What’s not to like about a pack of puppies frolicking down the beach following their mom while playing with a stick bigger than themselves? NOTHING, that’s what!
I’d done a previous piece similar to this one called PUPPY BUTTS, but it was half the size and half the number of puppies. It was sold at an Art for the People Gallery show last year, but I received so many positive comments about it that I decided to do another one.
The focal point was a bit of an accident, which happened after I’d blocked in all the pups. Sitting back considering how I was going to actually paint the dogs, yes with wine, the two on the right just seemed to be playing, and the idea of incorporating a stick jumped into my head. It’s hard to see from the photo, but the puppies with the stick are painted with a palette knife instead of a brush, adding contrasting texture to draw further interest. The singular, adorable black puppy is also meant to draw the viewer to that part of the pack.
It’s hard to know as an artist when a composition is done, which I tend to agree with in most cases. But when it comes to dog-related paintings, at the point that it makes you laugh, smile, or cry… it’s done.
PORTLAND HEAD LIGHTHOUSE (study) | 7×5″ | Oil on Canvas Board
This plein air study has been sitting on the “to be finished” rack for awhile, but I finally got it done in preparation for doing a larger painting in the coming weeks. As a study I focused on a few compositional elements and came away a little confused and may not be ready to do a “real” painting just yet.
Positives from the study:
Structure of the lighthouse
Fluffy clouds
Conundrums:
Landscape lighting/values are off somehow – need to fix this to give more depth and realism
Grassy foreground doesn’t work well with a lighthouse – need to incorporate rocky coast elements
I painted the core of this piece on site in Portland, Maine over the summer. It’s amazing how a scene can sink into memory painting outside as opposed to from a photo. This will be a challenging full size painting, but some compositional tweaks should help a lot.
BIRD DOG is intended to capture the pure joy of a dog playing on the beach. If I got it right, you should smile or giggle at the scene. For those of you who love birds, rest assured no birds were harmed in the making of this painting.
I was inspired by a photo of a dog playing on a beach, but the most striking thing for me was the stylistic impact of the silhouette. There’s something compelling about the lack of details in the darkened shapes of the dog and birds, perhaps giving more to the imagination of the viewer, allowing it to be personalized. Additionally, the silhouettes lend themselves well to a sense of motion. I’m not sure why it strikes me this way, but I think it has something to do with the stark value contrasts created by the silhouettes on the colored landscape.
Broken Color Palette
My mom happened to mention her recent use of the broken color technique on one of her compositions, something I’d not heard of previously. As it turns out, the technique whih proved to be a very exciting way to add depth and vibrancy to the composition. In short, broken color is a technique often used by the Impressionists that leveraged optical color mixing to make things look less flat and murky. This article, Broken Color and Optical Color Mixing, does a great job describing and illustrating the technique.
I used this approach to re-do the reflective elements on the beach, which I must say was a huge improvement. I took a black and white photo of the color palette of the beach to ensure the values were the same, which makes the technique more effective because the various colors work as one and don’t compete with each other. I’m very excited to use this in my plein air landscapes in the coming months!
BIRD DOG is also a foray into waves, another subject relatively new to me at this level of detail. I enjoy seascapes and incorporating water into my landscapes, but most of that has been lakes and streams. Capturing the force and complexity of ocean waves is a whole different endeavor, but I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and will incorporate waves in future works.
The final decision to be made was regarding the birds. My wife, a frequent source of very helpful suggestions and insights to work in progress, suggested I pare down the array of birds. At some point, she noted, the number of birds pushes the feel of the work from playful fun on the beach to terror at the seaside. And she was right! As I added the bird silhouettes in the final stage, at 14 it felt like any more would start to slide into Hitchcock territory. Compared to the study, which had 21 birds and begged the question “who’s chasing who?”, the final composition was more playful and struck the right “dog on beach having a great time running around like it was the best day of their life” tone.
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to go play with your pups!
Early progress shot reveals previously used canvasBefore use of broken colorRe-painted beach using broken colorRealization that beach was lacking, saw same problem in studyBroken color beach and birds added to completed Bird Dog
Barks & Birds (study) | 9 x 12” | Oil on Canvas Paper
The unbridled zeal for life is hard to epitomize more than watching a big dog playing on a beach. While I don’t support a dog chasing wildlife, in the case of birds I don’t mind because in all my days I’ve never seen a dog come close to catching one. But the pure joy of exploring and running on a beach is something that brings a smile to every doggy parent out there.
Barks & Birds is a study to figure out the technique and subtle variations in hues and values needed for a larger composition. I’ve seen photographs of dogs on the beach in silhouette, but I think a painting lends more atmosphere to the scene than most photographs I’ve seen. I made some basic mistakes with this study, having painted the silhouettes first, but I wanted to get the darks mixed properly and take a crack at the shapes, especially the dog, who I like to call Mr Happy Pants.
The study also allowed me to mix a number of grays to capture that end-of-day post sunset atmosphere. I gambled with the underpainting, using a very saturated orange, but I love how it turned out… a happy accident indeed. I initially thought it would provide some nice highlights around the silhouettes, but as it turns out it nailed the sunset color behind the clouds.
Lastly, the waves. I didn’t really care about this detail as part of this study, but probably because I kept my technique very loose (i.e. didn’t care how it looked) and fast, they turned out really well. I concentrated on the mix of greenish-blue, which will show better in a larger, more finished composition, but I’ll be keeping it very loose when I do the waves next time. Might need a bottle of wine for that part.
These fishing shacks are located, appropriately, on Fishermans Point in South Portland, Maine. Anytime of day is wonderful to visit the point to soak in the sea breeze, watch the activity in the bay, or simply smile at the beautiful landscape. While this spot has intrinsic beauty and plenty of subject matter for painting, these fishing shacks jutting over the water are inescapably paintable. This is one of what’s sure to be multiple compositions I do at this location.
This was a particularly challenging piece due to the weather. In the photos you can’t see the wind, but trust me it was whipping around like a petulant child, something that wasn’t typical for this location. Despite the wind, it proved to be a stunning afternoon for late day sun, which lit up the shacks in that special way that only the sun can do.
I definitely called on my inner Edward Hopper for this piece. My wife also influenced the outcome, noting a need for color so it wouldn’t be so blah with all the gray wood. Pushing the contrasts was easier than expected, in large part because the magic of plein air really helps with getting the light right.
Plein Air at Fishermans Point, South Portland, Maine
Casco Bay Boats (study) | 7 x 5” | oil on Canvas Board
The weather and views were so fantastic, frankly I didn’t care how this plein air piece turned out. The vantage point was from a hillside trail in the shade looking out across Casco Bay. I had originally setup along the water, but had to move due to the rantings of a homeless guy who felt me and another guy nearby had infringed on his oceanfront property.
The boats were tricky to paint because the scale was so small – this was the first time I’d painted a seascape with various boats on a small canvas. I realized I had to pay more attention to giving the impression of details with singular brush strokes, almost dots in some places. The other challenge with boats, maybe it’s just in this particular bay, but the vast majority of them are white, the entire boat, not just the sails.
Overall this was a successful study and I’m looking forward to future compositions, both in plein air and studio refinements. There are also some great hues to work with in the sky, water, and the backdrop of green forests and islands. What’s not to like?
Art Bern 