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.
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“Broken Skies”, this is a small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 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. $750.00 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. $750.00 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…
“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…
“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….
“Edges of Evening”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 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…