The Artwork of Brian Kliewer

"The Isaac H. Evans" 6"x8" oil on linen © 2012 Brian Kliewer  SOLD

"The Isaac H. Evans" detail © 2012 Brian Kliewer

See all the paintings in the Maine Windjammers Series

About the painting...

This is another view of the "Evans."  The first painting I posted featured the ship in a backlit setting.  Here she's on display in full sunlight.  The Evans is sort of an elusive schooner to me.  It often looks like a work horse when compared to the other schooners in the fleet, but it also looks very lovely under sail.  It has a two-tone hull...light gray on the lower portion and bright white on the upper.  This adds to the elusiveness.  Oftentimes under full light, as you see it here, it looks like an entirely white ship.

Bidding begins at 6:00 PM US Eastern Time.  If you would like to bid on this painting, please follow the Updated Auction Rules and Guidelines.  Thank you.

Minimum bid is $150.  Bidding will close at 6:00 PM Eastern Time (US), Saturday, March 24.

Paintings usually ship within 20 business days after payment has cleared.

($15 shipping US/Canada will be added to the winning bid)  (5% sales tax Maine residents only)

Bids are now closed. 

"Harbor Traffic"  6"x8" oil on linen © 2012 Brian Kliewer  SOLD

"Harbor Traffic" detail © 2012 Brian Kliewer

About the painting...

This lobster boat is actually one of the smaller ones I've seen.  I adjusted its size for the painting because the look with the lobsterman at the helm was unnatural.  To me he looked like a giant.  I also adjusted the angle of the boat.  Instead of coming toward the viewer, in the actual scene it was veering toward the left.  I liked this composition better.  In this particular painting, the schooner acts more as a foil than subject.  I thought about leaving the building  in the background out but it became an important element, helping to show distance. 

Everything about this composition works for me.  The wake from the lobster boat leads you to the schooner.  The  sparkling water itself tends to pull you to the schooner also. The passengers and crew onboard lead the eye up to the sail.  And the sail and boom together drop you off back at the lobster boat. 

Even more?  In the detail picture, notice how the schooner's stern and sail boom work together with the lobster boat antenna to nearly form a frame around the lobster boat.  Then there's even a "frame within a frame" as you see the lobsterman peering through the frame of the window.  It's these sorts of little nuances in a painting that spark my imagination and keep me going .

This study has all the feel of becoming a larger painting.   

This painting sold at auction here on my blog.  Auction Rules and Guidelines.  Bids are now closed, but you can leave a comment if you like. 

"Catching the Wind"  6"x8" oil on linen © 2012 Brian Kliewer  SOLD

"Catching the Wind" (detail)

About the painting...

If you look closely, you can see a figure standing high up in the "crosstree" of the closest schooner.  It always amazes me to watch these young people "perform" in this kind of "aerial display."   The term "trapeze artist" quickly comes to mind. 

The detail image was photographed under different lighting to give a better view of the brushwork.

Bidding begins at 6:00 PM US Eastern Time.   If you would like to bid on this painting, please follow the Updated Auction Rules and Guidelines.  Thank you.

Minimum bid is $150.  Bidding will close at 6:00 PM Eastern Time (US), Thursday, March 22.

Paintings usually ship within 20 business days after payment has cleared.

($15 shipping US/Canada will be added to the winning bid)  (5% sales tax Maine residents only)

Bids are now closed. 

"Maine Windjammers" (study)  6"x8" oil on linen © 2012 Brian Kliewer  SOLD

"Maine Windjammers" (detail)  © 2012 Brian Kliewer

Bidding begins at 6:00 PM US Eastern Time.  If you would like to bid on this painting, please follow the Updated Auction Rules and Guidelines.  Thank you.

Minimum bid is $150.  Bidding will close at 6:00 PM Eastern Time (US), Wednesday, March 21.

Paintings usually ship within 20 business days after payment has cleared.

($15 shipping US/Canada will be added to the winning bid)  (5% sales tax Maine residents only)

About the painting...

My barque is wafted to the strand
  By breath Divine;
    And on the helm there rests a hand
      Other than mine.

Henry Alford

I like these words by Henry Alford and thought they fit this painting particularly well.

I hope to do a larger verison of the painting at some point.  In fact, many of these small paintings are meant as studies for larger works.  Sometimes those develop and sometimes they don't.  I often don't know which ones will work best or move me to do a larger piece.  On other occasions it's immediately known and from the very start the small piece truly is a study for a larger work.  The nature of the ships themselves in this series leads me to believe many of these studeis would work well on a larger scale. 

Bids are now closed. 

"The Isaac H. Evans, Heading Home" 6"x8" oil on linen © 2012 Brian Kliewer  SOLD

"The Isaac H. Evans, Heading Home" (detail) © 2012 Brian Kliewer

See all of the paintings in the Maine Windjammers series.  I'll be adding more over the summer.

The painting is posted here as a preview.  Bidding begins at 6:00 PM US Eastern Time.  If you would like to bid on this painting you can do so by placing it in the comment box below when bidding is open, but please follow the Updated Auction Rules and Guidelines.  Thank you.   

Minimum bid is $150.  Bidding will close at 6:00 PM Eastern Time (US), Tuesday, March 20.

Paintings usually ship within 20 business days after payment has cleared.

($15 shipping US/Canada will be added to the winning bid)  (5% sales tax Maine residents only)

About the painting...

I was on the Rockland breakwater when I saw this.  While lowering its sails and silhouetted against the sparkling waters of Penobscot Bay, this view of the "Evans" struck me immediately as something I wanted to paint. 

Bids are now closed. 

"Early Spring" 6"x8" oil on linen © 2011 Brian Kliewer  SOLD

"Early Spring" detail © 2011 Brian Kliewer

If you would like to bid on this painting you can do so by placing it in the comment box below, but please follow the Updated Auction Rules and Guidelines.  Thank you.

Minimum bid is $100.  Bidding will close at 6:00 PM Eastern Time (US), Monday, Feb. 27.

Paintings usually ship within 20 business days after payment has cleared.

($15 shipping US/Canada will be added to the winning bid)  (5% sales tax Maine residents only)

About the painting...

With spring approaching, I decided to put this painting up for bid.  We've had  a"mild" winter here in Maine...I've only seen "sea smoke" a couple of times and we've had almost no snowfall to speak of.  But that doesn't change my desire to see spring come!  I'm looking forward to it.  Much of my work has a more "finished" style to it.  I do enjoy the loose, painterly look I'm getting with these small paintings, however.  I did this one last year.  I'm currently working on other larger things but expect to post new small paintings soon. 

Bids are now closed.

A better title for this post might have been "Artist Or Travel Agent?"  Being an artist in Maine isn't easy.  I know many think it is.  Being an artist isn't really "easy" anywhere but I've often heard, "How lucky you are to live in such a beautfiul place!"  Well, that's true but I don't really want to work for the Maine Department of Tourism.  That's not what painting is about to me. There's a 'truth of life' that I'm after even if the scene is "pretty," and much of that scenery here in Maine is.  It's a constant struggle.  I've seen many, many landscapes and seascapes depicting the postcard nature of the state in idealized splendor.    A great many artists come here from other locales just to capture beauteous snapshots.  But I live here and have all my life.  So I know there is much, much more to it than just that.  This is what I try to put in my artwork.  The "romanticized" view isn't for me.  Even if it is a "pretty" scene, I prefer a harder edge and strive for that.

Have you ever stopped and looked at a scene, I mean really looked at it?  Watching a sloop pass by a pretty cove is one thing.  But what of the clammer who had been there at low tide in the hot noonday sun, breaking his back to dig those clams?  He was there before everything got all nice and cozy with the setting sun.  No, not a "pretty" scene but one I've come to know well over the years. 

Or what about  the beauty one sees while looking through a frost covered window?

"Ten Degrees" 4"x4" oil on linen © 2008 Brian Kliewer

The harsh, cold reality of winter doesn't always bring with it beautiful, sweeping, blue shadows over a field of sparkling snow.  But the "beauty" is still there...if you want to look.  Beauty is where you find it.  You just have to look!

Well that's my "artful thought" for the day. 

Keep painting!

"Snow Day" 6"x8" oil on linen © 2011 Brian Kliewer  SOLD

"Snow Day" detail © 2011 Brian Kliewer

If you would like to bid on this painting, please follow the Updated Auction Rules and Guidelines.  Thank you.

Minimum bid is $100.  Bidding will close at 6:00 PM Eastern Time (US), Monday, Dec. 19.

Paintings usually ship within 20 business days after payment has cleared.

($15 shipping US/Canada will be added to the winning bid)  (5% sales tax Maine residents only)

About the painting...

A black cat is particularly conspicuous on a day such as this.  We've yet to see much of the "white stuff" here in Maine, but I expect we'll know it very well soon enough. 

Giving a painting like this interest is a challenge; there's so little overall contrast and color to work with.  The shapes become very important.  This composition worked well for my tastes.  Two possibilities for larger paintings appear.  In the past a scene like this would have gotten heavy detail.  But these days, "wisps" of suggested detail seem to work for me.  It depends on my mood, the painting itself and the setting.  Just as long as I can keep things interesting...that's the ultimate goal.

Bids are now closed.

"School Days" 8"x6" oil on linen © 2011 Brian Kliewer  SOLD

"School Days" detail © 2011 Brian Kliewer   

If you would like to bid on this painting, please follow the Updated Auction Rules and Guidelines.  Thank you.

Minimum bid is $100.  Bidding will close at 6:00 PM Eastern Time (US), Monday, Dec. 5.

Paintings usually ship within 20 business days after payment has cleared.

($15 shipping US/Canada will be added to the winning bid)  (5% sales tax Maine residents only)

About The Painting...

This is kind of a special painting to me.  This is the street I grew up on.  And by the looks of things, I'd say it's about 1973.  I called it "School Days" because I initially thought of adding a figure of a small boy, which would have served as sort of a self portrait.  But the painting does that for me anyway because there are so many memories associated with this scene.  One not-so-good memory is being stuck in the hospital for a week with pneumonia.  Ahh, but the reason...  I was riding my bike up and down the street over and over again with my jacket wide open, showing off for the new girl in the neighborhood.  She was so cute!  And it was about this time of year on a day that looked much like this one. 

As I was working on this, I got my Schoolhouse Rock DVD out and listened to "Conjunction Junction."   Remember that one?  "Conjunction Junction, what's your function?"  I was singing that tune all afternoon. Now if I can only find "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here"!

Bids are now closed.

"Sunset At Bass Harbor" 6"x8" oil on linen © 2011 Brian Kliewer  SOLD

Bass Harbor Head Light is one of Maine's more "famous" lighthouses.  I've seen it in many local and national ads on television and in magazine articles over the years.  I don't often paint "iconic" Maine scenes, but this would definitely qualify as one.  This is the third time I've  painted Bass Harbor Head Light...there seems to be something about that glowing "red" lamp that just strikes a nerve.

"Sunset At Bass Harbor" detail © 2011 Brian Kliewer   

If you would like to bid on this painting, please follow the Updated Auction Rules and Guidelines.  Thank you.

Minimum bid is $100.  Bidding will close at 6:00 PM Eastern Time (US), Monday, Nov. 28.

Paintings usually ship within 20 business days after payment has cleared.

($15 shipping US/Canada will be added to the winning bid)  (5% sales tax Maine residents only)

Bids are now closed.

"Cat Crossing" 8"x6" oil on linen panel  SOLD

© 2011 Brian Kliewer

"Cat Crossing" detail © 2011 Brian Kliewer

This is a view in the south end of Rockland, not far from where I grew up.  The cat was an "afterthought" in the development of the composition.  I wasn't sure where I wanted to locate it...or if I even wanted to add it at all.  Then this prominent location hit me and then the title.  In the end, I think both of these views work well and either could work as a larger painting.

If you would like to bid on this painting, please follow the Auction Rules and Guidelines.  Thank you.

Minimum opening bid is $100.

($15 shipping US Canada will be added to the winning bid)  (5% sales tax Maine residents only) 

Bids are now closed.

"American Eagle, Leaving Rockland Harbor" 4"x6" oil on linen © 2011 Brian Kliewer

See the entire Maine Windjammers series.

During the summer months I often walk out to the Rockland Lighthouse as I did this past June.  I had been planning to do so on a Monday or Saturday morning since this is the time the schooners are either leaving or coming in.   The walk out can be fun, though long...the breakwater  stretches nearly a mile into Rockland Harbor.  By the way, the view in the painting is from the end of the breakwater as the ship was sailing past the lighthouse. 

One morning as I sat out beyond the lighthouse, I saw a pod of Harbor Porpoises swimming by.  For a few minutes, I thought my eyes were deceiving me as this shadowy mass kept approaching.  Then as they got closer, I counted about eight of them.  I wish I'd had my camera with me then!  

I saw these guys hauling lobster traps on another recent walk out (last summer) to the lighthouse...

I've been working on several winter scenes but I just had to give it a break and visit summer again.  So, my next few blog updates will involve summer scenes.  Knowing me, I'll probably be painting winter scenes this summer...when the temperatures are in the 90's!

Up next... a new full sized painting!