Friday, August 28, 2009

The Guild show, a painting, and a demo.



Here is a painting I did early this summer on the Penobscot Bay near Belfast, Maine. This is the mouth of the Little River where it empties into the Bay. The painting is 24 x 36.

I made this painting standing in front of the scene as is my usual practice, but of course I fine tuned it in my studio .This painting is more like a Hudson River school painting, that is it is more detailed and less impressionist than many of my paintings.The background goes nicely into fog, and you can see the atmosphere over the bay as it stretches out to the distant shores.A beached sailboat waits the tide in the middle ground.
I am almost always happiest out painting somewhere beautiful when the light is good. We had a lot of rainy days earlier this summer and when there were these few sunny days it was great to be on the shore working in the warm sun. That helped me get in touch with my inner lizard.


Here is the facade of the Guild with its windows on the court facing Newbury street.
This painting will be my submission to the 95th anniversary show at the Guild of Boston Artists at 162 Newbury Street in Boston.




Above is a video of one of my several mentors, Robert Douglas Hunter, doing a demo recently at the Guild. The snowscape behind him is incidentally one of mine. The show in the room where he is working was called Robert Douglas Hunter and his students.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Beautiful painting, Stape. I love the atmosphere - and the volume of those trees.
I'm probably not putting it well, but I mean you can sense the structure of them, the skeletal framework of the branches under the leaves. They "feel" like real trees. Anyway, I like 'em.

I'd love to have the opportunity to take a class with Hunter.

Here's a question. Sort of off topic perhaps. How do you balance the need to sell a few paintings here and there and thus to "produce", with the burning conviction that nothing you "produce" is really worthwhile, and the time would be better spent studying and practicing? Its almost like my artistic life is divided into the financial constraints of needing to have stuff "out there" to sell on one hand, and the need for personal growth and spiritual connection with the art on the other.
Is it better to disappear from the gallery scene for awhile and retreat to learn and grow? And then, what do we do for groceries?
"haersh" what reality often is...

Unknown said...

Beautiful painting.

Philip Koch said...

Nice painting.

Robert Douglas Hunter is a wonderful character. Hard to describe him without resorting to the phrase "twinkle in his eye."

Richard J. Luschek II said...

Very nice painting Stape.
I need to look into getting that video of the Hunter Demo. I had the fortune to meet him a few times and see him speak at a show. I am sure the video is full of wisdom.

Just like this blog.

Gregory Becker said...

I love your painting. I especially like being able to see through the water on the left side.
Where do we get to see the whole demo?

Stapleton Kearns said...

Deb:I will go after that wonderful question in the blog tonight
....................Stape

haersh= combination of the two words hair and perish.

Stapleton Kearns said...

Walter;
Thank you.
......Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

Philip:
He is the dean of the contemporary Boston school and has the class,poise and charm to pull it off.
...............Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

Richard:
Thank you. He gives a great demo and has been doing them for many years. He taught me how to do demos. He is elegant and inspirational.
..........Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

Gregory:
The demo is available through the Guild of Boston Artists.

http://www.guildofbostonartists.org/index.htm