The Process

I just completed a painting which you can see below in an early stage. Here,  the landscape has been brushed in quickly. 

As I continued, I brightened the sky and added details to the under painting.  I decided to balance the composition by adding a limb so that the tree would seem to "pose" for her portrait.  Here is the finished painting....

"Sap Buckets on Calendar Hill"

acrylic on canvas - 14" x 18"

Below is the photograph I took on March 17th and used for the painting.  As you can see, the painting in its finished state, differs substantially from the photo.  I was so tired of interpreting gray winter skies in my "Posted" series that I decided to crop out the background and change the mood with a blue sky.

There is a great advantage to working from photos.  When it is too cold to paint outdoors, I can work in the studio and change the landscape to suit my taste.  But I look forward to getting out to paint en plein aire soon as spring arrives and the weather warms up.

Posted on Cobb Hill

I've been working on landscapes that speak winter and mud season here in Vermont.  Often we drive by trees sporting posted signs and these signs make a colorful statement in the cold and gray scene.  This is my second painting in this series.  Last week this is how it looked:

After removing an errant branch, cleaning up others, adding darker values to the sky and finishing the sign, this is the finished piece....

"Posted, Cobb Hill"

acrylic - 14" x 18"

"Art That Celebrates Winter"

Snow is falling outside my studio window right now, and the media is calling this the Blizzard of 2013.  Having experienced the Blizzard of '78 while living in Massachusetts--four feet of snow and a week of "vacation" afterwards--so far this is disappointing!  Hopefully, before it is over we will have at least the expected 8" to 14" on the ground.

Speaking of snow, yesterday, I completed a painting for the Norman Williams Public Library's next exhibit entitled, "Art That Celebrates Winter".  It is an area group show which will be hung later this week in the Mezzanine Gallery.  The posted land that inspired this painting is on Advent Hill Road in Hartland.  Very seldom have I painted winter landscapes and this was a treat...

"Posted, Advent Hill"

acrylic painting - 16" x 20"

  The Opening Reception for "Art That Celebrates Winter" is to be next Saturday from 5:30 to 7 on the mezzanine at the library.  If you're in the neighborhood, please come by!

A Quechee Field in July

It's been awhile since I've posted and I cannot say I have a good reason/excuse for that.  Putting the house on the market?  Maybe.  Vacation?  For sure!
But I have been out painting and here is the most recent large landscape.

"July Field, Quechee"

acrylic

Since I painted this, the field has been mowed and the wild flowers too.  Still, my love for these bountiful, beautiful fields is not diminished and August and September remain...

New Brunswick Hay Rolls

This painting is based on another of the photos I took in Canada last September.  This beautiful vista appeared as we rode along past autumn fields.  There were fallow fields already harvested, fields of potatoes and corn and this field of rolls of hay basking in the afternoon sun...

"New Brunswick Hay Rolls"

acrylic - 30" x 36"

Here, the ski is dominant and the color palette is warm and complementary.  It captures the feel of fall and the land spread out before us to the horizon.

New Brunswick Farm House, Two Ways

This is the second small oil painting of New Brunswick--a farm across a large field.  

"Fall Farm"

8" x 10" - oil

Completed awhile ago, it was a study for a larger painting.  And here is the larger acrylic painting I made after the study in oil.  The horizon line has been lowered to show the glorious sky which felt as if it went on forever.  I think that makes the painting feel more expansive and free....

"New Brunswick Farm House"

acrylic - 30" x 36"

The color palette is different too--warmer and more complementary.  Each of these paintings is a view of the same place yet each of them is different in content and in feel.  This is intentional on my part.  On any give day each of us is a different person.  On any given day, as an artist I hopefully have something different to say.