Life is busy, and sometimes we feel the need to put it on hold, go somewhere where bills, responsibilities, and pressures can’t follow us. Here’s a place I’d pick… “The Escape” 48 x 24 o/c
I don’t remember where this scene is. Vermont or New Hampshire most likely, but it doesn’t matter. The piece isn’t really about the literal place itself, as it is the light, the simplicity, and abstract qualities of New England landscapes. “Southface” 40 x 30 o/c
While working on a commission recently, the buyer mentioned the abundance of Bluebells in her region of the Mid Atlantic states. I’m not sure if those grow up here in New Hampshire, so Googled them, and learned that while they are not native in the Northeast, you can buy them. Probably will add those to the garden, but more immediately their amazing color found its way into this piece. “Bluebell” 20 x 16
The Cape and Islands are home to countless boathouses. Many were built along the shores, but others built further inland, and often appear completely detached from any property owner. This one sits at the most inland end of a salt marsh that opens up to a small cove, and was likely built years ago by a local fisherman. “Marsh Cove” 20 x 20
The pastel palette of Spring is here, though not for long. Love the variety of colors that comes with the landscape as it wakes up from hibernation, and just before it turns to the more monotone greens of summer. “April Morning” 12 x 12 o/c.
This old farmhouse will be gone soon. Abandoned, and sitting on a tract of land soon to be developed. I’ve painted it many times. I drove past it recently and the huge lilac bush had not yet begun to leaf out, but when it does in a few weeks, it will compete for attention with the old property it has grown alongside for decades. “Lilac Cottage” 48 x 36
The recent Nor’easter did a job on local beaches (and all up and down New England), washing away sand and dunes, bringing the high-tide line closer to seaside homes. Towns are dumping tons of sand and rebuilding dunes in time for the summer beachgoer onslaught. This place overlooks one of our local beaches, and was in the front lines of the storm, but made it through, as did the dune it sits on.”Duneside” 14 x 14
Summer is slowly approaching, and life (both human and plant) is beginning to return to the Cape. One of our local beaches is accessible by two small paths that winds through scrub oak, seagrass and bayberry bushes, connecting the beach to the main road leading to it. Visited that beach the other day, and on the return, headed down this path, as many more will do once summer arrives. “Sand Path” 20 x 16 o/c.
Whenever anyone asks where the subject of a piece is, I have to often dig deep to remember where. And even if I know, for instance in this piece, the actual location was somewhere up by Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire. But I don’t think that’s what they’re looking for, but rather they want to know if the composition is based on a real place. Answer is yes, and no. Compositions start with real places, but are then morphed by memory, addition and subtraction, and on-the-fly changes from the time a sketch is begun, to when the canvas is signed. In that sense, my compositions are fiction. “Calm Sea” 36 x 36 o/c.
The barn across the street from the studio has been the subject of many paintings…from different angles, different light, and different perspectives. It sits at the top of a slope, and from that lower part of the meadow, the perspective looking up gives it this massive presence, and the sky becomes as much a subject as the barn itself. “Skyward” 36 x 36
