LANDSCAPE Portfolio

I work en plein air, wet on wet, very quickly. I try to keep my field easel ready for a dash out to catch a sunrise or the last light of the day. By studying nature I have a sense of what to expect and thus prepare to attempt to translate something about it onto a panel while it's happening around me. No amount of preparation and study has ever limited my astonishment and joy as the light changes. In just a few hours I've composed, worked up to the moment of light effect and then hung on to it in my mind's eye while I wrap up. In the afternoons I often miss the light window and am trudging out in the dark - hungry, mosquito eaten and happy. At sunrise just the opposite, from frozen to over dressed if the sun is strong. On a gray day I'm lucky and can keep painting until I run out of time. [See below for more background]

When you mouse over the featured image the Inventory #, Subject, Size, Place where each painted was done will pop up. On the SHOP page you will find a listing of the inventory with pricing.

There are THREE Galleries below which display the shortest paintings (not necessarily the smallest), the medium and the tallest. Sorry for the kludginess but the tools I'm using restrict the display size relative to the shortest painting in the collection.

#72 Road to Harry's House 12 1/2" x 13" North Falmouth, MA

# 66 Backwaters of Casco Bay 11" x 28" Falmouth, ME

# 93 Neponset River - Greenlodge Bridge 18" x 24" Canton, MA

# 86 Mill Island Late Afternoon 12" x 23.5" Deer Isle, ME

# 78 Turner Pond Sunset 8" x 9" Milton, MA

# 89 Blue Hills Trail 18" x 12" Milton, MA

# 88 Houghton's Pond October Afterlight 9" x 12" Milton, MA

# 75 Brookwood Farm-Summer Maples 9" x 16 1/4" Milton, MA

# 77 Neponset Estuary Late Afternoon 8" x 18" Milton, MA

# 71 Rand's Canal 8" x 24" Falmouth, MA

# 76 Brookwood Farm-late October Maples 10" x 24" Milton, MA

# 92 Backwater at Houghton' Pond 12" x 28" Canton, MA

# 94 Behind Sliver Beach 11 1/2 " x 18" North Falmouth

# 87 SheepHead Island 12" x 23.5" Deer Isle, ME

# 91 Nonquit Marsh 12" x 23.5" Dartmouth, MA

# 82 Turner Pond Last Light 9" x 12" Milton, MA

# 81 Brookwood - Light in the Clearing 9" x 8" Milton, MA

# 79 Brookwood Farm Sunset 12" x 18" Milton, MA

# 80 Brookwood Farm Late Afternoon 9" x 12" Milton, MA

# 95 Casco Bay Inlet 12 " x 18" Falmouth, ME

# 74 Chubb's Creek 8" x 12" Gloucester, MA

# 65 Brookwood Reflections November 11" x 14" Milton, MA

# 69 View to Cushing Island from Peak's 12" x 15" Peak's Island, ME

# 58 Stowe Woods Interior 12" x 16" Stowe, VT

# 84 Neponset Bicycle Path 12" x 23.5" Dorchester, MA

# 57 Gregg Hill Road 12" x 15" Stowe, VT

# 70 Mill Island Late Afternoon 14" x 19" Deer Isle, ME

# 83 Sunset from Mill Island Tidal Road 12 1/4" x 12 1/4" Deer Isle, ME

# 68 Break Between Big & Little Diamond 13" x 19" Casco Bay, ME

# 51 Rock in Damarascotta River 8 1/4 " x 12" Stowe, VT

# 67 Lane off Canton Avenue 16" x 24" Milton, MA

# 61 Black Hall River Still Morning 12" x 18" Old Lyme, CT

# 60 Dock on Neponset Estuary 12" x 16" Milton, MA

# 62 Ponkapoag Pond October 12" x 15" Canton, MA

# 53 Stowe Cow Pastures at Dawn 15" x 24" Stowe, VT

# 59 Duck River at Cemetery Bridge 12" x 15" Old Lyme, CT

# 64 World's End - Late Fall 11" x 14" Hingham, MA

# 54 Dawn on Jackie's Field 6 1/2" x 9" Stowe, VT

# 55 Picnic View 6 1/2" x 10" Stowe, VT

# 56 Muddy Road Sunrise 9" x 12" Stowe, VT

# 73 Brookwood Farm Cluster 12" x 9" Milton, MA

2013-Late Summer-Easel Set up in Neponset Estuary_2865.jpg

I learned from Frank Mason, a great artist and gifted teacher. He studied with Frank Vincent Dumond, in my home town of Old Lyme, CT, where the Lyme School of American Impressionists flourished with the encouragement of Florence Griswold. It is an incredible gift to have connected with that tradition. As a student of Art History I didn't have much patience with impressionism but as a practicing painter the genius of the greats, and of being out there in nature, was so obvious. I didn't put all that together until I met Frank. But as a girl I fell in love with the marshes and the light - it is my longest lasting love affair. Probably the greatest lesson I learned from Frank was not to become attached to a piece at the expense of the whole. It's OK to throw away what isn't working in a particular context, lovely as it may be on its own. I have to remember I have the ability to create something that wonderful again, and more. He encouraged me not to be afraid to start fresh every moment but also hang in there and keep looking and more importantly, thinking. It's not enough to work hard if I'm not stretching my brain to see. learn, translate, evaluate, use the best of what I've got in every way. Painting is really hard work for your brain. Fun work.

I mix and tube my own colors and also make my own rigid panels by spreading and sanding countless layers of rabbit skin glue and whiting. It's a better, more reflective, and more enduring surface than anything I can buy. It's a ridiculous labor of love.

Arriving late afternoon I begin to think about what  happens when low rays of light break across the marsh. — Arriving late afternoon I begin to think about what happens when low rays of light break across the marsh.

I am often happier with what is happening on my pallete as I clean up, then with what is on my panel. But it doesn't matter a great deal if I walk away from a location with a keeper, though that is generally the preferred outcome! It's always good to be out there and at a minimum I learn something that I tuck away for the next visit. The answer to the inevitable question: "So how long did it take you to paint that?" ...about 50 years.

I would like to give credit to a patron, Harry Wilcox III, with whose encouragement I returned to my field easel in earnest, the result of which was Rand's Canal - my first painting upon my return from a 16 year painting hiatus.

Landscape Gallery

LANDSCAPE Portfolio