end is result is fairly true to reality. It’s a fun exercise in abstraction, peering into the gloom of the interior that’s piled up with old wood and gardening paraphernalia.  One day, if finances allow, we would like to convert this old ruin. It would make a super little garret for visiting artists.

May 4th.

Today was the annual Bermuda End to End walk, where lots of brave souls tramp the entire length of the Island, about 26 miles. I set up in Somerset village, which is only three miles from the finish line, to capture the participants, many in their bright green official t-shirts, with the colourful flags and umbrellas of the Somerset Country Squire as the backdrop. It’s tricky painting a moving scene and I had to gesture people in as they moved by.

May 3rd.

A different slant today; I painted this one from the boat out at King’s Point.  As romantic as that sounds, it’s not an easy thing to do!   Monet painted aboard his studio boat in Argenteuil on the Seine so he could explore the concept of painting from the water itself, so I was in good company. It’s something I have done before too, but not for at least a decade. The reality is that you are dealing with a heck of a lot of distracting bounced light from the white fibreglass, and the boat is constantly moving, causing your subject to be this way then that. It’s a bit like being drunk when you go to add another brush stroke and the boat tips, throwing you off balance. It does make for a looser approach though. I had anchored with the shallow sand flats right in front of me and it was nice to be close up and intimate with the Islands that I usually paint from way across the bay. I got to see lots of turtles cruising through the shallows while I worked there too. 🙂

May 2nd.

A late afternoon start, tucked in behind a hedge next to the Somerset Country Squire. There were lots of nice things happening, as the sinking sun toplit the bushes along Mangrove Bay Road and the anchored boats popped against the shadows of the shore line. I chose one little section with a small beach to work on, rather than trying to encapsulate the whole scene. The boat in the picture wriggled a bit on its mooring but I stayed true to its orientation observed when I began. The bow caught a fair bit of light which I included.

May 1st.

I took a leisurely ride around the neighbourhood in search of the perfect profuse, heavily laden blossoming oleander. I settled on the one with a backdrop of the bay and the far shore. I worked into it heavily,  its almost sculptural with built up paint on the flowers. (note to whoever acquires this one, it will take a while to dry!)   In my initial design I had made the choice  to use less than half the canvas for the oleander, perhaps maybe a third. Things got a little ragged as I worked away and it began to creep into areas I had reserved for the calm water. This was resolved by working blue water back into the negative spaces of the bush. I stayed on afterwards to work up the second piece. I wanted a counterpoint to the busy oleander bush so chose the calm scene of the fishing boats resting on their moorings. In the very light breeze, they are prone to twist this way and that and you have to be careful not to end up with a cubist rendition of a boat seen from many angles, unless of course, that is your thing.