In the High Peaks of the Adirondacks, nestled between two mountains, Round and Giant, there lies a small glacier-made body of water known as Chapel Pond. It’s easy to find, being right on the road that leads into Keene Valley, but once there one can look up at sheer mountain cliffs and experience the beauty and majesty of the Adirondacks, as well as get a great swim in before dinner. It’s a place I love to paint for many reasons, the light especially. I like to go out at dawn to watch (and paint) the sunlight descending slowly down the mountainside like fiery curtain. You get a sense of peace there even when the beach is full of families wading and swimming in the cold, cold water. It really can feel like a Chapel (especially if you are quiet!).   Most of my paintings this year focus on Chapel Pond and my woodland discoveries around it.  I paint places that give me peace, quiet places that make me forget I live in the city. I hope my paintings convey that for you, as well.  I’ll be showing these pieces as well as paintings of Keene Valley in August at Martha Corscaden’s Art Barn Gallery.  You’ll find her sign on the old iron bridge on the way into Keene Valley. You can’t miss it. It’s just past Chapel Pond.         

New Work at the Corscaden Barn Gallery

 Bedee Brook in April  12x24 diptych  

 Been There  11x17 Pastel 

                                                                  Big Daddy  12x12 oil  

                                                       Big Sky at Chapel Pond  11x17 pastel  

                                                               Blaze  12 x28   oil   

                                                               Cairn on Mt. Jay. 12x12 oil 

                                                         The Curtain rises , Chapel Pond  12x14 oil

Dawn in the Valley  oil   12x28 

                                                           Dawn on Chapel Pond  12x12 oil  

Roaring Brook Falls in April  11x17 pastel 

                                                      Foggy Mt Breakdown (Giant)  12x12 pastel 

Follow the Arrow(Ambersand mt) 8x10 pastel 

 

Forest Brother  12x12 oil  

  Gale force 8x10 pastel 

                                                         Morning Chores   oil  6x6in  

 

Naiads 10x10.  Oil  

                                                              pink cloud  12x12 pastel 

rocky path to Bede Brook 12x18 oil 

  

In the Sacristy 18x18 oil  

spring thaw 18x28 pastel 

                                                           Summer Heat  8x10 pastel 

                                                      The Painter  12x24 oil

                                                         the Potter 11x14 pastel        

                                       

                                                 Young Studs 30x40in charcoal/pastel  

Beede Creek - Diptych

This  2 panel painting is taken from a small stream that flows out of Chapel Pond in April. In the Summer there is very little water but after the snow melt in the spring it is a raging torrent
. 10x20in oil on birch panels

Foggy Mt Breakdown

 I had the good fortune to visit Keene Valley just after Easter and and experienced the landscape under foggy, rainy conditions.While flowers were blooming in Baltimore I sat in the cold drizzle in the High Peaks watching the fog drift over the landscape like a Japanese painting.  There was still a bit of snow on the ground  from the blizzard that left 12ft+ drifts. The colors were muted so I took both under and over exposed pictures for references.  My goal was to pick out all my grays and purple neutrals and try to capture the landscape emerging through the haze.

You also get a glimpse of the reddish hue of  the upper branches of the birch trees that you don't see in the Summer. 

The Deep Woods

Oil paint on a black ground ( a technique inspired from Bear Millers work). I have done many pastel paintings on black paper but never oil paint and it was perfect to achieve that darkness found in the deep woods. The locale of the painting is right behind Chapel Pond down a dirt path to some campsites that I recently discovered.  The paint is loose and thick and  larger than most of my work.

oil on birch panel 18x18in  .  

New pieces

                                                             Marina , Havre de Grace

                                                                  Artist's Dilemma

                                                                Dawn at Chapel Pond

Dawn on Chapel Pond

Got out early to catch the morning sunrise on Chapel Pond. Water was high so there was run off from a stream leading the eye into the background.. 12x12in