With two upcoming shows this summer in Wellfleet (Left Bank) and Vineyard Haven (Gould Gallery), work continues…the latest being a massive 8′ x 6′ canvas custom made in Vermont by Brickyard
The challenge here is not painting a piece this large, but getting it to the ferry, across 7 miles of Nantucket Sound, and into the gallery.
Nearly completed “Summer Life” 20 x 20. Finishing up in preparation for summer show at Left Bank Gallery, Wellfleet.
In preparation for upcoming Summer show this August on the Cape and Martha’s Vineyard, a sneak peak at a couple pieces underway…”Corn Hill Dusk” (left) and “Summer Life) (right), nearing completion…
With a couple of upcoming summer shows, my small second-floor studio is jammed with works in progress, and with two very large canvases arriving soon, I’ve had to take over the sun room. Shown here (above) are “Shore Cottages” 60 x 48 and (foreground) “Oceanside” 40 x 30, both heading to Left Bank Gallery in Wellfleet for an August show. And below, “Woods End” 48 x 36, heading to Powers Gallery in Acton, MA. On left, a new piece for Left Bank, of the cottage on Corn Hill (currently untitled).
In the studio: “Outermost” | 48 x 36
The farm next door, historically known as the “Parker Farm,” sits across a meadow on a large parcel overlooking a small pond, and beyond that Walnut Hill. I can see this scene from our house, which sits in one of the old meadows that, many years ago, was cleared and maintained by Wilbur Parker and the tractors and tools he stored in this structure.
The current owners keep up the barn and property as if no change of ownership had taken place. The barn and old carriage house sit at right angles to each other, and capture the morning light in a way that creates great abstract contrast of light and shade.
Recently completed and available at Woodstock Gallery, Woodstock Vt.
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Several pieces were recently selected by Art Consultant Caroline Parent of Eye Feast Art of Dover, NH, to hang as part of a 6-month corporate installation in large, shared corporate space in Dover. The large gallery space features the work of several artists, on a rotating basis, with sections of the large space devoted to each artist’s work.
The work on exhibit is available through Eye Feast Art.
This new piece was inspired by the iconic old house at Mayo Beach in Wellfleet. This house is well known as one of Hopper’s subjects, and has been painted many times by many artists. On a walk along the beach recently, the house looked almost secondary to the brush and brambles between it and the sea.
The fiery colors of this new piece were inspired by an unfortunate and unintentional recent event involving the meadow behind my house, which contains a 150+ year-old bone-dry corn crib and the shed seen here, a lawnmower and my good intentions.
My neighbor (who lives in the farm that this meadow and structures were once a part) and I cleared the field of white pines a couple years ago, to help preserve the historic corn crib, and to encourage the return of the field, which in the fall turns a great goldish ochre as the grasses dry. My neighbor and I would take turns, we agreed, mowing each year. This year was mine.
The job was going along fine, when a flinty rock hidden in the tall, dry grass, found the mower blades and began spraying sparks out from under me. Within seconds the meadow was fully engulfed. The Amherst Volunteer Fire Department was called. While waiting for the firefighters to arrive (this happened just minutes before the Patriots were to take the field to preserve their undefeated season record), my neighbor and I ran old hoses from the farmhouse, across the street and stone walls, and sprinkled out the fire minutes before it reached the old structures.
Next year it’s my neighbor’s turn for the fall mowing. And probably (I’m sure he’ll suggest) the year after that.
