thaw malin

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.

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

I scouted this spot weeks ago, but hadn’t found a good and sunny day to come back until now. This is along the edge of a finger of Tisbury Great Pond at Sepiessa in West Tisbury…

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

I painted here in late afternoon light over two years ago. Driving by the other day, I couldn’t resist creating it again in morning light with the tree shadows rippling across the drive…

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

This was a bundled up, gloves mandatory painting. It was kind of like working inside a super large walk-in refrigerator with a landscape at the far end, but they forgot to turn off the fan. The lights were on a timer and the beer and wine were all sold out. Nothing else to do but paint the landscape…

“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…

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

Sometimes I go out to paint a subject I have seen before, but come back with a completely different composition. I haven’t left the sky out of an image recently and I like the low view angle with not even the top of the horizon showing…

“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…

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

I have enjoyed this view over many years while walking past and through into a more enticing angle. Today the wind was moving too fast and I settled in the lee of a pine tree grove. The sky gave me glimpses of greatness, but the clouds held only for seconds and were gone…

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

This is part of the view behind my winter studio in Edgartown, Ma this season. It is about a 4 minute walk from the house to the edge of Sheriff’s Meadow Pond behind me. Eel Pond is off to the left with the Sound beyond. This was one of my favorite haunts when I was a little boy. I first painted the little mud hole pond in the middle-ground in 1974 and have returned to paint here many times. There are few walkers on the paths around the pond this time of year, but I often think the winter colors are more spectacular than the summer foliage…

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

The oystermen are back at it on one of the great ponds. Most of their vessels are gray and/or non de-script. This one has that color charm I like so much in a flat bottom pond skiff…

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

I was able to find another rose to paint in a friend’s yard. This time a tea rose and not a lowly climber. Cool nights have not yet put them into dead flower shock…

“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…

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

The late rose season has been long this year. By now frost has usually had its way with any flowers still in bloom. Here and there in sheltered corners a bud or two attempt to unfurl their colors…

“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…

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

I started this on a rainy evening a few days ago while sitting inside my van. I couldn’t finish it then and went back a few more times for better details. The light was not as dark and overcast the next few times. So I waited until it was almost dark for the colors to mute more like the original start day…

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

I almost missed the color changes in these marsh grasses, as they turn from green through orange and gold then brown and silver. Soon enough, beside sky and cloud, the cool blue water will remain the sole enchanting dancer in the land and sea of winterscape…

“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…

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

A beautiful, warm and sunny afternoon found me out along the paths behind the dunes. The Atlantic Ocean gently rocked the air with sounds of surf and scent of sea. Ducks dropped down into the reeds for an overnight rest. Moon rose from the east gaining its luminous power as the sun slipped ever lower and was gone…

“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…

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

I accidentally scared a turkey away in a friend’s backyard and discovered this red watering can as I turned to go. I think if it hadn’t been red, I might have let it be and gone about my business…

“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…

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

For decades I have passed this river on my way to Boston and have wished to paint it. When I finished this painting and did a quick global positioning to really see where I had worked. I was totally surprised to find this was the river I always wanted to paint. It is the North River and passes under Route 3 in Hanover and Pembroke, Ma. It looks beautiful from the highway, but even more stupendous from the river bank, especially in fall colors. I was just a half mile east of where I had first seen it so many years earlier…

“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…

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

I was back at this lighthouse finishing up a larger commissioned painting. When I looked up, I was forced into making this new painting. The reflective light was just too compelling to ignore…

“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…

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

I saw this cloud bank come in and tried to figure out what foreground I could place in front of it. The storm was too far north of east to be able to think of any other place to drive to. Luckily it was very tall and very far away when first spotted. I was able to go home and get my paints and turn around and come back up to this end of the island to capture the full majesty of the clouds. I think I had about an hour to get everything in before it began to rain and I had to quit…

“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…

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

This topsy turvy landscape behind the dunes and above the cliffs remains so intriguing to me. It appears as if giant dump trucks once emptied their loads of sand willy nilly on top of the cliffs. Then beach grass, little blue stem, poison ivy, bay laurel, huckleberry, blackberry and wind beaten and shaped oaks and cedars took up residence. Hurricane/tropical depression Irene came and dowsed all with salt water from the wave smoke below causing leaf brown out and early fall coloring over parts of the whole scene…

“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…

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

The sun was shining. Seas were calming down. Overhead swallows and dragonflies patrolled. A feeling of warmth overwhelmed my senses…

“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…

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

It was a cloudy day with an almost unnoticeable sunset. The dusk colors were delicate as the blue went into purple then darkness. When cars drove by with headlights on and it ruined my viewing, I knew it was time to quit…

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

I have a commission to do a painting of this lighthouse and decided to do a small one for my daily piece as well. As I was packing up for the night, the Coast Guard Station Chief came out (that’s his residence attached to the lighthouse) and introduced himself to me. He was curious to see what I had done all afternoon. Then he made me an offer I can’t refuse. He gave me his cell number and said anytime I’d like to come onto the grounds and paint to give him a call. I guess I will try to do one or two more from different angles later in the fall…

“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…

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

Back in my watercolor period I painted in this area once. It felt so much better creating this scene in oils today. The paint just seemed to flow right off my brushes. After Hurricane Irene yesterday, all the leave are beginning to show subtle browns and reds. The vibrant greens of summer have turned in the space of a day…

“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…

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

This is a different view of one of my often painted subjects. The goldenrod in the sunlight and the creeping shadows helped to make a quite dramatic contrast…

“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…

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

My plan was to paint a boat in the Lagoon on the other side of the street, but the light was wrong. It was good to go on this side, though. With warmth with a pleasant breeze, it was the perfect evening to be out watching the harbor activity fade into night…

“Opening 5 Miles Out”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $550.00 USD

The day had been partly sunny and now partly cloudy. It was a tough choice of where to find the light right. I worked my way through 2 different wood lots until I decided on this long, distant view…

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

At most locations where I find myself painting I also do a bit of scouting for the setting of my next piece. While I was working last week in the blueberry grounds, I followed the through path down hill into the glades beside a stream. It may have been the Tiasquam River, but I am not certain. The path is well maintained and had this short passage over a wet area before a foot bridge. Taking a quick snapshot to refresh my memory later in the studio, I liked the image enough to go back and create this work. I tried some Skin So Soft to ward off the multitude of mosquitoes and came home smiling, happy but odiferous…

“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…

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

Today I tried to capture another moonrise, but clouds were threatening to obscure the 30 minute painting window I had. And this sunset in the opposite direction was just too color rich an image to leave unpainted. As I worked, a small gaff rigged sailboat swung into view unexpectedly adding a human scale to the landscape before me…

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

I used my compass and the astronomy info from wunderground.com to figure out the correct direction for today’s moonrise. I checked with Google Maps satellite view to choose this location. My intuition told me it was a good place, but I just wasn’t sure about that stand of cedars on the opposite shore… The moon had its own plan and did not reveal itself until about 10 minutes after officially rising. At that point it was well above the trees…

“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…

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

Clouds threatened from a distance and made a dour end of a pleasant day. I set up just slightly off the tarmac in some bushes so the traffic would could not bother me. A few friends spotted me as they drove by, but they were past before they could give a shout out. I painted into the dark until the passing headlight began to disturb my view. After packing up, I rushed to the gas dock in Menemsha and jigged up 5 squid for a late dinner treat…

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

I found this blueberry patch while out scouting locations last fall. Going there with fingers crossed hoping to find some, we ran into so many I almost forgot to get my gear out to paint. It was a gorgeous day to recreate on canvas. The clouds felt like one could reach up and eat their cotton candy hearts out. It also was a tick haven. I found 9 dog ticks on my pants but, luckily, no nymphs yet. Pie and blueberry crisps back at the studio helped me reflect on the days labors…

“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…

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

I drive by this barn almost everyday. I alway want to paint it, but… Today was the day and the sun cooperated fully…

“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…

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

I enjoy walking out to this locale to paint, or just to view the evening sky. From my studio, it is the closest 360º, open sky view point. This was a beautiful end to a warm day. The mid-summer field colors were enchanting in the low evening light. Volumes and shapes not apparent when the sun is more overhead were exposed in the sunset light…

“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…

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

It was raining lightly when I went out to paint. I had to stay in my van to create this piece. The sky turned yellow as I hoped it might just before I finished. A warm glow always cheers a rainy day…

“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…

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

Behind me as I worked on this painting were 2 baby raccoons. They were foraging among the Stuartia blossoms which had fallen from the trees in the grove. They kept a 30 foot distance from me, until I walked around behind the stone wall to try to photograph them. Their ears must be sharp because they were gone when I peeked over the top to where they were. I finally found one frozen behind a Stuartia trunk. I walked up to the tree and poked my camera around the side and got one good shot. Just like baby skunks, they sure are cute when they are little…

“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……

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

This was begun one June evening and completed July 5. I had only one visitor as I painted the first evening. It was the captain himself down to check the lines. This last time there were at least 15 or 20 people with ice cream cones and/or cameras wandering around the docks. Summer must be here…

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

It was a gorgeous July day, but I could not get to my paints until late. Since it was the beginning of the long holiday weekend, a picnic was in order. Robin created a Pan Bagnat stuffed with smoked bluefish and a bottle or two of oatmeal stout was acquired to wash it down (and to keep my brush hand limber!). A light house was included for some local color and the striking sunset closed down the day, and then the mosquitoes arrived…

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

Hay! Hay! I have been waiting for this to rolled up. Fog came in thick the day after they had cut the field. An extra day was needed to dry and finish the job. My good luck…

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

I sketched this the other week but just could not finish it until now. The magnolias bloom, flower and fade so fast that I knew to go back to complete this would be pointless….

“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…

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

This was the last full moon I was able to capture about May 15th. It is hard to believe the landscape greened up in just one month, but it didn’t look like this on June 15th. This is on the glacier outwash plain, flat with a reluctant slope into the Atlantic Ocean…

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

I painted this scene in the winter, but I think I like this view more. Not just because it’s greener, but the light is warmer and softer in the summer season…

“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…

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

It has become so green this Spring that I felt I had to do a green garden painting…

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

Regularly painting for 5 years without much of a break, I am back to my palette after a month of not working. It was nice to not have the daily pressure of creating, but I did miss painting spring this year…

“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…

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

A well wrapped bicyclist passed me as I worked at the edge of the pavement. She mumbled something about seeing the last of the snow clouds for the season. She could have been right as the breeze and the temperature had me working on all cylinders to keep up my body heat. Those clouds sure were purple as the sun slid over the horizon…

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

Out in the woods at dusk, there comes a moment when the light and dark are at equilibrium. It is still possible to make out the larger forms and shapes, but the dimmer light and colors of a winter wood lot leave the smaller details indistinguishable one from another……

“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…

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

It stopped raining and fogging just long enough for me to find these swans and to paint them. I stayed far away because I know how territorial they can be. (One hit from their wing can break a man’s arm.) The one minding the eggs remained very still. The other mute swan was harder to paint as it was back and forth on full patrol…

“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…

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

This painting was started last year. I could never find the light I wanted to be able to finish it. This day I went up there as fog started lazily drifting in and I was able to combine my earlier vision with today’s reality (obviously the roses were from the earlier attempt). It always feels good to finish a painting even after time has past…

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

Scenes like this will soon be gone as the foliage unfolds it’s summer cloak and the grasses turn a greener shade. The excitement of a nude landscape will give way to fully realized, softer form. Working fast to ward off the cold will become longer, languid sessions at the easel…

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

My muse drew me out to the end of the farm this evening, but I just couldn’t see what was there. I turned about, walking back to the van in defeat. No cow or horse, sheep or sail, just a totally flat, open landscape. Until I turned the corner as the sun came out for the last half hour of the day…

“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…

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

My brother, John, and I went for a drive-about my last weekend in Australia to the southern tip of the Mornington Peninsula, due south of Melbourne. It is a rugged coast with sand and an overlay of ancient lava from past volcanic activity. We stopped long enough for me to paint this lighthouse. Moseying onward we got out and followed a rolling hill path to a seaside overlook. Discovering 200 well heeled revelers way out ahead of us on an ocean bluff, we turned to go and nearly walked into the bride and bridesmaids. They were in full attire gently gliding down the footpath to make her grand entrance. Farther along our journey, we found a helmeted man hanging onto a pair of wings about to jump from a cliff into a stiff headwind. He survived and soared off into the wild, blue yonder…

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

I had some extra helpers while working on this painting out on the farm. Two yearlings kept prancing up behind me and giving me nudges while trying to rummage in my canvas bag. It took me a few times before I realized the apple smell in there was too much for them. Ah well, sometimes it’s good to share my snack…

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

This was the third day I have spent down at the Bend farm painting. The first day was mainly exploring as it is partially surrounded by bush/forest. The second day I was on tenterhooks from sun-up onward as rain came and went. After finding a very ripe blackberry patch and having to run to a big old gum tree for shelter, I ended up painting this from inside the horse run-in shed out of the rain drops…

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

Back in Melbourne today and I found this wonderful public garden close to my brother’s in which to paint. Many dog walkers and curious children came by as I worked. But it wasn’t until my favorite Bull Terrier, Axle, came by with his master, Billy, my brother’s housemate, that I knew it was time for dinner…

“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…

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

I could not resist another field of Little Bluestem grass. This is a tree I love to paint in all seasons. It is near a mailbox which says “Old Hunt Place” and for lack of a better location name, call it just that. Every viewing is different as time and seasons change and weather moves in and out. Sometimes I walk away empty handed, yet still relishing the view…

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

I pass this scene in winter many times during the week. The Little Bluestem Grasses in the field turn a golden orange during the cold months. Sun hitting it late in the day gives it an extra boost of color against the bleaker landscape. Today I stopped to finally paint the view and was excited at how easily it all fell into place. But then I had been composing it in my mind each and everytime as I drove by…

“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…

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

Rain was coming down and it was very late for me to start a painting before darkness came. It was already too dark due to the storm clouds. I was despairing and to cheer up my spirits I took a drive out to the lighthouse. What a treat to find it at this balance of light out and lights in…

“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…

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

It’s wonderful to have a flower pop in front of me unexpectedly. I was painting china in the hutch the other day. When I walked into the next room, this hibiscus stood out like a house on fire. I couldn’t wait to finish what I was doing to get to this blossom…

“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…

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

Having not regularly done a still life, this was a challenge. In someone else’s kitchen where I never painted before it was even more so especially with them all watching me create. Luckily, I was offered a glass or two of wine as I worked and the painting flowed smoothly out from under my brush…

“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?…

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

Snow came in during the night. By morning everything was covered by 4″ of white. Afternoon and the high tide melted all snow off of the marsh grasses. The island and lands all around were still laden with snow, but the bare naked marsh added an eerie dimension…

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

This was the tail end of the storm, a true Nor’easter. The wind was gusting to at least 50. Even inside the car painting, it was rocking. I made a sketch and some mental notes, but had to finish in the studio. I wanted to capture the low light before darkness. That always creates a problem because it does get dark fast then…

“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…

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

I had been scouting this field from afar since before Xmas. Since hunting season slowed down I decided it was safe to traipse through the cornfield to paint this one un-mowed part. The farmer must have left it standing to feed any local wild life. I only spotted a snow goose flying inquisitively overhead while I was painting. A passing lone dog walker and his sidekick stumbled upon me from behind the cedars. After a friendly greeting and informing me that I was in a no trespassing/hunting field, I finished up and found my way back via a longer, snowier route to my van…

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

It took me awhile to pick this view to paint as the light was so flat today. A few minutes into the work and small, slow snowflakes began falling. I moved quickly to finish, but had to call it a day when my palette started to have a snow drift in the corner….

“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…

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

There are certain areas of the marsh which are tidal pools. From high to low tide, they never fully drain off, but are replenished by the next high tide. Other areas have direct drainage through the marsh waterways to the rivers and thus to the ocean tides. These places will move from empty to overflowing and back again during each tide cycle. I enjoy the sky reflections on the tidal pools. It is as if a mirror was laid down in the dark grasses giving a strong contrast of light to dark as the daylight fails during the sunset hour…

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

I continue to be fascinated by the marshlands here. Because of the private causeway which goes through the marsh, and is flooded at periods of high tide, at low tide I have direct access to the inner workings of this ecosystem. Otherwise I would be outfitted with hip boots or waders to get to the views available here. I am transfixed by the warm, golden sunset light on top of the grasses in contrast to the dark brooding edges of the waterways and the blues of sky and water reflections. Add to that the smokey blue/purple atmospheric haze of the distant shores and hills and the scenes dazzle the eye as the sun goes down…

“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…

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

I drive past the Mill Pond almost everyday. With a great sky, clouds or thunderheads, off in the distance, the view is just waiting for a painter to capture it. I missed my few opportunities this past year until now. My friend, Joannie, is the local Animal Control Officer. She has been saving ducks and geese and swans with wing or feather damage and placing them here in the Mill Pond. She comes by late every afternoon to feed them and see how they are getting along. When she brought in the first swan, I started to dream about this painting. Then news came that “Bob” was actually “Bobette” when she brought in another hurt swan. Bobette is currently enjoying her second companion as word got out that the 1st companion to arrive was so damaged as to flow over the waterfall and drowned…

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

The streaming sunbeams of late afternoon, belied the coolness of the day. A hot coffee and gloves soon led me to know I had nothing to dread. Oh sorry, that’s for another time…!

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

It has been deer hunting season. I desperately wanted to paint this scene in the woods, halfway down my friends’ driveway in an active hunting area at dusk. Not a sane choice to make especially with no hunter orange clothing to wear, but… I drove down to the spot. Set up against the front of my van in the middle of the drive. Whistled a happy tune and began to paint until the colors disappeared on my palette and in the woods…

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

It was a blustery day. Not much outside activity due to rain squalls off and on. No sun, no shadows. I found this scallop shucking pile just before dark set in. I figured it was a fisherman’s day’s work, collecting and then shucking the bay scallops. Now it would be my day’s work…

“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…

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

I love taking care of my friends’ cat while they are away. There are so many wonder views around the old family homestead. I had to stop while driving out and capture this one in the evening light. With my hood up to keep me warm and not making too many fast movements, I fit right with the turkey flock as they slunk in to their roosting pines. They paid me no heed 20 feet away from their launching lawn as they each revved up for take off into the tops of the pine trees. I felt, truly, like a fly on the wall as they trotted past me from all directions to get settled in…

“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…

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

I was wandering around by my friends’ house on Tea Lane in some iffy humid weather. Back in the field near where the wild turkeys nest I discovered the abandoned bee hive. Looking like a bear had helped himself, the top enclosure was balanced on the brink of falling. It was a quiet evening’s work until the turkeys started chiming/clucking in before roosting. Taking off from 25 feet below their favorite pine trees, as a friend said, they sounded like bowling balls attempting liftoff…

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

I have been lugging my paints along with me on some recent trips to the mainland, just incase I am inspired. This is a view near a friend’s house in a town, oddly called, Marshfield, MA. In early US history, pioneers would venture forth in flat bottomed skiffs and harvest the salt hay, marsh grasses, rinse it and use for livestock feed. What look today like mosquito control ditches throughout the marsh are actually town or farm property demarkation lines. Your hay is there. Mine is here. Stay away! The Indians were aghast at this European sense of personally “owning” the lands. Now, sadly, Indian place names are the only signs left of their former “stewardship”…

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

It felt good to change gears and work inside on a still life. I purposely tried to loosen up a little and not always have sharp, crisp, delineations between colors……

“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…

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

A quiet evening interlude, out of wind and sun, yet full of fall coloring. I drove past/through it twice before recognizing its potential. With autumn colors at their peak, it was difficult to make a single choice…

“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…

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

A sweet afternoon of warm sun and breeze until the light air turned into wind and the sun, shadow. Upon reaching the van I found I was wearing 2 shirts, a fleece, a vest and windbreaker. But I was happy to have caught this image early, in the warmth of the day. I probably never would have considered this view if it had not been for the tumbling shadows on the hill side…

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

This was a quick sketch as the sun darted below the tree line, the field filled full of shadow and the cloud cover warmed from the setting sun. At that moment the cattle came up the field in front of me. This gave opportunity…

“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…

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

I had other ideas for today’s daily painting, but then again, so did the sun with its late season angle. I had scouted this earlier in the day for a future painting but came back again for today’s. I had been alerted that the 35 year old Magnolia Grandiflora, which Polly, Polly Hill Arboretum , had planted in the corner between the barn and shed in my painting, was taken down to be better able to repair the barn. It had surely outlived it’s place of honor there as it was hard to open the shed door much less the barn door without walking into a branch or two. Polly would have been happy to see the space opened up once more. It had been exceedingly difficult for anyone to do a painting of the barn the way the tree had covered over half of the front…

“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…

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

I was hoping for a good sky when I set up to paint. I just didn’t realize how good it would be. I think I made up for it with the colorful fisherman’s gear on the dock!…

“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…

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

This was a beautiful partly sunny, partly overcast day. Some of the overcast parts were dropping rain and yet the sunshine was on either side of the cloud banks. This enhanced the drama of the day…

“…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!

“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…

“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…

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

It rained for many days. This was the closest to blue skies we have had. However, I had to wait until the very end of the day for the sky to rent. Then the colors came tumbling out. Anticipated and welcomed on many levels…

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

A fun painting was this. The day was gray when I started. Past the halfway finished point, the sun broke in with evening warmth. I had to walk down the street a bit and mentally regroup to be able to come back and repaint with this delicious light. Life changes and when you are ready, you may, too.

“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…!

“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…

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

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!!!

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…!

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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!

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

My priority today was to be out of the wind. This was an ideal spot to paint from. The sun kept me warm the whole time, and what small breeze there was kept bugs away…

“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…

“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…

“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…

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

I found open western sky with a wind break to catch this change of weather passing. It wasn’t an impressive sunset, nor did it stay clear for long. But for this moment, it was enough of a change from the gray sky color to give a sense of optimism…

“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…

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

This was a beautifully sunny day as I set up to paint. A storm front came in. I got wet before I could get my paints safely into the car. The clouds were intense to look at, complete with thunder and lightning and a rainbow at the end…

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

I wandered about at the Polly Hill Arboretum this evening scouting for subject matter. I found only one bloom from the bigleaf magnolia cultivar. This is one of my favorite magnolias, Magnolia Macrophylla “Julian Hill”. The leaves are almost a foot wide and sometimes almost 2 feet long with giant blooms 18 inches wide! It was just past ripe and the weather had begun what would become a long, slow spitting contest which carried on through sunset. When I returned emptyhanded to my studio, I looked in my unfinished pile and found this magnolia I had started a while ago. The visit to the arboretum had given me the right idea on how to finish this piece…

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

A warm evening on the harbor watching the sun out the thunderheads over the horizon. There was a bad downpour earlier in the day and the sky never recovered from the humid fogginess. It was a real surprise to find this illumination at day’s end. A pleasant surprise…

“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…

“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?!

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

Today was a day of forest fires up in Quebec, Canada and smoke all the way down here on Martha’s Vineyard. Hard to believe but true. The result was a blue haze out in the landscape distance. Sunset was more diffused and probably redder then normal. The blue distance boosted the red color of the sun, just above it before it sank into the sea…

“Not Working”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

It was a rainy evening in the fishing port of Menemsha. I sat in my car and worked on this with no interruptions. All the fleet seemed to be in and the crew were all at home, waiting for a better day. This pile driver has been in the vicinity for a few weeks. It has been tempting me for a while…

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

This view always makes me feel as if I’m at the top of the island. Dramatic light makes it feel more so. As the daylight faded to moonlight, I was finishing up and four different “invisibilities” of Whip-poor-wills, in as many directions began to serenade me. Climbing back down from the ridge top I became aware of even more calling off in the distance. Besides their call being so distinctive, they are themselves, not quite like any other birds out there…

“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!!!

“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…

“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…

“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….

“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…

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

I was introduced to this yellow blossoming magnolia tree a week and a half ago. I have been watching and patiently waiting for the full bloom to come. I received the email early this morn that today was my day. I have not been disappointed. It is a magnificent creamy yellow citricy color, quite different from the whites and the pink blush white blossoms I usually have painted. A real challenge to create out of a limited value range of yellows and still stay on track. There are no pure white highlights, but the lightest light yellows. I did cheat and put in 2 areas of white on top of the yellow highlights just to give it a final push against the subtler darker yellow values. But they do not read as pure white as the traces of the underpainting of yellow contaminate the attempt…

“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…

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

I had no ideas of painting the ferry when I pulled up to the dock to check the harbor, weather and wind direction. But, there it was, begging for a portrait. Knowing it was halfway unloaded and I would only have it for 10 more minutes before departure I worked at fever pitch. Looking up I saw this slight glow on the belly of the squall line coming in. The next minute it was a full blown glow made more so by the dark of the impending squall. The boat set off as rain began sprinkling down. I moved to a nearby porch to finish up in the quickly fading light…

“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…

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

Especially this time of year, colors change quickly down in the fishing village of Menemsha. Gear comes out of barns, backyards and vacant lots where it has been stowed for the off fishing season. Stacked up and reoutfitted next to the shacks and boats along the docks, the gear size, shape, and color seems in constant flux on its way out to the ocean deep. This is my favorite time to be down by the waters painting. The fishermen are usually up so early that none are around at the end of the day to disturb any of my newfound “still lifes”. None of the sport fishermen have put their craft to sea yet. So they are not parading past me in car and truck disturbing the peace. The tourists, if any are about, are all inside with their cocktails at this hour of the year. I am left with the ducks, loons and seagulls to squawk at our hearts content…

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

I have been chicken sitting for some friends. This house actually is part of the chicken sitting job. Inside lives a very sweet Maine Coon Cat, who, coincidently, needed some sitting, too. My marching orders were: feed everybody and leave them in their respective domiciles. Yesterday was my first day “on the job”. Today, when I returned (and it was a beautiful day in case no one noticed) I just couldn’t find it in me to again leave the chickens crowded up in their small chicken coop. Neither could I leave the cat locked up in an empty house all day and night. So I liberated everybody. And then I realized I would have to hang around until dark because you just can’t tell a chicken what to do and when to do it. And a cat? Are you kidding! So I got out my gear and set up shop and did this painting of the quince in bloom with the house behind. And, yes, the kitty stayed right near me the whole time and no red tail hawks swooped in for the kill. I packed up my paints at dusk and cat and I couldn’t find the chicks. But there they were, all ready for bed on their roosts in the coop. I think I was lucky…

“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…

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

With everyone talking about eggs this time of year I thought it appropriate to explore this subject in paint. Friends invited me over to their hen house for an up close visit. The flock was not so accommodating. Even though I set up far enough away from food, water and entrance/exit the ladies and their cox were having none of it. It wasn’t until Katherine came back in with bread and corn to feed them that I became just another fly on the wall…

“A Little Bit Of Heaven”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

It felt like completion to paint a spring scene in the same place I had painted an autumn one just months ago.The garden was waking up on it’s own. Daffodils were arising in and out of beds. A pair of Canada geese appeared to be housekeeping on the far side of the home. They kept giving dirty looks and wouldn’t budge an inch. Crows were not so secretly preparing hidden nests in the tops of pines. The squirrels were constantly scolding for the interruption of their safe foraging routes across the lawn. Amidst honks and quacks ducks kept landing and taking off on the pond below. A little bit of heaven right here in our midst…

“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…

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

I found this daffodil dancing in drizzle at the edge of a stonewall. I turned about and snipped it for this studio still life. I have enjoyed its cheery company on a very rainy day…

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

The first daffodils are out, but it was all rain the first day. I had to work from the van a couple of times to get them right. They are such optimists in the winter landscape. Always make my heart skip a beat upon first discovery!…

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

A little fun in the kitchen last night…

“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…

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

Architecture is more demanding to master than landscapes and I had two beautiful sunny mornings to work on this piece. For some reason, these compass points revolve about in the winds. It has always irked me that they are never correct each time I have painted this cupola. I got my ladder out and gingerly climbed up and over lattice and rose thorns to get to the set screws. A lot of good that did me as the rod the whale and all are supported on revolves mysteriously about with no set screws in sight. I had to quickly step back down and draw the points correctly before a gust moved them…

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“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…

“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…

“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…

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

It was not nice outside today… So I decided it was time for a still life. I had been saving these pears for just such an occasion. The fabric and layout fell easily into place, an unusual happening…

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

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…

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

I had to miss a few days of painting with this cold I caught. Today my cabin fever got the best of me. I preheated the van, bundled up and drove to the light to capture it in the snow from the driver’s seat. I didn’t realize until the daylight was fading that the snow would help illuminate the beams of the lighthouse. It was a pleasant surprise…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“Spring Magnolias”, is a Watercolor on Paper, size is 22 3/4″ x 15″, watercolors on Papier D’Arches, unframed. $1900.00 USD

Please note this is a Watercolor on Paper, size is 22 3/4″ x 15″, watercolors on Papier D’Arches, unframed. I have not offered any of my watercolors here before. I was exclusively a watercolor painter for about 2 decades before I switched to oils. I have a few left in my personal collection which I could bear to part with. This was done in the mid 1980′s at my friend Polly Hill’s before it became the Polly Hill Arboretum. I use to come in with my little Maltese, Chardy, and choose a spot to paint and set up camp for the day. Polly would roll by at some point in her golf cart and find us. She would laugh as the little Chardy would jump up and bark at her. Then she’d whisk us off for a tour in the golf cart of all her latest creations. Chardy was the only dog she would ever let in and allow to roam free on her property!

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

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

Most of you on my email list already know that “It’s Official” refers to the fact that this is painting # 600 in my internet series! Wow! But it also refers to the building which is the official center of town, the Chilmark Town Hall. The weather didn’t co-operate today. Darn. So I worked on this one which I started a week ago and hadn’t quite finished. However, it is all over now, as there are no more leaves left on the Japanese Maple. Can’t believe they held on until the last week in November and then in 4 days just dropped completely… Fall…!

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

It was such a nice, warm, sunny day after about a week of gray and wind and rain. I went out on the south facing front porch and could not find a reason in the world why I would want to be anywhere else. The Hydrangeas had been beckoning me for weeks to paint them. This was their lucky day…

“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!!!

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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!…

“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…

“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…

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

A boat still in the water this time of year becomes a rarity. A flat bottom pond skiff, painted blue, and still in the water is exceptional…

“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…

“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…

“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…

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

The water front calls me and sometimes I listen. This was a quiet out of the wind place to paint. It was near the end of the day and all fishermen had long since gone home. Except for a passing Coast Guardsman, I had the place to myself and, of course, a pesky seagull. It couldn’t believe I wasn’t a fisherman working with some tasty morsels. I finally had to pull my canvas bag under my easel so it wouldn’t keep trying to sticking it’s head inside. But I’d rather this pesky seagull than mosquitoes any day!…

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

On rainy days I enjoy setting up still lifes to paint. Figs can be a challenge because of their dark color, but cut open they offer a different story. I really wanted to eat this, but had to wait until I had finished. It was good!…

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

On days when I have no idea what I wish to paint, this Lighthouse is an easy drive by to see if just maybe it would work. This day, it had the clouds hovering over the sound and behind the structure. Definitely good painting material…

“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…

“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…

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

I picked this rose the other evening when it got down to 31 degrees, just in case. Today it rained all day and winds gusted to 50 mph. I was happy to stay in and have this flower to work on…

“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…

“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…

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

Sometimes the image is right in front of my nose. I know its there, but, I just cannot see it. I circle around. Look left, right, straight at it and still can’t see it. Walk off. Walk back. Stop. Take in the whole of the scene and there. There is that fragment I want to portray…

“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!…

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

A place I like to paint with a huge open sky and reflections in the water. After the fall equinox, the doors of the boat house reflect the sunlight better than earlier in summer. Some evenings it can be startling to observe as it is such a bright contrast against the darker shore and water…

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

Sometimes the voice in my head says stop even when I’m not sure I should. But this is all I want to say with some favorite color combinations… why fight it?…

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

A quiet time and place to think and paint and drift off into….

“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…

“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…

“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!…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“Let’s Play Ball”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

This was a part of a larger still life I had one of my recent Oil Painting Classes paint. They were doing so well with the still life that I set up next to them and just painted this baseball…

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

I am back after a short break in my painting schedule. I will almost be up to speed with regular postings after about another week or so… Here is a favorite painting spot for capturing the day or evening, the sky, the water and reflections. Not necesarily all happening at once… just a great vantage point… Today I chose to put the sailboats in and left out the many car and passenger ferries which also ply these waters…

“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…

“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!

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

Back at the daylily patch, this was one of the few doing cork screws. Most of the others were curling back in their glory…

“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…