Paintings from the Cape

I’m having a hard time prioritizing my time to include posting images here.

 I’ve got to let go of trying to organize or present things in any particularly thought-out way.

Here are a couple plein air paintings from last month.

The first one was a very sunny, blustery day at Pamet Harbor in Truro, Massachusetts.


The second one, was a very hot late summer day at Castle Hill center for the Arts also in Truro.

Honestly, it was a rough few days of painting.

Painting outdoors feels like something I need to push myself to do periodically, but it totally stresses me out!

I can’t lose myself in the process the way I can in the studio.

These are both 12x12, oil on panel.

A Gallery to Call My Own

Ascent no.1
2015
36x48
oil on canvas

I am happy to officially announce that I am now a member of
Oxbow Gallery in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Oxbow is a terrific gallery, owned and operated by its artist members.

I am both excited and humbled to be included with this group of diverse and very strong artists!

work on wax coated paper

Season of Short Days
2015
wax, graphite, and oil stick on paper



I found this painting inside another, larger piece that I wasn't crazy about.

Oddly, this wasn't the section that I liked in the first attempt.
Maybe it was my lack of attachment to it that allowed me to get free and let it become something new.

It bears a resemblance to my "back yard", a wild meadow ringed by stone walls and woods.

Incidentally, I did not post dimensions because I haven't decided on a final crop yet.  There is a lot more sky, which was fun to paint, but I think the piece is stronger with like this.

Solo Show Opens This Friday

Expression, Abstraction and the Meta-landscape

May 9 - May 31, 2014

Imagine Gallery

70 Main Street, 2nd floor

Northampton, MA

Artist reception on May 9th 5:30-8:30 p.m.

free to the public

refreshments

My first solo exhibition opens this week in Northampton, MA.

Curator Tricia McDermott selected thirty pieces in a range of media for this show.

The opening is a part of Arts Night Out Northampton, so there will be lots to see all around town.

Hope to see you there!

Gallery hours:  Fridays 6-9

                            Saturdays 3-9

and by appointment 413-585-5830

Forsythia
2013
60x20
oil on canvas












Don't misunderstand, I don't think Forsythia are particularly gorgeous shrubs, but they are so very emblematic of Spring, at least here in New England.

One minute the world is very grey, roadsides are downing in road sand and freshly revealed trash, and the next, the Forsythia burst on the scene with their brash, assertive yellow sprays of blossoms.

By the time their flowers have faded, the landscape is fully roused from its winter slumber, and everything is growing, greening, blooming at a manic pace.

New Landscape

March Wind Across the Hills
2013
15x45
oil on canvas



This piece is about transition and movement.

The hills of Central Massachusetts in March are lit by the much stronger spring sunlight, animated by the still chilly and wild North wind, and colored by dry grasses, patches of lingering snow, and low areas of rich mud.
Green growth has not yet begun to push, but you know it is there, just below the surface.
In a few warm days the whole scene changes, like when The Wizard of Oz goes to color.

So, yes, it is a landscape, but really, it is a lifescape:  transition and movement.

Farmland Vignettes
2012
14x11
oil on panel










This landscape was originally painted last spring on a trip to Maine.

This winter, I became disenchanted with it, and was going to sand it and paint over the whole thing, but then I hesitated.

There are a few passages I do enjoy, so I just painted out what didn't thrill me.

Not sure about the values, though.  I think maybe the "redacted" areas should be darker.

My traditional side

Arjen's Fields

2010

oil on panel

7x9

Arjen & Jaap are two guys from the Netherlands who grow perennial plants in Deerfield, MA for the wholesale market. Their fields can be a gorgeous sight, when you catch things in peak bloom. This year, their business, Pioneer Gardens, was badly flooded by the Deerfield River due to Hurricane Irene.

This painting is atypical of my usual approach: rather tradional, representational, and worked from a photograph.

Are We There Yet?

The Fields at Utley Road

2011

36x36

oil on canvas

I have been working on this painting for a year.

I think I am done.

But I haven't signed it yet!

Rockin' Out

Another plein air abstraction from my trip to Biddeford Pool, Maine.

I was really excited by all the different kinds of rock formations. This spot had very angular, jutting forms.

The painting is 12x12, oil on canvas