Get Sick & Get Better

At first I thought it was allergies. Turns out it was a cold. I got scolded and cared for. I'm on the mend now and haven't been doing much this past week other than working and resting on my days off. This morning was the first day in a few that I've played guitar and that helps me feel better too. With the weather improving, days lengthening and spring sprouting, I'm hoping to get out to do a little painting (and fly an airplane), so I hope I feel better real soon. lawn needs mowing too.

I still have a few more prints to add to my new ArtFire studio, but here's one I listed the other day that I'd like to share with you. "Crow Maple" is a red maple (sometimes called swamp maple) that grows in our backyard. We put our meat scraps out on the stone wall for the crows and they often perch in this tree, cautiously waiting their turn at the pickings. My wife has another name for this tree, but that's for her to share with you.


"Crow Maple"

Winter Farm

This painting, "Winter Farm," was created while standing outdoors in Vermont's chilling midwinter bite. I recall the experience as being one of my coldest. Nonetheless, it was a nice day, shared with a painterly friend. We had attended an opening reception at an art gallery in Manchester, Vermont before heading out into the beauty of the state's landscape and doing some painting before heading back home to Connecticut.

One thing's for sure: This kind of weather forces one to employ the techniques of alla prima painting, with skill (real or perceived) and quickness. And it makes a spring day like today all that much warmer.

Sleeping Maple

Today was the day I put my artwork back out there again. I opened my ArtFire Studio and I am glad. It feels good to share my work again and this will likely motivate me to get out into nature and paint some more - as if the warmth and beauty of springtime in New England weren't enough.

I've shown in art galleries in and around Connecticut for over 30 years now and it really is nice to be able to share my work directly with you. Venues like ArtFire are so cool in that they bridge the gap between artist and collector. This reminds me that these really are amazing times we live in, don't you agree?

So here is my first listing, "Sleeping Maple," a fine art giclee print of an plein air painting I did a couple years ago. Painting outdoors in the dead of winter doesn't appeal to me quite as much now as it did when I was younger, but the challenge is still more than worthy of nature's extreme beauty in that cold, cold season. I have a couple more winter landscapes that I'll be sharing with you in the coming days ... while I look forward to painting in the warming days of spring.