Night Painting in Midcoast Maine
For my very first sub-stack newsletter, I thought I'd share some of my favorite recent nocturne paintings. All of the paintings you see here are started on location. Sometimes I go back the next day, and sometimes I finish them in the studio.
What I like most about painting at night is that scenes that barely attract attention during the day become infused with mystery and emotion as the light dims.
The painting above is one of the local waterfront parks in Rockland, Maine, where I live now. It was a foggy night, and the background lights were a cruise ship slightly offshore.
The crane above is a real icon as you drive up US Route One along the Atlantic coast through Bath, Maine. When I was painting this, a security guard came by and made me move about 50 feet because I was on their property. He explained that no photographs or drawings were allowed to be made while on company property. But he couldn’t say anything once I left the property. The same view, I just backed up.
I usually start my nocturne paintings at night, and once they’re all blocked in I finish the details of the painting the next day in the daylight
The painting above was done on a warm spring night after a rainstorm just a few blocks from my house.
Of course, I sell my work, so if you want to see a few of my paintings for sale, click here. You can also find stephan_paints on Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr. Just ask if you see any paintings posted on my social media that you're interested in.
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