Bradley Lake, Andover - SOLD

Bradley Lake, Andover ~SOLD (somebody liked this!)

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

My family lived in Andover, New Hampshire for 19 years, and Andover was where I lived when I was a little girl.  There are several beautiful lakes and ponds in the area, and the lovely and secluded Bradley Lake is one of them.  Literally tucked up against Kearsarge State Forest at the foot of the mountain, Bradley Lake, vaguely shaped like a figure eight, is a quiet spot for kayakers and swimmers.  This view, looking northwest from the tiny little public put-in and grassy knoll (with requisite milkweed), sports the reflection of the surrounding hills at all hours of the day in the changing light.  

The Road to Stowe in the Rain - SOLD

 The Road to Stowe in the Rain ~SOLD (somebody liked this!)

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

A moment in time captured on Route 100 from Morrisville to Stowe, Vermont.  It was a rainy Wednesday morning during our vacation and the sky was turbulent and moody and the fog and storm clouds roiling over the picturesque Green Mountains begged to be sketched in paint.  This little painting, done in a loose, unfussy manner was exactly what it seemed to me would be evocative of the green and gray beauty of a rainy summer morning along the farms and fields of Vermont.

Aquamarine

 

Aquamarine

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

A fresh wave painting before summer ends, in sun-kissed shades of aquas and greens, captured on another recent trip to the Maine coast. These waves were lighting up Wells Beach during morning walk when the sun was mid-sky and out to sea. When the light is coming through the back of the wave crest, the color gets greener than the rest of the water, and the cool jewel tones in this piece makes the feel full of summer and light and warmth. 

 

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Split

Split

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

Another small still life of a gorgeous avocado, sliced in half.  The underpainting is violet and you can see it give some life to the creamy surface the avocado sits on, and of course in the shadow areas. The purply color makes the yellow and green in the ripe flesh more... delicious. This was a fun study, and another piece I painted as a participant in Instagram's weekly #foodpaintchallenge. Photo reference courtesy of @dennispfeil.art .

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Toward Mount Mansfield (From the Lamoille) - SOLD

Toward Mount Mansfield (From the Lamoille) ~SOLD (somebody liked this!)

6 in. x 8 in., acrylic on canvas    

$130 (unframed)

This is genuine Vermont vacation art!  Painted from our time at a cabin near the Lamoille River in northern Vermont, there's a lot packed into this little six by eight.  The peak in the distance is the "chin" of Mount Mansfield, the highest peak in the state, and perfectly framed looking downriver.  The water was low and I could almost walk out to the center of the riverbed on the pebbly rocks to take some good reference shots.  We had cloudy, turbulent skies most of the time we were there, but the mist filtering over the Green Mountains is a different kind of beautiful, and adds to the feeling of delicious remoteness that far north.  

Juicy

 

Juicy

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

The luminous, juicy flesh of the cut orange wedges with the light coming at them from different angles was so much fun to paint, and an interesting exercise.  The cut side of the far slice is facing the light so I could drop in all those petite, glistening, reflective dots on the wet fruit segments, which was enjoyable once the base colors were dry.  But the near slice was perpendicular to the light source, so no dots of light (except on the peel); instead, the delicious way the light glows through the thinnest part of the translucent orange flesh like a stained glass window was utterly satisfying to paint.  Yet another #foodpaintchallenge painting that allowed me to use my favorite complement pair of blue and orange.  Photo reference courtesy of @dennispfeil.art .

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Blueberries by the Handful - SOLD

Blueberries by the Handful ~SOLD (Somebody liked this!)

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

I grew up with about ten high-bush blueberry bushes growing down by our little brook, and the yield they gave us every summer were quarts and quarts of gorgeous, dark blue berries that my mother would use for things like Blueberry Tea Cake or put away for holiday pies.  This little piece is another #foodpaintchallenge painting done and was enjoyable simply because I adore blueberries more than any other.  Photo reference courtesy of @dennispfeil.art .

Sweet Cherries

Sweet Cherries

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

I painted these cherries as part of a weekly Instagram art challenge called the #foodpaintchallenge where a reference photo of some kind of edible item is posted and anyone anywhere may participate by painting or drawing the subject, posting it, and tagging the challenge. I love dark, sweet cherries, so naturally I wanted to participate.  This was a fun opportunity to use multiple thin glazes of pthalo blue, alizarin crimson and cadmium red to build the jewel-toned luminosity of the cherries.  I hope you like them!  Photo reference courtesy of @dennispfeil.art .

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Tangerines on Blue - SOLD

Tangerines on Blue  ~SOLD (somebody liked this!)

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

This is a low-key little painting done in a classical style.  Blue and orange are my favorite complement pair, and this still life shows off the beautiful contrast of these colors in a way that I find so pleasing.  The muted blue of the understated surface and the way the tangerine skins glow reddish-orange where their round surface turns away from the light glistening off their pebbly tops was so much fun to paint.  I learned so much about creating convincing citrus in working through this piece.  I'll have to paint this subject again soon so that I don't forget how!  Photo reference courtesy of @nica.cn.art (via Unsplash).

August in Grafton

August in Grafton

12 in. x 16 in., acrylic on canvas    

$200 unframed

My ancestors, the Morrill family, came from England in 1632 and set up their new home in Salisbury, Massachusetts.  By the latter half of the 1700s, one of them, Capt. Jabez Morrill, ventured north to Weare, NH, and his boy John came further north still, and built a homestead along the Springfield/Grafton NH line.  Four generations later, John's great-great grandson, my father, was born in Grafton.  The woods that connect Prescott Hill to Fowler Town and down to North Wilmot are all old family ghostland, with only Uncle Alfred's house still standing, stately and beautiful, up the hill from Robinson Corner.  There is an antique beauty up here, and the weight of perhaps being the last one to know and appreciate all this feels both sad and important.  This field off Route 4, riddled with goldenrod in August, looks south toward Ragged Mountain. I feel organically connected to this place, so much so that I felt the need to physically get down into the piece; I set aside my brushes, and painted the open, sweeping sky with my latex-gloved fingers.

 

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Fire in the Sky

Fire in the Sky 

10 in. x 10 in., acrylic on canvas    

$140 unframed

A stylized view of another unique sunset over the salt marshes of Wells Reserve along the southern Maine coast.  The skies are different every single night in Wells, and just when I think I've painted myself out on this subject, here comes another visual feast; trust me when I say there is no lack of inspiration there.  This piece was painted in several little 45-minute increments over the course of a few lunch breaks at work with my portable paintbox I fashioned into a pochade so that I could work on my art while stuck at work.  I brought it back to the studio when the painting got to the "home stretch" stage for final details and neatening up, and I really like the deep reds against the blues of the twilight sky. 

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Six Seabirds

 

Six Seabirds

24 in. x 12 in., 

Acrylic on canvas    

$300 unframed

A few weeks ago I sat watching the tide recede from Crescent Beach in Wells, Maine, with sketchbook and camera in my lap.  The wind was a bit stiff, the sky was all roily and the retreating tide undressed this hulking monolith on which the birds loitered and chatted, all in a row.  

This was a fun low-light painting to build from moody colors in the atmosphere, down to the glossy beach, the surf-drenched rocks, and of course, the gaggle of wet cormorants atop their salty outpost.  This is a tall painting, one foot wide by two feet tall, bigger than this blog format makes it appear.

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Pemigewasset Flow (The Basin)

Pemigewasset Flow (The Basin)

9 in. x 12 in., acrylic on canvas    

$160 unframed

The Basin is an impressive, naturally-occurring hole in solid, granite rock, spanning 20 feet across, at the southern end of Cannon Mountain within Franconia Notch State Park in Lincoln, New Hampshire.  The cascading Pemigewasset River tumbles down the foothills and into The Basin like a huge, roiling cauldron, continually pounding its concave surface smooth.  I've tried here to capture the noise and vigor of one of the waterfalls on the Pemi galloping down alongside one of the trails in the cool of the day.

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Up the Rollins Trail, Mount Kearsarge

 

Up the Rollins Trail, Mount Kearsarge

11 in. x 17 in., acrylic on canvas    

$200 unframed

Although I prefer to summit Kearsarge from the Wilmot side, the Rollins Trail to the top of Mount Kearsarge from the gentler slope on the Warner, NH side is only a half mile long (there's an auto road that takes you most of the way up). Rollins is utterly jam-packed with rocks almost every step of the way, like a jumbled riverbed.  It's a short climb, but the moderate grade and rock litter can leave you feeling like you spent more time than anticipated on the gym stair-climber. Last September, for our shared birthday outing, my 9-year old granddaughter and I went up the Rollins Trail for her first ascent to the top of Kearsarge.  It was the tallest mountain she'd climbed so far, and Gloria skipped from one outcropping to another, thrilled with each new vista, more vast than the one before.  This painting is of the uphill approach on Rollins where the trail takes a hard right, right before you leave the mixed forest, and enter the zone where the conifers get shorter and spindly and you're just a short scramble from the open areas of bare granite slabs that will take you to the top.

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Evening Combustion (Wells, Maine)

Evening Combustion (Wells, Maine)

16 in. x 20 in., acrylic on canvas    

$260 unframed

A new coastal image, this is a larger piece, painted on a black-primed canvas, which makes the colors laid over it especially luminous.  This is what the setting sun looks like over the salt marshes of Wells Reserve behind Moody's Cottages in Wells, Maine.  The sunsets over the tidal area where the Webhannet River meets the Atlantic are never the same from evening to evening, but explosive skies spattered with great swaths of clouds set ablaze are always stunning, regular occurrences.  This was a fun one to paint!

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Deluge

 

Deluge

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary) 

A second wave painting.  The first one (Roar) was so relaxing, I decided to paint another.  I would like to credit Artur Ciejka (@artem.perspective) for the reference photo.  

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Roar

 

Roar

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary) 

Isaiah 51:15 "For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea, and its waves roar (the LORD of hosts is His name).

This little piece is done on a small, gallery-wrapped canvas, and is a stormy eyeful of noisy ocean waves advancing toward the viewer.  Painting art you can hear is way too much fun!

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Franconia Notch in March

 

Franconia Notch in March

10 in. x 10 in., acrylic on canvas    

$140 unframed 

For people from New Hampshire, this is a familiar stretch of Interstate 93 as it narrows into the single-lane, divided Franconia Notch Parkway, approaching the trailhead parking sign.  Imposing Cannon Mountain looms ahead, hemming you in from the west as you slip into The Notch (called a 'pass' or 'gap' for all you non-New Englanders) between Cannon Mountain and Mount Lafayette on the east.  Rock slides pepper the southern face of Cannon here, and the almost monochromatic palette winter brings to the White Mountains creates a moody, intimidating sensation as your eye sweeps up the side of the massive granite dome.  For those of us who live here, we often say that The Notch has it's own weather system.  Ominous clouds like what you see here brooding on the top of Cannon cliff as you round the bend are the norm, sometimes even on the sunniest days either end of the parkway.

Myrtle Beach - SOLD (Commission)

 

Myrtle Beach (commission)

12 in. x 24 in., acrylic on canvas    

The collector who commissioned this piece owns a couple of other pieces of mine depicting some of her favorite spots along the cooler, northern Atlantic beaches, but wanted to add this serene painting of a quiet length of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.  The piece is warmed by a yellow ochre underpainting which you can't see, but which heats up the intense blue of the sky on the day the buyer snapped the reference photos.  Without the gold underneath, the painting would lack the feel of the warm temperatures and the yellow sunlight in a setting dominated by cool blues and greens.  

Wells Reserve, Maine

 Wells Reserve, Maine

8 in. x 8 in., acrylic on canvas    

$130 (unframed)

We had two fabulous short stays at Moody's in Wells, Maine last year (shout out to Moody's Motel and Cottages!) and were able to take in such stunning views of the changing light over the salt marshes while enjoying the heady ocean air.  Here's a stout little piece of colorful drama over Wells Reserve.

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Icon of Jonah - SOLD (Commission)

 

Icon of Jonah (commission)

11 in. x 14 in., acrylic on canvas

This piece was commissioned to capture Jonah crying out to God from inside the gullet of the fish.  Jonah, who attempted to run away from the mission God gave him to call the people living in Ninevah to repent from great evil, is pictured here having been rescued from drowning.  He does not yet know his fate, has no idea he and God are "still on" for his assigned task, and isn't expecting what will unfold in Ninevah.

I painted this with a nod to Christian iconography.  The esophageal ribbing and distant dark stomach valve symbolizing the thread of being digested to death are situated behind him to create a halo/nimbus around his head.  He kneels in the putrefying liquid of seawater and acidic saliva, yet his face and hands are upturned in prayer and worship  The utter darkness of the belly of the beast is illumined by the Presence of the Holy Spirit, unseen and outside of the frame, but yet setting alight his features and dancing on the surface of the water.

I would simply like to say that there are some pieces where I perceive God leading me every step of the way.  When I ran out of ideas about what the next step in the compositional process would be, He just, well... brought it to mind in a much different way than when my own mind works to come up with solutions.  This piece was an intriguing painting experience for me.  I hope it continues to speak to the one who commissioned it for a long time.

Magi Under Virgo - SOLD

 

Magi Under Virgo  ~SOLD (Somebody liked this!)
12 in. x 12 in., acrylic on canvas    

$170 unframed  

It's been a while since I've painted a supernaturalist piece.  I only seem to be able to paint these spiritually symbolic images when they come to me, and I can't force them or simply produce one as an exercise.  This year, before and during Epiphany, I felt greatly focused on the Magi's curious trek to seek out the Child who was the subject of Revelation 12:  "And a great sign appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.  She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth."  According to Dr. Michael Heiser, in 3 B.C. a conjunction of Jupiter and Regulus appeared in Virgo during The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), which is a very possible date for the birth of Jesus.  This piece puts the Magi, with their formidable entourage behind them in the distance, under the sign of Virgo, impregnated with a brilliant messianic nova.  The hills are Judean, and the clothes they wear are reminiscent of the flesh tones of the nations, who are prefigured in them as they bow down to the the Child they have come from so far away to worship.