This morning the artists gathered under the porch of the gallery annex for coffee and muffins, and I met some of the others, who drove in from every direction. The day turned out sunny and beautiful, and soon we were all out painting for the rest of the day.


















Here is Stephan painting down by the marsh. There were 6 of us painting down there, down a road called Turbat's Creek Road.



This is a "Gloucester easel" which looks like it would be good in a big wind. A painting box sits on the cross pieces.


We went until the sun started to fade a little.

Here is John Caggiano painting away.

Kennebunkport Maine

I just arrived in Kennebunkport Maine for a 4 day plein air event put on by a local gallery. About twenty artists will paint outdoors for a few days and there will be an exhibition at the end of the (very fresh) paintings. It should be interesting!

Here is a link to it: "Arts in Kennebunkport"

I arrived after driving up from Waltham, my car loaded up with French easel, painting supplies, canvases, clothes for all sorts of weather, frames, framing tools, a couple of "studio paintings" the gallery asked us all to bring (so there would be something for the exhibition in case of a stretch of all bad weather.) I settled in to the hotel, King's Port Inn, a pleasant place that had a special arrangement with the gallery for artists taking part in the event.








Then I took a little walk down the road. The light was waning over the quaint town. Two doors down was Maine Art, the gallery that is organizing the event.

Further down were scenes typical of a Maine town. I'm looking forward to meeting the gang tomorrow, as well as Amy, the organizer of it all.

exhibition opening

Here are a couple of pictures from the opening. It was a fun gathering.

The opening of my solo exhibition, "Icescapes" at the Newport Art Museum was great fun and it was a joy to see so many old friends and acquaintances. Yesterday I gave a talk on my painting and experiences in the polar regions as part of the Museum's lecture series.

I'll be giving a talk again the evening of March 6 at Peabody Essex Museum in Salem Massachusetts, where there are two exhibitions of polar paintings, one of contemporary artists, designed for all ages, and one historical. I have a few journals and two paintings in the contemporary exhibition, "Polar Attractions." This group exhibition is well designed and contains an interesting and varied mix of contemporary polar art.

As for the Newport Art Museum exhibition, museum curator, Nancy Grinnel, did a beautiful job of hanging the Wright Gallery of the Museum, creating a show that fit with the architecture of the room. Here are a few more photos from that current exhibition:





Two more photos show parts of the three display cases that house some field sketches, watercolors and notes:

Here are a couple of photos of my exhibition, "Icescapes" at the Newport Art Museum in Newport, RI. One photo shows one corner of the Wright gallery, in which the original paintings are hung. The other photo shows one of three display cases, which hold journals, field sketches and notes. This display case features my trips to the North Pole.

tundra flowers

The tundra was loaded with many varieties of flowers in bloom, like this poppy. It was fascinating to see the variety of forms all low to the ground and taking advantage of the summer light.

Walrus

Still in Franz Josef Land, we were lucky to come upon a group of walrus on an ice floe. The zodiacs went out, and slowly approached with the engines off and the paddles out, approaching as a silent group, and stopping at a distance, where they drifted for an hour or so. Unlike in the Antarctic, where the animals are not timid, here they have a long history of being hunted, both by people and occasionally bears. So often seals and walrus will plunge into the water before you can get close enough to really see them. This group of walrus stayed out on the ice, providing a great view of them all afternoon.





Among the pinnipeds (group including the various seals and walrus), they are second largest, second only to the elephant seals. Males in this part of the arctic reach 2200 pounds or 1000 kg, and females only 1322 pounds or 600 kg.