Marshlands

Nice little 6x8 sketch of the CT marsh. We have such beautiful seasons here. So grateful for all the variety in colors, temperature, textures, and wildlife. The NW corner is the best-kept secret. 

Looking Out

I love painting other people's horses when they send great pictures!
 

The Bay

 6"x8" Oil on canvas

This was one of the most satisfying paintings to complete. The photo reference is a photograph of a stallion taken by Maria Chin which had been posted on a reference site. Unfortunately, this painting never made it to the gallery walls as my lovely Boxer dog, Tony, decided it was a play toy one afternoon while I was out. Ah well, back to the drawing board!

Bobby's Dog Blue

6"x8" Oil on canvas

I recently finished this little painting in memoriam of a friend's dog who died very suddenly. This was a nice piece to work on as the energy was there. I might still have a few tweaks and tune-ups but I often like to leave it a little rough with brush marks showing. RIP Blue. 

The Christmas Gift

 This was a painting I did for someone for Christmas. I'm hesitant to put it up here because they haven't received it yet. I loved painting this! Full disclosure; this is my painting but not my design. The original design was painted by Heidi Harner....I think. Anyway, I loved the painting so much I created my own version. 

Davis House, 'Sconset

 Ahhh, well-loved and often painted. This old girl sits on the north bluff in Sconset, at the east end of the island. She is probably one of the most painted models out there. I have spent many a morning, afternoon, and evening sitting on that porch, staring out at the ocean, looking.....

The Crooked Door

 This was a fun version of my previous painting titled, "Damn Door". I clearly like painting red barns! This particular barn has one of the most spectacular settings in the NW corner. When you drive by it at sunrise you literally have to pull over in your car and stare. There is nothing like it!

Damn Door

This is a nice old barn on Racetrack Rd. in Lakeville. I was originally going to paint the whole barn with in the landscape, but as I started sketching onto the canvas I didn't really like the scene anymore, I can't really tell you why. Maybe it was a little too static. I feel this crop of the scene is also a little static so I will probably try to add some movement in later. For now, it's just a nice little red barn.

Windy Day on the Harbor

Playing around with acrylics, which is not my medium of choice, but I want to try and get comfortable with it so I can use it for plein air sketching. It would be so much easier just to bring paint, paper, and WATER! If I spill my water I can always get more out of a stream. Oil paints, a medium, and cleaner can get so cumbersome.  I like it, but it will take some getting used to.

Front St. 'Sconset (Nantucket)

9"x12" Oil on canvas

Seriously, my favorite place on earth. I've walked this street a million times.

SOLD

Siamese

I was feeling the need to paint something other than a building or a mountain, I needed to paint an animal....my favorite things in the world, I think. I chose to paint a Siamese cat, for my mom, who grew up with Siamese cats as a young child. I'm pretty pleased with this. 6"x8" oil on masonite. SOLD

Down By The Lake

There is nothing like the first swim of summer, down at the lake, with old and new friends. There is something cathartic about the whole ritual. It takes one back to the same feelings of childhood....the water's cold, but you don't want to be the last one in!!

Western Evening

A few years ago I traveled cross country in a motor home with an old boyfriend. We rarely stayed in traditional RV parks, we almost always pulled over on the side of the road and camped for the might. It was an adventure!! I believe this was somewhere in western Wyoming. The reference photo was dark and difficult to interpret, but the feeling was just like this! So, this painting is more about a feeling than an actual likeness of a location. That's what art is all about, right?!

Looking North to Copake

This was a fun panoramic painting I did. Looking north in Millerton, NY. 

4”x12” oil on board. 

Virginia Barn

Virginia barns are my favorite subject. This barn is located in Rockbridge County, Va

SOLD

Low Country Storm

One more update for tonight. This is one of my favorite paintings, it is quite small, but it reflects a certain feeling that I have about a certain time in my life. It also represents my love of the low country and its history. The only thing more comforting than a low country storm over the May River is a Nor'easter heading in over Cape Cod. 

White Leghorn

So, I have been crazy trying to catch up on posts. It has been fun sorting through paintings I have done in the past few years, inspiring. I love seeing how my style and focus are changing, I'm becoming less worried about details and realism, and more interested in feeling and that moment that speaks to you. That being said, this is a just a chicken portrait, but I loved painting it!!! The evolution of this painting was incredibly educational!!

The Farm Across From Daisy Hill

Another example of paint sketching on a grey day. Well, it started out as a sketch for a larger painting and ended up being a real painting. What's the difference?  I have fun painting no matter what, even when they are disasters, I often have to remind myself of that.

Oil on paper 4"x6"

Black Pony

Often when I am home in bad weather I love to just start sketching in paint to see what happens. Sometimes I have terrible results, and other times, I have surprising successes....like this little gem! Oil on paper, 4"x6"

Clarence

There's nothing better than a good hound!!

I love to paint dogs, especially black and white. It's a challenge to bring out the subtle nuances that each animal has, that "thing" that makes them unique.

Black and White and Fluffy!

Another painting of a friend's dog, not quite done but I kind of like it that way. Something about the eyes of a dog.....

Jack Russell Portrait

Catching up on posting paintings. There are soooo many ways to post on line.
This was a Jack Russell Terrier who lives around the corner. I really love painting dogs. Isn't that what they say, paint what you love!

Jack Russell Terrier

Wow! What can I say? It has been a really long time since I posted any painting. Sometimes life takes unexpected twists and turns. So much has happened in my life it makes my own head spin. The main pause in painting was going back to school and getting yet another degree. Now, back to  painting!! I went back to painting landscapes, but started feeling stale, so I took a little detour and started painting animals....mostly dogs. I love it!. Some are friend's animals and some are shelter pets. This little Jack Russell was  shelter dog, and I added the background. More to come!

P.S. The next few posts are not in chronological order....oh well.

Down The Road A Ways

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, 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. 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