From the Patio

 I recently took a short trip with my sister, Michelle, up to Maine to visit our other sister, Chris, and her family. We spent a lot of time catching up with each other, but I did head outside the first day and paint from the patio. Across the street there was this wonderful very tall pine tree. This is a very small painting...maybe the size of a bookmark, but perfect to show the height of the tree.

There is a birch tree in my sister's yard that she planted years ago in memory of my dad. It is now huge and provides lots of shade to the yard and the house. It is here against their barn.

In the morning I took a walk for exercise in Damariscott. Here are some of the flowers I saw on my walk into town.

Renys Underground Rear Entrance

In the same parking lot that I painted the view of the water was the back end of the buildings along Maine Street. Renys is one of them. 

Renys is a well-known very small chain of department stores located throughout the state of Maine. The first store was opened in 1949 in Damariscotta. There is the building that houses the original store which is the size of one small storefront with a small upstairs that sells clothing. Then there is Renys Underground which is a bit bigger and has an upstairs and an underground. It sells everything else imaginable...shoes, spices, some food, sporting equipment, electronics, party supplies, housewares, gardening supplies, etc. You can find almost anything there. lol 

I love the back view where you enter from the parking lot into the basement of the store. I just couldn't pass up all the snow shovels in pinks and blues.

Here is a summery front view of Renys with lots of beach chairs lining the front of the store.

Along the Damariscotta River

Today it was a bit on the cold side, but I wanted to get to sketch a bit of Damariscotta before we leave. I took my "mobile studio" and checked out a few local places where I knew I could park and see the river. There is only a bit of snow on the ground here so I was looking for a view that had some ice along the riverbank. My location ended up being in the parking lot behind some of the stores on Main Street in town, actually where they usually do the Pumpkinfest Regatta. The temperature was only 21 degrees so I kept the car running for about half the time that it took me to paint this 6 x8 piece. I was warm enough although I needed my fingerless gloves. lol

30 x 30 Direct Watercolor - Day 29

Today's Direct Watercolor is part of my dinner. It is rare for us to come up to Maine and not have lobster for dinner at least once. 

#directwatercolor2019 #30x30directwatercolor

This afternoon I walked into town to do a sketch...planning to do one last direct watercolor. I didn't want to drag my whole backpack with me so I just took a few things. When I got across from this breakfast/bakery spot I realized I had left my watercolors back at the house. So I sketched this in ink on site and added color when I got back to the house. That's what happens when I change bags. lol

Inktober 2018 - Day 7

There weren't any events for Pumpkinfest today that I wanted to go to and it was drizzling this morning. I waited for the weather to improve and then drove down to Pemaquid Point to sketch. That is one of my favorite places up here and almost always visit it. I sat along the road that runs along the water to do my Inktober - Day 7 sketch of the rocky coast.

Yesterday I did a few sketches while I was in town. Here is one of another decorated pumpkin.

I met my husband for lunch and then stayed in town for the Pumpkinfest Parade on Main Street. I found a spot to put my stool where I was leaning against a telephone pole. I figure that way I wouldn't be knocked over by people in the crowd. I sketched the people starting to gather and sit on the opposite side of the street from me.

Here are photos of a few more of the decorated pumpkins. This one had a "Starry Night" look to it.

These two were a little creepy but fun.

Inktober 2018 - Day 6

Here in Damariscotta, Maine the big event of the year, the annual Pumpkinfest & Regatta is going on. For a tiny, sleepy town it is amazing the number of people who flock here for this event. Yesterday coming up it took us 1 hour to travel the last 11 miles to my sister's house because of the traffic.

I went out early this morning to view the decorated pumpkins that line the street. Here are a few of the wonderful decorated ones. 

Later I walked back into town to sketch. This looked like a good bet for my Inktober 2018 - Day 6 sketch because most of it was already black and white. The artist, Ari Edgar left markers for people to add their names of something to the pumpkin like these two little girls are doing.

#inktober #inktober2018

Inktober - Day 10 - The Harbor, Bob's, and a Ferry Ride

Today was our last day in Damariscotta for this trip. We planned on leaving around 10am but I went down by the harbor to do an Inktober sketch in the morning. This was done with a twig and Chinese ink. I think the extra practice with the twig is starting to pay off. #inktober #inktober2017

Our last stop in Maine was for lunch in Kittery. Bob's Clam Hut is our favorite restaurant...and it is deadly. We always eat too much, but the food is so good. When we finished eating I had some time to do a sketch before we got back in the car to head back to the ferry in New London, CT.

Of course I found someone to sketch on the ferry ride. This man was sitting with a woman that I assume was his wife, but they got up and moved before I got to sketch her.

Inktober - Day 9 - Pumpkinfest X 2

Today is the last day of Pumpkinfest here in Damariscotta. Today's big event is the Pumpkin Regatta where huge pumpkins are hollowed out and turned into boats. I went down to the harbor at around 10 to find a place close to the water where I could sit on my chair. Of course they were forecasting rain during the day. I took my slicker just in case. Since I was there about 1 1/2 hrs before the racing would start I got a good location and I was right in front of the truck that was delivering the pumpkin boats. They were forklifted off the truck. I decided since they were so close to me that was what I would sketch. I used pencil first and then my water brush and watercolors. Then I started adding some ink. It spritzed a bit so I closed the sketchbook until it stopped and then I started again. I got a good part of this painting done before it really started to rain. I was getting just too wet and it didn't look like it was going to stop, so I packed up my stuff and headed over to one of the stores. I never did see any of the actual race. When I got back to my sister's house I finished painting and inking this sketch. 

Here are a few photos I took while I was sitting there.

The crowd waiting in the rain.

The forklift delivering the pumpkin boat to the river.

The Viking boat taking a spin.

The Unicorn boat out on the river.

After I dripped off a bit in one of the stores I went back out and sat across the street under the overhang in front of the bookstore on Main Street. That was a nice, dry place and I was able to do my  Inktober Day 9 sketch of the view across the street. One of the decorated pumpkins was sitting in front of the Damariscotta Center. #inktober #inktober2017

 Here is a photo I took of the scene...right about when the shuttle bus must have dropped people off. lol 

Inktober - Day 8 - Clark Farm & Pemaquid Harbor

Today we had rain and showers on and off here in Maine. That mean when I went out to do my Inktober sketch I had to do it from my "mobile studio." I used my Elegant Writer pen for this sketch at Clark Farm.

I couldn't leave it as just ink...all those pumpkins just cried out for color.

This afternoon I drove over to Pemaquid Harbor and sketched this scene.

Inktober - Day 7 - Pemaquid Point & Waiting for the Parade

Today's Inktober sketch was done at Pemaquid Point...one of my favorite places. Next to the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse is the Seagull Shop. I sat outside and sketched the corner of the building and the view out to the ocean.

This afternoon was the parade to go with Damariscotta's Pumpkinfest. The town was really, really crowded so I found a spot at the far end of the route near the church where I could sit and sketch the crowd. I knew sketching the parade would be a bit too much. I only sketched a few of the people. I had hoped to take a photo of the crowd to show you, but the battery in my camera was too low...typical. lol

Inktober - Day 6 - Ocean Point and Pumpkinfest

I decided to head down to Boothbay this morning and drove out to Ocean Point. It was drizzling by the time I got there so I had to sketch from my mobile studio. This was done with a twig and Chinese ink. #inktober #inktober2017

This weekend Damariscotta is having their annual Pumpkinfest. I've been here for this event in the past and it is a lot of fun. This morning I went out for my walk and the huge pumpkins were all on their bases waiting for the artists to decorate them. Just a few of them had started to work but one woman had and I stopped to talk to her. This afternoon I stopped in town to see her progress and sat and sketched her at work. The rain had washed some of her design off before it dried so she had to redo part of it. Her pumpkin has a haunted house on top made out of popsicle sticks and the pumpkin has white skeletons with a black design around them. The artist is Crystal McLain and she has done this for the past 5 or 6 years.

Damariscotta Sketches

Last weekend my husband and I went up to Maine to visit family for a few days. The weather was not cooperative so we ended up delaying the trip one day due to rain. Because of that we couldn't get a reservation on the ferry going over to Connecticut. So we ended up driving the whole way...so no ferry sketches from the trip up.

 Of course by the time we got up to Maine it was raining. So we just hung out for the rest of the day. Sunday morning it was foggy but not raining, so I headed down by the river to do some sketches. It was windy so I sat on my chair with my car right behind me so it would block the wind a bit. It worked long enough to get two sketches done.

30 in 30 Challenge - Day 9 - Minotaur

Today for the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" Challenge I did Minotaur, the bull terrier. He belongs to my friend, Jean Ogden. I think he has a great face.

Don't forget to check the other paintings by the artists participating in the challenge here at Leslie Saeta's blog. https://www.saetastudio.com/30-in-30-blog

Yesterday it was bitterly cold up here at my sister's in Damariscotta, Maine, so aside from going out to church and the grocery store, we stayed in. It had snowed a bit on Saturday which made the views out her windows look really nice. Here is the first 5 x 7 painting I did looking across Church Street. The view reminded me of the scenes often selected by another artist I follow, Shari Blaukopf (https://shariblaukopf.com), who paints a lot of "ordinary scenes" with trash cans, electric wires and poles, which are like the accessories to a scene.

Damariscotta and Popham Beach

This morning after breakfast I sat out on my sister's deck here in Damariscotta to sketch. She has this wonderful white birch tree and I just love the bark. She planted it years ago in my dad's memory and it is now huge. This was sketched directly in ink first and the watercolors added later.

Our plan for the day was to head down to Popham Beach which is on a peninsula east of Bath. It had changed a lot since I was there last, but the views of the rocks in the water are still super, and we were there at low tide so people were able to walk out to the largest section. Of course I stayed put and sketched instead. This one below was done in my moleskin sketchbook across a double page. I could have used a triple page (LOL) except that with the sun and the wind it would never have worked.

This next one was done of the rock directly in front of me. Even with the tide out you can't walk to this part. We had a nice time there. It was another of the spots Kathleen wanted to revisit before they leave on Sunday for Australia.

The Drone and Pine Tree Yarns

Kathleen (my niece) and Fionn (her boyfriend) are collaborating on a dance piece of hers that he is filming with a drone camera. They have spent a lot of time filming out in one of the meadows along the Damariscotta River. They were out there early this morning so when I took my walk I headed through town and up over there to see what was going on. When I got there Kathleen and the drone were just finishing up a taping session, so I didn't get a photo of the drone in action. I did get a photo of them viewing the filmed section on the computer in the woods. lol You can see his drone off to the side.

Here is part of the meadow that Kathleen was dancing in.

Our day continued with a visit to the gallery of her high school art teacher. He had some amazing huge woodcuts and linoprints as well as some graphitints and oil paintings. Much of his work was either marine themed or birds. We all wanted one of his huge turtle prints.

After lunch I walked into town (again) in order to do a painting for #WorldWatercolorMonth...you know I would have sketched/painted something anyway. lol This is Pine Tree Yarns which always has such colorful flowers in front of it.