To my big brother, John, who passed in November: thanks for all you have given us from your heart and left us in your work.
Your piano plays
Painted etudes, notes above.
Fall waters, leaves still.
photo © Kim Diebboll
enlightenment
Enlightenment - 24 x 36 - oil on linen
Surfing on Cape Ann (Gloucester & Rockport) has exploded over the last couple of years. New forms are evolving in the sea.
woodsie
Woodsie - 24 x 34 - oil on linen
A portrait has unique challenges besides the goal of a likeness. A palette that touches the personality; a composition that moves, like Life; legacy. Here, like with Triptych, I reference American Folk painting, especially Ammi Phillips. Happy Birthday, Woodsie.
cape hedge south
Cape Hedge South - 25 x 25 - oil on linen
Look at the map of Cape Hedge Beach and you'll see at its southwest end the curl of its tail and the finishing promontory separating it from Long Beach. Last Sunday afternoon high up on the dune of stone popples above a few strips of sand and high tide I painted this view, cooled by a perfect ocean breeze and an occasional swim in the unusually warm water. We bobbed in the choppy waves, my toes in the air. A Willow Rest "Cuban" was my appetizer before this feast of light. Ah, take me back now to those warm popples under my feet, and hints of linseed mixed with salt.
cape hedge bathers
A windy day, rough water, but the air is clear and the sun hot. Waves slam the sand, but once past the breaks you bob with the curls. Then back to the sand to warm up again. The soothing cycle. Forget everything, and dream.
storm surfers
Storm Surfers - 35 x 59 - oil on linen
I saw them in a dream, in winter.
rockport motif #1 day sat may 22nd
Motif #1 Day is Sat May 22ndSchedule and info here: http://rockportartfestivals.blogspot.com/ Art, music, events, food, and my studio will be open for the afternoon, 1:00 - 5:00.
new england prize show
"Early Spring" (below) was just accepted to Cambridge Art Association's "New England Prize Show", May 14 - June 23, 2010; opening reception: Thursday May 20, 6-8pm. How about that!
early spring
Early Spring, oil on linen, 24x36
Started this one the first weekend of April, a balmy day on Good Harbor Beach. Even Mr. Purple Shorts was out for a shirtless jog. You'd think it was June. Someone brought an umbrella for the hazy sun. I squint and see the roundness of the earth, the continents shifting.
good harbor moon sketches
Good Harbor Moon sketches, pen on paper, 3 @ 3.5"x5.5"
I found these sketches in the studio the other day, from six years ago. Forgot I had done them. Can you find the painting they were for? Haven't seen a moon like it since. That's a bit of Salt Island on the left. How is a painting built? Sometimes it creeps up on you, and you turn around and snatch it.
prints available (painting is sold)
winter beach
Winter Beach, 30x36, oil on linen
Winter Beach is finished. No snow here now. The bulbs are coming. So is a big painting that I've had in mind for some time now.
winter beach, in progress
A blog hiatus for the holidays. I finished a portrait, but I can't show it to you before the unveiling. Meanwhile, a bright January afternoon on Good Harbor Beach, low tide, low sun, polished sand, dogs in and out of the water like summer, the harsh light breaking apart the wet shoreline. Johnny Cash echoes from San Quentin while I contemplate progress.
my holiday sale
My first annual holiday sale was Saturday, December 5th, with a break at 3:45 to see Santa arrive on his lobster boat. As part of the annual tradition, Don Thrasher (coincidentally my neighbor, and first on left in photo, on clarinet) and his band serenade the shops with their Swing. It was spectacular. I love this town.
Rockport Holiday Swing Band
See the full Rockport Holiday Schedule, through New Years, here: http://www.rockportusa.com/festival-event.cfm
end of summer
End of Summer, 30x36, oil on linen
The last day of Summer. The dogs are legal again. The crowds are gone. But it is still warm enough to catch a clean, green wave. The air is clear. It is still Summer today.
red flag
Red Flag, 36" x 36", oil on linen
The beach people love getting to Salt Island at low tide when the water parts over the sand bar. The divers take advantage of the shorter swim to the other side. I would love to go there someday. Red Flag was just accepted to the Cambridge Art Association show, Red, running November 10, 2009 - January 14, 2010. Find out more at the CAA web site.
the point
The Point, oil on linen, 24x24
A view of the Point to the West, up river, from the island in the Adirondacks. On a hot, August afternoon, the river comes to us.
bill
Bill, 24x36, oil on linen
Hurricane Bill blew by the weekend of August 22nd. He churned up big swells while staying far enough out to sea to let the sun shine on and through the water at Good Harbor Beach. The life guards made a few saves too. The late Summer sun gave hints of Fall sparkles, and lit up the swimmers and fishermen.
rock and water
Rock and Water, oil on linen
It was a Rockwell Kent day on Lower Saranac Lake with Sarah and Hannah, clouds billowing up and up in the mountains all around us, yet nothing but sun on Martin island in the lake. The rocks were hot, the water cooling.
Painting on Martin
kim and bruce
good harbor waves
gouache, (c) 2009
It was one of those perfect beach days: clear air, hot sun, big waves. I sat in the sand, under the umbrella. It was a good day to gouache.