Rob Diebboll’s Blog

Or resurrection. Warm, humid air from the South. It was done just before the late afternoon rain.

easter - 16x16 - oil on linen

After the Summer ban, it’s mid-September and the dogs return to Good Harbor, free and unleashed. Masters call but are unheard, unseen, unlimited space. A perfect moment.

Dog Day - 40 x 40 - oil on linen

To my big brother, John, who passed in November: thanks for all you have given us from your heart and left us in your work.

Your piano plays

Painted etudes, notes above.

Fall waters, leaves still.

photo © Kim Diebboll

Surfing on Cape Ann (Gloucester & Rockport) has exploded over the last couple of years. New forms are evolving in the sea.

Enlightenment - 24 x 36 - oil on linen

A portrait has unique challenges besides the goal of a likeness. A palette that touches the personality; a composition that moves, like Life; legacy. Here, like with Triptych, I reference American Folk painting, especially Ammi Phillips. Happy Birthday, Woodsie.

Woodsie - 24 x 34 - oil on linen

Look at the map of Cape Hedge Beach and you’ll see at its southwest end the curl of its tail and the finishing promontory separating it from Long Beach. Last Sunday afternoon high up on the dune of stone popples above a few strips of sand and high tide I painted this view, cooled by a perfect ocean breeze and an occasional swim in the unusually warm water. We bobbed in the choppy waves, my toes in the air. A Willow Rest “Cuban” was my appetizer before this feast of light. Ah, take me back now to those warm popples under my feet, and hints of linseed mixed with salt.

Cape Hedge South - 25 x 25 - oil on linen

A windy day, rough water, but the air is clear and the sun hot. Waves slam the sand, but once past the breaks you bob with the curls. Then back to the sand to warm up again. The soothing cycle. Forget everything, and dream.

Cape Hedge Bathers - 20 x 20 - oil on linen

I saw them in a dream, in winter.

Storm Surfers - 35 x 59 - oil on linen

Motif #1 Day is Sat May 22nd
Schedule and info here:
http://rockportartfestivals.blogspot.com/
Art, music, events, food, and my studio will be open for the afternoon, 1:00 - 5:00.

“Early Spring” (below) was just accepted to Cambridge Art Association’s “New England Prize Show”, May 14 - June 23, 2010; opening reception: Thursday May 20, 6-8pm. How about that!

Started this one the first weekend of April, a balmy day on Good Harbor Beach. Even Mr. Purple Shorts was out for a shirtless jog. You’d think it was June. Someone brought an umbrella for the hazy sun. I squint and see the roundness of the earth, the continents shifting.

Early Spring, oil on linen, 24x36

I found these sketches in the studio the other day, from six years ago. Forgot I had done them. Can you find the painting they were for? Haven’t seen a moon like it since. That’s a bit of Salt Island on the left. How is a painting built? Sometimes it creeps up on you, and you turn around and snatch it.

Good Harbor Moon sketches, pen on paper, 3 @ 3.5"x5.5"

prints available (painting is sold)

Winter Beach is finished. No snow here now. The bulbs are coming. So is a big painting that I’ve had in mind for some time now.

Winter Beach, 30x36, oil on linen

A blog hiatus for the holidays. I finished a portrait, but I can’t show it to you before the unveiling. Meanwhile, a bright January afternoon on Good Harbor Beach, low tide, low sun, polished sand, dogs in and out of the water like summer, the harsh light breaking apart the wet shoreline. Johnny Cash echoes from San Quentin while I contemplate progress.

My first annual holiday sale was Saturday, December 5th, with a break at 3:45 to see Santa arrive on his lobster boat. As part of the annual tradition, Don Thrasher (coincidentally my neighbor, and first on left in photo, on clarinet) and his band serenade the shops with their Swing. It was spectacular. I love this town.

See the full Rockport Holiday Schedule, through New Years, here: http://www.rockportusa.com/festival-event.cfm

The last day of Summer. The dogs are legal again. The crowds are gone. But it is still warm enough to catch a clean, green wave. The air is clear. It is still Summer today.

End of Summer, 30x36, oil on linen

The beach people love getting to Salt Island at low tide when the water parts over the sand bar. The divers take advantage of the shorter swim to the other side. I would love to go there someday. Red Flag was just accepted to the Cambridge Art Association show, Red, running November 10, 2009 - January 14, 2010. Find out more at the CAA web site.

Red Flag, 36" x 36", oil on linen

A view of the Point to the West, up river, from the island in the Adirondacks. On a hot, August afternoon, the river comes to us.

The Point, oil on linen, 24x24

Hurricane Bill blew by the weekend of August 22nd. He churned up big swells while staying far enough out to sea to let the sun shine on and through the water at Good Harbor Beach. The life guards made a few saves too. The late Summer sun gave hints of Fall sparkles, and lit up the swimmers and fishermen.

Bill, 24x36, oil on linen

It was a Rockwell Kent day on Lower Saranac Lake with Sarah and Hannah, clouds billowing up and up in the mountains all around us, yet nothing but sun on Martin island in the lake. The rocks were hot, the water cooling.

Rock and Water, oil on linen

Painting on Martin

Another visit to camp on Saranac Lake gave me the fleeting chance to capture my brother & his wife, Bruce and Kim, hanging out at the swim hole. This is a two hour sketch en plein air.

It was one of those perfect beach days: clear air, hot sun, big waves. I sat in the sand, under the umbrella. It was a good day to gouache.

gouache, (c) 2009

Finally finished Crow and Gull, I think. I wrestled with it for some time. It took me a few years to notice the dynamic between the crow and gull at the beach. Although the crow may be half the size it is usually able to steal an easy meal, a crab or perhaps a quahog.

Crow and Gull

Finished up Skimboarding. Compare to the first sitting a few posts back. I have it hanging over the mantle right now, but may take it back to the studio window soon, or not.

Skimboarding, oil on linen, 24x30

We have moved in to our Rockport home and are settling in. We took a break for a couple hours at the beach down the street, and I brought the gouache along.

Nap at Cape Hedge

Was opening the family camp over Memorial Day weekend, up in Saranac Lake. On this rocky point across the river we saw this couple working their dog with a serious game of Fetch.

Fetch oil on linen 12″x12″

Started this one last weekend at the Studio.

Skimboarding

next step is to get in the water.

My painting ‘May Fog’ was accepted into the Cambridge Art Association’s ‘Northeast Prize Show’ juried by William Stover, Curator of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The show will be up from May 14 - June 25, 2009 at the University Place Gallery in Cambridge, MA (near Harvard Square). The opening reception is Friday, May 29, 6 - 8 pm. I hope to be at the reception and would love to see you. Map To Gallery.