an hour's worth of home work

Here are two plein air paintings I have completed recently. During both days the weather proved to me that summer was at last gone....  One painting day there was a brisk wind whipping up pine needles and oak leaves in the bright sunshine. The other day, the cold rains held off long enough to paint an impression of the Merrimack River.

 

The back lit, gnarly willow trees were on a marshy island in the middle of the Artichoke Reservoir, with their dark reflections on the water's ruffled surface.  I like the negative spaces between the trees and tried to capture their leaves aglow with the blue back drop of the other side of pond.

       

 

The Point Shore Amesbury painting with all the summer boats removed and placed in winter storage had the end of season sadness in the gray tones of a dank morning.  I enjoyed the pattern play of the empty docks canting this way and that on the water all tethered not far from the shoreline.

 



The top paintings of the diptychs are what I accomplished in my plein air session and the bottom paintings are the finished paintings...about an hour's worth of home work to finish them off.

on the streets of Newburyport

submitted and published in the Newburyport Daily News, 9/2/11

To the Editor:

Hey Paradise!

Time to put up a parking garage? Things are getting kind of tight out there on the streets of Newburyport, and it's not just the parking.

A group of local plein air painters, known as the Newburyport Ten, were in town to paint scenes of the port city and to talk up their recent show at the Newburyport Art Association with the good people they meet while painting outdoors.

I was one such painter on Green Street to capture the fabulous view of the Mission Oak Grill's church steeple, City Hall, and the waterfront with sailboats afloat on the river.

At 8:40 a.m., I set up my easel and canvas on the street while standing close to the front of my parked car. What a great morning to be slapping oil paint on my canvas while enjoying chats with passers-by. Then, while working on the final strokes, a most unfriendly comment was rudely hurled at me by a man who indignantly strolled by and entered the nearby Green Street Executive Offices building..."With the shortage of parking spaces in this city, I suggest you not be set up there."

As I looked around at the empty parking space ahead of me, another behind me and yet another across the street, I had to wonder what would motivate such a remark. It clearly was not parking that was tight.

Sorry buddy, I got this space.

SUSAN JAWORSKI-STRANC