A New Painting!

Over the past few weeks I have been working on this painting every free chance I get. Its the largest painting I have ever done on canvas, 3feet by 4 feet.

Although it has been a long time since I have consistently painted week to week, I really feel like I am in the groove on this one.

I changed my mind 3 times until I finally committed to this farm layout. The original idea was to paint a street in downtown Portsmouth, NH. After taking many photos I was just not in love with the images, mainly because the original idea had inclement weather, they day I shot was clear.

The 2nd idea was based on a photo I took a few months ago of a barn on a hill, I really liked the image but felt like it was not very well suited for painting and would not allow me to enjoy the process enough.

 The second painting concept.

I finally found this farm right along side a secondary highway in Strafford , NH. I totally changed the landscape, and added snow and removed trees to get the feel that I was looking for. Have a look at the process so far.

Short-Eared Owls and Wet Feet

 Yesterday afternoon I found myself in the southern end of the NH coastline.  With rates as low as this it seemed to be a good choice to refinance my house, so this would be the second closing inside of a year. Booooring.

All said and done at 3:50 I decided to head to a secluded spot not far away in Rowley, Mass. This area looks out over Plum Island Sound and is a known hunting spot for the Short-Eared Owl. This would be my 4th visit to this wet and windy area hoping to catch a glimpse of this bird that would be considered a lifer for me.

As luck would have it, the road leading from the car to a good observation point was flooded with brackish, sulfur smelling water. There I stood, with my only nice shoes, button down shirt,  camera in hand, perfect setting sun, staring across the water to where I needed to be.

 It seemed clear I had but one choice. Immediately I rolled up my pants and took off my shoes and socks and began wading across the freezing water to the other side, about 40 yards. Once on the other side, I dried my feet quickly in the dried sea grass, slipped my shoes back on and trudged onward.

Within 30 feet of getting my shoes back on an owl rose out of the grass 50 yards in front of me in perfect light. Then another, for about 10 minutes I watched as 2 owls seemed to taunt each other and hunt over the marsh. Just seeing these amazing birds for the first time was like a dream. The moment made me forget about my freezing, wet feet and the fact that the wind had picked up and I realized I should have probably put a jacket on some time ago. Looking back at my truck a half a mile away I stuck it out til sun set.

 

 The water gauntlet with no way around.

Like clockwork, as soon as the sun set, the moon rose in the east 180 degrees to the east.