Tony Conner paintings in watercolor » seascape

New Painting – “Beached”

TC — Tue, 25 May 2010 13:44:59 +0000

"Beached"

In my post on May 6, I mentioned that my usual landscape subjects were not inspiring me and that the my usual solution to lack of inspiration is to work on something new. At that time, I began working on a still life composed of wine bottles placed in front of my studio’s picture window. At about the same time, I began teaching a new class at our local career development center. In preparing for the class, “Creating Watercolor Paintings from Your Photos” , I was searching through my own stock of reference photos for something to use as an example. The photo below caught my eye.

The photo was taken at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, in Vergennes, VT some years ago. The subject boat was up on blocks as a static display – its days on the water were probably over. The simple shape of the boat and simplicity of the working rigging was appealing to me, although I wanted the boat to be in a different setting. I don’t often paint from photos but prefer to use them as reference. In this case, the essential shape and character of the boat were lifted from the photo and placed on a beach.

Many of my seascapes feature cerulean blue, especially mixed with cadmium red to create soft, strong, granular grays. Cerulean appears in the sky, water, shadows and even on the red hull of the boat. I have an affinity for the bright overcast that is often the condition at the coast. I’ve included that sort of condition in this work and find that the cerulean/cad red combination can help create a convincing representation.

Painting a seascape themed work probably has to do with some anticipation. I’ll be showing work at two outdoor art festivals this summer – Beverly Arts Festival in Beverly Massachusetts in June and the Manchester Arts Festival in Manchester by the Sea, Massachusetts. Both are in the Cape Ann area – one of my favorite painting haunts. I’ve planned for painting time around both festivals and am looking forward to painting along the coast again this summer.

Vacation sketches

TC — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:43:10 +0000

Family takes priority during family vacations, so I sketched and painted less than I might have. Still, I was able to get some work done on our recent trip to Hilton Head. Living in New England means that I have very little opportunity to see and paint trees from the southeast. Trees are a favorite subject of mine and are often featured in my paintings. It was pleasing to be able to see and paint trees from a new area. Obviously, palm trees don’t grow in the forests of the northeast. The two sketches below are of a palm located in the courtyard of the condo complex where we stayed for the week. The pencil sketch captures the reality of the tree, while the watercolor sketch is a study in color, light and shade.

By the time I did this watercolor sketch, I had adjusted my color mixtures to be more representative of the colors of the plants and foliage in the Hilton Head area. My initial works lacked a bit of authenticity since I was using colors – particularly greens – that are more like those found in New England. The sketch below of a beach and salt marsh near where we stayed shows the difference. The green areas in the fore and middle ground are tall marsh grasses. As sketched, the green is more like the green of a grassy field in the northeast. Marsh grasses in this are tend to be a somewhat more intense yellow green than as depicted.

Port Royal Sound marsh & sky - Hilton Head Island

On this particular morning, the sky was overcast. I was pleased to find that my favorite combination of cerulean blue and cadmium red did work well to capture the look of the sky.

Cape Ann, Massachusetts

TC — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:34:32 +0000

“Cape Ann Walk”
9 x 13

This work began as a demo for my Cape Ann Workshop, which took place June 22 – 25, 2009. Unlike most of my work, this one began using a reference photo taken by one of the students. The photo depicted a gray, rainy day on which a few brave souls decided to take a walk on the beach. Most of my work begins with sketches, however, this one did not. For demo purposes, I jumped right in, making a quick sketch of the large shapes and starting with the initial washes. By the end of the days class, the work was well along, but not nearly complete. More work in the studio got the worked to its finished state as shown here.

For more info about this work, see my artists blog : http://tonyconner.wordpress.com/

Contact me if you are interested in purchasing this work. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

Open Studio Weekend

TC — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:08:24 +0000

"Early November"

Vermont’s natural scenic beauty is enhanced each spring when the work of Vermont artists and craftspeople can be seen firsthand during Vermont’s 17th annual Open Studio Weekend May 23-24.

My studio will be open from 10am – 5pm both Saturday and Sunday, May 23 & 24. I’m looking forward to again welcoming visitors my studio, showing new works and discussing my work, materials, processes etc.

Open Studio Weekend is a statewide celebration of the visual arts and the creative process. Bennington County, Vermont is home to many fine artists and artisans including the other members of The Artisans of Southern Vermont. The other twenty-nine members of the group will also have their studios open this weekend. The fine work represented by this group includes other paintings, jewelery, pottery, furniture, sculpture, and more.

Take the Artisans of Vermont Open Studio Driving Tour and be eligible to win a $150 gift certificate to the artist’s studio of your choice. Simply visit at least 8 of the 30 Artisans of Southern Vermont studios, get the artists signature and then leave the form at one of the open studio locations. Drawing to be held on June 15, 2009. Open Studio Driving Tour map, instructions and “Studio Sleuth” form downloadable here.

New Work – Thinking of Summer

TC — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:43:46 +0000

Officially out of winter mode – my latest work is pictured below. This work was inspired by a few things; a simple demo for one of my classes on creating rather than using tube grays, making plans for a summer class at the coast, and a simple sketch found in one of my sketchbooks.

”Sunrise”

9″ x 13″

More on the inspiration and process at my artists blog ; http://tonyconner.wordpress.com