Painting with "Authority"

One of my instructors once said that you need to get to know your subject; go over there and look at it closely, touch it, stand on it, if you can.  When you do that, you can paint with more "authority".  Following his advice, I have tried to immerse myself into everything I paint.  I hiked the trails, hunted the moose and deer in the Maine Northwoods, canoed on the rivers, fished the trout, cooked, and ate it.  I bought a lobsterboat and caught lobsters, photopraphed lobsterboats, islands along the coast, the brakers on the rocks.  Following that same philosophy, the other day I went out with two local fishermen fishing for halibut.  Here are some of the photos I took, "on location."

Nice catch, boys!