field

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

My favorite house in Chilmark has been rented all summer. I have had limited to no access to it until now. I was very pleased that today was sunny. The failing light gave me just the right drama I was hoping for. A truly happy day…

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

This tree by the south shore is one of my favorite images to paint. In all seasons it can capture my inspiration. This is the first time I’ve painted it in fog and with my back to the dunes and surf. It seemed very mysterious and regal with the fog creating a space around it all its own…

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

Sheep are funny animals. I found this flock in a painter friend’s field, happily munching away. I set up my easel and started to work. One sheep looked over at me and immediately started to trot down the path into the next field. Bam! Suddenly a line formed out of nowhere as they all started to head out and away from me…!

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

This was started early last week. I finally finished it today, partly because the farmer’s boys, ages 5 and 8, wanted to watch. So both days I was able to hold their attention for at least a half hour before they turned into wild mustangs and galloped up and down the path behind me practicing their whinnies. We talked about lights and darks, mixing black instead of tube black, white in sun and white in shadow and, of course, lots of gobbledy gook!!!

“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…

“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…

“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…

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

Catching a wind as it cooled down, I wandered the pastures and looked around. I could have been here or there in Texas or New Jersey, Colorado, you name the place. Water, horses, cedars, field, sun playing the end of day… it felt just right…

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

There is a Cup Race, sailboat race, going on all weekend. I was able to photograph many boats out in the 30 mph breeze heeling way over in the blow. But when it came time to paint them… they were moving way too quickly and all the best viewing spots were already coveted by onlookers or people swimming to escape the heat/humidity. Most spots were also too breezy for me to have full control of my brushes. I escaped the water’s grip on me to the island’s interior. It was still windy enough to suppress the hungry mosquito…!

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

Luckily my friends’ store closed early tonight and I could set up in the parking lot to paint these gates. I have been intending to do this image for more than a year. My timing was right today, and only a few friends honked at me as they whizzed by. And oh, yes, a car did stop and a news photographer caught me in her lens while her husband disarmed me with small talk. Paint drying is big news on a Sunday night…

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

This part of the Island was not fogged in at 6 p.m. as most of the rest was. The skies behind the light were dramatic and fleeting as arms of fog swept in and out before it settled on me just before sunset. Things started to get moist as I packed up my gear in the muffled evening light…

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

I thought I was finished painting hay for the season, but this was too much to resist. In a small, intimate field surrounded by stone walls/hedgerows with driveway on the side, house and barn in the back, it really felt like I was in the front yard. Yet here were all these fresh bales calling my name. Rare it is that I find hay near a house and I relished this “old” Vineyard feeling of house and hay…

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

The hay was so thin and weak in this field that I didn’t think they would do more than cut it. I was surprised when I drove by this afternoon. I waited out the heat and went for a swim before setting up in the shadows of this oak tree. By then a subtle air current had started to make it bearable in the high humidity and 90 plus degree heat. My iced coffee didn’t hurt either…

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

I scouted this area earlier in the day. When I came back with an iced coffee to start work, the long shadows from the trees disrupted my plans. Aimlessly I wandered, wanting some architecture and landscape views until I found this scene, light and dark, near and far, into the light…

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

This is one of the fastest cut, raked, baled and moved on out fields where I like to paint. This year the family out did themselves. There were at least 15 stackers and movers on the field. Five o’clock to 6:57, 650 bales disappeared into various conveyances and then into barns. I started painting and all of a sudden I was alone in a totally empty field… Ah, but what a beautiful day!

“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…

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

It was a chance encounter at a dinner party which somehow put me loose it this pasture. After completing most of this painting, including the well mannered and cooperative pony placement, I ventured off to scout the remainder of the property for future plans. Upon my return a half hour later, as the sun was setting, I started to think something was wrong. There were balled up pieces of paper towel all over the ground around my easel! At first I assumed the pony had licked, chewed and spit out my roll of towels one by one. What he had done was tear open my plastic grocery bag which I use for painting garbage. He had sniffed out a rather old apple core as a snack and no paint had gotten on his face…

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

There was breeze enough to keep me happy… and mosquito free! The sky unfurled lazy waves of orange above my head against a mellow blue-green heaven. A man and his dog on a tight leash walked past to sample the evening air. The dusk faded to a dark blue and I could see to work no more…

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

It has been perfect hay cutting weather the last few days. Low humidity, a bit of a breeze and there has been lots of sun. I have been purposely driving past this field to get to the Post Office in the hopes that haying would begin. This is one of the few meadows where the hay is still baled and not rolled up. When rolled, it is then enclosed in white plastic. The bacteria goes to work in the moist environment turning the hay into almost silage and eating up all the oxygen in the process. Thus the nutrients are preserved. However, huge white bags of hay laying about in a field do not a painting make, at least not to me…

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

The ocean air and the land air have not been at equilibrium. Fog has washed over for 2 days at a near constant pace. Colors are amplified, if they are close by, or muted farther away against the graying mists. Paints, canvas and gear becomes damp if out too long in the dripping air…

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

Three of the twelve chickens I have been taking care of for the past two weeks. They are very people friendly and allow me to pick them up, if I wish to. One night I arrived after sundown to put them in their henhouse. Usually they go in without any help as soon as the sun sets. I found the coop door partially closed with three inside. Three huddled in a pile against the wire of the coop near the door. And that was it. The wind must have slammed the door closed with three in place. I got all 6 in but spent 45 minutes with a flashlight before finding 5 in the branches of the blueberry bushes next to the henhouse. Now I was afraid maybe a raccoon had strolled in… I kept circling the henhouse and finally found the last one above my head hidden in the branches of a holly tree. I carefully grabbed hold of her and placed her with the others. Safe and sound. The door now has a rock holding it open during daylight hours. It has been fun observing them and their habits in preparation for this painting…

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

The day was rain. Then mist. A small break before six… I took it. 45 minutes of dry. The mist came back with a vengeance. Spit… Packed up quickly. Made it….

“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…

“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…

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

Continuing with my daffodil obsession, I found this orange cup by a neighbor’s stonewall. I couldn’t paint it where it was or I would have been found run over by the side of the road. So I cut and brought it home to paint outside on the east porch (in a vase) with this actual wall and view behind it. Plein air, sort of, alla prima for sure…

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

I had planned to paint the barn here, but… It was impossible to ignore these Moms, just days away from birthing. They were patiently awaiting dinner in the shade of the hay barn. Luckily the chore person was 2 hours late. They didn’t feel like moving much unless food was involved. This was fine with me…

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

Despite snow early in the day, the sun came back out and gave a nice showing toward nightfall. I was able to work on the reflected sunset light as it bounced off the edge of the lighthouse…

“Honor Guards”, this is a Medium size painting, 18″x 24″, oil on canvas, unframed. $3750.00 USD

Although reworked recently, this medium size painting was created in July, out on location. It was a foggy afternoon/evening. The light source was muted and unchanging. I
was able to work for much more than my 2 hour limit without fear
of losing my initial vision due to shadows moving. I have always
loved to paint tall daylilies and these were as tall as me. I could look
straight at them instead of down upon them, giving me opportunity to put in their landscaped background, the Polly Hill Arboretum…

“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…

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

Today’s cold temperature persuaded me to stay in to paint. I found myself going through my “not quite finished” pile and setting this on my easel to contemplate and then complete. I think I painted this with my friend and sometime painting partner, Cherie, on a property she had access to. If that is so then it was started a year ago September. I am very pleased to be able to complete it now. It is always hard to leave a piece unfinished. Whatever the reason, lack of time, rain moving in, inability to unify the whole, I feel a sense of loss when the piece does not reach completeness. And now I may pat myself on the back and finally say, job well done!

“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!…

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

I discovered this view by accident a few evenings ago. It had been very windy with big surf all day. Wandering to a sheltered corner on this property, only visited once before, I came upon this wonderful landscape. If the water were not there, it would be a valley…

“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…

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

If I were a Bluebird, this is where I would hang my hat for the summer. Water views on two sides. Fresh water marshes on 3 sides. Open field with berry patches just over the stonewall behind. Nice neighbors all around…

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

Having driven past this dilapidated boghouse innumerable times, I had never stopped to really look at it. For a few years a non-profit group, the Vineyard Open Land Foundation , has been clearing out and rejuvenating the cranberry bog behind the house. Thus the view has been getting more enticing to stop and paint. I photographed it one day last week to study the possibilities. It was the rain today which made me stop. The wetness had caused the whole foreground to intensify in color values. The contrast with the misty background tree row became much more intense than it is on a dry day. It being near today’s almost non existent sunset light pushed the colors that much more…

“Fair Will Be Here” , this is a Medium painting, 16″ x 20″, oil on canvas. $1850.00 USD

This painting is a 16″ x 20″ oil on canvas which I began in August. I had to do a u-turn when I drove by this. I love to paint hay bales out in the fields, but to have not only a tractor, but a red tractor in the field was just way too much for me!!! This was the scene 3 days prior to the set up of the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society Fair. In a “normal summer” this hay would have been cut and baled in July and this field only mowed at this time. Weather patterns don’t seem to be normal anymore…

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

It was not quite drizzling. I wandered down the road until this house caught my eye. I have it on my list to paint in sunshine. But the fog gives it an abandoned melancholy feeling of summers’ passing…

“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…

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

A fall colored salt marsh on the south side of the pond. At a very high tide, this whole area of grass is covered with water. I love the absolute flatness of the marshes compared to the rills and rolls of the adjacent hilsides. But it takes the autumn colorations to really make them striking…

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

This salt marsh I pass by on the way to more favorite locations. Yet I always see it beckoning me as I drive or walk past. When the grasses in its meadow turn the burnt orange green of fall I can resist the call no more. The Great Blue Heron tires of hiding in front of me as I stand at my easel. He croaks his spooky call and slowly with majestic effort rises up and off to an even safer haven. The tiny deer tick slowly wander up the folds of my clothing to look for lunch, for I am on an active deer path. While swatting at the more persistant flying evil, I spot the slower climbers and pluck them off and into the oblivion of the dense jumble of undergrowth. And once again it is a joy to be out in this wild beauty…

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

Today felt like a rigid, structured day. What better subject to match my feelings with than a light house. The light has those soft curves to it and the contrast of black and white. While the house has all that angularness and sharp corners, but with the color complements of red and green. The landscape horizon with a tiny stopping point of sail and boat give a sense of the grandiosity of the reach of the light. And I feel better now…

“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…

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

Another day of 30 mph gusts of wind. I had wanted to paint some boats today. Couldn’t get there from here without getting sand in my paints. So I hunckered down behind my van and did this Coast Guard Station house about a block from the open water…

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

Another beautiful looking day, yet cool and very windy. North winds shifting to East. I hid beside the edge of the woods to stay warm and to paint without the hands of the wind moving my brushes. Note to self, buy mosquito netting hat for evening painting…

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

Sometimes the sheep make all the difference to the painting. The sun should have been out another 30 minutes as I finished this piece. Instead it went into a cloud bank never to return…

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

This was a hard juggle. The colors change so quickly at this time of day, but I think I caught it all. I had to block in everything but the moon. Then I had to do the final adjustments. As the moon’s presence was revealed, I was counting on there not being a cloud bank along the eastern horizon to block out the first glimpse…

“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….

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

I knew all the farms were baling hay today because of the fine weather that has come in. I didn’t expect to find a baler sitting idle during daylight hours, but things break at their own pace…

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

This is the lighthouse everyone wants to paint because it has such character and demeanor. However, it is not so easy to capture on canvas, as the open area around it is small and hard to give a good perspective on water and tower. I have always liked cropping my lighthouses every once in a while. It makes them a little more mysterious and forces me to concentrate on the volume of the cylinder…

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

I told everyone at the gallery opening I attended last night that I wouldn’t post any painting today as I planned to work on a larger piece. When I left, there was a crack in the cloud cover along the horizon and the sun popped through. It was my kind of sky drama, but I had left my easel in the studio. Racing home, I grabbed my gear and drove to a back road by the farm and set up shop next to the bee hives with this unobstructed view. It was 20 minutes to sunset and the foggy murk off the ocean had come in and obscured my sunset before I returned. But I am a painting junky and I started to work frantically to lock in the scene, just in case. Sure enough, the murk partially gave way to a warm orange glow as sun slid down to set. The bird were fluffing their feathers in the roost behind me in an old pine. A young skunk ambled by my bags as I worked. An owl glided by as low as the posts in the painting right in front of me. But I just worked on, and that’s when I saw the moon. It was my treat for hanging onto my vision. You just never know unless you are there….

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

I was working on a larger painting today as the sky changed from grey to sunny. As it got near sunset, I packed it in and started to drive down island to home. I got to this view and gave myself the challenge. “You have painted this scene over fifty times in your life, but never with this lighting effect, nor so little time to paint it. YOU can do it!” Forty minutes later, cars with their lights on were passing me packing my paints up. I did have a head start though. I never clean my palette until I am home and the mixed colors from the first painting easily launched me into the middle stage of this painting. And I love sundown challenges!….

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

No, its not a typo/spelling mistake. Get your French dictionaries out to get this title right. My Dad loved stone walls and gardens and creating with each. He taught my brothers and me how to do it all from scratch. He would have loved to have this painting…

“Wet Hay, Music Street” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

I had seen my farmer friend cutting this small field only to have it rained on after he rowed it up. Not good for hay. Now it is all baled up for mulch hay for his wife’s commercial tomatoe patch. And once again it got rained on. It was all good luck for me because normally his hay does not sit out. As soon as it is baled it is gone, right into his hay loft for his milk cows for the winter. I had all the time in the world to paint it…

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

My friends’ horse, Binty, is living out her last years in a small protected south-facing hillside pasture. I enjoy visiting her a few times every year. She loves visitors and I try to remember to bring a pear or an apple for her when I know I am stopping by. She brings back old memories of our elder horse and donkey from when my brothers and I were young. I have painted Binty 4 or more times in the last few years. She loves to pose and with her white coat she always looks great in the late afternoons against the shadows of the woods behind her. Thank you, Binty!…

“Polly’s for the Birds” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

The sun came out for an hour. Then it went back under cover. The only hint that it was still there were these streaks in the clouds near sunset. This was another view painted at the Polly Hill Arboretum …

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

I was visiting a friend and helping her turn on her summer outdoor shower. The basement was already flooded with water before we even touched anything. A pin hole leak in a 60 year old pipe. Not a good sign. I went to my van to leave, but there was this iris patch… and someone had to wait for a plumber…

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

It was sunny earlier. Then it got rainy later. I was hoping to paint bales of hay being made, but the weather was too threatening for the farmers. The bees were not threatened and kept right on collecting nectar and pollen. They let me get pretty close before I got buzzed, but not stung. Then a slow gentle rain finally drove me off. I was just about through anyway…

“Morning Glory John Deere” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Today I went for a late afternoon walk on a newly built and mowed trail. I found Simon from Morning Glory Farm just getting out of his tractor at the end of a long day of farm work. I walked with him to the other end of the trail where he had a ride waiting. On my return walk this is what I saw. An unplanned, unexpected painting, just the way I like them!…

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

While I was away, the cactus had just started to bloom. It makes them really stand out in the green sea of grasses flourishing after all the rains…

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

I found this grove a few weeks ago on one of my scouting trips coming back home from Weatherford the long way. It was such a splendid grove that I had stopped and taken multiple photos of it to burn the image into my consciousness. Of course, that only works when I see the photos again! Which I did this morning and waited until near evening to catch the light right. The cattle were a bonus when I got there to paint…

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

I mowed the lawn today. Or I should say the weeds. They had grown twice as high as the grass from the rains we just had. I always like to walk around and admire the perfection of the yard after just cutting all the raggedy growth. I filled the two birdbaths and this one caught my eye as well as that section of sky on its mirror surface…

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

After driving into Dallas and back over the weekend, I experienced the full scope of the Texas wild flower season along the roadsides. Upon returning, all I wanted to do was paint wild flowers. I found this trail up above the rock quarry lake, or tank, as Texans say. The sun was close to down and it just was what I had wanted to paint…

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

The Blue Bonnets are finally out in force in my own back pastures. It’s fun to drive around there (watch the mesquite thorns under the tires!) and see all the new locations of blankets of wild flowers spread out all over…

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

I have been waiting for this Mesquite tree to finish leafing out. I thought it was ready for today’s painting. By the time I was half way through, I had an audience of 7 calves! They were having fun licking the shiny headlights on my car. I finally had to shoo them away when one tried to bite the front grille work. Luckily the mom’s stayed a respectable distance away, and none of them was interested in the Mesquite I was painting…

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

Due to a number of reasons, this is the only Texas Hill Country painting I was able to finish. Next time I promise more!…

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

For the last two days, when first I’ve walked into my studio I have smelled a most delicious, almost citrous odor. Couldn’t figure out what it was nor where it was coming from. This evening I went out to pick a wild flower bouquet to paint. As I was arranging it and turning on the still life spot lights to prepare to paint, I found the iris bud I had painted 2 days ago totally open in its full splendor. That is what had wafted out that wonderful scent and I knew I had to paint it now…

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

As I passed by the hay to go down to the lower pasture to paint, I realized this was the last of the winter hay. If I didn’t paint it now, the cattle were going to eat it and there would be no more until next winter. I pulled the jeep up to were I wanted to unload my gear and started to set up. Whoa Bessie! One of the cows spotted me and the jeep and trumped to the others and they all came arunning. (One really does sound like an elephant trumpeting when mooing!) Before I could get a brush out to work, I was surrounded by inquisitve, hungry, black faces with large, pink, smacking tongues. One started licking the jeep and then they started mooing at me. When they got no response they headed over to the hay to munch on. The HAY!? I had to rush over twice to tell them off before they ate and trampled it all…

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

I returned to my friends’ Barking Rocks Winery as I am trying to capture the grape vines just coming out of bud stage. Some are early out. Some are still tightly wound. It is exciting to watch the process. After this painting, I will be taking a short break as family flies in from all points to celebrate my Mom’s nintieth year. See you back before April Fools…

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

Today was a day at home. At sunset my cat and I walked out behind my studio and caught the last light as the sun disappeared between the barn and the corn crib. There was enough of a haze for the last half hour of sunup that I could look directly at it and not get retina burn. Kitz gave up way before I did. I found her in the dark by the studio door when I lugged my gear back in…

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

I have been dying to do a few paintings at my friends’ Barking Rocks Winery. I have been studying the geography and flora and fauna there for a year or so and felt ready to capture the vines as they go from dormancy to full bloom. Today when I arrived the vines had all just been pruned and the tiny buds were growing large as I painted in the 80 degree sunshine. It didn’t hurt that I was offered a glass or two of the grape as I stroked paint to canvas!…

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

I had cactus on my mind today as I pumped up the tires on my lawn tractor and looked at some cactus thorns protruding from the sidewalls. Of course this was the first time I needed to get out and mow and the tractor didn’t quite start. So I left my tools and went for a walk and the result is here in my painting…

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

Today was slippery going getting to my painting site. The clay soil was still holding moisture from the 3 plus inches of rain from the end of last week. I drove down the pasture. Then I walked down to ford the stream which was higher than usual. Luck was there as a fallen log helped me keep my boots dry. But I almost lost it climbing up the far side slipping and sliding on the clay. The sun was low in that far pasture and it was highlighting the surveyors tape flagging some points of interest. Now they became my points of interest…

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

It was raining all day today. I thought I’d have to do a studio still life. I went in the studio and looked out at the barn and saw all these puddles reflecting sky where once was dry earth. The rains had made all the colors so much darker as they got wet. The contrasts of reflective puddles and dark grasses and black trees and brooding skies was rather intense. So I set up by the window and painted…

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

Today’s painting is a view of an ajoining property to the ranch on which I live. It is for sale and will be a memory at some future date, as houses or oil and gas exploration take their toll on the landscape and wild life thereon. Right now it is pasture for the 50 head of cattle plus newborns which graze freely on both properties. It also holds memories of the oyster bed I found in the middle of the land when I was out painting 2 years ago. There were almost a dozen fossilized oyster shells scattered on top of the slope I was standing on…

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

I wasn’t going to paint today…getting ready for my show Saturday at Flavors From Afar at 6712 Snyder Plaza in Dallas, TX, 214-696-2327 but when I went for my walk this afternoon there was this sky waiting for me. So, no walk!…

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

The cattle rancher pulled out about 5 hay rolls for the live stock today. I couldn’t resist doing this painting after my afternoon walk through the pasture and seeing the lighting and positioning of this roll and cow…

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

Finding old stone or adobe buildings to paint are getting harder to locate as they are replaced with metal buildings…

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

Another view of the dynamite shack, up on the hill…

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

After a few days scouting this section of the Park at different times of day, I took a chance that this rough, side road would give me the view I wanted. I actually had a couple see me painting and drive in to watch and photo me working. They then tried to buy this piece just as I had put the first stroke of blue on for the sky. Of course, $20.00 did not impress me… What did though was the bear proof food storage unit just behind me. My ears were on guard duty the whole time I did this painting. At dusk when I got in my van and drove out, I saw my first javelina, or peccary , standing near by. I was glad I was leaving…

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

This is down in West Texas, about an hour out of Big Bend National Park in the middle of a 12,000 acre ranch. It is a record of the time of day and the exact place where I discovered I had a flat tire. I was very lucky that I carry a mini air compressor and was able to fill it to get me on my way. No one would have found me where I was. However, I did have to stop at the Border Patrol check point and do a refill to get me back to my hotel room in Alpine… And I awoke many flocks of doves as I drove back out of the ranch after sundown, hence the title…

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

I found these hay rolls when I went to buy some hand made cheese out in the country…

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

I have painted the left side of this field and the houses and ocean beyond at least 3 other times this fall. (You can discover them on my website.) There are 6 bluebird houses set out in the grass and I have not placed any of them in the other paintings as I didn’t feel I could do them justice. The stonewall shadows have also intrigued me in the late day light. This evening in my wanderings about looking for today’s piece to paint, I tresspassed to the other side of the wall and my lightbulb went off. This was it. I raced back into my studio, grabbed my gear and many layers of clothing and gloves and painted into the twilight…Oh, and did I mention cold again?!

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

This is a view I anticipated was actually there, but wouldn’t know for sure without walking out to the high point of the field. The clouds had been looking ominous for over an hour when I chose to go out. There appeared to be canyons between the cloud banks and setting sunlight was piercing through creating wondrous bands of color… The windchill was wicked and I had to stop in the middle and run back to the car for my gloves!

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

The sun started to come out. It was 58 degrees. I was out of the wind, and it is December…

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

A windswept view on a cool and sometimes rainy day. The moisture brought out all the color in the Little Bluestem Grasses…

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

This was a painting I had done in September and just finished up for today’s painting…

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

An ocean view at sunset near the end of Greenhouse Road…

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

Another flock of sheep I’ve had my eye on for a while. Today I found them right where I wanted them, behind the split rock in the corner of the field…

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

Another gray day. This one was a day in September. Wish all those colors were still out there now…

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

I have been watching this flock of sheep for a week or so waiting for them to be in the right place with the right light. Today was the charm…

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

Gray sky clearing and sheep grazing…

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

Today’s painting is of my friends’ horse who I like to visit every year. The horse has a real sweet tooth for pears and luckily has a pear tree right in the middle of the pasture…

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

An old barn, no longer full of hay and animals, but a carpenter’s lumber storage space…

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

Just as I was finishing this painting, a jogger appeared on the trail. His presence completed my image…

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

“Cloud Shadows”, this is a Small painting, 11″x 14″ oil on canvas, unframed. This painting has SOLD.

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

Early morning out at the horse barn where I used to hang out when I was 16 …

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

Through the fields and wood to the barrier beach…

“Dunes and Tree”, this is a Small painting, 9″x 12″ oil on canvas panel, unframed. This painting has SOLD.

From a favorite spot I like to paint at this time of season and time of day. It also has the sound of the waves crashing in the background to sooth the soul while visiting there…

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

I am still pursuing painting antique barns. Here is another old Martha’s Vineyard barn. It has quite a pronounced tilt to it…

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

An old barn on a cloudy, then rainy day at the Arboritum…

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

This field patiently waits for the cattle to be put to pasture to be complete. As it is mostly a hay field, the cattle only appear after the hay, and then just a week or so to visit. Completion is short, but oh so sweet…

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

The full moon over the sheep field was worth the wait…

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

Another hazy, sometimes overcast day with thunderheads on the horizon all day long. Painting was better in the middle of the day than early or late…

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

I was out blueberry hunting and came upon this late afternoon scene. The barn was a rusty red and the locust trees appeared delicate against the warm yellow-blue sky…

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

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

“Country Road”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel, SOLD

“At The Main Gate”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″ oil on canvas panel, SOLD.

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

“Path To Tom’s”, this is a Large painting, 18″x 30″ oil on canvas, unframed, SOLD.

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

“Come and Get It”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″ oil on canvas panel, $500.00 US

“Front Door Sunset”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″ oil on canvas panel, $500.00 US

“Back to the Barn”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″ oil on canvas panel, $500.00 US

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

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

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

“Leaves Last Stand”, this is a Small one, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel, SOLD

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