Hurricane Faye

Today is a sloppy day outside. Tropical storm Faye is beating on Florida but we are getting the tail end of her punch. I haven't seen so much rain in a long time so I am staying inside and painting at the easel with the dogs at my feet. This is a small painting 4"x4" oil on canvas. SOLD

Hell Bent

Almost done. If you have looked further in this blog you will see another painting at the same location. That one is called "Sermon on The Bluff" so it seemed interesting to call this one Hell Bent. This is the episcopal churchyard in Bluffton, Sc. looking out over the May River. I often kayak and swim there as I stay in a house about a half mile up-river. 6"x8" (ish) oil on panel.

View From Millie's

This is another Nantucket view but at the west end of the island, in Madaket. It is looking from Madaket Millie's bridge towards Eel Point. I think I snapped a picture one morning as I was delivering kayaks to customers. Madaket Harbor is one of the island's best kept secrets. The waters are tricky with many sandy shoals and the currents can change suddenly, but if you know the waters it can make for terrific boating and fishing. That is why it's mostly only Islanders on the west end waters. 8"x10" oil on canvas. Sold

Nantucket 6 a.m.

This is a painting I did early one morning before I had to go back to rent sail boats and kayaks. Rough life. I was fortunate to live down town on the docks so I would rise early and walk all over town before all the summer people and tourists got up. I would imagine that I was living 40 years back and this was how quiet it was all the time. Nope, only at 6 a.m. in this century. I am looking down Orange Street to Main Street and into Congdon's Pharmacy which still hosts an old fashioned soda fountain with swivel stools, affordable ice cream cones, and frappes. 9"x12" Oil on Canvas. SOLD

The House With the Red Stairs

This is another unfinished painting. If I blog them before I am done it motivates me to finish them. This lovely little house is located in 'Sconset on the east end of Nantucket. It is a nice old summer cottage that I passed by last fall when I was visiting family. With all the building code enforcements you couldn't build 'em like this anymore. Nowadays they have to have heat, enclosed walls, and modern everything. 6"x8" Oil on Birch Panel.

Goodbye To Mudpie

This was originally painted as a happy painting but this particular day turned into a sad one for me so I made the clouds stormy. The May River has alot of moods and this one fit . 16"x20" Oil on Canvas.

Nantucket Moors

This was a fun painting I did for a Nantucket Artists' Association exhibit. It was such a bright day and I love the moors on Nantucket. Just when I think I have biked, hiked, and ridden down every dirt road I find another I have never been on. In about another month from now the moors start smelling so delicious as all the "scrubby" plants start to blossom. There are blueberry, beach plum, bayberry, bearberry, gooseberry, cranberry, elderberry, apple, wild grapes, rose hips, and others I don't know exist.

SOLD

Afton, VA

I haven't quite finished this painting. I love the mountains of Virginia so much and my heart lives there. If there is such a thing as "last lives" mine was somewhere in those hills. I stopped to paint this on my way up from South Carolina to visit by brother and his family who live in beautiful Staunton, Virginia where life is simple and rich, the air is clean, and neighbors are good. 16"x20" Oil on Canvas.

Kennebago River

This is a painting of Kennebago Lake in northern Maine. I spent a little time up there fishing with friends a few years ago. It was quite a scene with a canoe full of dogs and fly fishing gear. One of those great ideas that would have been a funny story if you weren't worried about capsizing in 55 degree water, in the middle of beautiful nowhere, with no cell service. If there were any fish they were surely scared off by muffled yells of "sit", "stay still", "lie down", and "that fly is not for you!", among other commands .

Taos Pony

This is not my usual style but I felt like a change. This is a a lonely little pony I met when I was in Taos, New Mexico skiing. Taos is a funny place because there are alot of undercurrents happening there. Very rich, very poor, ski town, art town, resort. Much smaller than you think and phenomenally beautiful, yet disturbing in it's socioeconomic hierarchy. SOLD

Sankaty Head Light (Before the move)

This is a view of Sankaty Lighthouse in 'Sconset painted from about a half mile off shore. The light house was moved over 400 feet this year to save it from the eroding bluff. That red stripe is an integral part of my teen life on Nantucket. Although it's history is about guiding sailors on the water it offered itself up as a reference point to me more than once as I sailed through the moors in a jeep looking for the secret party spot where bonfires crackled, guitars strummed, and good friends laughed. I'm glad it's still around even though not all of us are.

Rangeley Pastel Sketch

Before I start an oil painting I love, (like), (sort of like) to do a pastel sketch of the scene. I don't always get a chance to but when you're in Rangeley Maine for the winter there is always extra time; when you're not snowmobiling to some faraway place at a fervent pace, bundled up like Nanook of the North, with a herd of other people you have never actually seen because of their suits and helmets. At the end of the day a hot libation is definitely earned.

Rangely Maine Oil

I spent a year one winter in Rangeley Maine. Rangeley is a beautiful little town in northwest Maine where the people live for the lake. When they are not snowmobiling across it, they are boating in it, or fly fishing from it's shores and tributaries. One winter was enough fun.

The Davis House

This is a great old house in 'Sconset, on the East end of the Island. It is one of the last old bluff houses that hasn't been redone with every bell and whistle available to Martha Stewart and modern man; old soapstone sinks, crooked floors, real, old wicker furniture, simple refrigerator (maybe even an icebox), big kitchen for family gatherings, and a porch wide enough to actually sit on and entertain a passing neighbor and/or friend. SOLD

Dick's Geese

Ahhh! I just finished a fantastic trip to my beautiful home of Nantucket where I got to visit some of my greatest friends ever and spend time with family. There really is no place like home. Still, I can't afford to live there. On my way "off island" I stopped by my good friend Dick Loring's Wingscorton Farm on the north side of the Cape. This is a painting of Dick's Geese which was originally named Dick's Ducks but as I was finishing it it suddenly dawned on me that these were geese. Thank God. SOLD

Brant Point

Brant Point Light. I used to boat out there late in the afternoons, on an incoming tide, and fish for Striped Bass in a big, deep hole right to the right of the lighthouse in this painting. Fishing expedtions were usually short lived due to my lack of patience, and because I always brought a dog, or two, who inevitably tangled themselves in the lines, or would attack the fish before I got them halfway in the boat which would result in a barbed hook causing some bloody mess. SOLD

Nantucket

I've had a couple+ people ask me why I don't have any Nantucket paintings up?? This view of beautiful Pocomo is looking east from the lifesaving museum on Polpis Rd. If you kept going to the right you would reach Polpis Harbor where the "chowder hogs" are like cobblestones. I used to sail, at about 6 a.m., up against those white bluffs and, much to my dismay, I would just instinctively know when it was time to head back to the mooring field so I could start the day renting the sailboats instead of sailing them. SOLD

Norah Jones

Well, this is my neighbor's dog, and Taco's very dear love. Taco is my black lab mutt. Norah is a very sweet soul who is a little confused as there is a new human baby in her house. She comes over here from time to time and then heads back across "the way" to see if anything has changed at her house. I'm sure there is alot of "changing" there. Painting is unfinished and I make an uncommitted promise to update when finished.

NFS

Silence

This was a perfect day to paint this painting as it is raining buckets here in South Carolina. I love a rainy day (just one) because of all the cliches that go along with it. It is quiet, and cleansing, and gives me a sense of renewal when it is all over. It also lets me sit inside without feeling guilty about not being outside doing "something".

Road to Anywhere

This is a painting I am almost done with. I just have a few more things to tweak. I kinda like it because it is very loose. It is a painting of my road where I once lived in South Carolina. I have taken many walks down this road, to and from the grocery store, with my three dogs.

Scorton Creek Bridge

This is one of my favorite spots. It is Scorton Creek on Cape Cod and the bridge is Rte. 6A which runs the north side of the Cape. I have been down at the creek on several occassions in the spring, flyfishing with a friend and my dogs. It brings back great memories.

Blue, of Red and Blue

This is an unfinished painting of a little Beagle I found on the side of the road in Monk's Corner, SC. He was ever so skinny but had the sweetest face. His brother was with him so I named them "Red" and "Blue". I have since found them homes on a friend's horse farm but I will keep trying to catch that sweetness in their faces. I will update when finished.

Old Red...ish

"Old Red...ish"
This was a great old truck I drove by when I was wandering around the back roads of Virginia. I think it was in Vesuvius. The funny thing about this painting is that I got to the stage you see here and I was so frustrated I wiped it out. Now I'm kind of sorry I did. Maybe I'll try again. GONE

East, West

"East and West"

Well, this is actually an older painting but it followed the same theme of my earlier post as both paintings are of the May River. This painting might be a bit "modified" in composition but I still like it. SOLD

New Painting

Sermon on the Bluff"

This is my latest completed painting.It is a very small oil painting, 4x4, of the Episcopal Churchyard in Bluffton, SC. It is a very quiet and peaceful bluff overlooking the May River. SOLD