I passed this old farm on my way back from an installation in a residence south of Woodstock, Vermont. It was recently, and the trees were bare, but I remembered them from a previous trip, in fall, where there columnar blasts of yellow foliage, and unique shape, dominated the scene. “Three Pillars” 48 x 48
It’s an interesting exercise to revisit a subject, or scene, that you’ve painted before, and to look for something different, something you hadn’t necessarily seen or focused on before. I’ve painted this scene a few times…and in this latest piece, the emphasis became the huge, dark mass of trees behind the barn. Solid to the left, then disappearing to the right where the treeline slopes down to meet the distant ridgeline. “Backwoods” 48 x 30
On a recent return trip from Vermont, on the eastern side of the state where the Connecticut River serves as the border to New Hampshire, I caught a glimpse out the driver’s window of a looming barn up on a knoll, partially obscured by young trees. After a quick charcoal sketch, the completed piece: “Borderland” 36 x 36
Maybe the best time of year is also the shortest…that brief span of weeks between the end of summer and the start of fall…in September, when you can feel the remnants of summer alongside hints of the approaching fall…the sun is a little lower, a little warmer, and shadows grow longer. “September Sun” 48 x 36
Right after Labor Day, the summer crowds drop off fast…leaving to those who stay behind all the things that make the Cape so special. This scene in Dennisport is part of a series based on the tiny, sparse summer cottages at Chase’s Ocean Grove. “September Shore” 24 x 24
There are times, along the coast, where the setting sun ignites the sky with a color that’s hard to define…not red, not yellow, not orange…but some combination of the three. Had such a sky on the Cape recently, and incorporated that palette into a piece that had been underway…”Coral Sky” 48 x 30
The light in the hills and mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire is always exaggerate at dusk. The elevation allows more time for the sun to set, and the entire atmosphere of the place, for a short period of time, glows with a warm light that tints everything it touches. “Rural Dusk” 36 x 24
The appeal of rural, isolated inland scenes is equaled, for me, in the equally isolated scenes where land meets the sea. A meadow meets the vastness of the woods from which it was cleared, the same power and mystery exists at that line where land stops, and sea begins. “Land’s End” 24 x 24.
I’ve always been drawn to remote, isolated places…woods, meadows, beaches…places people can get to, but only with a little effort and the desire to do so. Driving along secondary roads in Vermont or New Hampshire–almost intentionally getting lost to discover new scenes–it’s almost a guarantee I’ll come across a setting that contains that sense of remoteness coupled with some sign of life and human presence, past or present. “Outland” 52 x 36
This pastel study, framed in black with white matte board, is available through the studio.
