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I’ve had a great time this spring, thinking of summer by drawing and painting two of my favorite subjects, small boats and lobster buoys. These subjects were special requests from the Bobby Baker Gallery in Cataumet, on Cape Cod. I’m honored to be joining Bobby as a gallery artist, and to be represented by him on Cape Cod. And I’m also excited to introduce you to his amazing work.  Bobby’s gallery, in the historic barn above, is a fitting showcase for his coastal photographs. Here’s what’s being said about Bobby and his work: “Bobby Baker is one of New England’s best coastal photographers. His artistry really shines as he uses the limitations of black and white photography to shoot shadow and light with lasting emotional resonance.” - Providence Journal “Baker captures the Cape in remarkable fashion. His black and white images are iconic in the same way as noted photographer Ansel Adams' are.” - Cape Cod Life Magazine  Above are a few examples of Bobby’s wonderful images of Cape Cod. My paintings below, and those at the top and more, are now available at Bobby’s gallery in Cataumet and online at the Bobby Baker Gallery website here. If you visit Cape Cod this summer, do stop by the gallery. Hours are posted on the gallery website contact page, here. Look for the OPEN flag at the bottom of the driveway.
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It’s finally spring, and that means we can start thinking about gardening and boating. It also means that Mother’s Day and Father’s Day will be here soon. If your parent is an animal lover, one of the best gifts you can give them is a painting of a beloved pet. I’d be happy to help you with that. I love to paint animals. To create a pet portrait, I usually start with an under painting in one color, showing the darks and lights, which is my map for the color layer. It's a huge help, and part of the process I teach my students for any painting. Next I begin the color layer with the darkest of the dark paint, in fairly large shapes, and move to the lightest. Then, while the painting is still wet, a top layer of detail, and I'm done. Above and below are some examples of that process. As you can see from those examples, it really helps to have a good photo of the animal to be painted. And good means two things here. Good lighting is needed to make those darks and lights I’m looking for. If you’re looking into the sun, the animal’s face will be in the shade, which doesn’t work well. In order to get a few shadows, have the sun over your the right or left shoulder. Getting down to the pet’s level is also very important. When you’re looking down at them, you run into the problem that your eye has a much better lens than your camera. So a dog or cat’s head will look abnormally large compared with their body in the photo compared to your vision. The easiest way to correct this is get down to their level or use a high end camera. Even if your photo isn’t perfect, like the photo above with the dog and flag, other photos of the same dog can make up for that. At least we’re down at her level and there’s sun on her face!
I’m happy to paint pet portraits any time of the year. If you have a pet in mind, fill out the contact form here, and we can look at your photos and talk about a size, etc.  Has there ever been something that you wanted to try to make; a recipe, a special cocktail, a special kind of artwork? There's one that I've been thinking of for years. It was inspired by the work of Rob Adams, a British painter I met on travels to paint in France. He uses a fantastic handmade blue paper to create wonderful pen and ink drawings, sometimes with a hint of white gouache.  One of Rob Adams inspiring pen and ink drawings on the lovely blue paper I wondered what this would look like applied to a boat, and I tried it a few years ago. I especially liked using a lapstrake hulled boat for this, because there's something going on with the sides of the boat, it's not just a solid shape. I've uncovered that little sketch several times over the years, and decided to collect photos of lapstrake dinghies to see if I could make a series out of them using this medium. On our boat trips to Penobscot Bay and Mount desert Island, I was able to find some. I ended up finding three of these over the years and tried to take photos where the sun was creating interesting shading. It's amazing how many angles you have to photograph to get just a few that will work. And it's even harder when you're in a moving dinghy! These boats usually are tied to lovely classic sailboats. And often in pretty classic harbors, like Isle au Haut, Christmas Cove, and Northeast Harbor. They aren't quite as practical as inflatables, but they are oh so much more beautiful. If you ever see a woman taking photos of boats from an inflatable, it's probably me, and if you check around you, you're probably in Maine in the summer!
 Dingies at the Dock 12"x12" on gallery wrap canvas There’s a dinghy with a beautiful blue interior that I love to paint. It’s called Whirligig and it lives in Tenants Harbor, Maine. Every time we visit, I try to get a new photo of it and any other boat touching it on the crowded dinghy dock. But there’s one photo I keep coming back to.  I keep coming back to this photo. My first painting using that reference was called Dinghies at the Dock. I stuck pretty closely to the original photo and the real life colors of the three dinghy’s interiors. It’s 12”x12” in oils. Note that I left out the shadows of the ramp railings that fall inside the dinghy.  Blue on Blue Dinghy - 6"x6" oil on canvas My second painting included only whirligig and the dock. It was small, only 6”x6”, but in acrylic. This time I got some of the transom in, using other photo references of the boat.  Whirligig - 24"x24" on gallery wrap canvas My latest painting included all three boats again, but it's 24”x24”, also in oils. This time I turned the image a bit and went wild with the inside colors of the other two boats. Scaling it up this big was a challenge, but I think it makes a great statement at this size.  The first painting hanging on the wall, showing the gallery wrap canvas. And this summer, when we stopped in Tenants Harbor on our way home from Penobscot Bay I couldn’t find Whirligig! Admittedly, it was the weekend, so maybe she was on a mooring doing her dinghy duty. I hope so, I’d hate for this to be “goodbye, Whirligig!”.
 Patricia with her finished painting, before removing the blue tape A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of teaching a painting class in France to French speakers. They are the students of my former French teacher, who now lives in France and teaches English. I taught the class in English, and Veronique wrote the English words that people didn't understand on the whiteboard, along with French translations. There were 13 students, two were water color painters, and I don't think the others had tried painting before. We painted in acrylics. In the first lesson, we created our drawings, using one of my buoy paintings as a guide. Some people drew freehand, using a couple of techniques to make it easier: draw from your reference photo turned upside down, and draw lines as guides on your reference photo and your paper that go vertically and horizontally through the middle of the photo and your drawing. One person traced, which is also a fine way to start.  Finished paintings, after the blue tape removal I was pretty freaked out the first night, because I'd never taught that many people before. And I was concerned that we were using one of my paintings rather than the original photo as a reference. A week later, we painted. Everyone was excited to use the colored paints. That night was so much fun. I loved to see how engaged the students were, and enjoyed their enthusiasm. Perhaps working from the painting as a reference was actually easier? The paintings turned out beautifully, and everyone was really pleased with their results. And they were learning English too! They all posed for pictures with their work afterwards. We're in a crazy time right now, with lots of uncertainty. Is it time for you to pick up a paint brush and have some fun instead of spending so much time on the news? If so, I have two thoughts for you. Two paintings we learn how to paint in the online class. FIRST IDEA First, I've just made my online beginner oil paintings class free of charge. It's a six lesson class that you can do at your own pace. It starts at the beginning and leaves nothing out. There's even a discussion of the supplies you'll need (some of which you probably already have) included in the first lesson. The class is designed for total beginners, who don’t know where to buy the supplies and have never even held a brush. And for those who’ve tried, gotten frustrated, and put away their paints. If you’ve painted in watercolor, acrylic, or pastel, and would now like to try oils, it will work for you too, though there will be some review. This page on my website, explains it all. And let me explain why I suggest oil painting as a medium, rather than water color or acrylic. That's because it's the easiest to learn. Because it takes a few days for the paint to dry, you can scrape off bits you don't like and try again. Time is on your side, no need to rush. If you don't want to work with the solvent required for oil paint, there is a an alternative, called water mixable oil paint. It doesn't use solvents and cleans up with soap and water. I provide a PDF on how to take the class with water mixable oils. I use them frequently myself. Water color is the most difficult to learn, because there are no do-overs, only start-overs, which is really frustrating, especially when you're starting out, and you need to learn all the stuff that is the same for all mediums. I love watercolor paintings, and I love how easy it is to carry the gear around. Painting with water color is great for travel, but learning the basics in another medium is my recommended way to start out. As for acrylics, the paint dries fast, and I mean really fast. If you want to change something, you can't scrape it off. You can paint over it, which is not quite the same as a do-over. You have to be careful to keep your brushes (and the paint you are working with) wet all the time. Lots of brushes have been thrown away because they weren't kept wet. If the paint gets on your clothes, they become painting clothes, the paint will not come out (with oil paint, if you catch it soon enough, you can can get the paint out). That being said, if you prefer the look of acrylic paints, you can do this class in acrylic, because much of what I'm teaching is not medium specific, and I provide a PDF to explain how. I paint in acrylic too! SECOND IDEA
Autumn Farm (left) and Day Lilies and Lace Cap Hydrangea (right) by Carol L. Douglas If you have painting experience, and don't need to start from the beginning, I have another idea. My friend Carol Douglas teaches a wonderful week long workshop in Acadia National Park in Maine each August and another in October in Rockport, Maine. You can check them out here. While there are other week long workshops in Maine each summer, and I've taken quite a few, I don't think you'll learn as much from any other instructor, nor will you find a more beautiful place to be inspired. Note: While this blogpost was written in May, 2025, it wasn't live until September 22, 2025. These things happen..  The first 6 of my buoy series (13 total so far) 6"x6" oil on canvas board Painting in a series has a lot of benefits. A series is a body of work that goes together based on certain characteristics of the paintings. A series lets an artist explore a subject or theme and can provide a tool for the artist to hone their artistic voice. A series is also a great way to introduce your work to a gallery, it makes a bigger statement than a group of unrelated paintings. I've often used series for small works holiday shows, where they especially shine.
Mini landscapes 1, 2, 4, 7, 15, 16 - 4"x4" oil on treated paper What makes a group of paintings a series? For me it's usually medium, subject, and size. In terms of subject, I've done series of floating buoys, top views of dinghies, and on a broader scale, a series of mini landscapes. I also frame all the paintings in a series with the same frame.
Dinghies 4-9 - 5"x7" oil on panel I've learned a few things in the process. Most importantly, don't try to batch process creating the pieces, at least not at first. I leaned this with the dinghies. If you're going to create a series, do at least two pieces start to finish before you begin the rest. There may be something about your design or process that needs tweaking and you'll only figure that out by actually finishing a couple of pieces. I ended up changing some of the colors of the dinghy paintings, and adding the shadows on the water. If I'd though of that earlier, I might have not centered the boats on the canvas.  Dinghy 4 Three Ways The life of Dinghy 4 is an example of some of the changes that I made as I went along. First, I'd used the green background on several of the boats, but it didn't read as water. Second the orange interior just didn't look right. That's a bit weird since it is a popular color for the insides of classic wooden skiffs. Maybe the green seats were the problem. One of the interesting experiences I've had with these three series is their popularity. I'm not sure if it's the subject matter, that there's a choice of colors, the fact that these aren't very large and neither is the price tag, or it's something else. The dinghies and landscape series all sold out. Only 2 of the buoys have not been sold. If you'd like to see all of the paintings in the three series go HERE.
Buoy 5 - 6"x6" oil on canvas board (finished on the left, value under painting on the right) What's the most important thing to do well when creating a painting or an art photograph? Some people will say color, some will say drawing, some will say mood, and some subject matter. All those things are important, but what really matters most is composition.
Buoy 7 - 6"x6" oil on canvas board (finished on the left, value under painting on the right) What is composition? It's not just a drawing. The shapes that are created and how dark or light they are (value in art speak) is what's important. I like to think of the composition as the arrangement and value of interlocking shapes on the canvas (or paper). This works for both representational and abstract art. In representational art, the composition is with the painter throughout the process. That's not required in abstract painting though it does have to appear at some point, even in intuitive abstract painting.
Churchy at Low Tide - 8"x8" oil on canvas board (finished right, value under painting on the left) In landscape painting, we often create what we call a value under painting, or value roadmap to help us keep the composition in mind as we paint. It's also common to create several initial value sketches to choose the most compelling composition. These value sketches can take the place of the value under painting when time is of the essence, as it usually is in plein air painting.
Winslow Park - 6"x6" oil on canvas board (value sketch left, finished painting right) Above, I used makers to create the different values, usually 3 to 5 values are needed.
Near Rasteau - 8"x8" oil on canvas board (value sketch left, finished painting right) In this example I used a pen and hatching to create the different values. It's also common to use a soft pencil to create a value sketch, often called a thumbnail sketch to emphasize that detail is not the most important thing. I may have gone a bit far that direction on this last one! If you want to try this for yourself, take a photo of a painting and turn it black and white on your phone. It will be easier to see the composition that way than when it's in color.  Two minute sketch of the village of Gordes in Provence (Tombo marker) Sketching quickly is both fun and skill building. If I don't have time to paint, sketching is the best way to keep my painting skills from getting rusty, since it's used at the beginning of the process. I did the sketch above while my companions in the car were taking photos. You might ask what's a sketch? To me, it's a very quick drawing, using a single drawing tool, where mistakes are left in, there's no erasing. The purpose is to catch the essence of something in minimal time, especially if that something is moving.  Quick sketch of two women knitting (Tombo marker) There are so many fun things to sketch. I particularly like to sketch people. It's more enjoyable to sketch them live than from a photo. But you have to either have their permission, or do it surreptitiously. I do the later a lot in airports or on a beach where people are absorbed in a book or sunbathing. In the above page from my small sketchbook, I got a chance to sketch my friends at Knit Night. We talked, they knitted, and I sketched. My sketching is much better than my knitting.  Less than Minute sketches of a sailboat swinging on it's mooring (Micron pen) If we've met, you probably know that I love boats. They're right up there with people on my fun to sketch list. And I don't need their permission. When they're moored they tend to move around, which is a challenge but also a good learning experience. Drawing and painting boats from photos has the problem of foreshortening. The end of the boat that is farthest away tends to appear even smaller in a photo (especially from a phone camera) than it is in real life. So being able to get a quick sketch in to use with a photo for detail is very helpful when creating a painting.  30 second pen sketch of a flying pelican Birds are also fun and you have to be very quick to capture them in a sketch. I particularly like pelicans because they are so angular. And cormorants drying their wings sitting on a buoy are interesting to draw. I'll look out for one when we're next on our boat.  Trees are great to sketch in winter, when all the branches are showing. And they don't move very fast if the wind isn't blowing. This post on my old blog called Drawing Trees has long been the most popular, and I'm not sure why. I would call this more of a drawing than a sketch. It probably took 10 minutes.
 White Dinghy Bow - 5"x7" oil on canvas panel Drawing boats can be challenging on a number of fronts; getting the basic shape, making your boat float, and building believable reflections. A simple way to draw your boat uses a figure eight. Read through this post and you'll be able to see the figure 8 in the boat above. Drawing Your Boat  The diagram above demonstrates drawing a boat using a figure 8. The figure 8 becomes the gunnels of the boat. The gunnels (or gunwales) are the tops of the boat's sides. Step 1: Draw a figure 8 as in the diagram. Note that the right hand orb of the ellipse is smaller then the left orb. We'll make the smaller orb the bow. Step 2: From the highest point on the right orb, draw a line down and to the left to create the bow, and another line down and to the right to create the stern. These lines can be somewhat curved as in the diagram or straight depending on the kind of boat you want to draw. Step 3: Draw a line to connect the bow and stern. And connect the right side of the bow to the bottom of the boat. Step 4: Erase the line that is dotted in the figure, which is not visible. Step 5. If the boat has a square stern, draw a line across the back of the left side of the figure. If the boat has a square bow, follow the same process. Floating Your Boat 
To make a boat look like it's floating we need to understand the water line, which is the line that marks where the top of the water hits the boat. The waterline is flat (horizontal) if the boat is at eye level, as is the waterline of the blue lobster boat in the top photo above. Note that this is true even though we're looking at both the stern and side of the blue boat. If you've seen a boat in a painting that looks like it's going up hill, it's because this was not understood. As you begin to look down on the boat more, it moves off the horizontal as in the photo on the bottom left. The more you can see of the inside of the boat, the less horizontal it will be in your painting. In the photo on the bottom right, where we're looking directly down on the boat, you can only see the inside, the waterline is not visible. Note also that the figure 8 approach works best when we can see part, but not all, of the inside of the boat. In the bottom two photos where we can see almost all of the inside of the boats it's not as helpful.  Blue Green Abstract - 5"x7" acrylic on paper I’ve painted in a number of mediums: oils, gouache, water color, and pastels. But when I’ve used acrylics, I haven’t been excited with the results. Until recently. What made the difference? Realizing that they aren’t oil paints.
Red Sailboat Boothbay - 6"x6" oil on canvas left, acrylic on paper right Last fall I took a painting class that wasn’t about a specific medium or painting techniques. It was about finding joy in your work, with painting as the work. Louis Fletcher, the teacher, believes that when you’re struggling the work shows it. And when you’re enjoying yourself, and you love the results, your unique style comes out. I love this idea and will return to it in another post.  Boats drawn from figure 8's - acrylic on paper I decided to do Louise’s exercises in acrylics because I wanted to avoid using solvents inside the house when it’s too cold to open the windows. But I was still thinking about acrylics as oil paints with water as the solvent. And I think that was what was getting in my way in my acrylic painting. I wasn’t treating it like a new medium, with different possibilities.  More figure 8 boats - acrylic on paper While the class had demonstrations in multiple mediums, there were lots in acrylics, and I was able to learn about layering and the benefits of a fast drying medium. And there was so much experimenting! It’s been fun to see what I can do with these paints. In these dinghy paintings, I painted over colorful backgrounds made using up extra paint from previous paintings I love the added depth and texture. For how to draw Figure 8 boats, look here.  Great Island Dinghy - 8"x10" acrylic on paper I’m sure there are analogies to my experience with acrylics in other areas, like moving from a camera to the one on your phone, using a new material in construction, or cooking with a new gadget. We need to let go of the old ways, and what we know, and spend some time exploring the potential of the new material or gear. And learning from others via YouTube, a class, or a generous friend, can be a big help.
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AuthorBobbi - Painter. Sketcher. Teacher. Boat and Dog Lover. Archives
June 2026
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