"Time to Breath" 20" X 10" Watercolor by April M Rimpo

Time to Breathe © April M. Rimpo

Time to Breathe

Watercolor

20" X 10" painting

Premiering at HorseSpirit Arts Gallery September 12, 2021

Inspiration occurs from something as simple as a reflection in the water. The teal hull of the boat is what made me stop and notice this scene. We were walking through the outskirts of a beautiful town by the shore to meet some friends when the reflection caught my eye. I stopped in my tracks and started to take photographs from a few different angles. I primarily wanted the capture the sailboat and its reflection but including the surrounds provided a backdrop essential to set the stage. When getting ready to paint the scene I decided to add the light streaking through the clouds to add drama to the sky and provide an interesting cross pattern where the mast and rigging intersected with the light. Capturing the quiet spirit of the place was essential to me. I hope you get lost in the beauty of the place.

Check out my video on this painting. It starts with me describing my design then transitions to a time-lapse video of the painting process.

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Contact April and see more of her art on her website

Copyright April M Rimpo All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

"Dockside" 5" X 31" fluid acrylic

Dockside by April M Rimpo

Dockside

Fluid Acrylic

8.5" X 34.5" with wood frame

Available for Purchase - Learn More Here

There are certain types of scenes that become part of who we are. Places that are calm and serene and memories of special times. This is one of those for me. The location doesn't seem to matter. For me this scene brings back memories from my childhood when we visited an aunt and uncle who had a place in Rhode Island near a dock. It also brings back memories of trips to the coast of Maine, Annapolis, Maryland, Santa Cruz, and Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound. 

It's not that all of these places look exactly the same, but they all have docks and piers and a calming, relaxing effect on me. The sailboats bring back memories of sailing with a cousin in very small sailboat barely big enough for two. 

Do you have great memories of places on the water? I'd love to hear them. 

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Interested in learning more about April's art inspirations, tips about her painting process, or art business tidbits? Want to know when her art is in exhibits? Consider joining her friends and collectors by signing up for her twice-monthly email.

Copyright April M Rimpo All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

"Summer Breezes" 11" X 14" watercolor and fluid acrylic

Summer Breezes by April M Rimpo

Summer Breezes

Watercolor and Fluid Acrylic

Brushed Silver Frame

Available to purchase on April's website. The standard gallery commission will be provided to HorseSpirit Arts Gallery owners are they work to recover their business following the May 28, 2018 Ellicott City Flood.

Recently included in April's solo exhibit "Contemporary Landscapes" at Columbia Art Center you can now find this painting at HorseSpirt Arts Gallery in Historic Ellicott City, Maryland. 

You might have noticed that Summer Breezes was done in watercolor and fluid acrylic. It started in watercolor only and matured quickly. The result looked too washed out for my liking and sat in my studio for months. Recently, I pulled it out of a stack of unfinished paintings and decided to work on it some more. 

I decided that the first thing I would try was adding a very dilute layer of acrylic over the sky and water. I wanted to see whether bumping up the color intensity of the painting would speak to me. Well it worked. A combination of Cerulean blue and a cobalt violet blend I had been using for another painting made things start happening, so I immediately added some Cadmium Orange (hue) in the water reflections to make those more intense as well.

Those changes were enough so I printed out a new copy of my photo reference and went to work adding in details and intensifying the value contrast throughout the painting. There is nothing like a change in value to add dimension to a painting.

I also pushed the color in a few areas to add life and to provide more color balance throughout the piece. It is surprising how sometimes it only takes a couple hours to really turn around a painting.

Contact April here

Interested in learning more about April's art inspirations, tips about her painting process, or art business tidbits? Want to know when her art is in exhibits? Consider joining her friends and collectors by signing up for her twice-monthly email.

Rimpo 2016 All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

Series: Down by the Sea

The Beach, 22" X 10.5" watercolor

by April M. Rimpo

It seems like unconsciously I work in series without really planning to do so.  In looking back at my work I find ships, sailboats, water scenes keep popping up. The latest The Beach is shown at right. This painting received a Second Place award. In this painting the sailboat is secondary to the people musseling on the beach, yet the pathways in the sand and water do bring you back around to the lovely sailboat making me want to sail away.

The Beach

watercolor

22 " X 10.5" image

28 " X 16" brushed silver frame
$650 within the United States *

Available for Purchase Here 

Sailboats are the central focus in several of my paintings over the years.  Race on the Cove was sold from a solo exhibit at the Dorchester Art Center in Cambridge, Maryland back in 2002.

Race on the Cove, watercolor by April M. Rimpo

Even oils that predated my switch to watercolor in 1997 depicted people on the beach, as shown in Kennebunkport below.

Kennebunkport, oil by April M. Rimpo

So what draws me to beach and water scenes?  I think it is the serenity I find by the ocean.  This struck me most dramatically when I visited the Pacific coast in Oregon as a college student.  Unlike the beaches I  experienced on the Atlantic coast as a child, there are very few people; there is nothing but the sound of crashing waves and maybe the frolic of an otter.

The power of nature is very real and poignant; when there I feel totally at peace.  I can sit on the cliffs by myself and just stare for hours.  There are no troubles of the world, there is nothing that I feel I have to do except sit and enjoy.

Clearly in Race on the Cove there is a lot of activity on the water, but as I remember that day there was no throng of people crowding a beach and distracting me from the race.  Again, quiet was the predominant sensation.  Of course, the color of the sails add that splash that I love, so this became another one of those precious moments I cherish. 

I have a few quotations at the bottom of my blog.  One is by John Burk that perfectly characterizes how I feel about many of my paintings.

 "Time spent in a painting is very much like going there again on vacation.  And when the painting is done, I have seen every detail and nuance so thoroughly, that a glance at the completed work is sufficient for a short visit."

Perhaps that is why I paint so many of these types of landscapes.  I know you won't revisit my experience when you look at these paintings, but I hope they do bring back to you some wonderful time you spent by the ocean or on a lake.  I'd love to hear your stories.  They will add a new dimension to my art that I could never enjoy otherwise.

For other water and boat scenes take a look at these other blog posts.  

• Port of Call - NYC
• Tall Ship Gloria
• The Dugouts
• Flores  SOLD
• Wash Day
• At One with Their Gondolas 
• A Day at the Fountain

Interested in learning more about April's art inspirations, tips about her painting process, or art business tidbits? Want to know when her art is in exhibits? Consider joining her friends and collectors by signing up for her twice-monthly email.

Copyright April M Rimpo All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution, but all other uses are prohibited.

"A Clutter of Kayaks" a 20" X 36" varnished gallery wrapped paper

A Clutter of Kayaks by April M Rimpo

While out painting one afternoon I watched a pair of men unload kayaks from their vehicles and place them along the edge of the estuary. There were a dozen kayaks by the time they were done, then gradually more people began to arrive. They all dressed in life vests, got into the kayaks, and headed out for what appeared to be a lesson. I don't know how long they stayed out on the water because they had not returned before I finished painting for the day. It was clear they were all having a great time.

These kind of moments, when people are out enjoying their environment, always speak to me.  After selecting sections from a variety of my photos from that day, I composed this painting, included some of the sailboats in the distance that were also on the water.  Then I decided on a color scheme I felt would feature the kayaks while also making them at home in their surroundings. 

A Clutter of Kayaks

20" X 36" fluid acrylic on

Gallery Wrapped and Varnished Paper

$1730

Using a lot of gray to emphasize the stillness of the water also helped communicate the distance between the kayaks and the bridge.  This was an unexpected result, but one that might be helpful to me in future paintings.  

This painting is done in fluid acrylic on watercolor paper, then gallery wrapped around a 1.75" stretcher, and varnished to provide UV protection and to seal the paper from its surroundings.  Because the paint wraps around the edge of the stretcher bars it can be hung without a frame, if desired.