Plein Air on Gray Days

Gray Day Rocks, 6x8, oil, $100 unframed

View Through the Bird Blind, 6x6, $100, unframed

We're in a terrible weather pattern, lots of clouds and then the sun breaks through, and just when you get outside the clouds return! Mother Nature's having some fun with us! The bird blind is a wooden shelter constructed in the marsh with viewing windows so you can observe the birds, waterfowl and wildlife unnoticed, a very cool place to set up and paint! These paintings reflect the gray-ness of the day and the textures of the marsh vegitation and the subtle changes in color of the rocks. Enjoy!

SEAWEED

When descends on the Atlantic
The gigantic
Storm-wind of the equinox,
Landward in his wrath he scourges
The toiling surges,
Laden with seaweed from the rocks:

From Bermuda's reefs; from edges
Of sunken ledges,
In some far-off, bright Azore;
From Bahama, and the dashing,
Silver-flashing
Surges of San Salvador;

From the tumbling surf, that buries
The Orkneyan skerries,
Answering the hoarse Hebrides;
And from wrecks of ships, and drifting
Spars, uplifting
On the desolate, rainy seas;--

Ever drifting, drifting, drifting
On the shifting
Currents of the restless main;
Till in sheltered coves, and reaches
Of sandy beaches,
All have found repose again.

So when storms of wild emotion
Strike the ocean
Of the poet's soul, erelong
From each cave and rocky fastness,
In its vastness,
Floats some fragment of a song:

Front the far-off isles enchanted,
Heaven has planted
With the golden fruit of Truth;
From the flashing surf, whose vision
Gleams Elysian
In the tropic clime of Youth;

From the strong Will, and the Endeavor
That forever
Wrestle with the tides of Fate
From the wreck of Hopes far-scattered,
Tempest-shattered,
Floating waste and desolate;--

Ever drifting, drifting, drifting
On the shifting
Currents of the restless heart;
Till at length in books recorded,
They, like hoarded
Household words, no more depart.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Field Studies en Plein Air

Oyster River Evening, 6x8, oil

Beach Path, 6x8, oil

Morning Path, 6x8, oil

Edge of the Woods, 6x8, oil

SOLD

I really enjoy painting small field studies outdoors. It's amazing how much you learn about nature, color, light, the rhythms of the seasons and the turning from night to day when you spend time working directly from nature. Larger studio works may seem grander and have more polish and finish but they can never compete with the intimate and fresh depiction of a scene you get when you work small and quick outdoors.

For your Spirit woven into the Fabric of creation

for the eternal overlapping with time

and the life of the earth interlaced with heaven's vitality

I give you thanks, O God.

For your untamed creativity

your boundless mystery

and your passionate yearnings

planted deep in the soul of every human being

I give you thanks.

Grabt me the grace to reclaom these depths

to uncover this treasure

to liberate these longings

and in being set free in my own spirit

to act for the well-being of the world.

J.Philip Newell

from~A Celtic Benediction~

Each of these field studies is available for purchase, unframed, $100. E-mail me jan.blencowe@comcast.net pay securely with PayPal

April Trail

April Trail- Plein Air Impressionist Landscape

About This Painting:
Painted on location, the colors are still subtle in New England this time of year though the red cedars retain their richness. This was painted at Hammonasset State Park. It's part of the hiking trail that follows a rocky moraine at the Meigs Point at the eastern end of the park.

Media: oil
Size: 12 in X 9 in (30.5 cm X 22.9 cm)
Price: $350

How to Purchase:

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $350
Or, send me an email