Vrnik Painting Timelapse

Here is a quick, 30 second, timelapse film taken over the course of five days while working on my large plein air landscape painting of the village of Vrnik. I was standing on the island of Korčula, across the small channel seen in the painting. The footage is of five days, but I was actually there six, and I have no idea what happened to the photos from the sixth day, sorry.

Below is an image of the final painting.

Plein air landscape painting of Vrnik, Croatia.

Vrnik. 70 x 90 cm, oil on linen.

It was a great spot to paint as I could stand in the shade the whole time. Also, in the painting I’m looking east, so the shadow of the tree is pointing north. This allowed me to work for up to six hours a day without the effect changing too much. The only really dramatic change was the sun came around and put Vrnik in full sunlight, whereas I wanted the buildings to be half in shadow for the effect. In the afternoons I could work on the foreground and the water, provided the wind didn’t get too strong. Finally, the clouds did the same thing, with only a slight variation, almost every day.

Korčula Paintings, Part Two

Update: Below is the last larger plein air piece from the trip. It took three days, and I had to hold the canvas with one hand while painting to keep it still in the high winds.

Plein air seascape of Korcula, Croatia.

Afternoon Light, Korčula. 50 x 70 cm, oil on linen.

Plein air landscape painting of Vrnik, Croatia.

Vrnik. 70 x 90 cm, oil on linen.

Here are a few more plein air landscapes from this summer on the island of Korčula, in Southern Dalmatia.

As I said in the last post, the weather has been really difficult (it’s supposed to hail today), so I haven’t gotten as much done as I would have liked. I’m hoping for one more day of sun to finish up the other larger plein air pieces I have going. I’ll try to post them before I leave for Italy next week.

In the meantime here are a few more of the smaller sketches:

Plein air sketch of our terrace in Korcula, Croatia.

The Terrace. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of the stalls in Korcula.

Market Stalls, Korčula. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of afternoon on Korcula.

Afternoon Light, Korčula. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

New Korčula Paintings

Below are a few smaller paintings from this summer on the island of Korčula, in Croatia.

Plein air painting of the fishing boat Adriana, Korcula, Croatia.

The Adriana, Lumbarda. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

The weather has been pretty bad for July on the Adriatic (it’s raining again as I type this), and I have a couple of larger projects I’m working on for gallery commitments, so I don’t have much to show for the first week.

Study for a larger painting of Vrnik, Croatia.

Vrnik Study. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

This is my third summer painting on Korčula. The last two years I focused on the town and never touched the car (you can see the previous year’s paintings here and here). This year I have a parking spot included with the apartment, so I’m moving around the island much more for views.

The problem with driving and painting is I end up spending much more time scouting. I always think ‘I’m sure there will be a better spot just around the corner’, and so often there is, which then leads to more driving.

Landscape painting of Badija, Korcula.

Badija. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

That said, sometimes the scouting pays off. These first three paintings are done from exactly the same (shaded) spot, just looking in different directions. Below is a photograph of the location:

Landscape painting on Korcula.

Plein air painting on the island of Korčula, Croatia.

The Croatians are very friendly towards plein air painters as well. The owners of the fishing boat above gave me a large shell as a gift for painting their boat, and in general everyone is very appreciative and complimentary.

The last couple paintings are sketches from just around the house.

Plein air painting of stairs in Korcula, Croatia.

Stairs, Korčula. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air painting of the Marko Polo Hotel, Korcula, Croatia.

Late Afternoon at the Marko Polo Hotel. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

I’ll be here for another two weeks, so more to follow.

Paintings from the Deck of a Boat

Bow of the Aurum. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Bow of the Aurum. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

I spent the last week cruising around the islands of the Dalmatian coast with my gallerist Ann Long, her husband, and some friends. Before photography it was normal for British and American travelers in Europe to take a painter with them to record the trip.

The mechanics of painting on a boat took some getting used to. The boat turns a lot when at anchor, which restricts the choice of foreground. Then there is a lot of wind and the movement of the waves is annoying. Next, the decks of boats are notoriously fragile, so I had to be very careful not to get any paint on anything. I also cut corks to fit on the bottom of my easel so as to not scratch or scuff the deck. While I’m used to painting portrait commissions in houses where I have to be careful about my paints, the wind and the movement of the boat add new challenges. Later the crew explained that since it’s a working charter boat, their decks are designed to take any stains or damage as the crew will quickly sand it off.

plein air painting from a boat on Šipan island, Croatia.

Morning Light, Šipan. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Two of my favorite plein air painters, Charles-François Daubigny and Edward Seago, both owned boats that they painted from. I was looking through their work before I left on the trip. One of the problems with painting from a boat is the foreground is always going to be water, which is a view that I don’t really associate with.

Plein air painting from a moving boat.

En Route to Vis. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

plein air landscape painting in Vis harbor.

Afternoon Light, Vis. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

The rest are painted from solid ground on the various islands where we stopped.

landscape painting of lake mljet

By the Lake, Mljet. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

painting of the aurum, croatia

The Aurum in Korcula. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Tourist Stands, Hvar. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Tourist Stands, Hvar. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Sailboat, Mljet. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Sailboat, Mljet. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Hydrangeas, Korcula. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.

Hydrangeas, Korcula. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.

plein air landscape painting of Hvar, Croatia.

Hvar. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Stari Grad. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Stari Grad. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Street scene painting, Hvar.

Street in Hvar. 30 x 20 cm, oil on panel.

Plein air cityscape painting, Hvar.

Cafes, Hvar. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Recent Larger Landscape Paintings (2014)

Plein air landscape painting of Korcula, Croatia

Korčula. 29 x 37 in. Oil on linen

Here, quickly, are some of the recent larger landscape paintings I’ve been working on. A couple are plein air landscape paintings, the others were done in the studio.

These are off to Sag Harbor for my solo show at the Grenning Gallery in late June.

Landscape painting in oil of laundry blowing in the wind.

Laundry in the Wind. 36 x 28 inches, oil on linen.

Oil painting of cows in Big Sur.

Big Sur, Afternoon. 42 x 55 inches, oil on linen.

The portrait of Tina under an olive tree will be in the show, as well as a number of small and medium-sized plein air pieces from the last year.

I spent much of the winter on the painting below but I can’t figure out how to resolve it. I hate abandoning large pieces after months of work, but sometimes artists have to cut their losses.

The Afternoon Chat. 42 x 55 inches, oil on linen.

The Afternoon Chat (unfinished). 42 x 55 inches, oil on linen.

I have a few more larger pieces on the burner which I’ll add soon.