STORIES FROM THE FIELD:

Wednesday June 11, 2025

Thursday June 12, 2025

Friday June 13, 2025

Nut Island, Quincy, Ma.

This little piece was not alla prima  but  it was painted completely en plein air on site.

I already had a good idea of where I wanted to paint. My only concern was that the winds were a little higher than usual in this area. Nevertheless, I decided to set up and begin painting there in spite of my misgivings. The more the afternoon progressed, the more those warm northwesterly winds kept increasing and gusting. It was pretty obvious that I was not going to be able to complete this little piece in one session, so I returned the next day. Since this whole process was becoming a battle between myself and the wind, I decided that I would not leave that site defeated. The more the wind blew, the more determined I became and I stuck it out no matter what! … The winds were so high, that I had to hold down my box & tripod (and my tripod is a Bogun  now known as Manfrotto heavy-duty), so there was no way my gear was not stable enough.

Later when I looked online to see what the wind gusts were, I found that they had reached 40 mph. … a first for me painting en plein air in those conditions. In the past, Id even painted in the pouring rain, but never in such high winds. So, as expected, I could not finish this painting that day either. I returned to the site the 3^rd day, Friday the 13###sup (yea,  I know … what else was going to happen on this particular date?) Fortunately, though, the winds  had really tamed down and as the day wore on, the sun shown into this park, upon the field and distant waters. I was finally able to concentrate much better and focus on painting all those final touches that I had planned from the beginning.

I still do not consider this piece finished but I can call it so for now. I think it has potential to work up into a nice studio glaze. .. What do you think?

Through the Birches  from The Nut 9x12 oil on linen