Music

6"x6" oil

This took me a bit to figure out the floor and finally I just decided to add a red rug and that seemed to pull it together.  It is interesting that when I struggle with a painting, somehow the struggle just shows up in the painting.  Sometimes it helps and sometimes it just looks fussy and ruins it.  You decide.

Rosie

4"x6"  oil

Sometimes they just have these moments when they look so adorable you can't help but fall in love with them!

Diner

4"x6" oil

Some paintings almost paint themselves.  This was one of them.  I wanted to capture the way the light bounces around in an environment of stainless steel surfaces.

Mirror Illusions

This was tricky. The idea of painting a concave surface made of multitudes of hexagonal mirrors was daunting, but in the end, it is all illusion anyway!  Someone said, and I often repeat it to myself, that it is all just shapes,  lines and values on a 2 dimensional surface when you apply chemicals that reflect color.  This simplifies it for me when I am feeling overwhelmed.

Want To Be There

One of the wonderful things about seeing fine art is that it can transport you to another time, another place, another state of being.

Barn in Early Spring

This is Furnace Brook Farm barn in early spring with the hillside budding out in a soft magenta and the crabapple tree, not yet blooming.  This is one of those quintessential Vermont landscapes.  This farm has a very interesting history, which you can read about here.

Dance of the Peppers

6"x6 oil

 love the play of colors in this.

Roses in Bottle

4"x6" oil SOLD

I am happy with this painting!

Radish Rose and Onions

6"x6" oil

I set up this still life outside under bright midday sun and I was looking down on it.  I downplayed the highlights because I didn't want it too seem too bleached.  I put the radish rose in it because it was just so amazing.  It came from left over Chinese food from a really nice restaurant and I just had to take the radish rose.  There are a lot of things I like about this but truth be told, I have a lot to learn about setting up still life compositions.  It takes a lot of patience to do it right and my ability to be methodical and patience does not lie in that direction....at least yet.

Babbling Brook

6"x6" oil

Last week I painted this; today everything is leafed out and in full bloom. 
What an amazing change! 

My View

6"x6" oil

My studio is a converted garage so n warm weather I can open the garage door and see this view which changes dramatically with the seasons, light, and atmosphere.  I feel very blessed.

RR Crossing

4"x6" oil

It's a Joke

10"x10" oil

Aggressively Monet   8"x10" oil

A Private Moment 12"x12" oil

These are three paintings I am entering into The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center members show.

#316

6"x6" oil

I really like industrial landscape paintings, but since I am always drawn to a high key and saturated palette, it doesn't easily lend itself to the smokey grays of industry.  This engine, #316, is a very happy train!

First Daffodills

4"x6" oil

Happy, happy, happy with this one.

Catching

6"x6" oil

I am really happy with this.  I did what I wanted to do and it worked out.  Of course I love the subject too.

Rad Dishes

6"x6" oil

I have been working on larger panels for a while and it was really fun to return to this small 6"x6".  I can't seem to get the variety of colors that are in the painting to show up in my photos, which is a little frustrating for me.  This was a fun painting to do and it reminded me of some of the things I really like doing when I am painting.

Escape

11"x11"  oil

I could paint reflections in water all day long!  I tried a different approach to the process of doing this painting by starting in the middle with the people in the boat and painting that first.  Then I just worked out from there.  I am always a bit intimidated by painting little itty bitty people as it is very easy to try and put too much detail in them which looks unreal and fussy.  The trick is to keep it loose but have enough detail to identify them and their postures.  I used a fairly limited palette in this piece which does seem to unify it.  Even though it is a rather silly scene (a giant swan pushing a boat) it also is very bucolic I think, which is the whole point.

Listening

11"x11" oil

My niece lives and works in Antarctica.  Although I am fairly sure she was just goofing when this photo was taken, I think it expresses a lot about her and about life in general.  There are those moments when we are in the frozen tundra of existence and we are seeking that voice to guide us.  Rebekah's life is certainly driven by that desire.  She is also a very brave woman who wants to see it all and experience it all!