I have a crush on every boat

Not a bad start. I'll finish it next week.

Not a bad start. I’ll finish it next week.

A while ago, Renee Lammers showed me an invention she calls the Sketch-N-Can. I bought one, threw it in my backpack, and forgot about it.

My backpack is getting pretty heavy these days, largely because of that bad habit of loading it up with stuff I don’t use. I keep deferring the clean-out for another day, so the inside of my pack is a bit of a black hole. When I sat down to do my preparatory sketches, I found two sketchbooks and no pencils. Together those sketchbooks weigh a pound. If this is any indication of the mess in there, it’s no wonder my back aches.

Renee's Sketch-N-Can, at work.

Renee’s Sketch-N-Can at work.

I grabbed Renee’s Sketch-N-Can and quickly realized that I really like it. When I was done working on my composition, I threw the box down on the deck. Instead of the pages flapping in the breeze, my drawing was caught beneath the clear lid. As Renee demonstrated later, if you wanted to draw through a plastic viewfinder—which you will never do in my class—it’s quite possible with this gizmo.

At times this floating dock feels like my office. Fellow artists Barb Whitten and Renee Lammers and I have a confab.

At times this floating dock feels like my office. Fellow artists Barb Whitten and Renee Lammers and I have a confab.

I chose to paint three dark ladies at rest along the floating dock. The first was a mid-century cabin cruiser pulled up for a thorough spring cleaning. Behind her was the small schooner Mistress, followed by the Mercantile. Three boats with ostensibly black hulls, but what a range of colors in those blacks!

This painting is as big as I generally go en plein air: 16X12. It can’t be finished in a single session, so I’ll get back to it next week.

The southern tip of Baffin Island at 40,000 feet. (Photo courtesy of Douglas Perot)

The southern tip of Baffin Island at 40,000 feet. (Photo courtesy of Douglas Perot)

I quit at about 7 PM because my husband was due in from Norway. When he got home, he showed me a series of remarkable photos he took from his plane window of the Northwest Passage, Baffin Island, along the Canadian maritime coast and along Lake Champlain to Newark. I’ve been interested in seeing icebergs for several years now. A trip to Labrador to see them is on whatever passes for my bucket list.

But before that happens, we have a holiday weekend to get through. Be careful on the roads and have a great time wherever your heart leads you!

 

Carol Douglas

About Carol Douglas

Carol L. Douglas is a painter who lives, works and teaches in Rockport, ME. Her annual workshop will again be held on the Schoodic Peninsula in beautiful Acadia National Park, from August 6-11, 2017. Visit www.watch-me-paint.com/ for more information.