This old farm is a few miles from the house. It sits on the bend of the road that I drove daily to drop off or pick up the kids from school. I’ve painted it several times, maybe because I like the place and have seen it so many times…but also because it has become a landmark for the change of seasons. It’s surrounded by maples, and in the fall, it’s pretty much a blaze of autumn color, and in the Spring, the new buds and young leaves present that pale green haze of new foliage. It has become somewhat of a visual marker for the time of year in which winter turns to spring, and summer to fall, which coincide with the opening and closing of the school year. Now that the kids are older and launched, and the trips to school long in the past, I pass this place less often, and recently decided to paint it again, for old times sake. “Equinox” 36 x 36
October is my favorite month. Might be many people’s favorite, as everything about it is perfect. Cool weather, bright color, and the landscape seems calm and still, as if bracing itself for winter. There’s an amazing preserve on Martha’s Vineyard…Felix Neck. It’s a 200-acre parcel, once farmland, now a series of walking paths that lead from the visitor center to several salt ponds, with amazing views of Nantucket Sound, Sengekontacket and Major’s Ponds. But aside from these amazing waterviews, there are hundreds of acres of meadow, some wetland, inland groves of cedar and oak. One of the paths, named “Old Farm Road Trail”, cuts through some of these meadows, which on the day of my walk (a perfect, sunny, warm October day), had just been mowed. Years ago the tractor seemed to have spared what had once been small cedar saplings, which could have easily been taken down with the meadow grass. But year after year, they remained. I came through this meadow at the end of the walk…having just seen some of the most beautiful views the Island offers, and noticed the trees and the dark shadows cast directly below them…and found this view just as beautiful. “October Walk” 20 x 16
