Thursday, August 30, 2018

New England Fishing Boat - circa '73

Mom would paint several sea scenes through out painting career. She loved New England and the north eastern US, romanticized it really. She dreamed of living in a 18th century house and collected pewter and colonial things. Or she would gladly have lived on the coast of Maine and paint, very Andrew Wyeth or Winslow Homer of her.  Here she is continuing to develop her techniques in oil with a port scene, probably from a picture. There are many charming aspects to this painting.

New England Fishing Boat
Unfortunately the painting has suffered some damage on the left side. Although a bit naive, the painting has nice atmosphere and a lot of charm. The boat shown below obviously is the center of the painting and the main subject. It has a nice reflection setting it in the world.  I like the looseness of the style.

boat detail 


bird detail

The best things for me in this painting are the little details. These birds are wonderful as is this little boat in the distance.  The birds really feel confident and animated with just a few brush strokes. 

detail of birds 

seagulls detail 

These two little seagulls could easily be missed but they are just awesome, again a couple of brush stokes and they come across with charm and again a confidence that lacks somewhat in the rest of the painting. 

signature detail 
Here Mom has added the B. back. It seems she could be trying to figure out what here signature should be.