“Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.“ — Leonardo da Vinci The painting you see here is the first painting I did in this year’s Plein Air Easton painting competition. It is “Cutts & Case Boat Yard”, 11″x14″ oil on canvas board. As usual, it is the best of the collection I put together in four days. Nine paintings in four days. It always seems that the first one I do is the best. But it was a good idea that I had scouted the location on the […]

On day two of the Plein Air Easton painting competition, I woke up feeling ill. The ear infection that had gotten me down had not responded to the antibiotics and I felt worse. Getting out of bed seemed a great accomplishment. This was bad. Picking up the phone, I called my doctor on the West coast, in Carmel, California. I left a message, begging him to call in a refill to the antibiotics at a local pharmacy. I left the number for it. After a cup of tea and a bowl of oatmeal, I was nearly human again. At least, […]

The day before the first day of the competition was a day of scouting locations. With my friend Tim, I explored Oxford, Maryland, a beautiful town of old houses and marina and boat yards. The weather was mild, in the low 80s and not humid. This was a good sign, an unusual sign for Maryland in July. I found a starting place for my first painting. It was in the Cutt and Case Boat yard. Hauled up on blocks was a small sailing boat that was being worked on. Standing just so, the was a view down its length to […]

“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. “ — Joseph Campbell (Continued from yesterday…) If you’ve read my blog before, you will know this isn’t the first time I’ve used Campbell’s hero metaphor. Plein air painters are a kind of hero in the sense that he uses the word, leaving the common world, entering a region of wonder, beauty and uncertainty, struggling […]

“The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.” — Thucydides Some visions form slowly over years, a piece here, a fragment there, like pieces of a puzzle fitting together, gradually forming into the picture of what you want, or how you want to be. Other visions come upon you all at once, vivid, tangible, full of a transforming power, fully formed, taking your breath away with their clarity, their lucidity. Unlike Thucydides, I was not retired when I had my vision […]

“Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.” — from Desiderata by Max Ehrmann (1872–1945) What’s in a Boat Name? This morning there was no fog, no hint of cloud, and I could see, in my mind’s eye, the harbor in Moss Landing. It was filled with sunlight and happy boats. There was no hesitation, no doubt in my mind, I was peaceful and secure in this image. I quietly finished my tea, packed a lunch, and headed out, leaving the peninsula behind and skirted around the bay through morning farmlands […]

I am psychic. My prediction of yesterday came true. More on that later in this post. A few thoughts first… Let me make this clear, I am not an expert on plein air painting. But I am an expert on my experience of plein air painting. So I proceed with this blog knowing that what I say is inherently flawed and inadequate, that some artists will wonder what all the fuss is about, that some of my realizations are common knowledge and self-evident to a smarter person so what’s the big deal, and I’ve got a lot of gall to […]

“Irene’s Way “, 11″x14″ oil on canvas board by Robert Lewis To say that I know how to paint boats would be a very big mistake. After five days of painting nothing else, thinking of nothing else, dreaming of nothing else, eating nothing else, I admit I’ve made progress. But my experience tells me over and over ( not that I ever learn! ) that the moment I feel smug enough to say I’ve made a breakthrough, Plein Air bites me hard. Meaning that tomorrow’s painting may be a complete disaster. So, I will be coy in my assessment of […]

“Boats at Moss Landing “, 11″x14″ oil on canvas board by Robert Lewis At 6am I looked out my window at the garden and the garden wasn’t there. It’s only 20 feet away but it was gone. Fog had rolled in, a thick garden-eating fog that lay up against my window breathing hard, trying to find a way in to get me. I pulled the curtains quickly, turned in panic, thinking about painting. I can’t paint in the fog, my mind screamed! Then I remembered. I had made plans to go to Moss Landing today. Moss Landing, where I believed, […]

You have to be ready for anything when you paint plein air. In my quest for more boat, boat of any kind, boat large, boat small, anything that floats, is drydocked, or run aground, I asked my father to help me. Dad lives on a boat in the Monterey harbor in Monterey, California. You’re thinking yacht, aren’t you? Ol’ Dad lounging on deck with his G&T and some California girl at the helm, sailor hat tipped down over one eye winkin’ at you. Uh, not quite. Now downsize that image to something the size of a camper on a pickup […]