Find Beauty in my own Backyard

 

"Backyard"

I'm still resurrecting some paintings of days past to make available as prints. This scene of this ol' red maple is one that I've painted many times, from many angles, in every season, and I suspect I'll paint it again ... and again.

Some days I just want to set up the easel, paintbox and sketch ... and often with only enough time and light for a quick sketch in my own Backyard ... a quick sketch that allows me to appreciate the simple beauty that's around me every day ... the beauty I might otherwise take for granted. 

Look Forward to Plein Air Painting

The snow is melting and spring will be here soon and I'll be able to get outdoors to paint again ... to paint springtime scenes like this one, "Resting Tractor." I'm looking forward to it.

This painting is one of the many scenes that I've sketched along the Salisbury, Connecticut road called Salmon Kill. The maple tree, old barn and the tractor parked beside it, all seemed to call to me ... to join them while the tractor enjoyed at bit of rest between its tasks of the season.

I hope you'll take a closer look at this and my other artwork on ArtFire. 

Enjoy the day. Do something creative!

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"Cow Barn"

Today I added a giclee print of this image, "Cow Barn" to my ArtFire studio. The original painting was done oil on canvas, on location and in one sitting. Capturing such functional beauty in the freshness of Connecticut springtime really is a joy.

I may go back to paint this lovely barn again.

In spring!

The Dappled Maple

The original painting of "The Dappled Maple" was created plein air, in two sittings, in oil on panel, at a land trust in Winchester Center, Connecticut. On a mild afternoon in early spring I hiked through the melting snow, lugging my easel, to this lovely spot where the sun poked through and danced on the landscape.

At one time this land was a dairy farm but has since been turned over to a land trust, where locals can wander to recall and imagine some of the history of our shared community. I imagine there is someplace like this near you too.

Giclee prints of "The Dappled Maple" are available for sale at my ArtFire Studio.

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.

Farmstead

This is Ruth’s farmhouse. Ruth is a very nice elderly woman who let me wader around her farm and paint at will. The farmstead is a former Dairy farm that she inherited from her family. It is a great place to paint, for there are friendly farm dogs to offer love and I was entertained as Ruth drove around the place on her tractor.

This is one of a half-dozen paintings that I've created there.

It's up for grabs at my Etsy shop.

Fire Bush

Some days I don't want to travel, and those days inspire me to appreciate the beauty that's right in my own backyard.

That is how this painting was created. With only a few steps out my own backdoor I was greeted with this lovely scene, layered with crabapple, forsythia and fire bush.