The Boatyard

Russell Baker - The Boatyard - Oil on 16 X 20 stretched canvas

The Boatyard

I haven’t painted in some time as my using my hands is becoming problematic due to an onset of arthritis so decided I would try again and see what happened.

I got the idea of this painting while looking through some old pictures I took while traveling on business in about 1990 or 1991 in the Chesapeake Bay area somewhere south of Baltimore.  It was early morning and the fog was starting to lift and the sunlight was coming through it. I love the atmosphere.. 

Another plus is that for several years I’ve been looking for a painting idea that would look good in this frame and I think I found it.. 

Your comments are welcome..

Near Carmel 2016 - Oil on 16 x 20 stretched canvas.

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted any work since last year. I've painted several, just haven't been happy with any of them until this one..  I've got to get back into it..!!

Near Carmel 2016 - The Carmel, Ca area was at one time a beautiful and unspoiled area. It has changed throughout the years in to a busy, heavy traffic laden coastline area. There are still some relatively unspoiled areas such as this. If you go there and look you will find them. Hope you enjoy this oil.

Outside Long Beach Harbor - Oil on 16 X 20 Stretched Canvas

Outside Long Beach Harbor - In April of this year we left Long Beach, CA harbor on a cruise ship headed for Mexico. Just outside the harbor I spotted a couple of container ships and snapped a picture thinking it would make a nice oil painting.. Finally finished it. So here it is..

Your comments are welcome.

** No Longer Available **

Dove Lane at Blackberry, MN - Oil on 16 X 20 stretched Canvas

Dove Lane at Blackberry, MN – I painted this from a memory of my youth. The west end of Dove Lane actually led to a peninsula of land almost surrounded by the Mississippi river. In this case the frozen Mississippi is on the right.  A view from MapQuest indicates that house and outbuildings are still there. I knew the family that lived there and went to school with their children; I won’t name them as I don’t have permission to do so. In those days the winters were raw, windswept and cold and I wanted to depict that in the painting. I hope I’ve accomplished that. Painting this one was very difficult for me as I don’t usually use cool tones and just wasn’t used to working with them at all. I also discovered that painting snow was not as easy as it sounded and found it difficult. I think I repainted the front left of the painting three different times before I was happy with it. Comments are welcomed.

Minnesota Conversation Pit - Oil on 16 X 20 Stretched Canvas

 

A little closer view.

I decided to paint another “Fall Colors” painting more than a month ago and got well on my way when I got an email from an old friend advising me of the passing of another old friend from the 1970s. At that time he and his family lived in Nassau county NY, out on long island. A group of us from a territory management meeting in NYC were invited to their home for an evening of cocktails and dinner. While there I remember sitting in a sunken area of the living area called the “conversation pit”; three steps down to an area of couches, pillows, drinks and good conversation. We all enjoyed a wonderful evening before returning to mid-town Manhattan and more specifically, Craw-daddy’s pub at the Roosevelt for another cocktail or two. We always stayed at the Roosevelt while in New York because of its proximity to the diamond district.

After giving some thought to that evening I decided to put a Minnesota type “Conversation Pit” into the “Fall Colors” painting I’ve been working on here at the house. Since I had already gotten pretty far into the painting, how to do it was the problem; luckily I hadn’t yet done much on the mid or lower sections of the canvas. I had seen something similar to this Adirondack chair arrangement in a photo recently so decided to use that idea and just stuck it in the mid area and put a little light on it. I think it fits nice into the painting and also sort of depicts the laid back relaxing lifestyle of Northern Minnesota living where most people sit face to face and talk to each other rather than use some sort of electronic aid; that is at least in the summer and colorful splendor of fall; winter is something else. I call this one “Minnesota Conversation Pit”. Next I’m going to try a winter landscape, at least that’s the plan.  Your comments are welcome.

My First Tall ship - Oil on 16 x 20 Stretched canvas.

 

My second painting since breaking that old painting block I suffered from for the past year or more. It was still wet when I took the photo so the up close picture of the front rock outcropping looks a little discolored, but not much. I didn't want use Photoshop and just wanted to get it posted. I have another one planned, but need a break for a few days first.  So here you are 
"My First Tall ship".

Red and White Lighthouse, Oil on 16 x 20 stretched canvas

 

They say painters have “Painters block” just like writers have “Writers block”. I can swear to it because I’ve been blocked since late last year. Just didn’t see anything I’d like to sit down and put my impression of it on canvas. So recently Lois and I took another of our driving trips, this time to Colorado for a very nice party amply populated with many wonderful old friends (you know who you are). After we left Colorado we ventured south to Santa Fe, NM and its many art galleries. We toured some, but nothing really stuck out as impressive. A few days later we were in Laguna Beach, CA at its annual art show. While there I got the chance to talk to many artists, painters, sculptors, ceramists and Etc., some of which who had suffered the same problem of “Painters block as I had. All of a sudden I felt motivated and upon returning home I started planning a new painting. To make a long story short I finished it this morning and decided to put it on FB and my blog and hope for some feedback.. I already have another painting planned so will be busy with it for the next couple of weeks. I guess I just need a mental kick in the “you know what”… So here it is…

Russ 

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Fall Reflections - Oil on 9 x 12 canvas panel

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Another painting from my memories of Northern Minnesota and the wonder of fall colors.

Fall Reflections - Your comments are welcome.

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Chris at age 4- Oil on 11 x 14 canvas panel

I haven't been doing much painting lately, however started this one about six months ago and finally went back and finished recently. The subject is my grandson Christopher when he was about four years old. He is now in his early twenties.Your comments are welcome.

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The Mississippi at CR-441 - Oil on 11 x 14 Canvas Panel

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The Mississippi at CR-441 – Another painting from northern Minnesota. This location is about a half a mile east and upriver from my cousin Mike’s home and very close to my childhood home. It’s where the Mississippi river crosses under county road 441 just south and west of Blackberry, MN, USA. I took a picture of this location while traveling in the area August of 2011 before the leaves had started changing colors so I had to improvise somewhat to paint the location in full fall colors. As a child this was a favorite fishing location for me and I’m sure other children from the same area. I can’t count the hours from all those decades ago that I’ve spent fishing from the shore near where the boat is located in this painting. I really enjoyed painting this one and I hope you all enjoy taking a look at it. Your comments are welcome.

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Fall colors at Blackberry, MN - Oil on 11 X 14 Canvas Panel

Fall colors at Blackberry, MN - I got motivated to paint something colorful and fall like recently and decided to post it on the first official day of fall.

For those of you who are not familiar with Blackberry, MN, and I'm sure there are many, it's just seven miles east of Grand Rapids, MN on US highway 2 (now you know). It was founded more than 110 years ago by mostly immigrants. My grandfather was one of the town founders. In addition to having the farm at Blackberry he also owned and operated a bar in Bovey, MN where I've heard he kept the local mine workers well oiled for years. I suspect he was also a bootlegger too as his son, my uncle Vic in later years was the local bootlegger. He made wine and had a still, distilled his own booze and sold it to the locals.

Blackberry was a great place for me to grow up because as a child I was never without something interesting to do. Even in the long cold winters there were all kinds of sports, hunting, fishing, trapping, skiing, drawing, lots of local friends and scouting along with school activities. We were always busy with something although it was a relaxed lifestyle. Years later when life for me was very fast paced, officing on 5th Avenue in New York and constantly traveling to make a living, on many occasions my mind would wander back of the peace and serenity of life in rural northern Minnesota. Well, Enough history...


The idea for this painting came from a picture snapped on the property owned by my cousin Mike Andrews or his wife Pat and then posted to their web site
( http://www.mississippilodge.blogspot.com/ ). They have a beautiful log home of about 4500SF overlooking Mississippi Lake with shoreline on both Mississippi Lake and the Mississippi River. If you are interested in looking at the picture go to their web site then scroll down until you come to "fall colors", it’s the first picture. If you compare the painting with the picture you can see that I cropped it slightly and made a couple of other small changes to suit me. I hope Mike and Pat don't mind my using part of their image. The river in the painting is of course the Mississippi. My childhood home is about a half mile from where this picture was taken and just slightly up river. Your comments are welcome.

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Country and Western Singer / Songwriter Wayne Longton - Oil on 11 x 14 Canvas Panel

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Wayne Longton – Country and Western Singer / Songwriter – Wayne passed away in late April of 2012 and his widow, Wendy asked me if I would paint her a portrait of him with his usual smile, this is what I came up with. Wayne was a personal friend for decades, from the time we both were about seven years old and attended the same rural grade school in northern Minnesota. I and my wife Lois visited Wayne and Wendy at their home in Iowa in August of 2011 and had a wonderful time reminiscing. I’ll miss him… Your comments are welcome.

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Evening Water - Oil on 11 x 14 Canvas Panel

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Evening Water - Oil on 11 x 14 Canvas Panel - I've had this one on the back burner for some time now. So, today overcast and raining, I decided to paint it. I've attmpted to show a generally warm painting yet maintain the mystery of dark water. I hope I've achieved it. Your comments are welcome.

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Beach Umbrella - Oil on 8 x 10 Canvas Panel

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Beach Umbrella - Your comments are welcome.

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The Gondola - Oil on 9 x 12 Canvas Panel

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The Gondola - I guess by now you've noticed that I like to paint boats plus a little water. I, if you haven't, noticed that my technique or way I approach the canvas has changed of late, or I should say is changing with every new painting. I don't know how to or can't explain why, it just is. I'm not sure that I'm OK with the change, however I'm getting good results and feedback of late so I guess I'll just keep on letting it flow and see what happens. Your comments are welcome.

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