NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: COLORS (and color mixing)

New Hampshire Scenes:  Colors

Daybreak with a Dusting   oil   9X12    $250

Bleak November is not so bleak in New Hampshire. 

Color is there for those who choose to look. 

Putting the Sun to Bed  oil 9X12   $250

Wake in time for the sunrise on a clear day, ( not difficult now that we're on standard time), chase sunsets, search out  the occasional blueberry bush that still has it's scarlet leaves, look closely at a tree trunk, at the mist, into the distance. 

At this time of year I look for the burgundy leaves left on the oaks, the lighter and bleaching out leaves of the beeches, and the occasional fern at the edge of the forest that has decided to "try again" and adds its touch of bright spring green. 

Color is every where, one of the joys of life.
Colors are FUN…
lively, brash, outspoken, 
subtle, seductive, 
calm, shy, secretive.

Color… Find it outdoors, and, for an extra dose, visit an artist's studio. 

Pastelist have hundreds of sticks.
I won't count mine, but my friend  Beth teased me years ago about how many sets I had, and I have more now.)

The color miracle, though, is seasoned plein air painter using oil paints. This is the painter who goes out with white and the primaries…Blue, Red and Yellow (perhaps with both a "cool" and  "warm" of each primary.)

BLUE BLU BLEU!  oil abstract   9x12

Think of it…

ALL WE SEE, the colors of the rainbow, are variations of those three primaries!  

All of nature!    EVERYTHING!

And to "switch to oils," or merely add them to my repertoire, I had to learn to mix those colors?  Not that I hadn't done charts to search out subtleties, or even had to mix and layer colors in my pastel work, but a systematic development of charts was on order…part of what I worked on during my "hiatus." 

The above paintings were two of the earliest when I was finished working on my "charts,"

RED ROSSO ROUGE!   oil abstract   9X 12

But I had great fun with each of the primary colors as I went…

For collectors, art lovers, nature lovers,

Red, Yellow and Blue are the base,

but consider the myriad possibilities!

Think of the subtleties! The shades!

The variety! 

The differences!

And, 

Maybe,

(not to wax philosophic, 

but I can't help it)

in a disagreement 

or argument with someone,

remember that it is often the great variety,

of possibilities (and opinions)

that create the amazing world we have...

YELLOW GIALLO JAUNE!  oil abstract   9X12

There is definitely room 

for more than one shade of anything! 

SO, 

If November is bleak, 

and December through March…

find an artist's studio to visit… 

Guaranteed color! 

OR, 

In MY neighborhood?  (Freedom, NH)

Visit my studio

Or, for a very quick dose of color, 
visit my   website ,

 Contact me  at    barbaramcevoy@me.com with questions and/or comments.

NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: Painting (more) Trees with Oils

Windblown on Kearsage  oil    24x36  $700

Painting with Oils: More Trees

Since my "hiatus from blogging," what has changed? 

One major event is that I have switched into oils! Not exclusively. I have dabbled off and on in oils and had painted over "Windblown on Kearsage,"  never getting it the way I wanted. 

Remember my dream, to paint big trees? A 24 x 36 inch oil was bigger than I'd been working on in pastels, but I clearly needed to learn techniques that I was only guessing at. 

The fun of painting IS that there is always more to learn, more to experiment with, and, as important for an outdoor person, more ways to see what lies before us, 
metaphorically, 
historically (yes, art history covers more than written history! Think about it!), spiritually !

imaginatively ! 
and of course, 
physically!

Somwhere between layer three and four of Kearsarge, each layer being almost a complete paint over, I did decide to get really serious about learning and improving my oil techniques, concentrating on various "areas," such as brushwork, color mixing, values, atmosphere.
Brushwork (see below practice examples) and color mixing (a future post) improved Kearsarge considerably, but I expect, in fact I know, I have more to learn. 

Brushwork was the first area calling for practice. Shapes of trees are as varied as people, especially noticeable where trees edge a field or stand sentinel style along a ridge. Being almost winter when I took the photos for my two silhouette studies, leaves were gone from the deciduous trees and the "undercover" was definitely under cover, retired for the season. This line of pines had caught my attention one evening as the dusky sky accented their trunks and branches and a faint breeze caused them to bend and whisper at the hush of approaching dark. The perfect subject for tree study and brush strokes.

Whispering Pines  oil  26 x 18   sold

Most of "Whispering Pines" trees were painted separately for practice, or in smaller clumps and the painting became a labor of love which sold to a hiker who loved seeing the pines on the NH mountainsides, particularly Mount Washington, as much as I enjoyed seeing and painting them.

The second companion piece had to be different but still reflect New Hampshire Scenes. 

Ethnic Neighborhood oil 24X20   $250

Scouting for a different type of tree line, I realized my own yard had a tree line silhouette that reflected the types of trees found in the foothills and pond areas of the Whites, so my own "Lily," the great red pine I mention in "First Friends," became the star and matriarch of 
"Ethnic Neighborhood." 

 For other paintings of Lily and Friends, and NH woodlands go to my website barbaramcevoyartist.com. 

Contact me at barbaramcevoy@me.com with questions and comments.

NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: Trees again and still

Trees….Again and Still

Into the Woodland Hush
24X36   Oil on Canvas   $700

Returning, returning after over a year's hiatus.

Reviewing my blog and website 
after such a long absence begs the question, 
Where to start again? In the now?
What has changed? A Lot!  
What hasn't changed? A Lot! 
Mentally, I have composed many blogs, partially, 
with nothing to show for the thoughts.
Physically, I've been painting, painting, painting
and adventuring In the US and abroad!
My theme song of "I love it here (in New Hampshire) 
still holds true. New Hampshire, 
particularly "the Whites,"
is a wonderful base for landscape artists, me!
But when it comes to writing blogs, 
as I struggle with what to say and how to say it, 
my heart is saying, "I'd rather be painting." 
In fact, much of last year and prior have been spent 
painting, drawing, reading about painting and drawing, 
and woking on simplifying my life 
to make more time for painting

Simplify, Simplify…quote from a New Englander, of course. 
(Henry David Thoreau) who also said, 

Hikers Delight
9X12 Pastel   $150.

"Follow your dreams."  And so I have been.

Even before I moved to NH,
one of my dreams, 
that took a bit of time and education to accomplish, 
was to "Paint Big Trees."
And so, my trees on canvas have grown, 
but may still grow more.
What has changed? I've added oils to my repertoire.
What hasn't changed? My first six blogs, pre-NH, 
were about trees I painted. And I'm still painting them.

A hiker's delight is both the trail to the ledge and the respite 
at the top, or the ledge, when the view is panoramic.



Check out my website at BarbaraMcEvoy Artist.Com
for more 

and/or e-mail me at BarbaraMcEvoyArtist@me.com with questions and comments.

It feels good to be back on line!

NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: Finally, Owl's Head

NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: Finally, Owl's Head!

I did it!

If you've followed any of my blog, or know many White Mountain hikers, you know about the forty-eight 4,000-footers. (See the Oct 10 Blog)
Owl's Head is reportedly the most difficult. I concur completely, though not because it's the longest (18 miles round trip), or the highest (it isn't, it's only 4,025), or has several water crossings that even the experts say are"quite difficult in high water, and even in moderate water"(water crossings are not my favorite thingl)  with alternate bushwhack options to circumvent the two most difficult crossings. (Ugh!)
What made it both interesting, not to be missed!, and difficult,  is it's wilderness nature!  Owl's Head is located in the Pemigewassat Wilderness, and therefore subject to US National Forrest regulations. Designated wilderness areas are not permitted to have man-made structures of any sort, no signs, blazes, and even cairns.

It starts out quite innocently on the Kank with a wide, flat logging-road trail which narrows and steepens, gradually climbing about 1500 feet in 8 miles. And here the fun begins!! Owl's Head might be more aptly described as a densely covered, very very steep mound, about a mile long and1500 high, flat topped with two mounds perhaps 10 feet above that general elevation that are designated as the "old" and "new" summit! (also unmarked) The route most hikers use to reach the summit is called "the slide," an area where boulders, rocks and stones move and slide when you put your foot on them; but, because of the relative openness of the area it does give the illusion of a path!

The Slide (actually only a portion)
pastel, 12 x 16

Endless   Pastel 20 x 26

This path is not visible from the brookside trail, but may be marked by a small cairn, which it was on the day I went. At the upper end, the slide splits and is so dense in foilage that I heard voices, called to the two women and got a response, but never did see them. Above the slide is more...rocks, boulders and stones, intertwined with trees managing somehow to spread roots up, down and around enough to get the necessary nourishment for continued, but not necessarily abundant growth. In my mind as I climbed, almost always with 3 points of contact, the word, "endless," kept repeating itself. It was a mile with 1500 elevation gain...The guide books call it treacherous.  It is!

And, finally the top. Yes!  As with the rocks and vegetation on the way up...unkempt, jumbled, definitely a wilderness with its own beauty. Not recommended as your last hike, it is still worth the effort and the experience. If nothing else, it made me much more aware of the tremendous amount of volunteer work and donations that have gone into maintaining all of the other trails I have hiked in the Whites, in pursuit of the 48, and as much, in pursuit of beauty and landscape material. 
So...I have now hiked the last of the 48, but, that done, I know that my "obsession," as a few of my hiking friends call it, never was truly an obsession. Owl's Head was not my "last" mountain. Rather, I consider the entire experience as an introduction to the Whites. Chasing the 48 took me beyond the well known "Presidentials," beyond mere "peak bagging" and that "been there, done that" check list attitude. Chasing the 48 has led me to a feeling and sense of the grandeur and uniqueness that infuses these wonderful Whites, and to a familiarity that now I am comfortable on the sides, the ledges and the ridges, though that comfort grew as gradually as the Owl's Head trail gained elevation during the first 8 miles!

The painting possibilities are endless, and if I had a wish to be granted, it would be to be a resident artist in each and every hut in the Appalachian Mountain Club system. The huts made some of the peaks more accessible, but they are also a way to meet other hikers and discuss possibilities and experiences. Meanwhile, it is enough that I have a light weight camera that fits in my pack-belt pocket, and memories that go far beyond the photo's I take. I now have memories that come to life again in my studio every time I step up to my easel. 

My other wish is that you who view my paintings get to feel some of what I feel as I experience and re-experience these New Hampshire Scenes.  

SCENES FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE: Waterfalls and Boulders

Spring and snow melt are synonymous in New Hampshire, along with 

Golden Grotto Pastel 18X24  

Mud Season (Very muddy, it can  render driveways and dirt roads unusable.)

followed by Black Fly Season (Gnat sized huge with the jaws of a barracuda. )

I tip my hat to these seasons. They exist. But as a hiker and painter I'd like to introduce a new name for Spring. To me, as the snow is melting on the peaks, the streams are rushing and rippling.

 Welcome Season of the Waterfalls. 

Last week, warm enough for plain air painting, I visited two waterfalls for plein air experience (one at the framers, one still on the studio easel) and visited "Golden Grotto," scene of a studio painting I'd finished over the winter from photos.

Mountain stream staircase
Pastel 9x12

Since I don't have a packhorse, I often depend on memory and photos for the paintings done higher on the mountains, from the tops or in difficult places to access. Stream crossings are tricky enough without 10 pounds of painting equipment and the necessary safety items (water, first aid kit, extra layers of clothes and rain gear). I do like to check my scenes though, particularly if they've produced paintings I like. 

Snow on Imp Trail last week: 

What I love about many of our NH mountain streams is the way the streams, often eight to ten feet wide or wider, riffle down the mountain through enormous boulders, often forming pools below some of the steeper drops.  

"Golden Grotto" is such a place located on Imp Trail, a loop hike with two trailheads on Route 16, a mile or so north of Pinkham Notch. There was still snow on the trail, but we did get to the grotto I had painted. This time I took a picture of my hiking friend and her dog, standing behind the tree which was actually growing ON the large boulder in the painting.The other photo was taken from upstream looking down towards the boulder. My grotto wasn't quite as golden on this day without the sun shining, but  it had its own beauty, surrounded by the large boulder, to the left, the boulders and fallen trees further downstream and the stony beach to the right.

The "Grotto" as seen from upstream.

Carol and Perry standing behind the tree
 at the top of the boulder in
"Golden Grotto."

Check my website BarbaraMcevoyArtist.com  for more paintings of streams and boulders.
Contact me at Barbaramcevoyartist@me .com with questions ad comments.

SCENES FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE: Bluets, finally

Lily, Cathy and Margaret!

My March 29 post had flower photo's of Spring in Bethlehem, PA, Including a clump of bluets, with a promise of paintings of bluets when they arrived in my New Hampshire neighborhood.
Here they are, finally...

Bluets have arrived, in my own 

New Hampshire neighborhood.

And they've come 

in their own New Hampshire fashion. 

Notice the bluets' surroundings, 

and what I love about living here!

Lichens and mosses 

 in myriad shapes and colors

festoon everything.

Notice the twig in the lower left corner.

The lighter patches, barely visible,

are small patches of lichen.

And next to the twig, 

the silver green bit of lichen,

part of what is sometimes called

Grandfather's beard. 

Last year's oak leaf 

and the grouping 

of three distinguishable pine needles,

and other grasses...

All this is part of the complexity 

of patches of forest 

and "lawn" floors...

Stepping back for a larger view of this particular "lawn,"

notice the flatness, the stones and sand intermixed with the patches of bluets, and the pine and birch trunks in the background. 

A little about my neighborhood to explain the bluets 

and their surroundings. 

A bit of geology helps as well.
South of where I live, the highway signs on route 16, also called the White Mountain Highway, welcome travelers to the Lakes and Mountain region. 

"Notches to the North"  

When the great ice sheets came from the north, covering the Presidential Range (the Whites) and creating the notches, they transported rocks and stones, grinding as they came over and through the mountains, digging out the basins that make up the lakes regions, south of the mountains. As the ice sheets retreated, the southern half of NH was left with lakes and outwash regions.

It is true that Freedom, a nearby town has "more civilized lawns" that include grass and the more "typical" flowers we associate with Spring. But it's the more natural parts that attract my painterly nature... my friends (Lily the 8 story pitch pine, Cathy and Margaret, the 4 story red maples) and their undergrowth. 
Check my website barbaramcevoyartist.com for other paintings and under  "writing painting" projects to read about "First Friends." 


http://barbaramcevoyartist.com/site/North_to_the_Notches.html

"Lily, Cathy and Margaret"
Pastel 9x12

SCENES FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE: ROCKS and rocks

Choosing a favorite painting...
This, being my most recent "finished painting" is in my current TOP 10.

Last Scramble to Jackson Summit    Pastel 18x26

Boulders on the North Twin TrailPastel 9x12

Painting rocks is difficult. My first and present plein air mentor, Michael Chesley Johnson did a recent blog on painting rocks, well timed for my purposes since I was on the fourth brush out of this painting.  In the blog Michael related that, upon showing his mentor a rock painting, he was told to go out and paint rocks for a year. Living in the Whites, you know I have been painting rocks, starting personally with "Little George," who still provides practice, and onward. Rocks are definitely hard, as in hard, solid, with mass, and that is not easy to represent. Rocks are a challenge to paint, but as with scrambling on them, there is a certain satisfaction. Good thing since they come in many forms here in the Whites from river pebbles to giant erratics, and they fit together quite well to form the bedrock substance of the 4,000 footers, even if the summits are not all like Jackson,Liberty, Washington, etc.

Something there is about climbing these 4,000 footers...a certain exhilaration on reaching the top, on the getting there in fact, possibly induced by the rock scrambling often (but not always) necessary.
Yes, I have seen mountain goats, and people I consider mountain goats, go up them standing, but I seem to need three points of contact, hand over hand, on many of these peaks, or at least parts of them. 
I am, as the saying goes, up close and personal.
Thus, I fully appreciate the myriad lichens and moss that festoon the rocks and boulders, as well as the ledges, the nooks, the cracks and crevices.
And then there is the glimpse of the next mountain top, or the extension of the one I'm on. Maybe krumholtz (crooked wood)...what trees do near the tree line. 
So here is Mt. Jackson peak...which may not look this way to others, but to me below, looking up, wondering if there was more peak after what I could see (sometimes there is), it was beautiful and bold and delicate! 

All this I wanted to capture. 

I'm not sure I did...I want to go back and see it, climb it again...a different trail perhaps, different season too. 

Notches to the North   Pastel 12X18

My third favorite painting also has rocks (also brushed out many times before I reached semi satisfaction). Here the view is from North Moat looking north to the notches. (See April 10 blog for another view)

So the question remains...is it a favorite painting because it was a memorable hike, or because the painting of it presented challenges overcome?

If you enjoy hiking in the Whites, or even traveling through, check out my website for more paintings of vistas, trails, and yes....rocks .

NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: Favorite Painting/Favorite Hike

A recent viewer of my website http://barbaramcevoyartist.com asked,
                    Which is your favorite painting?  Tell about it!

Favorites change, depending on our mood, the weather...
                even who we are talking to or thinking about can have its subtle influences,
and I expect with painters it must relate to  our emotional attachment to 
              WHAT we are painting, 
                WHY we are painting it, 
and quite possibly to the fun or trouble we had with the actual painting.

That said, my very first favorite painting choice would be:

Franconian Ridge Trail: Lincoln to Lafayette (and Greenleaf Hut)

If you look closely you can follow the trail...from the foreground on the left where the trail emerges onto the ledge of Lincoln, across the front of the painting and out of view in the center, then reemerging, disappearing and reemerging as it drops down into the saddle and then ascends Lafayette. 
This particular view was momentous because from here we could see our evening destination, Greenleaf Hut, 1.1 miles down the left (west facing) side of Lafayette. Look closely to see the white dot of the hut roof, a very welcome sign.

Hiker on the trail!

Why is this my favorite painting (at the moment, anyway)? 
It's a wonderful trek. And painting  it gave me a chance to live the trek vicariously.
Walking ridges above the tree line is exhilarating and humbling. Hikers are just specks on the trail from this perspective, but we can feel the heft of the mountain, see its ridges and "ribs," and explore the lichens, moss and wildflowers that survive, even flourish, in this unique, alpine and sub alpine environment...right here in NH! 

Falling Waters Trail is only the start! 

On this particular trek, I was with a group of eight women, intent  on bagging several of the  intrepid 48 4,000 footers in the Whites,  (see Oct 10 blog, Chasing the 48) and making  use of the Appalachian Mountain Club huts on the way. 

We started from Franconian Notch State Park, climbed Falling Waters Trail to the ridge and Little Haystack Mtn, then proceeded north towards Mt Lafayette and down to the Greenleaf Hut. 

Check my website under paintings/White Mountain Trails
for more paintings.
Follow this blog for coming entries on favorite paintings and trails in the Whites.

Looking south, Lafayette to Little Haystack

NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: Almost Gone

NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES:  Almost Gone

Only a week ago,
this was the scene at Bretton Woods. 
Snow enough to ski,
And Mount Washington was still wearing its white mantle.

Mount Washington from North Conway.

 But only 20 miles south,
really related more to elevation than latitude,
the snow was definitely going!

Patches of snow 
rather than patches of rock and ground,
were the new ground designs...

(see previous blog for another version of this rock)
And so, although the diehard skiers
are still finding places to ski, perhaps, 

Hikers are thinking of favorite trails  

View from South Moat looking towards Middle
and North Moat, and on toward the Notches.

 whether they are south facing,   and thus,

 more likely to be clear of ice and snow

 or north facing 

(possibly requiring micro-spikes),

or better left 'til later in the season!

In my own readiness to get hiking again,

(without snow shoes and full winter gear)

I spent time vicariously painting one of my favorites, The Moats, 

and too hastily had it framed 

behind glass
before  its photo session,

which diminishes detail and color...

(See it in person at  The Met  gallery and coffee shop.)

Beech youngsters stubornly hold their leaves
through the winter. 

And
Painters are thinking of Plein Air Painting,

Outside at last,

 to sketch and paint nature in real life.

And some of us
are lucky enough to be both painters and hikers....

Check my website, Barbara McEvoy, Artist.Com for my new emphasis and recent paintings...

NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: Last Week and Soon, Maybe!

Steps to a friend's house! 

g



From this scene

             
                     And this scene

                                  only ten days ago,

Steps to a friend's back yard!

                To Snow Drops

and Crocus

                 and Bluettes 

Soon

Maybe?  

It's the miracle of Spring!

I admit, 

I had to go south 

of the White Mountains

to get photos of the 

Snow Drops and Crocus and Bluets

But,

that snow is melting,

and beneath it all

with green tips poking bravely upward

are the bulbs we planted 

and millions of wildflowers,

Just waiting!

I promise a photo and three paintings

of bluets, 

when the ones near home appear.

Meanwhile,

I'll paint the rocks that

heat in the sun

and 

uncover first.

Because rocks too, have something to say

about Spring!