There was something about the space between these two buildings that appealed to me, a years ago when I first encountered this location in the Monadnocks of New Hampshire. It wasn’t until recently, while drawing the scene, that it became obvious it was the trees between and behind, that seemed to connect the farmhouse and the barn. “Birch Stand” 48 x 24, oil on canvas.
I’m not anti Winter, nor am I anti snow…but waking up to 6 inches of white in the yard…a week ahead of Thanksgiving, got me thinking–prematurely by many weeks–of Spring. So, good day to finish “Spring” 12 x 12.
Rural areas of New England, or anywhere, maintain a visual link to the past, when the world (we assume) was simpler. Encountering a scene of an old barn, still standing in a field or meadow since it’s construction many decades ago, I’m convinced life was simpler. Maybe not easier, but simpler… “Halcyon” 42 x 30.
This setting is not far from my home, midway up the long, steep hill connecting Milford, NH to Mont Vernon. The old barn was built on the downslope, with footings to compensate for the decreased grade.
On a recent trip to Vermont, heading South from Woodstock to Chester, I came across this scene on Rt 103.The trees, which were likely not there, or just saplings, when the barn was first built, now almost shrouded it, the structure visible only by the annual mowing of the field in which it has sat for decades.
Commissions are both fun and challenging. The fun is in working towards a piece that the recipient/buyer has a vision of, and the uncertainty of whether the outcome matches their expectations. That is also the challenge.
This most recent commission is out for review, and if it matches the buyer’s expectations…it will be headed north to a majestic New Hampshire lake house.
“Edgewater” 62 x 36 oil on canvas.
I live in a town designated as a “working farm” community, which like many places in New Hampshire, means you either live on a working farm, or (as is increasingly becoming the case), your house is built on what had once been a farm. Our house was built in what had been an old sheep meadow, and many of the newer neighborhoods contain the name “Farm”…as homage to the more pastoral setting they have replaced. A few miles from our house, at the top of Christian Hill, a stately farm still operates as it has for over a century. “Pastoral” 48 x 30.
At a recent show, a gallery visitor commented on one of my pieces, accurately surmising that my work is part reality, part imagination. It was interesting to hear, as I don’t really think much about my process. But the inspiration for a piece begins with encountering a scene that sparks interest, followed by a quick sketch of the elements of interest, and then beginning painting. Once the composition is roughed in (which is based largely on a real setting), other compositional elements, light and color are developed, largely from memory and/or imagined. In this recent piece, “Mystic” 30 x 24, the place is real, the barn is real (it’s just down the road), but much of everything else is somewhat enigmatic, and evolved as the piece was being painted.
All across the Cape, trees are dwarfed and shaped by the constant wind blown in from the Bay or the Sound. This piece, based on a scene in Dennis, on the Bay side, illustrates the affects to the landscape of the coastal prevailing winds.
The New England coastal landscape wouldn’t be complete without the rugged Rose Hips that grow wild on dunes and beaches, as well as in the more manicured gardens of year-round and summer-resident homes all across the Cape.
