"The Constance Sea", 8" x 10" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection
The toned canvas was a wipe out from the day before. It worked perfectly in this painting since it was pretty much the color of the sand.
This boat, "The Constance Sea", is in Chatham, Ma.
After painting the "Little Dinghy" I turned around in the same spot. I even got to keep my bare feet in the same cool hole that I had dug them into for the other piece. Painting on the beach is great. The sun had dropped quite a bit and the light was just right.
29 comments:
man i thought i was jealous of you painting in arrid mexico. now these sweeeet gems from the cape. dude you live a charmed life. glad your posting again. we missed you friend!
BTW did i tell you i love that marsh painting. saved to the hard drive next to ken auster, daniel aldana, and tim horn, my alltime favourite painters (just so happens theyre all from california). you rocked that one!
ok, is there anything you can't paint well?? LOL i'm joshing you! these are great. i love that they are in such contrast with your mexico paintings, the colors are much cooler, and i like how loose your brushstrokes are, yet they are very well placed and so defining. fabulous! safe travels home!
There is a quiet calm in this painting.
Hey Frank,
As soon as I saw this painting I knew exactly what boat it was and exactly where you were standing, looking towards the sandbar and the Atlantic..then I read your post which confirmed it as Chatham...ironically, I was standing in the same spot when I photographed the Cod fisherman that I turned into a lobsterman painting in my post for today (June 10 as I write this)..I've done a few paintings in this wonderful spot in Chatham...your dinghy is painted beautifully as well. I'm really wishing I could have been there with you painting, hopefully next time.
All the best,
Todd
Such a change of palette from Mexico!
Isn't it interesting how light changes in different parts of the world?
Nothing to beat sand and water.
Sorry I have been out of touch.
Too much traveling and too many airplanes.
Fantastic!
If I didn't know any better I'd swear you were from Nova Scotia.
Frank--you are ending this Cape series with a bang. Bloggers are commenting on the differences in the light from Mexico to N.E., but you sure have handled it.
Love the dingy painting, too. Great colors and contrasts...
Mike, Yeah, it was great to get up to the Cape and paint with my buddies.
I thought that I would be able to post more while I was traveling. I have a backlog of stuff here that I will try and post in the next few days.
Thanks on the marsh painting. That one seems to appeal to a lot of people.
Hi Christine. Yes, I can't do portraits very well.
I appreciate your thoughts on these.
Thanks, I am back home safely. Delays in the skies yesterday, but no missed flights or anything.
Thanks Bill or Lisa. I was feeling the quiet calm relaxed beach thing. Guess it shows in the painting.
I'm sure I have missed some good posts on everyone's blogs. I'll try and catch up this week.
Hi Todd. That's cool that you knew this boat right away. I'll have to check out your post.
Had you in mind when I did that dinghy. The only thing I missed out on in Chatham was that the fish market at the pier was closed by the time we wrapped it up that afternoon.
That would have been great if you could have made it down to paint. We'll get another chance.
Hi Elizabeth. The change in light quality is one of the biggest challenges of a different spot. That and the tide moving my boats up and down and changing the water lines.
Where have you been traveling? I have missed a few weeks on your blog too. I'll try and catch up soon.
Thanks Ambera!
Saw lots of very cool clouds yesterday flying and thought of you. Taking off into clouds in the evening with city lights shining up through them really made me think of your stuff, but from a different angle.
Hi Jack. The series in not over yet. I have a few more.
There really is a difference in the light and palette, as you know. I find a good use for my indian yellow in my greens up that way that I don't here.
Hi Frank-- Glad you're back-- ooh that water looks nice and cool! I love the way you've handled the reflections.
This is another nice one Frank. Even though the palette has changed some I still recognize your hand.
The other day I looked at the sky. The overcast was just starting to thin and feint blue was starting to show through and I had the thought that it looked like a Frank Gardner sky.
I could study your paintings for a long time and still couldn't learn how you see colors the way you do.
Love the reflections in the water on this one.
Such a lovely contrast in this series to the dustier, Mexico settings.
But you can do it all.
You could probably paint a stick figure and give it life.
Welcome back - look forward, as always to the next ones.
Thanks Jennifer. Yeah, that water was pretty cold still. I did not even consider getting in. Especially on the ocean side.
Thanks a lot Bill!
I am humbled by the fact that you looked a particular sky/ light and thought of me.
Hi Bonnie, I think the way to go is take some colors and study how to make as many colors as you can with those and how to put them together to make even more.
New England seascapes are pretty different from 6500 feet up in Mexico. No dust around here these days though. We have been getting a lot of rain lately and it is getting pretty green.
Yeah, I can do a mean stick figure :-)
Funny thing: I had this painting up on my computer monitor when some friends stopped by. They saw it and recognized the boat and scene immediately. Is that possible? Is the Constance Sea a boat that regularly sits in that bay/harbor? They have a house in or near Chatham where their family has gone in the summers for generations. In fact, they are leaving today to go there. I gave them the gallery information and they PROMISED to go see your paintings. Isn't that wonderfully wild?!?!?! Talk about serendipity!
Oh, in case it wasn't clear ---
I didn't even know they had a place there til they saw your painting and commented on it.
I found that out beCAUSE they saw your painting, randomly, on my monitor screen.
: )
Hello anonymous. That is a funny coincidence. That boat is always there I'm sure. Other people have recognized it right away too.
Sorry the info for Jerome's gallery is vague. It is on my web site, but not the blog. I need to make it easier to find. Thanks for telling them about the gallery.
When we were painting there a couple came by and the man said," I hope you are painting the pretty black one." I said that as a matter of fact I was. Turns out he works on the "Constance Sea".
The gallery information was clear - maybe I found it up on your website - I go there frequently!
I live in Minnesota, by the way.
I play music. Looking at your paintings - because you neither paint everything the same nor paint the same thing over and over - has enlightened how I read music off the page. Like out of the clear blue, discovering your paintings has awakened in me a purpose in playing music - music I didn't write - kind of answering the question, "Why paint, if you can take a photo; why play someone else's music less than perfectly if you can put in a perfectly-produced CD; why play music if you can't write music???". I could explain in much greater detail how your paintings have done this for me, but I won't presume to take up even more space here. I'm just very grateful. AND, I'm continually moved by your expansive generosity with everyone (here, in your blog, and also on so many other people's blogs), including with me. Thank you so much. (I like how you paint horses, and I am captivated by your masking tape nativity scene figures...)
Hi Anonymous.
It is good to know a little more about you.
Your thoughts on my paintings and your ideas about reading music are interesting. It makes me feel good to hear.
Thanks for the comments on my horses and the masking tape project.
My friends visited the J. G. gallery today, and looked at your paintings! Reading their email about it just now was SO FUN - it's so fun that people I know have seen your paintings in PERSON! They are lucky folk!
(They were completely taken by your work, by the way. I hope they bought SEVERAL!)
~Solveg
That sounds great Solveg! Thanks for showing them my work.
I work on this boat haha
Really Scooota? She's a great looking boat.
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