GROUP SHOW-49 WEST

Opening Reception May 2 from 5-8pm

I am happy to be part of

a group show at this cool, little bistro on West Street in Annapolis. Thanks go to artist and teacher Betsy Heeney for putting the show together.

I am glad to be able to exhibit some of my Sherwood pictures.

The Peninsula- Severn River

This plein-air piece was started from out on Main Pier down in Sherwood Forest, MD and re-worked a bit in the studio. I am happy with it now. It's at around 8am on an early April morning before the late morning wind picks up. It was the first very warm day of Spring and the leaves were just starting to pop. In the Summer the hill is a mass of green. As I was painting the sun came out briefly from under a cloud and turned the whole hill an electric day-glo green that disappeared in a second.

I have been reading lately about the Group of Seven, Canada's landscape painters of 100 years ago. I admire their immediate response to wild beauty, their fast, thick application of paint, and their admiration of Thoreau. 12x24in. oil on birch panel

Morning Mist- Keene Valley

A new one in the series I am painting of the two white houses in Keene Valley, NY. As I have written before, these buildings are like a still-life of white objects on a tabletop that changes as the light changes and I find the endless compositions fascinating. 10x10in. oil on birch panel
SOLD

MEETING GOD on the GROUND IV

Celebrate Earth Day with Art and Music!
Meeting God on the Ground is an Art exhibit and Sale curated by Gwen & Stephen Howard

of Darlington, devoted to artists who have found their spiritual connection to the Creator in the study of landscape painting.
APRIL 21-25th ARTIST RECEPTION APRIL 23, 7-9PM WITH LIVE BLUEGRASS MUSIC!
Deer Creek Presbyterian Church , Darlington , MD Call 410-734-6087 for details

(LATER NOTE: THE SHOW WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL.

I SOLD 10 PIECES , OVER HALF OF MY WORK.)

Downstream - Upstream Deer Creek

The last Saturday of my Easter break was a beautiful crisp, clear day. I was at work in the studio but my wife told me how great the weather was and I shouldn't be inside on such a beautiful day. She was right. So out I went with my french easel and Maggie the dog and found myself driving north up to Rock State Park. I scrambled along the shore over rocks and boulders along Deer Creek and set up on an outcropping right below the King and Queen Seat.

I worked all day listening to the water and saying hello to trout fishermen as they would walk by thinking "why haven't I painted here before" but I knew the answer to that. Seeing the stream paintings of Robert Stark 4 years ago inspired me to paint what I really loved which is painting along the Ausable and the Bouquet in the Adirondacks. I can think of very few things more pleasant than spending the day by a beautiful river and losing oneself in sound of moving water. 8x10in and 10x10in. oil SOLD

April Cows I II

These two little 6x6in paintings on birch boxes are of the cows that belong to the farm behind our house. We watch the cattle walk across the ridgeline in all seasons. The land has been sold and another piece of rural Harford Co. goes to the developers. I think because of this I hiked through the woods and crossed the stream to take a closer look at the cows (and they to me). It was dawn on the first day of April. I had some fun with these oil paintings by re-working them in oil pastel and giving them a nice coat of fixative. April Cow I, II - SOLD

Meeting God on the Ground IV

Celebrate EarthDay with Art & music! I will be one of six artists featured in a landscape show at DEER CREEK HARMONY CHURCH in Darlington MD. April 21-25. Artist's reception on April 23, 7-9 pm Featuring live Bluegrass. Call 410-734-6087 for details.

Painting on the Severn

A snap of my painting of the Peninsula in progress on a warm Spring morning. Sherwood Forest MD. 12x24in oil on birch panel

Painting with Bear

This week I had the opportunity to paint plein air with fellow artist Ed "Bear" Miller. Bear is a painter well known for his Adirondack landscapes and was a guest in my neck of the woods, Sherwood Forest, MD, where we painted along the Severn. Bear paints with an energy and verve that seems to channel the intensity of George Bellows and Harold Weston. Painting is a solitary business but when painters get together the shared experience is enlivened with stories, challenges (like jumping into the freezing river,YES!) revelation and learning. Always learning. A link to his blog can be found on the right in the Art History links.

The Peninsula

It was a grey blustery Spring day today, under 70deg. The trees were just beginning to show some color. I sat out at the end of the pier and painted. As much as I enjoy painting in the studio, painting outside with the wind and the waves can't be beat. It is truly enjoyable to Not Paint Green.

In the spring there are subtle shades of reds, pinks and lots of warm greys. Painting is a lot like fishing.( thanks Robert Stark, although I thought of it too) Lots of gear, you're outside in a beautiful spot and sometimes you get one and sometimes you don't. I think I got one today. Some of my earliest memories are of being out on the end of Main Pier watching the ospreys flying over this piece of land. 10x10in oil

Severn Sunset

A tiny painting I dashed off last Summer that I found this morning(Thurs.) and did some more stuff to. There is a land mass on the Severn that we just call "the Peninsula." Some call it the "Green Cathedral" It is the last uninhabited piece of land on the river reaching out into the water, a thin arm of sand and pines. I have camped there as a child and and like to canoe there now to admire the cliffs. This one painting was started after a particularly dramatic Summer sunset but it was not executed very well and I put it in the closet (listed under Too Cliche) I found it while Spring cleaning the studio and just started fiddling with it from memory and I am pleased with the result, so much so that I returned to the site today (SAT.) and did a plein air that I will post later. I think I will be doing more with this unique view. 5x9in oil