River Lee

 

River Lee, 2015 Cork City, Oil on Board, 18" x 36"

The River Lee rises in the Shehy Mountains in Killarney and empties in to the Celtic Sea at Cobh.  It meandered past our hotel in Cork.  One morning a heavy fog sat on the river and begged to be photographed.  
Cork City center is built on the River Lee where it divides into two channels and forms an island.  Cork in Gaelic means marsh. The mouth empties into Cork Harbor which is one of the world's largest natural harbors.  The city, typical of Ireland, was filled with buskers and laughing people.  

Cypresses on Bayou Dorcheat

Cypresses, Oil on Linen,  56" x 34"

Bald cypresses are deciduous conifers that grow on saturated and inundated soil.  They are very longed lived and slow growing reaching heights of 150'. The name bald is given because unlike other cypresses this species is deciduous.  One of the beautiful aspects of the tree are its knees. A cypress knee is a woody projection forming off the roots and vertically upward through the water.  Their function is unknown although some scientists have thought they may help in oxygenation; there is no proof for this, however.  A more likely function is a buttress to the tree's roots or even an assist in anchoring the tree in the soft muddy soil.

Bayou Dorcheat is a stream whose source is in Nevada County, Arkansas and mouth ends some 115 miles later in Lake Bistineau, Louisiana. Bayou is a French term used in the US for a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area.  It can refer to a slow-moving stream or river, or to a marshy lake or wetland.  Dorcheat is the typical slow moving stream which widens at places into a river. This painting is a composed of points of view taken from photographs my brother, John Ed, took while boating on Dorcheat.  It will be going to Arkansas where it will reside in the home of my brother Robert and his wife Marla near Dorcheat.  

Patty Larkin

Hydrangeas in Cobalt Vase, 2015, Oil on Board, 10"x10"

This painting has found a lovely home in Boston.  It sits on a wall near a door where is can be seen regularly.  The new owners are great appreciators of art, nature, animals, and all things beautiful.  
Having delivered Hydrangeas, my house critic and I met friends at the MFA to hear Patty Larkin perform in the courtyard.  We arrived early and spent time in the American Wing looking at a small curated show of 100 years of American Ceramics.  Most interested were pieces from The Saturday Evening Girls' Club (SEG).  The designs evoke the Arts and Crafts Movement.  Read more about the club, its purpose and Sara Galner, one of the best artists here.  This club is a significant part of a book I recently read, The Boston Girl, by Anita Daimant.  More about the show in here.

 
Sara Galner, right, and her work, left.

We listened to the Patty Larkin concert from Bravo's balcony where we had dinner.  The sound was somewhat distorted from there, but it was more pleasant than sitting on sand chairs.  The sky stayed blue throughout the concert and the sun cast pink and purple light on the spars clouds.  

New Directions

Still Life, Hydrangea, Oil on Board, 12" x 12"

I've decided to take this blog in a new direction. I acknowledge that I am my only audience.  From the onset I have been posting these pictures so that I could watch the development of the paintings.  This was more out of curiosity than any instructional or artistic purpose.  With the advent of so many online options for storing photographs, it is no longer necessary.  So, I'm going to use this as a means to expand my knowledge of ... anything ... something ... associated with the painting but not necessarily the plastic aspects.  It will be a more free association.  I will continue to insert a small picture of the painting I am working on.  
Speaking of free association, I might as well start this new direction by noting that my House Critic and I are reading Ulysses by James Joyce.  We are greatly help by a Great Courses video and an edition of Ulysses by Shmoop that provides analysis and summary of each chapter.  This reading is in preparation of a trip to Ireland that includes a few days in Dublin.  

Still Life, Hydrangeas

Still Life, Hydrangeas, Oil on Board, 12" x12"

I'm doing a second hydrangeas in cobalt bowl.  The leaves are a bit different and the color of the hydrangea is more pink.  Otherwise, it's the same as my earlier one.  

Common Grackle

Common Grackle, 8"x8", Oil on Board

The brow.  The stare.  The color.  An amazing bird.  

Grackle

Grackle, Oil on Board, 8"x8"

The grackles have arrived in force.  They don't stick around too long.  They are voracious eaters that can empty our 3 gallon feeder in a day.  I love the iridescence of their feathers.  This is the first stage of blocking in the values and colors.  This guy has such a fierce look.