Cedar on a Hot Winter Day
March 12th 2012
Cox Reservation, Essex, MA
Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 in
(sold)

I was so distracted and worried about various things when I began this painting I was prepared to chalk it up to “Good Effort, Poor Result” pile even before starting, but I think it turned out much better than I expected. Painting is the only activity that provides me relief from the various snares in my mind and brain, and I think when I get a foothold into that oasis, I stay in there as long as I can and rejoice – sometimes, as I think in this one, the celebratory mood comes out in the painting. The colours in this photo are off-key, however. Sky is much richer in life.

March 7th, 2012
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
Oil on Canvas, 12 x 24 in
(sold)

Poor photo, sorry – This is the third time I attempted to paint this area / view. It is the thorn in my craw. The view is “backlit,” which is to say, thorugh out the day the light shines consistently upon it, from behind – so what is facing you is in shade below and lit up along the top. The resultant light and colours are stunning, but subtle and complex, and I still haven’t managed to capture what I see. This one turned out fairly pretty anyway, though.

February 28th, 2012
Cox Reservation, Essex, MA
Oil on Canvas, 12 x 16 in
(sold)

What’s funny about this one is that it didn’t occur to me until I had gotten home and seen Saturday’s painting that Tuesday’s was of basically the identical scene. There was this solemn grace in the stand and tangle of branches to the left of the puddle that I didn’t feel I’d captured on Sat and wanted to try again. Like many things in nature, those branches and stems reminded me of a cathedral, the colours, the arches, the lines. I wouldn’t say I did them any justice in this either. Perhaps should have left out the background.

February 25th, 2012
Cox Reservation, Essex MA
Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 in

The day I worked on this we were having 50mph winds, which had resulted, by the time I got working, in two fully prepared palettes landing face down in the grass and countless other disasters. The blue in the foreground is a puddle. I was freezing, by the time I’d got to the foreground I had all the right colours mixed but was too cold to focus on using them carefully. However, I like the way it looks and I am leaving it this way.

February 18th, 2012
Mild Day
Essex Greenbelt, Essex MA
Oil on Canvas, 12 x 16 in

This one, though I see a few things yet to tweak, was a nice relief after a series of duds (see below.) There’s a stand of trees left of the rocks in the foreground, which is the source of those blue shadows. It was a lovely day.