The Making of Manana Mystique

I've been spending time this year working in my studio on larger paintings using my plein air paintings as color reference for the larger pieces. I've had better luck with this process lately and I'll  share my process here.

Late Afternoon, Manana 12" x 16" oil on linen

  This was done on Monhegan up the hill at the lighthouse, starting at about 3:30 in the afternoon and staying until dark.  You can stand at the edge of the hill and see the whole sweep of Monhegan. beyond the field and across the Manana. Those amazing colors were there as the sun went very low. It's a complete painting with intuitive brush strokes and I'll leave it just as it is.
  I felt like there was more I could do with this idea at a larger size so I stretched a piece of linen to 24" x 36" and did some sketching on it to see where I wanted to place the major land areas. There are some small changes from this painting, but I wanted to keep the simple sky as a foil to all the activity and color in the land masses.

Here is the start of the larger piece:

This is my studio you can see how much junk I have everywhere. There was a lot of thinking about how much to include in the village area at the bottom.

Here is the painting a bit farther along:

More color and detail everywhere, but I want to bring the color into more harmony, without losing the sense of excitement about the color and the light that I had painting on the island. This is maybe half finished.

Manana Mystique 24" x 36" oil on linen

This is the final painting.  Just enough detail, not too much. That is the hardest part for me, stopping for there is too much on the painting and the whole thing is overworked. The larger the painting, the easier it is to overwork it.

Thursday I brought this painting, the plein air version "Late Afternoon, Manana," and two others to the Landing Gallery in Rockland Maine for the opening show of the season. 

Roberta Baumann, Pat Hardy, and gallerist Bruce Busko at the Landing Gallery on Thursday

The fabulous Pat Hardy dropped of 14 gorgeous paintings for the show as well. 

Opening Reception is Friday, May 2. The show runs May 2 - June 1     Landing Art Gallery

Next week will be the first of a monthly series of posts showcasing different artists I find and want to share with you.

Yes please share this blog with anyone you think might like it. They will not be automatically signed up,  and can choose whether they want to get the email.