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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“V.H. By The Bridge”
“V.H. By The Bridge”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
I have been here many times, but never noticed the summer shadows at this hour before. I had to stop to let someone pass. That is when I knew it was a painting waiting to be plucked…
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“Brickyard Sail”
“Brickyard Sail”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
After balancing my equipment on a hillside, I was able to peer through a lace of leaves and branches to capture this view. This is a summer drama, as only then does the sunlight hit the left face of the old chimney leaving this side in dark contrast…
“Full Of Air”
“Full of Air”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 USD
There were many sailboats out both days that I worked on this. Today’s sky was way too dramatic to put in as it would have rained on me had I not stopped early. The clouds have been great, building up into towering fleece in the late afternoons…
“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…
“The Unicorn And Tomahawk”
“The Unicorn and Tomahawk”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
It was sprinkling when I got here to Dogfish Bar. So I walked out to photo the tern colony and it sort of stopped being wet. I came back to the car and decided to try a go at it. As I worked, the Unicorn chugged into the scene. Then I saw the Tomahawk screaming back to homeport. The painting had been lacking a center and it was easy to lock the boats into place with a few dabs of paint. Sprinkles started again and I quickly packed and got to the van before the downpour began in earnest…
“The Crossing”
“The Crossing”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
This is one of my favorite places to paint the boats as they sail by. I’ve had to stay out of the sun for a few weeks and this was my first chance to go and enjoy the sailors filling their sails…
“Quansoo Opening”
“Quansoo Opening”, this is a large painting, 30″ x 40″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
(Please note that this is 30″x 40″, 25 times my normal size!)
Great News!!! …My new studio is now open by appointment. If you find yourself on Martha’s Vineyard and would like to actually see my work in real life, not digital! please call, text or email me and I will be happy to welcome you in. Five Zero Eight – Five Six Zero – Four Four Three Seven
Seven years ago this week, when I first began my Painting-a-Day adventure, I was not looking this far into my creative future. I was just thankful that I could keep making one more painting to place in front of yesterday’s piece. I found that I have learned a great deal about making a painting and what makes a painting great. I have had weeks without a sale and then months where everything I create is sold. I have made many new friends through my paintings. Thank you! I am happy and grateful to all who cannot resist buying or are actively collecting my works and to all who voice their appreciations of an image here or an image there. I know that I spend too much time on most paintings, working into the wee hours to come to completion, but if I’m not satisfied, I’m not sure anyone else would be either. Then there are days when the image comes out in a half hour, done! Magic, but I know I earned it! Other days I return depressed at not finding a thing to put on canvas. The problem with the paintings-a-day is that the process took over my life, but in a good way. Only, it had nudged out extra time for larger works.
Recently, I have given myself permission to take 2 days to work on some paintings, or to not go out at all to capture a new subject. On these days, I have begun to work on larger canvases in my new studio. After rummaging back in time for an image I have done, saved, seen or photoed while out scouting, I have found some which will make great, large paintings. Today’s piece is a celebration for me. This painting is the first large one I have done and finished in almost 5 years. I knew what the image was going to be the moment I saw it out in the field. I went out multiple times to its location to photo it over the past winter/spring and sometimes just to sit, and watch the light play as the sun closed out the day. It burned a hole in my consciousness until I completed it on canvas…
“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…
“Butterfly Weed”
“Butterfly Weed”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
Butterfly Weed in bloom was my excuse for driving around to Lobsterville to paint yet again. This area is one of the few rolling dune habitats which can be driven through. There is always some nice birding to do on the way as the dunes hold ponds and swamps between them as they slowly drain out into the West Basin marsh. Today was a Great Egret day with 5 adults and a juvenile fishing throughout the marsh…
“Menemsha Creek Fog”
“Menemsha Creek Fog”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.
Usually, I paint first and then, maybe, fish after. Today I was scouting near the Creek and found a fisherman below me in the water. Said he just had a large bass on, but it snapped his 12 lb. test line. That was all I needed to hear. It was too hot for waders, so I changed into my bathing trunks, grabbed my rod and jumped in. An hour later, my mind was drifting from fish to landscape and how beautiful it was down here with the fog in the distance trying to roll over all…