I’m fortunate to have as my back yard in New Hampshire a large tract of conservation land that provides a quiet buffer from the main roads and other neighborhoods. On the Cape, many of my favorite places are the unpeopled spaces, preserved for humans and animals to enjoy. This setting sits off the busy (in summer) Route 28 on the Harwich/Chatham line. The town of Harwich maintains quite a few parcels of conservation land that assures a continued rural character. If these places are intended for human use, they are often called conservation lands. If for animal preservation, they are sanctuaries. Whatever the name, these preserved spaces are my sanctuaries. “Sanctuary” 36 x 36.
Newly completed 48 x 48, “Summer Hay”, based on a scene I pass in Vermont every time I head towards Woodstock. With summer right around the corner, I felt a hot palette was needed, especially in the field. Having once accidentally set the meadow behind my house on fire, I know the palette well.
While driving through the Berkshires several years ago, I came across this scene, part of an old farm that was still occupied, but pretty run down. It was mid August, hot, and the meadow grasses had begun their transition from a light bluish green to gold. “August” 16 x 16.
I rarely know where a painting’s going to go when I start. That unpredictability, many years ago, would have driven me crazy…as I “knew” what I wanted to paint, and nothing short of that goal would suffice. It got to the point that when I began paintings, I got nervous with the fear of failure.
I knew that with this piece the late afternoon sun, and how it was interrupted by the tree, was likely to be the subject. Maybe it ended not being? Is the subject the shadows? The barn? The tree? Not sure. As the painting progressed, subject didn’t matter, but how things related to each other did. Sometimes you just have to “trust your stuff” and go for it with no goal in sight. “Red Maple” 16 x 20.
I’ve always been fascinated by abandoned places. The nearby rural town around my part of New Hampshire are dotted with abandoned properties, many old farms whose last inhabitants had no heirs…or if they did, they had no use for the inheritance. As time and earth takes back these structures, the slow state of being reclaimed reveals its process. I’ve seen this place several times, in a quiet country town on the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border. It’s almost literally disappearing amidst the vegetation growing around it, and on it, but is still a striking presence when you first encounter it. “Reclamation” 36 x 36 o/c.
I had been struggling with a title for this piece. Was it the trees or the ridgeline in the background that was the subject…and that could help inspire a title?
The perfect name came while having a great discussion with interior designer Amy Mitchell for her online design journal, “The Saturday Blog” in which my work was featured this morning. During that conversation, she remarked that my work captures the light during that time of day she refers to as “the yellow hour”…that brief time of early morning and just before dusk.
A perfect description for what I was looking for, so… “The Yellow Hour” 36 x 36. Thanks Amy!
I’m excited to share a new venue, Prospect Hill Home, a new home decor and art gallery location right on Lake Sunapee Harbor, in Sunapee NH. This beautiful new space is resulted from the efforts of the great people at Prospect Hill Antiques in George’s Mills, and provides significant wall space and great lighting, within a home decor setting.
If you’re in the Sunapee/Dartmouth region, both Prospect Hill Locations are well worth visiting.
Click here for the Prospect Hill website.
A second piece in a series of works based on a huge old barn in Chester, VT, focuses on the shaded side, where the inclination is to avoid color, as shade seems to, in reality, remove color. But there is color in shadow. It just needs to be imagined and made more luminous. “Luminance” 40 x 30 o/c.
This time of year, up here in New Hampshire, counting the weeks and days until Summer is pretty commonplace. In preparation for warmer times, and upcoming Summer shows on the Cape, the finishing touches were recently given “Midsummer Light” 48 x 36.
I had the pleasure of delivering and installing a painting to buyers in Stowe, VT, who have recently completed construction on a beautiful mountainside house overlooking Mt. Mansfield.
My galleries often work with designers on corporate and residential interiors projects, and often times, a work of art is selected as the starting point of the project…from which many color choices (fabric and paint) are made.
This piece, “Sunblocked”, a recently completed 48 x 48, was identified by the buyers as the perfect piece to serve as the starting point of the interior plan for their new ski-country home.
