beach

Welcome. I love to paint and would like to share my paintings with you. Most days I will try to create and place a new painting here. Sign up for my emails and I will send you an image of my daily painting every time I do a new one.

“Eel Pond 1892″, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel.

In 1892 this was the northwestern most edge of Eel Pond in Edgartown, Mass. The southeastern most corner was and still is about where the houses stop on the left of the far shore. 120 years of storms and Nor’Easters have eroded away, opened, and pushed the eastern edge of the pond into itself. A small, sheltered anchorage for shallow draft boats is all that is left of the once large saltwater great pond…

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“Sandplain Dunes”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel.

I went off the path to find this location. The dunes were the highest landmark along this flat sandplain. As it went down, the sun gave its warmth and color to the winter landscape. I stayed out until I found myself working in the moonlight…

To purchase, please click Go to my eBay auction, Bidding starts at $100.00 US.

“The Old Brickyard”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel.

The Brickyard still has bits and pieces of its past strewn about. The smokestack is in danger of collapse. Yet it is the most memorable and visible remainder of times past. I wander down the dirt path towards it with images of my past visits in my mind. But I was unprepared for winter sun’s late, warm reddish light glancing off the edge of the chimney as I turned the last corner on at woods end. I positioned myself upon a western slope to capture this view as the sun went down…

To purchase, please click Go to my eBay auction, Bidding starts at $100.00 US.

“January Dune”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel.

Rain poured on and off all day. I caught this view while painting from my van between storms, from behind the dunes at South Beach. The rain intensified the colors of the dried grass and the leafless branches of the rosa rugosa. The dark storm clouds added to the drama of the day…

To purchase, please click Go to my eBay auction, Bidding starts at $100.00 US.

“Reflecting Pool”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

In winter, the beach is always changing. Sand comes in and piles way up above dunes and rock. Sand goes out and bares rock and clay. This visit it was beginning to hauling sand back out. A shelf had built up at the low tide zone and had caught a reflecting pool as the tide finished its course from high to low…

“South West”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel.$550.00 USD

Fifty feet above the ocean at sunset may be a glorious view. This night it was. The breeze held off until just after the sun went down. The clouds turned blue to purple to gray. I left when I could see no more to find a color…

“The Edge of Evening”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. USD $550.00

It was close to sunset and I was on the beach road with water on both sides and a full dome of sky overhead. Going from a mostly cloudy day to lots of light at sundown made me think I had more time in which to work. This was the beginning of a fabulous sundown. It was hard not to change my colors as sky became on fire with setting sunrays…

“Awash Behind The Dunes”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. USD $550.00

This creek behind these dunes is where I sometimes catch blue claw crabs. I began this painting 2 weeks ago. When I went back to finish it the meadow in the foreground was completely submerged with water. Usually by this time the ponds connected by the creek have been opened to the sea and the levels are much lower. I was glad I began this when I did…

“Home Base”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. USD $550.00

The good old days seem to have passed for these two brothers’ boats. However, they brighten up the winter harbor with their shades of blue and graceful lines…

“Cloud Break”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It felt like snow, but was just thick, tight clouds. I think they look denser in the winter air than in summer. When they leave, it really makes the sky brighten up in comparison…

“Shallow Berth”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I discovered this oyster boat when out on a Christmas walk. Tisbury Great Pond is so flooded with fresh water that it has been washing into the parking area. Normally this pond skiff would be anchored out past the grasses and I would be standing right where it is now to create this painting. Soon, I hope, a backhoe will amble down the barrier beach and cut a trench from the pond to the ocean. The great pond will drain out some and the tides will come in and bring more salinity to this brackish water. Then the oysters will have a better, saltier taste…

“Anticipation”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This is the first glimpse of the ocean as one navigates down to the parking lot before unloading and heading out the path to the beach. Whether for a walk or a swim, this view is relished in the moment of anticipation of what lies ahead…

“In A Fog”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I came upon this scene one rainy, foggy day. The fog isolated the dory from what was usually a crowded background. That is what I like about fog. It can transport you from here to anywhere, by taking away all the local points of reference…

“The Naked Season”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

A long walk near the beach found this tree to paint. The sky went pink and orange as the sun went down. A well deserved end to a beautiful, cool day…

“Life Saver”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

Far away from all is this stretch of beautiful beach. It happens to have a bad rip tide along it. Stationed every so often there are orange boxes with rope inside and a life saving ring. These may be tossed out to the hapless swimmer struggling in the rip…

“Wind Swept”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

More cliff washed out in the past month’s winds and tides. A section slumped half way between the top of the cliff and the beach. I was able to stand on the slump, set my easel up and appreciate the new view…

“Pulling The Pots”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

None of the lobstermen appeared while I was painting this, which was good and bad. It is always good to paint without too much activity happening around me, but then there is no one to pose a question to about my subject matter…

“Moon Full”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

I sort of knew where the moon would rise when I started this piece. But, I really didn’t. I hadn’t done a compass reading, nor looked at the astronomical chart. I was glad it wasn’t off in the pines to the right as I might never have seen it until too late…

“Fuller Street”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I came into town to paint a friend’s garden, but the frost had beaten me to it. The lighthouse was just down the street…

“Quansoo to Nomans”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

A good part of the late afternoon was well spent scouting new locations to paint. I also enjoyed a flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers, up close, who happened to be going my way. When my not-enough-time-left-to-paint alarm went off, I had no choice but to come down to the beach for an obligatory sunset painting…

“Autumn Field”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

I love this field and this tree and the edge of the great pond and the back of the dunes. I come here to paint and sometimes just to look, often. Each time it is different, the season, the hour, the day, the year. I almost always paint this exact same view. Yet it, also, always comes out different each time. It challenges my strengths and weaknesses and, even though I know this scene by heart, still keeps me on my path of discovery…

“Evening Grazing”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

Finding sheep in this field is a hit or miss proposition. It is usually a miss. These are the rams of the flock and they are separated now from the ewes across the road. When they next greet the ewes, they will be very excited. In spring we shall find lambs timed to be born toward the end of March, otherwise they would be lambing all winter long. This year I also found a very cooperative sky for my backdrop instead of a bland blue one…

“A Grand Entrance”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I try not to paint at the same place too often, but the sounds of the waves brought me back to the beach. This path is the only way to walk down to this section of beach, but what a view awaits. Even with this year’s salt burt colors of the local vegetation, it is a beautiful place…

“Quitsa to Menemsha”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Sometimes it is nice to get up high for a long, distant view of the landscape. Color this fall is not as bright as other years. The vistas have a mellowness to them as they fade into the winter softness of lavenders and grays and tawny browns…

“Collin’s Beach”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I have worked on this for a few days. Each time I have gone there it has rained and I could only complete a small part of the whole. Luckily the light has pretty much been the same, and no one has wanted to go out in their boats. Today the sky opened just enough to show me its inner light…

“Derby Fever”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This is the 66th year of the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, www.mvderby.com . There have been fishermen and women all over this island for the last 3 weeks angling to be a winner and walk away with a new boat or truck. I happened upon this lone fisherman today trying his luck. There is nothing like a fish on your line on a warm beautiful evening with a gorgeous sunset to ice your cake…

“Evening Underway”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It may be fall in New England, but the mosquitoes are still in evidence. One got through my screen of Buzz-Off to drive that point home. Yet, this was the only thing to mar my evening out. It was so beautiful watching the sky turn from day to night, then having a partial moon illuminating the walk back to my starting place…

“Lookout”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It was sunny. Then it clouded up and rained. And then it was sunny again. But, it got cooler. What clouds were left shivered and shriveled up into tight, violet blue, cottony shapes and, defying gravity, floated on out to sea…

“Last Beach Sail”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It was late when I arrived here at the beach. I was despairing about only having the dunes to paint. I set up my gear and was amazed to see this sailboat with 2 sailors appear. They beach the boat at the back of the dunes and followed the path up to the surf side. After a few minutes of satisfying their curiosity, they reappeared. They then shoved off in what little air there was, probably berthing at their dock as I arrived in my driveway…

“Cedar Tree Neck”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

This sky reminded me of a Caribbean sunset… except with signs of glacial activity all about. It took fast painting to get it in as the colors faded into gray very quickly and my light was not long available. After it became too dim and I had packed up, I wandered over to the shore and cast a few lures in, but to no avail…

“Fog Rolling”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

Earlier in the day the fog came in along the south shore shrouding all with silent secrecy. When I came back to paint it, I was tortured by its repeated movement back out to sea and back into land. It never gave me the image I wanted, but I took what I could get…

“Runabout Runaground”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

I was off to do something else, luckily with my paints in the car, when I saw these heavy cloud formations floating by. It was mid-morning, not my usual time to paint, but I was able to get to this location and go to work. The clouds really cooperated by staying in the same place and yet rolling by in different intensities as I worked. One was just as spectacular and dense as the last, ladened with moisture but not spilling a drop…

“Lagoon Goldenrod”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

It was way foggy up on the western end of the island when I decided to try here. The Vineyard Haven harbor and environs is usually the last place for the fog to close in upon. Today was no exception. It came roaring in right after I started to paint. But I did get to start in the sunlight…

“Lighthouse Beach”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

This was a fishing and painting expedition. Robin and I walked about 3/4 mile down the beach to get to the fishing hole and the painting spot. The weather was calm, but the tide was near low. I mostly painted while she fished. We caught a lot of seaweed salad for dinner… Oh well, at least I have the painting to show for the effort…

“After Summer”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It is always a bit sad to see the lifeguard stand empty, no one on the beach and fishermen working the shore and jetty. Fall seems to come too quickly with its riotous color palette and warm afternoons. But soon enough the colors will turn to grays and the air will chill…

“Crumbling Cliff”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I have not been to this beach for a few months, nor since the storm came through. It is amazing how much was eroded by the large sea and wind which swept past. I have gone back to view paintings I made on the beach in the winter of 1995 and the loss of cliff is really noticeable. It is like 2 feet per year in many places. Boulders I would paint next to then are in the surf zone now. It was great to be in the sand working with the sound of a heavy surf muffling all other thoughts until a rogue wave washed up around my easel’s legs…

“Menemsha Creek”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

It rained most of my painting time here. No one was out. I parked on the wrong side of what I call “Fishermans’ Lane” and worked with my windshield wipers going on and off and then on and off. It was drismal, except for the finished piece…

“Surf’s Up”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

I went back to yesterday’s location to paint a landscape view behind the dunes and cliffs. Not only was it not raining but the surf was so much more impressive than the day before. I abandoned my plans and concentrated on the seascape from the cliff tops…

“Rollers”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Rain came down most of the day. When it wasn’t rain it was mist or drizzle. Radar showed there might be an hour window of just plain clouds, no moisture, toward the end of the day. I took the chance, scouting when I got to this beach using my iPhone camera to take photos. I went back to the van to get my paints and mull over the photos. No sooner was the door shut than it poured. I was able to manipulate the van into a painting position and worked until dark with the wipers on and off and on and off. It was a grand sea out there. Big rollers were continually pitched against the cliffs below, probably from the force of a nearing tropical depression. It was tempting to jump in, but for the fact that I was alone and the cliff stair was missing the bottom 2/3rds steps…

“To The Beach”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD

These dunes can be a very menacing place from which to paint, mosquito-wise and people-wise. The hurricane must have whipped those little insects into soup as only very small, recent hatchlings came out to suck on me. And the beach goers, well they must have left this island or just had better things to do than come out on a warm eve and watch the sun setting…

“Brickyard Before Storm”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

I have never painted here before. Almost 2 miles of hiking on a very humid day, uphill and then downhill one way with all my gear, seemed less and less like a good idea. Upon arriving at the look out point to find a nice breeze and incredible view, I allowed that maybe I had made a good choice. Walking back through the woods in the dark was another matter entirely…

“Right Fork Path”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD

I managed to get to Edgartown to paint, but was not thrilled with my planned locations. So I drove around and ended up by South Beach. There was a bit of a wind, but it kept my not so favorite insects away from me. It was also nice to be up on a dune to watch the sun go down…

“Squibnocket Rain”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD

It poured rain most of today. I resigned myself to sitting in my van and painting a land or seascape. Not as much fun as standing outside and working, but another option. It rained all the way up on the drive to the beach. When I parked in a spot overlooking the surf, the drizzle stopped too. I was able to get out and work as the mist and fog ebbed and flowed along the farther reaches of the beach until it became too dark to distinguish colors, mine or the beachscape…

“August Traffic”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD

I missed painting last evening’s thunderstorm. Toward sunset you could clearly see the anvil shape and some associated cotton candy shapes in front of and around the storm cell tower of clouds. I had to do a double check when I returned to the studio, but it was 60 miles away as the crow flies. Somewhere half way to Boston it was hovering and raining, but it was the only cloud in the northern sky from where I stood. I was hoping for more of the same as I drove to this vantage point today. There were one or two fleecy clouds but not the splendid shape I wished for. I did get a golden sky as the sun sank and a multitude of sailboat traffic all through the evening light…

“Sailing Camp”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD

I never know what to expect when I visit the Sailing Camp. Sometimes the vessels are all stacked up on shore and other times they are out on their moorings. They maybe close to the beach or farther out. This time 4 of the rowing, (I would guess), boats were all berthed down in the corner of the cove on one mooring. They were kind of playing follow the leader and trying to line up all heading into the breeze. Then one would get out of formation and would jerk the line attached to its neighbor and suddenly they would all do an about face…

“Waiting”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

This is a plain white dinghy I have been scouting and photographing for a few months each time I travel up to the Gay Head Cliffs. It can be a very buggy place to paint if the wind is not right. The sun was not correct today for me as it slid behind a thunderstorm disturbance as soon as I got there. However, the bugs were almost non-existant which made my day…

“Setting Off”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

(I have been having trouble with my camera and finally had to get a new one. Now I am just learning how to use different software to correct the images and to post onto the internet. I think all is under control again.) I had fun working on this piece over two evenings at Lobsterville. It is always a delightful drive up, and it feels like I am on another island when I am there…

“Dinghy Beached”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

A very windy afternoon, (30 mph, SSW), caught me off-guard without a plan. The head of Lake Tashmoo by the pumping station is always a safe bet but for a Northwind. This evening was no exception. Sailors had rowed in from their anchorage and unknowingly left me their dinghy to fashion my dreams upon. As I stood and painted, a mother mallard duck practically walked over my boots with 4 young in tow as she left the sanctuary of the spring pond behind me and waddled into the briny Lake…

“Fish Farm Fog”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

The day turned out full of fog and wind. Finding a safe set up was hard to accomplish. I used the van to block the wind and painted while Robin and friend Kathy laid out some picnic goodies. The distant Audubon Sanctuary disappeared in the fog at times, while the shellfish nursery floats and buoy added color to the muted scene…

“Menemsha Bight”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

On a lark, I drove up to this public Land Bank property. The path down and the beach were safely out of the breeze and held no threat of bugs. The warm evening light mellowed the distant view of a sailboat with the lighthouse beyond. While my companion cooled off in the waters below, I worked from atop the stairs as unexpected friends hailed, then passed me by along the path. As the sun was setting the first mosquitos appeared around my head and hands. Time to go and enjoy an orange moon rise on the drive back home…

“Race Weekend”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Not only is this a favorite place from which to paint, but it is the best place to capture the Cup Race sailboats at both start and finish line this year…

“Thunder Moves In”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This is the same view I painted 3 days ago, something I don’t like to do, but it was too dramatic to pass by. An unexpected, large thunder cell was moving from the nnw and was about to pour down and crackle. What had been a delicate dreamlike view in the earlier piece, became a strong, heavy, almost flat color scene. I actually had to paint in the car to get this one done because it started to pour as soon as I arrived at this vantage point…

“Dreams to Come”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

To start this painting, I stopped here, because I liked the evening view. I set up to paint and the sky turned purple and the the lavender clouds streaked through. As I included them in the image, the moon added its presence and completed the scene along with the distant thunder of the waves. The beauty of painting outdoors always reveals itself in its unexpected splendor…

“Eastville Fog”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

The fog had rolled in on my studio when I left. Sometimes it is only along the south shore and the ends of the island, but not over the Vineyard Haven Harbor. It held off there until way after sunset, but scared most day sailors into port early. This was one of the last stragglers still visible as the light left……

“Rearing To Go”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

I had been checking on this pond, waiting for the exceedingly high water level to drop. The water was into the poison ivy thickets along the shore, giving no leeway to pass unscathed. I think someone else had given up checking and now was about to find their boat high and dry. Even though I was wishing for a sunny day, here was my opportunity…

“Spring Beach”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I walked down the glacial path to paint in the woods, but the sea called. Ending up on top of the dunes wasn’t so bad after all. The breeze kept me bug free and the waning sunlight softened the early evening land and seascape…

“Moon Tide”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

It must have been dead low tide when I finally began this painting less than an hour before dark. The sky had just hinted at the orange sunset way above my cloud cover. That was my only motivation to paint this scene. As I got into the rocks, their colors and shapes, I was completely oblivious to everything else. Until my boots splashed in the on coming tide and I found my easel was in the water. The full moon was pulling that tide up, fast. I moved my easel 3 times to keep ahead of the rising water before my work was too dim to see…

“Lagoon Shore”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00

A nice spring day down at the Sailing Camp found me contemplating sky, water and boats. An otter frolicked in the lagoon beside me as I worked. Ducks were at their stations farther down the shore, guarding mates and nests as the dusk settled…

“Aladoah”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

Gray days are hard to color. Boats always seem to help brighten the view…

“Boathouse”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

It was very windy today. This little cove was the perfect place to paint and keep warm as the sun and temperature dropped. It brought back pleasant memories of summers past and thoughts of summer coming…

“Wishing & A Hoping”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It is strange how a gray day can change the feeling of a location from one of hope, in the sunshine, to one of sometimes overbearing sadness. And yet a place which just yesterday in sun had no feeling what so ever, may now have a sense of comfort and coziness…

“From The Top”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I began today thinking of a painting in the woods. Maybe a tree or stonewall would do. I wandered down paths and byways scouting. Each time I came to a high spot, there was a great view of this beach, but from afar. I finally had to give in and drive down to the beach and walk up this path. And, well, this is what I saw: hazy sunset and dropping temperature as an inclement weather front floated in…

“Tidely-Idely”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Here is a friend’s boat I stumbled across the other evening. It is the work horse for the oyster farm out in Katama Bay. I did dream about oysters all night long…

“Fade To Night”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I’ve been working on a commissioned piece in my van facing the other way. When I finished I had to get out to put my tools away and was faced with this quiet view. I quickly sketched it in and was able to amplify it more before darkness fell…

“Meanwhile”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

The day was sunny to start, but not to end. I chose a Vineyard cliff experience from which to begin. I was looking for the contrast I had felt in my head the whole time I had been away, between an Australian seascape and my familiar New England scene. I suppose, being cloudy (and finger numbing cold) helped me to really feel the difference, too. The waves below sounded similar, but, oh, were the water colors and cliff tones two seasons and a world apart… (And yes, it is always nice to be back home.)

“Tide And Pool”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel.$500.00 USD

Amanda Malin and dog, Snoopy, drove me down from Melbourne to Cape Paterson to paint on a beach one day. There she, my brother and their children use to go when the boys were little. Besides being one of the closest southern capes to Tasmania, it also had some marvelous surf beaches for swimming. As the ozone hole down there causes bad sunburns, I slathered up with sunscreen and hugged the cliff shadow from which to paint. A slight breeze kept the green heads away, but wasn’t enough to rile up the sand from the cliff face onto my palette. The wind increased as I lost my shadow and I had to quit when I felt grit in the air. The now cool lamb chops Amanda had grilled before we left made for a perfect snack as I walked out to explore the volcanic rock slabs and tidal pools stretching out into the waters…

“Beach Boxes”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Some would call these boat houses, others beach shacks. Here on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, the locals call these beach boxes. They are generally used to house beach towels and chairs, windsurfers, kayaks, fishing rods, grills etc. All are painted bright colors to help distinguish them from each other. I had hoped to paint a closer image of them, but the ocean had hauled away sand and cliff last year. The powers that be were moving in new sand and boulders to try to rebuild the beach and surrounding bluffs. My present view was somewhat blocked at this end of the shore…

“Lavender & Lime”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Try as I may, it has been difficult to do any paintings this past week as my Australian and American family converges on Mt. Martha, Victoria for my nephew’s wedding tomorrow. I have had to find a quiet corner in the garden to do today’s painting…

“Approaching Storm”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I tried to do this outside as ice formed in the puddles and the cold air was streaming in on a 35 mph wind. I got a start in my van, but it, too was rocking from the breeze. The studio was a nice warm spot in which to finish this…

“Menemsha, Short Beach”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Cold it was with a west wind. In the van I stayed to paint. The colors were quite wonderful as they all came into bloom with the setting sun. The fishing village off in the distance gave the landscape the finishing touch, barely there, but there all the same…

“Carried Away”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It was a gloomy, rainy 40ºF day, should have been snow except for the high temperature. Late afternoon found me itchy to get outside with my easel. The rain and mist and fog seemed halted. I got to the beach and set up amidst the roaring surf and falling cliffs. I wanted to hug the cliff face as the tide seemed unpredictable, but it was literally dropping wheel barrow loads of clay and peat onto the sand by my feet. Not too safe, but clear of the breezes which were about…

“Red and Ready”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It was a cool, freezing actually, and windless day this the last day in January. The red boat on a friend’s dock had been a painting in my mind for at least 5 years. I could never find the correct angle to work at until this year. Just having inherited the house, she had cut down all the tall spruce which had protected it from southwest winds, but also had hidden this view. While I painted, a Belted Kingfisher was working the low tide pools around the dock. He seemed to accept my stillness as not a threat. Many times he came within 10 feet of my easel, hovering and then splashing into the water for food…

“Break Out”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This was the painting I began over a week before, and then the trouble started. It was a very cold day to work outside and my paint started to act sluggish. I finished as quickly as I could on site. Then I put all away in my car and went off for a dusk stroll, hoping to hear an owl or two. Did I mention I also wanted to exercise my feet and hands so they would heat up before climbing into a cold car? I walked for a half hour. No owl calls, but I did warm my extremities. When I arrived home and made a quick dinner, my core was still cold. I felt a short nap under the covers before finishing this piece would set me to rights. But I went out like a light. No painting finished and when I awoke, next morning, I felt a cold coming on. I’ve been out of commission for most of the last week, but now that I am really ready to go out and paint again, it’s going to be in single digits for another day or two. Maybe some indoor still lifes are in order?…

“Approaching Snow”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

I was going to do a painting of the western sunset sky, as it had a nice passage of evening light below the clouds. Yet, the drama was really the eastern view. The night’s snow storm was approaching. One of the darkest setting skies I had seen in a long time…

“Wash And Wear”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Nothing like a sunny day with no breeze in the midst of winter. It was just warm enough to work without any gloves. Although, fast I did work with the waves rolling in next to me…

“Down Hill Short Beach”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

One the few locations with a country lane, beach, water and distant shore. However, there was too much wind to paint out in the cold. My van, parked in the right direction, made a great portable studio. Toward sunset the clouds sweetened the view…

“Tidal Pool”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

I found this pool as the tide went out. Started painting and within 20 minutes the pool was gone. Luckily I had sketched it in as I began. Thinking that it would disappear quickly, I was able to capture most of it before it was but a memory…

“Marsh Field Low Tide”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I pass these rents in the fabric of the marsh on innumerable occasions. This was the first time I explored on foot and at the very beginning of dead low tide. It is always enlightening leaving the car behind and exploring at human level and speed. I jumped down into this channel and was engulfed by the marsh itself. Sounds were muffled here. Just above the field grasses, marsh hawks hunted. Gliding low, up and down the tidal stream beds, they appeared startled upon finding me quietly absorbed in my craft…

“North of the Light”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I found this view last time I was painting the light house. I didn’t factor in the wind and wind chill when I went two evenings ago. My friend Donald loaned me a bright yellow/green rain slicker to announce myself properly to any hunters about. He was especially concerned as he spotted a buck with a good rack creeping away from me as I entered the underbrush. I found my spot, set up and started right in only to have my easel fall into me as I bent over to clean a brush. Fixing that, I went on working until the gusts came in again. I lasted about an hour before light and breeze had me wanting to go home. Wind chill was in the low 20º’s and I had a bit of a time following my path back thru the underbrush in the low light of the afterglow. But, like always, it was a fun outing just to experience the air and evening light…

“Snow Clouds”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I look forward to visiting this meadow marsh in the fall while the salt hay has its way with orange and gray. The hills roll on into the background, while this field is perfectly flat. Only a moon tide changes it when it becomes submerged a few times each month…

“Holding Back The Sea”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

A perfect, sunny afternoon to stand at the edge and paint the sea and cliff. It was cool, but with the slightest breeze would have been too cold. The colors were muted some in the strong, oncoming sunlight. No summer greens to play against the orange and rust of the cliff face. The blue of sky and water do double duty in winter months covering for the lack of the friendly green…

“Sumac Grove”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I found this small grove of sumac poking me in the back while I was working on this painting. It seemed like the right thing to include them, too. They are one of the few dark reds still left in the bleak, winter landscape until the birds finish them off…

“Flow River Flow”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Almost missed this one. On any other day, with steady wind in the 25/30 mph range, I would have been sand blasted out of my dune cover. But with a heavy rain last night and early morning, the sand was still packed hard and moist with no chance of a dust up. My parka on and hood up it was a great place to paint and watch the light turn down…

“At The Boulevard”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Working outside in the wet weather has not been fun. Finding places to work out of my car has also been a challenge…

“More Islands”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This is the last one of the little island series, painted sometime between the creation of the earlier two. I am standing at a different location, about 500 feet north of the first, but looking more southwest, rather than west. It is close to U. S. Coast Guard Station, Menemsha or whatever the heck Homeland Security now calls it. I am very happy to report that mosquito season has ceased for this year, but that means the cool season is definitely upon us. Not sure if I’d rather be warm and have mosquitoes to deal with while out painting or be bundled up warm and have no such blood suckers around my face and head and neck…

“Poison Ivy”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

This piece was created about 3 weeks before yesterday’s painting. I am standing at the same location, too, but looking more northwest, rather than west. It is the only spot on Martha’s Vineyard where there are so many small marsh islands and terrific sunsets as well…

“Islets”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I have been here to paint three times in the past month. This is the first to be finished to my satisfaction. Each time is so different from the previous one. The sky was singing in today’s view and I was bundled up in my winter parka with hood to keep the coolness out…

“Beach And Boat”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Late afternoon up in the dunes on a beautiful, cool, sunny fall day. It was so cool that by sundown I had to put my gloves on to get me back to the car. The water colors were gorgeous, especially in contrast to the burt orange of the leafscape…

“Moon and Mudflats”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This was a cool fall evening. The sun set at the same minute the moon was rising. However, the low lying cloud cover at each horizon delayed the rising from the setting by about 5 minutes. I thought I had gathered the correct technical information to point me to the exact location of moon rise, but, I was off by quite a bit. Ah, there is always next month…

“Two Cats”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

A nice, almost windless, afternoon gave me a chance to set up out on Short Beach and paint this view. I had no expectation of finding catboats on moorings in this sheltered cove. At this time of changing seasons anything may appear around a bend in the landscape…

“Sepiessa Sunset”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

I did not paint this from inside the van because of the wind or potential for rain. I worked from inside due to the large clouds of mosquitos ready to complete their birth cycles the moment I opened a door. It was an excellent choice for it started to rain soon after my start. The near opposite shore was intriguing to paint because the blueberry leaves had all turned a deep, dark red. They just barely stood out against the brightness of the sky and darkness of the land mass in the lowering light…

“Morning Puddle”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Artist and friend, Susan Metzger, was visiting Martha’s Vineyard this weekend. She was roaming about with her camera collecting landscape photos for inspiration for a painting exhibit she will have here next year. She is a very early riser so I suggested meeting her at sunrise on Long Point Reservation. She could gather some images and I could set up and finally do an early sunrise painting. We met up and had some great artist conversations while walking out toward the dunes. And then again when she came back from shooting and while I broke down my gear and walked back to the parking area. It is always stimulating to talk process with another artist, especially since she has a completely different approach to paint than I do…

“October Sail”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Another wind driven day, but crystal clear all the way to the horizon. I had to set up in my van to paint this view as the breeze was almost directly at my face. There were few boats about and those in view were moving extra fast. Their sails readily contrasted against the deep, unpolluted shadows of a distant shore…

“Low Tide”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

This was a place of safety from the wind gusts of 40 mph. The one bad part of painting in the lee of the breeze are the pockets of mosquitoes hiding there. The only other company I had was a lone clam-digger in waders who was up to his waist in the water. He was using the latest technology for digging clams. It was a toilet plunger with a long broom pole handle attached to it. Must have really sucked, as he came back to his car with a full half bushel of cherrystones and littlenecks…

“Early Fall”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This was a tough call about rain or not. Drizzle happened, but only on my drive to the parking area. The sun poked and prodded, but could not get through. My light stayed constant for the few hours I was there, both painting and exploring for other vantage points of view. The only small mishap was an unleashed dog passing by with his master. After a short, cool swim, they had scaled the dune to investigate my work. The dog took the stop as the perfect time to shake water and sand off his coat into my easel case… Drat…

“Quitsa Fog”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

It was exceptionally drippy fog the other evening. So I sat in the van to paint this view. I could tell when the sun set as the fog became noticeably more yellow on the horizon. This gave the scene a happy warm feeling. Much nicer than the drab gray I had started out to paint…

“Fall Equinox”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I had tried to capture the moon on my canvas the day before, but it became very overcast by sunset. Tonight was gorgeous and worth the wait. The combination of clouds turning orange and the moon just popping through the horizon darkness made it even more enchanting. Even the mosquitoes paused in their work to equally enjoy the view…

“Tide Running”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

My clock was ticking and I could not get comfortable at any painting location. And my clock ticked on. Finally, I spied the red nun wallowing in a rising tide and a setting sun. I knew what I had to do. As I was winding up, the dock street light came on putting my canvas into a sodium vapor haze…

“…And Not Alone”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It was raining. For some reason it stopped as I got my easel out to paint this scene. Fall colors are beginning to announce themselves here in the marsh. I love to capture them as they proceed from vibrant greens to orange and rust. Happy and sad all at once, as the season changes from warm to cool to cold…

“Still Evening”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

This is a view I have never painted before. It is probably one of the most dramatic places along the Island’s south shore from which to work. I did not paint it in, but you may see on a bright, clear day the water tower in Edgartown and with binoculars, Nantucket Island, too. The sky and sun seem to move faster as it gets dark this time of year. Or maybe it’s just me, caught up in my paints…

“Light At The Head”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

I haven’t painted with another painter since, maybe, May. Partly because I never know where I am going to go. And partly because cell service is so bad up-island that I couldn’t say where I was when I got there. Today was different. My old friend and painting partner, Cheri, came out with me. It still didn’t stop me from driving around in circles stopping and looking to find THE place. However, when we got there, we KNEW it! We had a lot of fun painting and talking. She has been painting in the studio all year on mostly large canvases and has been dying to get outside to work and I am really ready to go into my studio and work on larger pieces. So we were able to compare lots of ideas with each other while we worked. And, of course, the sun did not disappoint us…

“Quansoo Goldenrod”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

The Quansoo gate is locked from May until September, when it is finally opened again for the fishing derby and the rest of the winter. It is a long drive down a bumpy dirt road, but well worth the occasional tree branch scratches along the length of the car to get there. Under a big domed sky at sunrise and sunset there can be an infinite numbers of colors and reflected colors to tickle one’s fancy…

“Wash A Shore”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I stopped along the way to check this location. There had been a nice, white pond skiff anchored out just off shore last time I drove by. It was too late to paint it then, but maybe it was still here. I couldn’t see it from where I parked and decided to clamber down the hill to check the beach. This little rowboat didn’t register with my mind at first as I was still looking off shore for the skiff. I am now glad I took the time to get down to the beach…

“Sunstreaks”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

With thunderheads floating about in the way of the sunset, I thought this might be a painting opportunity. I did not anticipate the sunbeams streaking out across the clouds, nor just how fast the colors would change from moment to moment…

“Clam Point Cove”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

The sun had left the Cove as I started to paint. It was hidden by the hill which partially surrounds what must have been a glacier sink hole back in the ice age. The subtle glow from the lightly clouded sky over head gave a shadowless scene for me to interact with. Other than a Great Blue Heron and a lone Cormorant I had the Cove all to myself. I put my headphones on and rocked out into the dusk…

“West Shore, Tashmoo”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Except for a few fleecy clouds early on, it was a nice, crisp, clear day. Late in the afternoon, white mare’s tails appeared in the western horizon. I took a chance they they would be high enough in the sky to capture the orange light of the setting sun. I started painting and the sky started glowing…

“Riding Out the Storm”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Mid afternoon I found a painter friend painting along the docks. It seemed risky as Hurricane Earl was spitting water down. Able to get my iPhone to work at a signal sweet spot, I looked at the current radar map. We were between spiral arms of rain emanating out from the core of the storm. We painted intensely for about 45 minutes before ducking into our cars when the next arm swung over head. One more clear spot for about an hour and we finally packed up just as the rain began in earnest…

“Final Bow”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

I was almost too late for this painting. I set up quickly and painted until I couldn’t see the mosquitos buzzing around my head anymore. It was a still, warm evening and I could hear the flocks of birds as they tried to settle in along the shore trees for the night. At first they sounded like an electric car driving around the sandy corner by me. Almost no noise until they were upon me with a subtle whirring. I was lucky nothing landed on my head or palette…

“Boardwalk”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Everytime I walk down here I want to paint this boat launch boardwalk. It is both a point of departure and a point of return. If the pond waters are low, you could wade across to the dunes and onto the beach. Now that it is owned by The Land Bank, no wading or swimming across. Only paddling is allowed and they don’t mean doing the doggy paddle. I made friends with some of the returning kayakers and even had a Presidential experience. One paddler, returning with his car to pick up his gear, donned a Barak Obama halloween mask and jumped out of his car to greet me!

“Culling Board”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This is a slightly different angle from my other pond skiff boat paintings. Makes me think I am about to get in and go for a ride, but, with the taught anchor line, it could mean a bucking bronco type of ride…!

“A Goodbye”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

An artist friend treated me to a new, private location from which to paint. It was fun to see old favorite views from a different angle/perspective. However, it was the vanishing sailboat which drew me to paint this view. It is not often I may find a dune with a path through it and a sail off in the distance. Nor is it often, in the summer season, when there is a beach without a multitude of people upon it. I was grateful for the quiet…

“Summer, Split Rock”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I went in swimming here, earlier in the day. I knew I would have to come back and paint later. It was just too nice a day to not want to be by the water’s edge for sunset. It wasn’t until the mosquitos came out as the sun went down that the bathers below began walking swiftly to their cars…

“Day At The Beach”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

I had high ambitions but my 1st few locations were not right. Aimless wanderings led me to this Great Pond at sunset. I painted what I felt as the sky mellowed and the landscape calmed between highlight and shadow. Finished for the evening, I started to put away and pack up, secretly wishing for a boat to appear. I stopped and took the few steps to pond edge. Not only, there was my boat, but sail was decked out in bright red. Sailfish? Sunfish? A painter’s kind of boat!

“Ship Shape”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Another breezy day, but worth it. No bugs at what could be a perilous spot from which to paint. The only other persons there were a harmonica player and his son heading out to fish the twilight waters. Not even a Canada Goose floating by to disturb the serenity of the view…

“Cat Boat”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I went down by the lighthouse to try to paint some of the large sailboats here for the Edgartown Regatta. My timing was off, but I was able to captured two cat boats returning to the harbor…

“Across The Dunes”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

I began this two days ago along with a larger one. Yesterday was too breezy to go back. Today was better, but I had to finish this one and did not work on the larger one. Luckily there are lots of splendid views here. I will go back to finish the bigger one and do a smaller one of one of the other views. For lack of a more meaningful name, I call this location, “the old hunt place” as it is stated on a mailbox a few properties away…

“Light From Afar”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This was a safe place out of the WSW wind today. I remained up on top of the bluff to enjoy the elevated view of the coming sunset. Unfortunately clouds on the far horizon obscured most of it. The lead up to sunset was what I concentrated on and it was the better choice. I had a dryer sheet under my baseball cap to help ward off the mosquitos. Despite wearing a short sleeve shirt and a 1/2 mile walk back to the van through deep woods, thicket and marsh at dusk, I only got one bite the whole way. Maybe these dryer sheets really do work…

“Water Glimpse”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

A mellow sunset was due to the high, thin cloud cover muting the setting sun. The freshly mowed field gave me little islands of green throughout the landscape, but no hard, dark shadows. The dryer sheets I put in my pockets and under my hat seem to fend off the mosquitos. Then, again, it might have been the breeze which kept them away. A calmer day will be a better test next time…

“Fleeing Storms”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

This was a short and quick painting session. Short because I got there while the sky was rolling out the colors, but right at sunset. Quick because after 25 minutes it became hard to choose my pigments and the recent rains brought out all the mosquitos and then some. I never packed up faster and ran to my van…

“Shadows Shorten”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I was out the door very early trying to capture the late setting, almost-full moon. Finally at this west end of the island, I still couldn’t line it up with anything worth while without lying about it. (That means more than just using my artistic license!) So I stumbled up the stairs to the observation area to look out on the dawn fishing fleet down below and the moon as it fled towards N. Y. City. There, the lighthouse looked kind of cool all in shadow…

“Opening, Mudflats”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Not only had the pond just been opened to the sea, but a call from a painter friend had encouraged me to come enjoy some new views. The Land Bank, which owns this property, mowed the field along the edge of the Great Pond to keep invasive species at bay. Usually this is done at the beginning of spring, not mid summer. Now some of my favorite fall grasses will be stunted and not really ripe to paint. But right now I may walk all over this mowed poison ivy area where I never would have done this time of season. This has opened up vistas never contemplated. It has also riled up all the ticks which had been happily going about their business at the ends of long grass stems, a few of which have made it back to my studio…

“Asters”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

A rainy afternoon, evening painting from the van. The sky held back until close to dark when it ripped. I barely got the window cracks closed. The wind was from the best direction to show this boat in profile. I’ve been scouting it for 2 months and nothing was a go before. Light or wind or traffic, something was never right…

“Boat Launch”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

A quiet ending to a busy day. Even the mosquitoes had something else to do until the sunset…

“Anniversary”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I am celebrating this week as it will be my 4 year anniversary of doing a painting-a-day. I still can’t believe it. It was also the anniversary of the man I met on this beach path who handed me a beer while I was finishing this scene! Happy Anniversary to us both!!!

“Eastville Evening”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

This was as close as I got to the water today, about 50 feet. But that was good! It was breezing and cool. I appreciated it as the perfect spot to paint from. I was able to pick and choose the boats to put in, there were so many passing by. The atmosphere was smoky, meaning the far shores were soft and decked out in shades of French Ultramarine Blue. I stayed on until it became too hard to differentiate and choose my colors…

“The Evening Run”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

It was mildly sprinkling when I left my studio for this evening’s paint. The northwestern sky looked promising for a break to the leaden gray which had been overhead since yesterday. I wended my way past other potential choices before arriving at the end of West Chop. A distant sail caught my fancy as did the rent sky along the horizon. The ferry and jogger came as I was nearing completion, a gift for one who waits…

“Home Port”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I was testing out my new “camera” here today for zooming and distance. Suddenly I realized this was were I should paint as well. What a beautiful afternoon, marred only by the fire at the U.S. Coast Guard Boathouse at the other end of the Island in Menemsha. Luckily there was no loss of life. I will miss painting that red roof and crisp white exterior in major contrast to the fisherman’s shacks seemingly in disarray all around it. Hopefully they will soon rebuild in a similar style…

“Thunderstorm Aweigh”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

The open sky over the harbor had so many different surprises in it today. Multiple thunderheads floated by during the afternoon with dark gray clouds. Then dark-blue purple clouds and even some on the warm yellow side of the spectrum. And do sailors like to sail on Saturdays! Countless different rigs floated or motored past my vantage point…

“Sunset Oyster Boats”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

The other day in the fog I found a small fleet of flat-bottomed pond skiffs around the bend in a cove by the Ospray’s nest. It was drippy wet that day, no wind and flocks of mosquitos, not a painting day. Today was much better including a good breeze to keep mosquitos at bay until darkness, when I packed up and had to run!

“1st Launch”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I watched as John put his freshly painted boat in the water. He went off fishing for an hour. Came back and hauled his boat back out. Slowly, he drove off down the beach, pulling, by accident, someone else’s anchor line attached to 3 other boats. The line went taught. I yelled “STOP” and he did! Just before the other boats would have dislodged his from it’s trailer. Bad boat manners by the other boaters…

“Sand Bar”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I missed the best part of this view. The catboat with the dark sail which is cruising in to the the dock got stuck on the sand bar, just after I looked up and saw them. I didn’t look up again for a few minutes as I stooped to clean my brush and mix some new color. When I next paid attention they were under sail heading toward the dock to my right. One sailor had jumped overboard and pull-pushed the boat off the sand bar and climbed back aboard between my glances…

“June Moon”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

The weather began to clear near sundown just as a solitary thunder cell rolled past. I raced up here to this vantage point and was able to enjoy the colors flash as the light subdued. Suddenly the moon came out of no where and began night time illumination…

“Nashaquitsa Morning”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

This was a before sunup start. Otherwise I could never look the sun straight in the eye and keep painting! Even this last part was beginning to be hard to look at and continue to paint…

“Eastville Jetty”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Another day ending getting wet before finishing painting. Shadows gone, shades of gray, subtle colors, and foul weather sailors to brighten the harbor entrance…

“Sunset Fire”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This is the following painting to “Sunblind”, which was posted around May 6 or 7. The sun had gone but the clouds were radiating off key colors in the afterglow. They were so out of the ordinary colors that I grabbed this second canvas and began furiously capturing what I saw and felt. There are times when I see and experience a landscape moment, which is so intense that I say to myself, “no one would believe this if I painted it…” This was one of those moments. The colors were changing so fast that I had to paint the clouds first and then sunglow, before I could even think about anything else in the image… I think I got the essence here, but am forever looking for my next chance to be there and get it again, but, isn’t that always the way?!

“Cliffs Above”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I had a beautiful hike to get to this view. It was a favorite fishing spot when I was younger and you could still walk straight down the cliffs and straight back up with 40 lbs of fish at night! Now the path parallels the cliff tops for it seems a mile before you may access the beach. Then walk the mile back again along the shore to get around to this corner of the cliffs. The wind was mild and right. Sun out all day and tide couldn’t get any lower, yet kept getting lower! A lone bird watcher passed me and I was alone with gentle surf sounds at my back and a gull or two gliding softly overhead…

“Spring Green”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Today was the first day of real green back in the landscape. The dune grasses, beach roses and some of the trees are now dangling green leaves and blades. It has felt like a long wait for this moment to arrive. A joyous moment indeed!!!

“Sunblind”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Tortured skies have appeared before sunset recently. Only to be trumped by magical settings. As it happened this eve, I expected rain upon my walk to this dune top before the clearing would commence. Dry I stayed as sky went into its multi-colored wrappings. I was so excited by my good fortune, and was able create two paintings before the final curtain call. This one is the earlier, mellower sky. The second I will post in a few more days (just so no one gets bored by the same place two days in a row)…

“Windy Beach”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

It was a beautiful warm and sunny day, until this island crossed paths with a few cool, dark thunder cells towards evening. I was forced to work in my van to create this painting. It only just cleared at sunset, bestowing a glowing radiance on top of and underneath the remaining clouds. The sky and the clearing manifested many surprising choices to put onto my canvas…

“Harborside”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

The fog was rolling in. The harbor is usually the last place to be fogged in. This is due to the configuration of the landmass and the fact that fog generally comes in from the ocean side of the island before the Sound side. The Lagoon was already choking up. Painting here was my best and last hope of beating the fog and darkness…

“Dusk Light”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This is one of the rare views of the Gay Head Lighthouse with a sunset backdrop. Most public viewing is from the south or west of the light. With close to 30 pounds of gear, it is a 1/3rd of a mile hike downhill from parking at 190 feet above sea level to near sea level and then back uphill again. Always great to get there and great to get back to the van before dark sets in. No coyotes passed me on my return that I could see. A few bats flew across my path, but I relish their presence as they are mosquito vacuums with wings! If I have judged everything correctly, the light should be good when I get there and the wind will not be funneled up the path directly at me. This evening was a sweet night down there…

“Ebb Tide”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

When I chose this location, the view was less than stellar. The near shore had just gone into shadow with the tips of the grasses still in golden light. The far point had merly started its transition to this evening gold. The sky had yet to change out of its stiff, blue suit. I was intrigued by the exposed rock and seaweed left by the receding tide. (I admit to a half hearted search for arrow heads as I ambled back to my van for paints.) After I had set up against some bushes just out of reach of the breeze, the magic started. Two crows flew in to flip pebbles in their search for delicacies until my need to clean a brush sent them scowling off. A boy standing on a paddle board fluttered by… an elephant fell out of the sky… oh, sorry, wrong time line…

“Broken Skies”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Rain and sprinkles were off and on. Skies were dramatic all day, but never safe enough to paint. My van became my movable studio with hopes of sunset drama. Found a spot just out of the car shaking wind, yet with water and sky views. The show came on suddenly, and just as rapidly was gone. The muted landscape colors gave added emphasis to the orange sun streaked skies…

“Splish Splash”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

A northeast breeze and almost full moon tide made for a noisy beach today. The rollers came in and punched up and down the shoreline I was on. One splash off the rock I was painting flew just over my shoulder. Quitting time…!

“Another Day”, this is not quite so small a painting, 9″x 12″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Note: I ran out of my usual small panels. This is a 9″ x 12″ painting (larger than my normal 6″ x 8″)… A beautiful evening to be painting above a cliff as the sun settles over the horizon. Waves lap against the sand below. A Northern Harrier swoops low overhead on a flight across to Nomans Island in front of me. I stayed even after I could see no more to paint. The water colors at this time of evening against a fading sky have been spectacular for the past few nights. I am preparing myself to do a piece this late in the day, but the light gives me no chance to mix the colors I want. It is just too dark to see color, only values on a gray scale…

“Storming Up”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

My judgement was off and rain came while I still painted near the steps. Nothing serious because the car was close and the rain was slow to build into a down pour. But, what drama over water and sky! The sun popped for 10 seconds betwixt clouds and earth, a soft, muted, orange ball. I had painted everything except the orange streak, not expecting more than that. It was worth every rain drop…

“Where Oysters Hide”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

A quiet place to paint and contemplate. A stop to smell the roses. A beautiful place for sunset and sometimes making new painter friends. Even if they are only 5 years old…

“Quitsa Strider”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It was raining or misting all day. No chance of doing more than a set-up through the van window. Gray sky tried to give me some color at sunset, but barely a blush came through. I am grateful that fishermen like color in their lives….

“Dune Top”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This sunset was a gamble. I was going to do a still life at home, but happened to be passing this area and decided to lug my paints down the long path to the beach, just in case. The sand on the dune top had piled another 5 feet higher from the winter winds compared to my last visit in August….

“Edges of Evening”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Sometimes I get to a great painting destination, but… The wind is wrong, the sun’s in a bad place, the clouds are there, something just is not right. I end up walking slowly about in large circular patterns. I make frequent, unexpected stops and take iPhone photos of unforeseen, unexpected views. Eventually, I become so spaced out that the perfect scene hits me over the head. I say to myself, “Why didn’t I think of that?” And I feverishly unpack my paints and try to make up for lost time. Life is good, again…

“Walking the Dogs”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

It is hard to tell this was started half an hour before sunset. The light was so unusual. The south shore was already socked in with pea soup fog as it came north on its way to envelope the entire Island. This north shore beach was not engulfed until after I had finished painting and hiked back to my car. At that point everything suddenly had a thick, damp blanket laid over it. Not unlike how a glassful of icewater on a warm summer’s day has minute water droplets all over the outside. Everything became immediately moist and muffled. Driving home, next to a south beach, was wipers on, lights on low and driving very slowly. Any deer could have walked out in front of me and only as it was hit would I have known it was there. I was grateful my gear and I made it back home safe and dry…

“Early Shadows”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I woke up early, very early for me, knowing this would be the perfect warm windless morning in which to create this painting. It has been in my mind for most of a year to do an early morning shadow painting down along the docks. It was an even better morning than I could imagine. The fishermen were not out and about as the season was still early. No pick ups driving back and forth with gear. No attitudes about the painter taking up the roadway. No shower of dust from the road bed as someone had to race by for who knows why. No trucks crowding out the view of the old fishing shacks. Just a great morning to be out painting here…

“Mates for Life”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

These swans found me as I was wandering along this shore line contemplating what to paint . They floated from around the corner and seemed unconcerned with my activities of setting up. Of course it did help that I, well, we were in the lee of an ESE 6 mph breeze. The sun was cutting through the light cloud-cover and I felt toasty warm in just hat and vest for overclothes. As soon as I had the swans painted in position on my canvas the breeze swung to the NE, heading right at us. The birds swam on to another cove. I was grateful for my hooded parka in amongst my gear to get me through to the finish…

“Behind the Dune”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

A wonderful warm spring day found me up on a dune enjoying a favorite view. The waves lapped lazily down below while birds could be heard behind me claiming territory and calling mates. A jogger drifted past from on the beach exchanging pleasantries. And then I was alone with my paints and thoughts and the beauty of it all…

“Table Rock”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

If this glacial boulder was tipped just a little bit less, it would look just like a flat table top. It sits in 3 to 6 feet of water in the tide zone of the north shore, within splashing distance of Split Rock to the east. I took notice of it when I did the painting of Split Rock last month. I had to wait for another windless, overcast day to go back as I was after the shadow/reflection in front of it on the water. In the summer months the proliferation of plankton and other sea life would not give the same beautiful shadow water color as winter water does. Today was good until the fog banks rolled in, the water turned dark and I had to abruptly pack up…

“Boathouse Talk”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

A truly gray day, a few days ago. This is always a nice place to duck into out of the wind, but the mist made it more complicated. Buds slowly starting to swell are incrementally changing their color shade. The wetness only intensifies the color values darker. My kind of drama in the landscape…

“Harbor Sunset”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

This is the first sunset with clouds which we have had in a while. I happened to be close enough to this large open sky to actually start the painting after the sun had set. It was a challenge to grab the correct colors while moving extra fast, but my past vocabulary of paint, although feeling shaky, held true…

“Along The Docks”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Although the breeze didn’t lie down, the sun did come out this day. Most of the fleet was still in port and this gave me another chance to paint some of the ships. It was a great feeling creating outside in the sunlight and no longer confined to the car for shelter even if I had to wear my snow ski overalls…

“Over Misting”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This is a slightly different perspective on the Lighthouse because it was another paint from inside my van day. It was breezy and raw outside. Then the mist came in and shrouded the far shore. My windows became coated with millions of tiny droplets of water. It was time to finish and head home…

“Rain, Winter Mooring”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

I sat in my van painting during this windy storm. It was so windy, coming from the Northeast, that the rain hit all my windows except the windshield which was facing Southwest. What a pleasure not to have turn on and off my car to use my wipers. Aerodynamically, the wind was literally floating all the droplets over and around my windshield horizontally. So much so that, when finished, I jumped out of my car to put some gear in the back, thinking it wasn’t raining, and got drenched! I have been eyeing this pond skiff for a few weeks. Sometimes on sunlit evenings the boat glows with the reflected evening light. Today, in the rain with the wind tugging at it to loose its mooring, it really seem to put the whole day into perspective…

“Lucy Vincent Beach”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Funny… I left the house with visions of painting a barn in a field this afternoon… Oh well… I parked down by the beach, walked out to the surf and headed right along the cliffs. I just couldn’t believe how much erosion had occurred. I painted here for months in 1993. The cliffs were then right at these boulders, not 15 feet away…

“By the Black Dog”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Ferries come and ferries go. This one caught my attention at the end of the day. It comes into the harbor, but has to turn around before it docks. For the artist, this means that it stays in one place long enough to paint it…

“Beach Walk and Ferry”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Another good place in bad weather or inclement health to stay in the van and paint from. Anything could sail, motor or, in this case, walk by to make it so much more interesting. That’s the beauty of being out on location. I may make my plans for what I am going to paint, but the universe may step in at any moment and one up me!…

“By The Bass Stand”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Low tide was a good time to paint this special fishing spot. It helped to illuminate the mussel bed point with all the rocks at its best profile. It also accentuated the usually half submerged rocks in the mid-tide zone along the near beach. Plus a larger area of wet reflective sand was visible. I was lucky, too, that I was the lone vehicle in the parking lot at that hour and could park any way I wanted…

“The House Above”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

There was a cool breeze chilling me to the bone while I prepared this painting. But it was to the good, as I worked very quickly. Monet had his doggy sweater on, but he hovered by the car door anxious to get back into the warmth. (I’ll post a photo of him on my FaceBook page.)…

“North Shore Magic”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This is the closest sun sighting we’ve had in about 5 days. It never really came out, but it did paint the water for me. I was glad I stayed outside as long as I did to capture this moment. Monet wasn’t so happy. He had already headed back to the car with thoughts of warm dog food on his mind. He had his priorities straight!…

“Short Beach”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Rain, snow, clear, rain, sleet, clear, mist… it was a most unusual day. The van was on for heat, off, on for wipers, off, on for defrost, off, on for wipers and heat. Let’s get out of here! I finally did get this painting done between all the monkeying around with the weather…

“Off Season”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Another moist day painting in the van parked on the edge of Collin’s Beach. To my right, maintaining their formation even as I paralleled parked 4 feet next to them was a lute of mallard. After an hour of painting, the radio shut off. I found I had left the ignition on and forgot the headlights were also on. Drat… I leaped out of the car and approached a nearby fisherman bailing out his scallop boat and asked for a jump. As much as I hated doing it, the last half of the painting I had to do with the motor running to recharge the battery…

“Home Port Security”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Rain and wind forced me to sit in the van and paint. Gray days seem to bring out the best in a landscape/seascape. I especially enjoy the water color this time of year, clearer, lighter and blue-greener than summer and fall…

“Split Rock Calm Before Snow”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Instead of trudging a mile up the coast, I found a short cut which placed me very close to the object of my desire. Tide was low and getting lower. A higher tide and the beach path would have put me in white and gray oozing clay up to my ankles. As it was, the uneven beach shingles had me watching my every step. Rounding the bluff, there was Split Rock, up close and in my face. I had to continue past it down the beach for the best vantage point. Split Rock… the destination of walks and talks, fish and lures, lovers, beachcombers, fishermen…

“Up Tight”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

It took me a while to find my subject this afternoon. When I stopped painting before Christmas, all the marsh grasses were still standing up straight and tall. Their coloring had maintained its vibrancy. Now, 3 or more snowfalls later, the grasses are flattened and their color is turning gray. But the shrubbery has started to plump out its buds and a subtle color nuance is coming forth. I was cold at the end of my session. Yet, the feelings of winter are no longer strong and the optimism of spring floats easily on the breeze…

“Low Tide, Squibby”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

After being off on family business and way too long away from my easel, I am back on Martha’s Vineyard and back to my Daily Paintings. It was a gusty day, but not here, below the cliffs. The sun kept things warm. The tide continued receding as I immersed myself in the joy of it all…

“Menemsha Race”, this is a Large size painting, 26 1/4″x 44″, oil on stretched canvas, unframed. $4250.00 USD

I have been rummaging around in my studio here in Texas preparing for moving and decided to offer a few of my private collection pieces for auction. I just can’t keep so many paintings for myself! I don’t have access to all my records down here, but I believe I painted this piece in 1997/98. I never thought I’d sell it and therefore never wrote anything on the back. It was created with palette knife and thick buttery strokes of paint on top of various flatly painted fields of blue and orange and pink. This tends to give it an impressionistic, pointillistic feel. It’s abstract, but reality based at the same time…

“Menemsha 2006″, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I almost completed this in 2006, but had to leave before I had finished. I never returned to complete this painting. As I recall I started out at 6 am working on the canvas and continued until close to 11 am. Way too long to tell the light story here. I was able to put myself back into that frame of mind and finalize this in the studio…

“Bend-in-the-Road Beach”, note: this painting is 9″ x 12″, oil on canvas panel. $1250 USD

Note this is a 9″ x 12″ painting (larger than my normal 6″ x 8″)… This view is from the back of the dunes looking through the cabañas to the east at Chappaquiddick Island. I could not paint this now as they have cut a road through this back side of the dunes. I would be standing on a huge pile of sand looking straight down the road. This is part of the beachsand refilling project. Sand is dredged out of Sengekontacket Pond, behind me, and moved by pipeline to the parking area into piles. Front-end loaders fill dump trucks with sand from the pile. They drive down the temporary road behind the dunes and dump the sand in front of the cabañas a million dollars later. For reference, this is what the view should look like!…

“Autumn’s Eve”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This may not look like a protected place from which to paint, but with a West or North wind it is. The sun was dodging in and out of clouds when I arrived. I almost didn’t see this glowing opportunity as it was clouded at first. I like to get out and walk a little to “feel” a vista. I take a few reference photos with my iPhone’s camera. They’re not the best photos, but good for reminders. I had done all this and was about to wander back to my van when I took one last look at the boat. The sun had broken through and the reflection on the boat was stunning…

“December Split Rock”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I had to follow a small creek out from the woods to the ocean to get to this beach. There wasn’t much breeze. The temperature was a cool 37º F. I was conscious of keeping my boots out of the water. I noticed first deer tracks, then dog tracks and, suddenly, barefeet tracks! I’m not certain they belonged to a swimmer. Definitely didn’t belong to a mermaid. However, there are those who still go in for a quick dip at this time of year…

“Off Season South Beach”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I am really getting into this cold weather painting mode. Once the location is selected, I bundle up to keep myself warm and to cut the winds. I set up quickly and start to paint. The coolness of the air is invigorating. It also causes me to work fast and to access my right brain, my intuitive side. There is no time for analysis, just action. No long drawn out thoughts of “what if…”, just enough time and warmth to do it and go home…

“Salt and Fresh”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Painting today was short, sweet and quick! It was about 37º f. with a 12 mph wind in my face. I could not have done it without wearing my gloves and snowsuit pants (plus hooded shell, vest and fleece). That makes it a record fall of painting without gloves until Dec. 6th. This time of year the sunsets tend to linger. The sun does not just drop straight down below the horizon as happens around mid summer. It eases over the edge of the earth at an oblique angle to the horizon and not close to 90º as in the summer. This gives us an infinitesimal bit more light and also amplifies the red end of the spectrum. In low light landscape painting, more red is usually a good thing!…

“No Rhyme or Reason”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Another rain drenched day, sitting in the van painting with wind howling all around. I caught most of this image on location. Then had to finish at home as the wind was rocking the van to distraction. It felt good to be out working, but not so good having to complete so much back in the studio…

“Winter Watch”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I’ve not painted this view in a winter version before. The colors, although subdued, are kind of exciting compared to the greens of the warmer seasons. All was going well until just before dusk. When the scene was getting darker and dimmer, for some reason, my canvas was getting lighter and brighter, in a bad sort of way. I looked around and a sodium vapor street light was just warming up above me. So I came back a second evening to finish without help of the street light…

“Blue Moon”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

There may be some debate on the name of this moon. The Farmer’s Almanac defines a blue moon as an extra full moon that occurs in a season; one season is normally three full moons. If a season has four full moons, then the third full moon is named a blue moon. So, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it… However, I was totally unaware of the moon on today’s painting foray. I was in Edgartown when my painter’s alarm roused me. I looked up at clear sky, but saw a cloud bank on the southern horizon and raced off to catch some open sunset sky near the big bridge. I forgot about the 3 heavy construction projects on the Bend in the Road Beach area. Easing my van into a spot, it was immediately dwarfed by a huge mound of sand destined for transport farther down the beach. I jumped out to look as the sun was just entering the cloud bank. Spirits damped by being in the wrong place with no time remaining, I was fumbling for my keys and happened to look up… and smiled. There hung the Blue Moon, just anticipating my brush work! What a show stopper…

“Water Flow”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This can be a good sunset spot from which to paint. At least on a night when there is some sun! It was spitting and misting this evening. I had to drive my van halfway down the path to be able to sit in it to paint and see the view. It’s always worth the effort though…

“Sea Way”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I went off with the idea of painting dunes and a beach path. When I arrived, the winter blond beach grass and the dune sand were entirely the same colors. I spied this jeep track down the road from the dune grass while driving home. Fall coloring never ceases to amaze me…

“Evening Magic”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I found myself in the perfect place to capture this after-sundown painting. An unknown oysterman, just hauling in his catch and boat as the sun sank, gave me a half dozen oysters to take home. Just because we found ourselves sharing this moment on the beach!…

“The Janie Lee”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

The “Janie Lee”, in port during a blow, I was able to capture her likeness through the rain drops on my windshield. A shapely ship with deep flat black hull and great contrasting coloring on deck and over the sides. The grey of the day helped bring the few colors alive…

“High Tide”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

To capture this view in my painting, I had to climb an outdoor spiral stairs to get to the roof deck on some celebrity’s house. Luckily, they weren’t home at the time as I was followed up the stairs by a Boykin Spaniel, an Australian Cattle Dog and an accomplished student painter. The availability of this view will not exist in a few more weeks. One of my contractor friends who is moving this house back from the face of the cliff below allowed me to do some works here before the move starts. I had scouted this view a month ago and realized it would only work as a morning painting with shadows still on the cliff face in the distance…

“Storm Light”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This painting required a windless day for me to be able to stand out on the observation area on top of the Gay Head Cliffs. I was also able to view the approaching rain storm behind me as it blew in from the west. But my vantage point did me no good. The rain came in faster than I had anticipated. I got wet while packing up my equipment for the hasty retreat back to the parking lot. However, it was such a great day and place to paint that I returned and did a second painting around sunset…

“Sunset Light”, this is a Large painting, 24″x 30″, oil on canvas. This painting has SOLD.

This large painting was inspired by one of my smaller canvas panels. I had actually first painted this scene in 2008 as an 11″ x 14″ image. I revisited it as a small Daily Painting in early July of this year, and then in September when I created this larger version. It is a rather timeless image…

“Awaiting Your Pleasure”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

At the far edge of the pond my friend had left her little dingy out after leaving for the winter. Lucky for me! It is irresistible to my painter’s eye with it’s vibrant blue seats and clean white colors against the fading fall scenery…

“Yonder Menemsha”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I climbed to pond level from the overlook parking area above. In scouting the shoreline for “my” spot, I found a private path leading down from a summer home. As I set up easel and gear, I looked around and realized I had a perfect view diagonally across the pond to Menemsha. The sun was low and reflectively gleaming off the white Menemsha Coast Guard Station buildings, making them exceedingly visible from my distant location. The marsh grasses and all other vegetation have donned their Autumn mantle of multi colors. With the looming shadow from the hill behind creeping forward, I was rewarded with muted colors in contrast to the sun-streaked highlights on the near shore. A small dingy drifted by with its lone occupant so intent on dip-netting for bay scallops, that he never even saw me painting not 25 feet away…

“Cliff Walk”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Big rollers were coming in on the beaches after the high winds of the weekend Northeaster had passed. I found a spot from which to paint on the cliff top, yet in the lee of a nearby house. The beach below is full of double fist size rock and they rolled and tumbled creating a soothing rhythm as I painted…

“Shadows Fall”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Drama at the end of a day always strikes my fancy. The hardest thing is to know that it is coming and to place myself in a good location to take full advantage of it without being repetitious. Some evenings, I get all set up and the drama never comes. Other times I am just too late to capture it, or in the wrong place…

“Autumn Eve”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Today’s painting was created out in 40mph gusts. My easel and I were tucked among some scrub oaks so as to soften the blows. This was a long sunset, by my standards. Meaning I had 35 minutes until I couldn’t see to paint. But the colors kept getting more spectacular in the sky and in the all around reflection back down to earth. I think I did it justice as I concentrated on sky first, water next and then land last…

“Dusky Destination”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

A warm fall day… a 30 mph WNW breeze… sun, shadow… shelter from the winds on the beach… What more could I ask for? And then the sky warmed up for me. Thank you!…

“Wake Up Call”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

A beautiful, but cool start to the day. It didn’t last much past the mid morning when a cloud blanket moved in. A sunny start lifts the spirits and is always appreciated no matter what happens to the rest of the day…

“7pm boat”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

In a South West breeze, this point is a safe place to paint from. A strong wind from any other direction is too much to deal with here. There is always shipping traffic cruising by. This is the Northern most tip of the island and closest point to the shipping lanes…

“Light, Rain”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Today I started off with great intentions. The rain, however, had different plans for me. It brutalized the views wherever I went. This started out as a van painting through my rain streaked back window. As I was finishing and the light was ebbing, the rain stopped. I was able to throw open the side door and put in some final details which had eluded my vision through the rain. Finished, I walked out onto the beach behind me and took a few dark, evening photos for reminders of future painting spots. I stood, iPhone camera in hand, concentrating on counting seconds between lighthouse flashes so as to capture the red light flashing on. I smelled him before I was aware of him stepping across my boots to scurry on down the beach. A baby skunk!…

“Day Lighthouse”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It was a beautiful early fall day to paint the light. There were fleeting clouds passing by all afternoon. Not only did they act as background, but they also kept me from getting too sunburned. There were ripe blackberries in the bushes to eat when I needed a break. And the poison ivey was turning orange and red to warn me away from itself. I thoroughly enjoyed my painting time there…

“Cliff View”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This painting spot was a gift given to me in a casual conversation with an acquaintance of many years. It took me three scouting tours of the property before I stumbled upon this view and almost over the edge of the cliff. The sea has so badly eroded the cliff edge of this property that the house is about to be moved 100 feet back from the existing footprint, which itself is now less than 50 feet from the cliff face. The day was overcast until nearing the end when the sun gleamed under the cloud cover…

“Red Beach”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

All the other row boats and kiyaks here were safely up in the dune grass while this little dingy was staked at the high tide line. If I stepped back two feet I would have started to trip over them. I chose to focus on this loner and also not focus on the vessels moored out off Red Beach, just to the right. The scene and the hour and the beach called for simplicity out of the complex choices offered and I obliged…

“Boat Repair Shack”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This was a nice sunny, out of the wind spot to paint from, until the owner drove up and parked his truck right in front of the buoy. Two hours later he finally went home and I was able to paint the channel and buoy. The clouds were great all day long, so the waiting actually allowed me to catch them with the high lights around each one as the day got later…

“Dusk Lambert’s Cove”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This was Saturday night, actually, but I couldn’t post it until today. And naturally today’s dusk looked so similar to yesterday’s that this could be tomorrow’s (when most of you see it)… Confused, well, it was just 2 gorgeous days in a row and maybe 2 more to follow. This was a fun piece to paint as the horizon glow held for a good 15 minutes to allow me to mix and capture it. I really did not have to do anything more to this back in the studio, except sign my name…

“Great Rock”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

After working on a larger painting out in a field today, I really wanted to end up by the water for today’s piece. On a hunch, I hiked in to this remote location and was rewarded with a great sunset to paint. I nice way to end a beautiful day…

“Moon Path”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

I was floundering about trying to find something to paint this evening. It had been ready to rain all day and finally started to spit an hour before sunset with gusts to 30. I changed locations by about 10 miles and found, to my delight, little wind, no spitting and a few patches of fading blue above me! No time to think… grabbed my gear and raced out into this meadow. It was 10 to 8. Sun sets at 8. The sky just tipped into orange above the cloud banks. Grabbed the biggest brush and zoomed until I couldn’t see what colors were being laid down… 5 flattened mosquitoes on left hand, 4 on right… get that moon in… oh! the orange… the water… the path… the green… the car… done…!

“A Panoply of Sky”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

After poking around at a few different painting locations, I settled on this open sky spot. I was ever hopeful the sun would find an entry point in the clouds as it started to set. It got better than this, but then so did the mosquitoes and I hate using repellant…

“Rising Tide, Fog”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I went to the beach to swim and paint in the hot, early afternoon. After the swim and getting set up under an umbrella to paint, the fog started to come in. It was actually great, because it toned down the brilliant scene in front of me and kept me from getting too much sun. I still had to work on this piece back in the studio. The combined, water, sky and sand reflective light bouncing around in my eyes had my pupils shut down quite a bit while choosing colors and values. I was desperately trying to overcompensate for this effect while on the beach, but there is only so much you can do and still make it seem natural. Its when you bring it in and put the painting under the studio lights that the disparities stick out. And, after all, most paintings are viewed for the rest of their lives under unnatural/indoor lighting conditions…

“Dusk, Getting Clear”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Just as the weather may clear and you know that tomorrow will be a grand new day, so, sometimes, does life clear with the same intuitive future sense. And to be able to paint it and feel it on both levels at once makes for a truly wondrous experience. Such was mine on this sultry evening…

“Harbor Entranced”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

The sky these last two evenings has been so seductive for me. Vaguely blue cloud banks up against subtle yellow/orange back drops before, during and especially after the sun has left the horizon. The blue of the silhouetted clouds becomes an ungodly shade against the yellow/orange glow coalescing from the entire sky sphere above. And the etherealness of it all is so fleeting, almost uncatchable, bewitching me to no end…

“Perfect Summer Day”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

The only good view of the water and hay was directly into the sun. It wasn’t until the sail fish came back from the beach that this painting started to really work. It is always a pleasure to receive an unexpected gift like that to paint….

“The Opening”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Today was a beautiful fluffy cloud day until I loaded up the van to go paint. Clouds came in, wind picked up and I drove 20 miles for naught. Coming back home, I took a chance on this place. It was in the lee of the wind with a beautiful opening under the cloud cover. However, with my back to the darker clouds and my mind on my subject, they soon started spitting at me. I took it on the chin and worked until I was done, very quickly…

“Summer Glow”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Driving up to this beach, I had thought I was going to paint the full moon rising out of the waters. I became mesmerized by the sky and water reflections and chose this instead. The moon, when it did come up, was a pink moon! There was so much lavender and violet along the horizon where it rose that instead of yellow/orange it turned pink for the first 10 or 15 minutes…

“Nantucket Lightship”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Now this boat stopped me in my tracks! Freshly painted, the old Nanatucket Lightship under private ownership drew people to it as I stood and painted. This much red in the close quarters of the harbor in this light was almost too much…

“Lagoon Landing”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I gave up on finding a spot to paint today. It was getting late and nothing was clicking wherever I drove, but the clock was ticking… Last month I painted everyday but 4. I could take a break if I wanted to. I went into the town landing to turn around and go home, but there was this boat…

“Rock and Glass”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Today’s painting was a hike through the woods to get to, but I had packed a tuna sandwich just in case. It turned out to be a beautiful walk past the extra leafy flora due to all the rains. The tide was low and getting lower as I began to paint right at the edge of land and water. No wind and the sun was still warming me as it slowly curtsied behind another island and let the evening slip away…

“My Ship Comes In” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It was too nice a day to not stop by the Harbor View light and capture a sail boat cruising by. Some sun, mild temperature and a light breeze was the perfect combination to entice a sailor or two out upon the waters. All I had to do was set up and start painting and my ship would come in…

“Grounded” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Another cloudy, next sunny, then very cloudy day. I found this spot to get out of the east wind and paint until I couldn’t see in the evening light…

“Distant Storm” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Finally, it was a sunny day today. But with too many outdoor projects to do, I caught the tale end of the sun. Would you believe it started to rain again as I walked off the beach and got to my car!!!…

“More Fogging In” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Another day, another fog, what can I say? I started this piece and the fog was receeding. An hour later, I could barely see the second rock…

“Rough Seas” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

The seas pile up on a cool rainy day. The east winds and rising tide create a chop just off the beach. Too much air and too much tide are not good for kite surfing or surf boarding or fishing. And the rain deters any walking, dog or otherwise. Just a duck down day…

“May Fog” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

My first painting back on Martha’s Vineyard and it was almost fogged out. Mosquitos don’t seem to like fog, which was good for me!… .

“Spring Fog, V.H.” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

There was a wind today over 19 mph which kept me from painting. While organizing my canvases in the studio, I found a few I had forgotten and had never put on my website. This would be wistful thinking about my up coming summer on Martha’s Vineyard…

“Santa Elena Canyon”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 US

I painted this in Big Bend National Park, an unbelievable place. This is the Rio Grand exiting out of the Santa Elena Canyon. The Canyon walls are over 1,000 feet high making this a most impressive sight. As I painted, all around me were different types of flycatchers doing their acrobatics as they sought tasty morsels flying along the river banks….

“Early October”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This was painted before sunrise on an early, hazy day in October. I could never decide if it was finished or not. Last night I added a few flourishes and now it is complete… Sometimes it is good to let a painting sit for a contemplative period to better understand what was done and perhaps why…. Often times the question or problem I thought I was grappling with becomes resolved in working on the next few paintings. And the knowledge is now there to complete the earlier piece….

“Lighthouse, Boat Ramp”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 US

I didn’t know what I would find when I drove out to Eel Pond, view or wind wise. The sun was near setting and was illuminating and reflecting off of the Chappaquidick Lighthouse on the Eastern horizon. Light was reflected back to contrast against a low lying cloud bank such that the lighthouse was literally full of light…

“Tomahawk, Hi & Dry”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

The Tomahawk is one of the last of the fleet of charter fishing boats to be hauled out for the winter. Captain Buddy Vanderhoop works the waters as long and hard as he can while the game fish are still out of hibernation and catchable. His vessel must have just been hauled out. The rich black of the hull contrasted fiercely witht the subtle, soft, winter seaside colors all around it. The Tomahawk was a painting in my mind the instant my eyes came upon her. Work had to proceeed from inside my van as the wind and rain left me no quarter in which to hide…

“Tip of the Chop”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

With the wind from the SE gusting to 36 mph from my right and the temperature hovering near 60, it was a charm being out there. And it was pure luck that this painting came back with no sand on it. Gratefully, it had rained and the sand hugged the ground without lofting. Some days things look bad but they all work out just right…

“Split Rock”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This painting was a request from a few weeks ago. The wind and weather had conspired against me until today with wind coming from the South, but rain possible at any moment. I tried out my painter friend’s new Open Box M easel and tripod in a waterproof box in a waterproof backpack. It turned out to be a very enjoyable mile hike to and down the beach to get the view I liked. The borrowed gear was very comfortable. I could have hiked farther with ease and will again soon…

“Sun Up”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

A September sunrise I finally put the finishing touches on…

“Grand Finale”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

A moon painting I thought I wouldn’t finish. Guessed wrong…

“After Summer’s Fall”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It has been a gray day all day. So I took advantage of the low level light and set up in the mid point of the day to do this beach painting on Lambert’s Cove. I had my fleece, a fleece vest and my down jacket on and was out of the wind. Much to my surprise, someone walked down to the beach in towel and bathing suit and went in for a swim !!!

“Rocking and Rolling”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 US

The rocks were there and then the waters rolled in…

“October Moon”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This is the last of my October moon paintings. The weather did not co-operate on the other 2 available days in the month…

“Short and Windy Road”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

The sun came out and it was warm and then windy. A great day to be out painting…

“Mirror”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 US

The evening sky displays it magic…

“Channel Marker”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It was a beautiful morning on the channel…

“Sun Dance”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I started this painting just before the sun came up and I continued until it was too bright to look at it…

“Creek Sunset”,, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Just as yesterday’s painting was an opportunity to capture a fleeting moment, so was today’s. I came upon both scenes right as the sun set, grabbed my tools and painted into the darkness, trying to catch both the sky’s afterglow and the accompanying reflections on the surface of the water…

“The 6 am Boat”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I didn’t know the boat was there, until the early morning hazy fog started to clear…

“Evening Beach”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Another magical evening painting by the water…

“Sunset Beach”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I tried to get on to the beach, but had to stop at the dunes to get this painting…

“Morning Sky”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel.

7 a.m., a changing sky, a cooling breeze, a nice view to paint, and no mosquitoes …This painting has SOLD.

“Town Dock”, this is a Small one, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel, SOLD

“Surf’s Up”, this is a Small one, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel, SOLD

“Autumn Shore”, this is a Small one, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel, SOLD