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.
28 x 28 : at Harrison Gallery, Williamstown, MA
60 x 48 : oil on canvas : Left Bank Gallery
12 x 12 : oil on canvas : 2016 : at Woodstock Gallery, Woodstock, VT.
The great “old Route 10” in Vermont is a time-locked stretch of old farms, wide open fields and meadows, and one of the greatest roads to travel for inspiration for new work. The study above is of a barn tucked on a rise right off Route 10, and has been painted before, and will again, only larger.
An art teacher once advised me to “never paint a sunset.” He based his advice on his theory that some things in nature are so beautiful that no artist, in any medium, could improve upon the beauty of such a thing. I’ve considered that advice often, but am not sure I agree with it. Those words from the past are conjured up often, particularly in the Fall, when New England’s foliage is at peak, and the simplest drive down the road is a drive through blasts of color.
This photo (above) was taken yesterday on my way through Groton, MA, on the outskirts of the town center. Pulling over to snap this picture, that teacher’s words came to mind, almost convincing me to not pull over, as capturing some reference for a painting about something of such natural beauty would be a waste of time. But I took the picture anyway (choosing, again, to ignore his advice), and a painting will soon be underway.
The painting at top, “Sky Blue” was done over this past winter, based on a similar fall scene encountered on a similar drive, and though titled for the matching barn/sky color, is equally about the explosive fall colors of New England, and while it’s not a sunset, it is a subject worthy of attempting to capture in paint.
My site has been subject to repeated hacking attempts (and on several occasions, successful attempts), which has caused ongoing disruption of the site’s ability to be accessed.
I have rebuilt the site on a new hosting platform that prevents such attacks, and hope going forward no further disruptions will occur. If you have tried to access the site over the past few months, and have seen a warning from Google that the site was “blacklisted”…it was. But I have cleared my good name, and assured Google all is well. You should not see the message below ever again.
