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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“Tashmoo West”
“Tashmoo West”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
Winds were heavy from the SW, but the NW corner of the pond was protected by tall trees and rolling glacial terrain. A bank of cottony air clung to the mainland. Slowly we watched it change. First white then yellow to orange and finally purple as the night gathered strength, subduing the colors of the day…
“Late Fall”
“Late Fall”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
As the sun was fast setting the sky turned gold, the marsh smoldered orange. A leafless distant shore muted charcoal gray in the shadow of sky glow. The moment to paint was now, before the waters blue of reflected cosmos boiled over into celestial darkness…
“Scallop Season”
“Scallop Season”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
Rain swept in today on a slow horse. I couldn’t get a gallup on in time to cheat it. I scouted various potentials, but they wouldn’t work for sitting in the van to paint. I was about to give it up, until this boat caught my eye as I spun around to leave the parking area. Dark, damp and dreary, the wet brought out the darks and saturated what color still bedecked the landscape. In a minor key, without shadows nor highlights of sun, the color spoke to me…
(In case you’ve been thinking I’ve been slacking off, I have been locked in my studio for more than a week finishing an 18 painting commission of a local golf club, started plein air in April. I have slipped out near sunset to grab a golf cart and revisit a few locations with canvases to refresh some specific points of interest. It has been a grand experience. First the course owned me, but soon enough I realized I was the master and made the paintings in my own landscape language. I’d like to share with you, but probably can’t until they are published in the members book sometime in the next few months. Sorry. I will be done with them in 5 more days and my painting will get back to a regular pace. Thanks for having patience!)
“Menemsha Out Post”
“Menemsha Outpost”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
At marsh level, this is the expanse towards the beach, parking lot and gas station. On the walk down I turned a bamboo shrouded corner and came face to face with two very young and inexperienced deer. At first they didn’t want to give me the right of way! After a minute of no one moving, they guessed that they might move 3 feet into the under brush and watched me pass. I have to admit that I was a bit more careful walking the rest of the path in case a bow hunter was lurking nearby. The openness at marsh edge as I came out of the closeness of the woods was dramatic. Wandering the verge, scouting a bit, I came upon this view…
“Quitsa Sunset, Sailboat”
“Quitsa Sunset, Sailboat”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 USD
I parked by the boat launch, hoping for inspiration. A boat sailed by in the far distance. A white sail, so far down the white-to-black value scale it appeared mid-gray against the silhouette of a purple-blue hill behind. It was gone before thought could motivate me out the door. I did get out. The sky began to gently shed it’s spectrum. The yellow leaning toward orange got me going. I caught it there, at that spot, on my canvas. But that was nothing. It went on and on into orange, fire, red, hot coals, deeper, darker, exotic red-blue, purple, stellar blue, as star and moonlight opened up the night…
“Rain On The Creek”
“Rain On The Creek”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
I admit I got wet while painting this image. I set up between radar viewed banks of wet clouds. It had looked clear for an hour’s time, but I miscalculated the moisture in the fog. It condensed on the power lines above me and dripped, dripped, dripped on my shoulders and hat. Finally, it was so thick my canvas and paints were glistening like a cold glass of beer on a hot summer’s day. Speaking of beer, I left quickly and went home to have one…
“Black Point After Rain”
“Black Point After Rain”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 USD
A heavy rain silenced all much of the day. Near evening, clouds cleared and a vibrant sunset put smiles on most faces. I ventured out and as I worked was defended by a large flock of tree and barn swallows diving and scooping up the multitude of mosquitos about at dusk…
“Chilmarsh”
“Chilmarsh”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
This is a beautiful section of marsh around a small island as seen from the boat launch by Quitsa bridge. I used my artist’s license to remove a few objects to have an unobstructed view. I have been intrigued by this area for many years, but was never quite sure how to capture it until now. The late afternoon sunlight and resultant shadows add much drama to the scene…
“Herring Creek To Menemsha”
“Herring Creek to Menemsha”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. USD $750.00
Time marched toward dusk. I became sidetracked by the sailboat getting underway by the beach around left. The reflection of sail in water was tempting me to paint there, yet the background was far too distant. More sailors jumped in and they were off. I moseyed over to the herring dock above the creek, content to paint the blue motor boat. The sun passed behind a thunderhead. My light was dimmed. I began laying in the shapes and then sky began to glow, and glow, and glow. Suddenly, it seemed, the sails passed by in the background as I glanced up. Joy was had by all…
“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…