Gouache | 1
"Changing Tides at Wolf Neck State Park", Linda Bail
Description
Gouache
12” x 19” (Matted and framed)
Artist: Linda Bail
I currently live in a very special place; the Birch Point peninsula near Wolf Neck Farm in Freeport.
Wolf Neck State Park. Hiking trails. Eagles. Ospreys. Great Blue Herons. Wolf Neck Farm Center. Cows, chickens and campers. Freeport Conservation Trust. Twice daily ten-foot tides to remind me that the 6-hour cycle never stops. At low tide, the clammers work. At high tide, the kayaks and small boats enjoy exploring the shoreline.
However, I was also brought up in a very special place - in the shadow of Mt. Katahdin in northern Maine in the towns of Millinocket and East Millinocket.
The lakes, rivers, woods and Baxter State Park provided endless outdoor activities which we took for granted. While the Great Northern Paper Company’s largesse provided a nice living for families (good jobs, good schools, free skiing, excellent recreation facilities), it also polluted our air, our woods and our waters. As those towns struggle to find a new life without the mills, I can only hope the clean-up of the air and those same rivers, woods and lakes will provide an excellent source of recreation for outsiders which will result in the revitalization of both towns.
I love painting in oils. The colors are vibrant. The mixing results in fabulous grays, greens and color surprises. However, some of the paints are toxic. The clean up can be messy and complicated.
My goal for the next year is to solely use the opaque, water-based gouache in my plein air painting. The colors are lovely and the clean up is easy. Water is not harmful to the environment. The disposal of left-over oil paint and its mediums are. As an artist, this is one small step I can make to help the environment.
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At 18, I couldn’t wait to get out of the “woods” of northern Maine. Ten years ago, after living all over the country, I couldn’t wait to return to Maine.
During my 45 years away, I discovered making art and have worked diligently for 20 years with amazing teachers from Florida to New York City to San Francisco. I am constantly continuing to develop “my voice” as most serious artists do.
I enjoy plein air painting, particularly using the figure in the environment in order to give the landscape scale.
However, during the Covid-19 “lockdown”, I have reached back into art history in my studio. The past 6 months have been spent interpreting 16 female portraits from art history as well as taking a Zoom course from Italy in transcribing Renaissance frescos. This fall I will be taking a semester long Zoom course at Massachusetts College of Art in abstract interpretations of paintings from art history.
Covid-19 has given me the studio time to develop new skills in new genres. How does one interpret art history paintings without copying? How does an artist give her own voice to those paintings in a more abstract interpretation? Without the pressure of a show to “produce” Maine sea and landscapes, it has been fun and challenging to work in an entirely different method. The time to study and work on interpreting a great work of art in depth has helped me to understand what makes “great art” GREAT.
Fine Print
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Bid History
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- Paddle#200$600