Starting a new painting requires "confident groping", or maybe it's "tentative decisiveness". That's the acceptance that there'll be moments of abject uncertainty about both the image conceived, and the ability to develop that image to a successful completion, while at the same time believing absolutely in an idea that exists only in mind's eye.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Motel on 302 (study)
Starting a new painting requires "confident groping", or maybe it's "tentative decisiveness". That's the acceptance that there'll be moments of abject uncertainty about both the image conceived, and the ability to develop that image to a successful completion, while at the same time believing absolutely in an idea that exists only in mind's eye.
Labels:
6" x 6",
Black and sepia pen,
drawing,
Motel,
sketchbook
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Woman in a Garden
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Vine and Bramble (detail)
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Sunday Sketchbook: Road Trip
I'm on my way to Washington, DC to deliver the NRECA commission--and hopefully have some time to explore museums. It's a beautiful cool, sunny day, perfect for a drive down Route 2, through the Mad River Valley, and due south.
Labels:
7" x 5",
accordian sketchbook,
Black and sepia pen,
NFS
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
NRECA Commission

My approach for this mural is "WPA Meets Post-Impressionism"--a stylized landscape combined with vivid color shapes. Click here to see more images from this project.
When I'm in Paris this spring, I'm going to see Raoul Dufy's mural about the history of electricity, and try to figure out how he managed to design a similar narrative in his wonderful decorative style--that's over 120 feet long!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
NRECA Commission

For the next ten days I'll be an artist resident at the Vermont Studio Center, where I'm working on finishing a commission for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. My painting is a forty foot long landscape with a winding road (with power lines!) spanning coast to coast. I've enjoyed the chance to work like a WPA artist, finding a stylized, decorative language to state the organization's goals and history.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Sunday Sketchbook: Montreal
I've been leading a workshop with Karen Kane in Montreal this weekend, touring studios and painting exhibits with a group of fellow art lovers. We've seen varied and exciting work, from academic realism to installations--and we also enjoyed sampling the wonderful selection of food that Montreal has to offer. It's an accessible, vibrant city that I hope to keep exploring in the coming years.




Thursday, October 22, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Mom Napping
Friday, October 16, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Fields and Mountain, Stormy Morning
Labels:
5" x 7",
available,
From the Hill,
landscape,
oil on linen panel,
Vermont
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Bowl of Plums
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
River through Plainfield
I painted this as a demonstration for my landscape workshop that finished yesterday. When I teach, I'm always harping on the point that art is a process not a product, and that for even the most experienced artists, every painting is a touch-and-go experiment in coaxing form out of the nothingness of white paper or canvas.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Pond and Rocks

All of a sudden the color of maple, aspen and birch are at their most vivid, and we're in the midst of brief and beautiful autumn.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Cloud Shadows across Mountain
Labels:
6" x 8",
From the Hill,
landscape,
oil on linen panel,
Vermont
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Between Trees

Autumn has arrived since my last "From the Hill" study, and with this season there's a whole new range of oranges, violets and greens to mix from three primary colors.
Labels:
5" x 7",
available,
From the Hill,
landscape,
oil on linen panel,
Vermont
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sunday Sketchbook: In Transit

I'm in Vermont after weeks of travel and teaching, and looking ahead to some more of both--but today I'm happy to be home on a damp autumn Sunday. I'll make sauce from a bushel of my apples, dig the last bed of red potatoes, and then come in, pick up my brush and see if I can find my way back to painting again.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Stone Bench and Faucet

There are many lovely views at the Riverfarm gardens in Alexandria, but what grabbed me were these angles, curves, planes, and half-hidden coiled hose.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Garden Paths

This week I'm teaching a landscape class in Alexandria, and, as is usual, my theme is "truth is stranger than fiction". There's so much more color, pattern and form in nature than we ever imagine, until we go out and start looking.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Sunday Sketchbook

I'm in Washington, DC teaching for ten days. This weekend it's a travel sketchbook class, which is always a reminder for me of how much I like the voyeurism of looking at other people's journals.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Trees and Goldenrod
Labels:
5" x 7",
available,
From the Hill,
landscape,
oil on linen panel,
Vermont
Monday, August 31, 2009
Looking West

In the early 1800's the great British landscape painter John Constable said, "There is room in the world for a natural painter." I think that's still true today. So in the spirit of the master Constable's plein air paintings, I'm starting a new journal series, "From the Hill." My rules: all work is outdoors and subjects within walking distance of my studio; pigments used are a triad of oil colors (any three primaries); size is 6" x 8" or smaller; and paintings are finished in under two hours. My goal: a regular meditation of sitting quietly and looking carefully.
Labels:
5" x 7",
available,
From the Hill,
landscape,
oil on linen panel,
Vermont
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Maine Marsh, Early Evening

I've been reading a "how-to" book for writers, curious about whether their process compares with the ways painters work. The mantra of this manual is "edit, edit, edit." I was thinking about that lesson, and about how difficult it is to communicate the simple but powerful things I see (like marsh grass lit by the last of the day's sun) as I was painting this.
Labels:
available,
landscape,
Maine,
oil on linen panel
Thursday, August 20, 2009
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