pond

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

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…

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

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

The coloring of the boats is such a nice contrast to the indecisiveness of the winter landscape. Yet, even their colors were tempered by a cloud layer moving in and softening the sun’s light. Next time maybe I can follow my own script without a major lighting change in the middle of production…

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

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

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

Today I miscalculated the sun’s now lower angle. I was looking forward to painting a particular boathouse while hunkering down in a hollow out of the 50 mph wind gusts. The sun had already set down there when I went to investigate. Driving around in circles, I ended up back at my friend’s house where I am staying. Patting the happy dogs as I looked out the window wistfully, I realized there was my painting. The best part was I was definitely out of the wind!!!

“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!…

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

The grey day brought out the colors, but not the cheerfulness of this scene. It was the end of daylight and the waterfowl were starting to settle in for the night. The faded reds of the bark and next year’s buds gave the landscape an extra breath of life…

“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…

“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…

“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…

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

This is a painting I did at My Toi, the Japanese Garden on Chappaquiddick. I was painting with a friend on an overcast day in September and we ended up by the reflecting pool. It was nice to paint there with no harsh shadows to deal with…

“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…

“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!…

“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…

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

This is a private, happy place. It has its own special sunset views with a formal, yet very Vineyard feel. I am glad that I may share this with you at the evening hour…

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

In Chilmark, near the upper end of this Island, (read higher, altitudinally), there is a ridge which was transferred into the public domain. From there looking east on a clear day you may see Chappaquiddick Island and Nantucked Island beyond. It can be a spectacular view depending on clouds and sun. I painted from this spot last year, I think, and it never ceases to take my breath away especially towards sunset. With the right cloud formations the reflected sunset light is marvelous to behold…

“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…

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

In case you noticed, my paintings have not been as regular lately because I have been working on larger paintings for a small show in an intimate space. If you are on Martha’s Vineyard (or know someone who is) please come to my opening, Monday, August 17th from 5 to 7 p.m. at the West Chop Club Inn in West Chop, MA, just opposite the Post Office. My works will be there from August 13th through the 27th. If you cannot come to the opening, please stop in to view the works anytime from 8 am to 8 pm daily.

I was going to be good today and stay in my studio and finish up some larger paintings for a small show I was supposed to hang tomorrow. But… there was this incredible sky out all day with great thunderheads floating by, and the studio was hot and it was very humid and uncomfortable, and, and, I had to go do this new painting of these clouds. Just had to… Does that make me bad? Of course, it is now 3 a.m. and I am still working. And, no matter what, the dog I am sitting for a friend will bark at me asleep in bed at 7 a.m. to be fed… and I will feel, well, bad… There it is, bad. I am bad!…And it feels so good!

“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…

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

I have painted this view before, but in the middle afternoon. It is quite different at the end of the day. The dark foreground gives a bit of mystery and adds drama to the light in the remainder of the painting…

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

It was a warm day, but the fog made it feel cool. Even with the high humidity, the fog had a cooling effect when it touched you. The breeze had something to do with the cooling as well. It was actually pleasant to paint in and seemd to ground all the biting bugs. This was an added bonus around sunset time when this was painted…

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

For a few years one could not get this close to the old brick water works building. The construction chain link fence has been taken down revealing a new painting opportunity. Of course, I had to take advantage of the situation complete with a friendly pair of Canada Geese! I am forever trying to get some red in my paintings and these old bricks in shadow are close enough. Red, the compliment of green, will always activate the greens in a landscape…

“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…

“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…

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

I seem to be stuck on boats, or at least the colors of boats. This one appeared where there hadn’t been one last week. The sun had set by the time I found this and I painted extra fast because a cloud of moquitoes found me and then the sand flies. But I liked painting this in the subdued after light…

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

Another late sunset painting. Paint the water, then the sky and last the landscape. The water and sky color will change the fastest at this time of day. The land will slowly follow suit. Green is the last identifiable color as the light gets darker and darker after sunset, just as I am the last identifiable mosquito candy as it gets darker and darker and I paint faster and faster….

“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!….

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

The rain left off for part of the day and I drove over to White Rock Lake, a thousand plus acres of water on the East side of downtown Dallas. Some evenings the sky will turn to magic. If I am there then luck is with me. Tonight wasn’t bad, but sometimes the setting sun glints off the distant skyscrapers and…, well it didn’t this time. There will be other unique chances here by the lake again…

“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…

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

The silver lining to a gray day sometimes comes at the end…

“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.

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

I have always liked walking in to the Water Works, but could never find the right vantage point from which to paint. I have to thank the Martha’s Vineyard Surfcasters Association for donating and installing a bench along the side of the path and the pond from where I was able to capture today’s painting.This painting has SOLD.

“Before the Snow”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″ oil on canvas panel

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

“Gray Day Color”, this is a Small one, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel, SOLD

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

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

“Ducks Bedroom”, 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

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