"From the Stern"  30"x48" oil on canvas © 2011 Brian Kliewer

See the full Maine Windjammers series.

Over the years I've struggled with the idea of subject matter and the notion of being a "landscape artist."  I much prefer the thought of just being an artist as opposed to being locked in to any one specific genre.  To me, it's more important to paint what you know and feel or experience.  This is what I want to do most and have often tried to add that "flavor" to my work, no matter what the subject.  If I can somehow include what I was feeling at the time, then I feel I've created a successful painting.    That's what I tried to do with this painting...to push myself to a different level...a different view...and get that feeling into the work, if possible.  

This is the Maine Windjammer, "Heritage," as she's passing the Rockland Breakwater.  Another can be seen in the distance.  I had a good reference photo of the schooners on hand for a while (minus the gulls) and I knew I wanted to paint it, but wasn't sure how to approach things.  One thing I did know, the feeling it gave me was not one of  being on the breakwater but more like being on a boat myself.  However, as I was working on it, I kept thinking it looked more like a background than a finished painting.  I wasn't sure I wanted to do anything to it, or how it would work as a "background."  I just knew it felt like one. 

Pushing things...

The more the painting developed, the more everything was weighted to the left.  I needed something for the rght side and then it hit me to add the gulls.  I've thought of "overlaying" a subject in the past but had never tried it before...at least not to this extent.  It was risky.  I resisted doing it for a few days.   Compositionally it was a challenge anyway, and then coming back and adding seagulls in a painting where they were not originally planned really turned up the heat at the easel!  Then I thought to  myself..."how can I tell others to do something bold if I wasn't willing to try it myself?"   So I did..

Viewer as subject...

The seagulls  "smell" food.  They aren't interested in the schooners but are swarming around YOU, the viewer.   As I worked on the painting, I kept thinking of a "sternman" on a lobster/fishing boat.   This would be his view.  The schooners are passing by as the gulls go into a frenzy behind the boat, which is out of view here.  I did it this way because I wanted to put the vewer into the boat....to bring the viewer into the painting.  So in that sense, the viewer is the subject!  

An "orchestrated chaos"  

Working out the composition, deciding where to place the gulls became sort of a game...a chess match.  It  was challenging and I was constantly concerned about overdoing it.  But at the same time, I knew that's what the gulls would do as they flew about, overlapping each other and obliterating views...  

So I wanted at least some of that in the painting, though not a complete "visual cacophony".  Instead, I opted for more of a ballet or dance structure in the compositional rythm.  I tried to set up a rhythm...thinking of a pattern that might resemble notes on a sheet of music. From that approach, I got this "waltz in the air" effect...   

(Also in this view you can see the schooner crew - and some of its passengers, I believe -  hoisting the "pushboat" into its storage position behind the ship.  And... yes, that wing on the right was in this upright position.  So I chose to place this particular gull here to keep the action onboard the schooner unobstructed.)

But one of the things I love most about this kind of action is the view, the "window" the gulls often create with their wings, legs and feet.  There's almost a perfectly framed window that you see the distant schooner through...

How did I get the gulls to pose?  

After coming up with the idea to add seagulls to the painting, I  searched for images  on the web. I knew that this was indeed the direction I wanted to go... the painting just needed direction and the seagulls added that.  So I went to the beach and took a couple of loaves of bread with me. After about 10-15 minutes, I had over 100 photos.  But that wasn't enough since I still wasn't getting the views I wanted.  The winds the first day were quite strong, and the gulls were positioned mostly at angles that didn't work for me.  So I went again the following day.  Two more loaves were gone in about 10 minutes.  So they devoured four loaves of bread in a total of about 30 minutes. But for those four loaves, I had about 50-60 models posing in all sorts of positions.  I got the "frenzy" I was looking for.   It was a great experience and I hope to do it again someday...

In the end, I didn't really paint one of those seagull "frenzies" but perhaps the beginning of one.  The gulls are coming toegther rather than obliterating the view.   If you've ever seen a lobster boat under "attack," then you know what I mean.   As I was tossing those pieces of bread into the air, I got that experience in a nearly full blown level...I was able to"re-create" it.   The gulls were going crazy.  It was more of a melee than a "waltz."  Hmm, do I see another "envelope" to push? 

Keep painting!

Bye!