August 7, 2011

     This is a beach scape from two photos taken at Gay Head beach on Martha's Vineyard. Some fellow was porpoising about in the water right behind these stone towers someone had built on a sandy rock, and I took about eight photos trying to get one just as he burst upwards behind the towers. Of course I never did take a photo at just the right second, but I did get one as he splashed in out of the water so I combined that one with one of the towers photos to get a live human next to the humanoid stone piles. Hmm... the figure looks better when you click on him to enlarge him; otherwise it looks like he has a white stripe down his front (not that there weren't plenty of people on the beach with odd red and white markings!). 
     

March 18, 2011

    Today I visited the National Gallery with my friend, who is a copyist, and saw their lockers, how she sets up, and wandered the gallery while she painted. The gallery seemed to have a moderate sized crowd, but she would have up to eight people watching her paint at a given time. I'm very impressed by her bravery! 
    I was determined to get at least one sketch done, so I did this one of The Stranded Ship by Asher Durand. I chose it partly because it looked less complicated and thus doable, which is a good thing because I had to sketch it in two sits, due to picking  up a shoulder-peeker rather quickly the first time. The odd bat to the lower right is the worst as it should lay down, which it certainly does not... and I think it was actually the broken mast. Whatever.