Winnisquam Sunset at Ahern - SOLD

Winnisquam Sunset at Ahern ~SOLD (Somebody Liked This!)

8 in. x 8 in., acrylic on canvas  
$115 (framed)

A late summer afternoon with a friend sitting on the sandy eastern shore of Lake Winnisquam at Ahern State Park here in NH was the inspiration for this painting.  There's a little walking trail that leaves the beach and runs up the knoll through the woods, emerging on this little woodsy rise overlooking a sharp drop-off down to the water.  The sun was setting on the other shore (that's Steele Hill, there) with strong light right in our eyes just outside the right frame of the painting and illuminating the dry leaves and pine needles on the ground with gold. The warm and cool colors were exciting to me and the shadows were fun and dramatic.  It was a good excuse to use blues and oranges, my favorite complementary pairing together.

Two Lights On The Rocks (A Mini Painting) - SOLD

Two Lights On The Rocks 

4 in. x 5 in., acrylic on canvas

SOLD

When you visit Two Lights at Cape Elizabeth in Maine, there's a small, elongated promontory of brittle quartzite and phyllite that rises up and juts out into the Atlantic Ocean.  The long, stepped and faulted surface looks like squared off logs stacked like stadium seating and rubble tumbling into the surf on one side and dropping off to a cliff on the other. When you stand on the top of the promontory looking out to sea, you get the rubbly view of this painting.  It was a moody, overcast day in winter, and everything was blue-green midtone.

It's a tiny painting... see?

This is a mini-painting, a small study of the rocky outcropping at Two Lights that can fit in your hand.  It required brushes many times smaller than I usually reach for, but it was a fun challenge, and captures the chilly, rocky and nonstop wind here.  It's a cool, simple composition, but if you've stood out on top of the ledge here, you recognize the sights and you can hear the open sea pounding into the rubble around you.

And maybe being confined to a tiny painting tames the power of the place just a little?