I WORK EN PLEIN AIR, OUT IN THE COUNTRYSIDE… Welcome. I am back to painting again after a sabbatical that included a few pieces done for charitable fund raisers. I am continuing to make small, 6" x 8", landscape oils, but not every day. I am also working on larger pieces. Every time I finish a painting, I will place it here on my website. If you see something you'd like to purchase, email me. Thank you for enjoying my work and keeping me creating new pieces. Your interest stimulates and inspires me and has made me a better painter. Sign up for my emails and I will send you an image of each new painting. I love to paint and am happy to share my painting experience with you. Most of my work is impressionistic landscape oils, inspired by the beauty of the Island of Martha's Vineyard where I live.
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for July 2013.
“The Crossing”
“The Crossing”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
This is one of my favorite places to paint the boats as they sail by. I’ve had to stay out of the sun for a few weeks and this was my first chance to go and enjoy the sailors filling their sails…
“Quansoo Opening”
“Quansoo Opening”, this is a large painting, 30″ x 40″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
(Please note that this is 30″x 40″, 25 times my normal size!)
Great News!!! …My new studio is now open by appointment. If you find yourself on Martha’s Vineyard and would like to actually see my work in real life, not digital! please call, text or email me and I will be happy to welcome you in. Five Zero Eight – Five Six Zero – Four Four Three Seven
Seven years ago this week, when I first began my Painting-a-Day adventure, I was not looking this far into my creative future. I was just thankful that I could keep making one more painting to place in front of yesterday’s piece. I found that I have learned a great deal about making a painting and what makes a painting great. I have had weeks without a sale and then months where everything I create is sold. I have made many new friends through my paintings. Thank you! I am happy and grateful to all who cannot resist buying or are actively collecting my works and to all who voice their appreciations of an image here or an image there. I know that I spend too much time on most paintings, working into the wee hours to come to completion, but if I’m not satisfied, I’m not sure anyone else would be either. Then there are days when the image comes out in a half hour, done! Magic, but I know I earned it! Other days I return depressed at not finding a thing to put on canvas. The problem with the paintings-a-day is that the process took over my life, but in a good way. Only, it had nudged out extra time for larger works.
Recently, I have given myself permission to take 2 days to work on some paintings, or to not go out at all to capture a new subject. On these days, I have begun to work on larger canvases in my new studio. After rummaging back in time for an image I have done, saved, seen or photoed while out scouting, I have found some which will make great, large paintings. Today’s piece is a celebration for me. This painting is the first large one I have done and finished in almost 5 years. I knew what the image was going to be the moment I saw it out in the field. I went out multiple times to its location to photo it over the past winter/spring and sometimes just to sit, and watch the light play as the sun closed out the day. It burned a hole in my consciousness until I completed it on canvas…
“Hay Rolls, Moo Lane”
“Hay Rolls, Moo Lane”, this is a larger painting, 9″ x 12″, oil on canvas panel. $1350.00 USD
(Please note that this is 9″x 12″, more than double my normal size.) Today, I returned to Mermaid Farm to buy some vegetable plants. As I was backing up to turn about, my eyes caught the shadows draped across the lane to the dairy barn. I stopped, jumped out and took several photos. Looking at those pictures when I got home, I realized this was my next painting. I drove right back, set up and grabbed the only canvas panel I had left in my case, except, it had a painting from another day on it. Curses, if I drove back home the shadows would be gone. I found my larger case in the back with this one blank panel on it and went to work…
“Ford At Mermaid Farm”
“Ford At Mermaid Farm”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 USD
I came to get milk. The farm stand by the road was empty. I walked up to the dairy barn and returned for this painting…
“Far Barn Daylilies”
“Far Barn Daylilies”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
I stumbled upon these the other evening when I went out to paint. Some of them had already decided they had had their day and were closing up. Others remained open until the last light had left…
“Quitsa Boat Launch”
“Quitsa Boat Launch”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
A cool place on a warm evening. A little breeze to keep the bugs at bay. Tide going out, exposing the darker edges of the marsh. A classically shaped boat to paint. All looked great. And then, the Idiot showed up. His mooring was just in front of the boat I was painting and his was of a newer unboat-like plastic shape. The captain came ashore in his kayak after the mooring was set. I couldn’t resist asking, since I’d seen the Idiot before. ” So, I’ve always wanted to know who the Idiot was!?!” His wife was on shore to help him in with the kayak and in unison they both said: “It’s not us!!! We are just the caretakers! The owner told us that his wife called him the Idiot and that is what he named his boat!” I asked if he was still married to her. No was their reply. So I guess he isn’t that much of an idiot after all I called out to them as they left! The sky had been fuzzy up until that point. The sun then dipped behind a wall of cloud to expose a massive thunderhead cruising probably 30 miles away. It was the cause of the heavy humid air and the breeze as it was sucking wind into its updraft. The best part was the warm yellow/orange edge illumination of the thunderhead the sun caused as it got lower and lower towards the horizon. When I lived in Texas with a clear 360º horizon, I would check the computer radar to calculate how far off the thunderstorms were when I could spot them rolling by in the distance. They can become so tall that at a distance of 50 miles, when it’s clear, they are still visibly impressive and enticing to paint…
“Butterfly Weed”
“Butterfly Weed”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
Butterfly Weed in bloom was my excuse for driving around to Lobsterville to paint yet again. This area is one of the few rolling dune habitats which can be driven through. There is always some nice birding to do on the way as the dunes hold ponds and swamps between them as they slowly drain out into the West Basin marsh. Today was a Great Egret day with 5 adults and a juvenile fishing throughout the marsh…
“By Chilmark Pond”
“By Chilmark Pond”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel.$750.00 USD
This location was scouted in the fog a few days ago. With the sun out today, I guesstimated about when would be the right time to come paint it. I barely made it before the shadows engulfed the lane completely. I was correct in my assessment that it would be a happy subject to paint when the sun and shadows came out…
“Menemsha Creek Fog”
“Menemsha Creek Fog”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
Usually, I paint first and then, maybe, fish after. Today I was scouting near the Creek and found a fisherman below me in the water. Said he just had a large bass on, but it snapped his 12 lb. test line. That was all I needed to hear. It was too hot for waders, so I changed into my bathing trunks, grabbed my rod and jumped in. An hour later, my mind was drifting from fish to landscape and how beautiful it was down here with the fog in the distance trying to roll over all…
“Deere In The Barn”
“Deere In The Barn”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 USD
How many memories this old barn must contain. Cows, horses, chickens, raccoons, skunks, barn swallows, sparrows, doves, milk, eggs, hay, straw, grain, farmers, children, carts, tractors. The only tractor left seems to be a small John Deere riding mower peering out from the shadows within…