"Straitsmouth Island View", 9x12, oil on panel, plein air field study, rolling waves, New England, Straitsmouth Island, Rockport, Bearskin Neck, paintings of waves, palette knife paintings of waves

"Straitsmouth Island View", 9x12, oil on panel

Here is another painting that was begun out on the rocks during our stay at the Captain's House in Rockport, Massachusetts. We had a really good view of both Thatcher Island and Staitsmouth Island from the Inn which allowed me to go out on the rocks each day and paint to my heart's content.

I painted this in the afternoon of our first day there, and the weather could not have been any better!

Here's the view I had of the island from the rocks:

The waves kept changing every moment!

Straitsmouth Island has a light house on the other side as well as an old keeper's house that is partially boarded up now. There is a view of the lighthouse from Bearskin Neck as well as the headlands out on the Old Garden Walk. One of these days, I will try to paint the keeper's house and light house from the photo that we took from the headlands, but for now I am just trying to keep the memory of that view in my head for as long as I can!

I had to turn my easel away from the view as the sun was too bright on the canvas otherwise. It was a little weird at first, but I got used to it:

Overall, it was a challenging and yet satisfying experience to try to paint the crashing waves en plein air.