Hand-Painted Charger Plates

Sunday, July 25, 2021

Sweet Cherries - SOLD



Sweet Cherries

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    
$100 unframed ~ SOLD ~ Somebody Liked This!

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 .

Sunday, July 18, 2021

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).

Monday, July 12, 2021

August in Grafton


August in Grafton

12 in. x 16 in., acrylic on canvas    
$495 framed

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.
 

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

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. 

Monday, June 28, 2021

Six Seabirds

 

Six Seabirds

24 in. x 12 in., 

Acrylic on canvas    

$500 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.


Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Pemigewasset Flow (The Basin)




Pemigewasset Flow (The Basin)

9 in. x 12 in., acrylic on canvas    
$385 framed

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.

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Up the Rollins Trail, Mount Kearsarge


 


















Up the Rollins Trail, Mount Kearsarge

11 in. x 17 in., acrylic on canvas    
$495 framed

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.

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Evening Combustion (Wells, Maine)


Evening Combustion (Wells, Maine)

16 in. x 20 in., acrylic on canvas    
$450 framed

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!

Monday, March 29, 2021

Deluge


 



















Deluge

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    
$130 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.  

Sunday, March 28, 2021

Roar - SOLD


 


















Roar

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    
$100 unframed (no frame necessary) ~ SOLD!

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!

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Franconia Notch in March - SOLD


 














Franconia Notch in March ~SOLD

10 in. x 10 in., acrylic on canvas    

$250 framed 

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.


Sunday, March 14, 2021

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.  


Sunday, February 21, 2021

Wells Reserve, Maine - SOLD



 Wells Reserve, Maine ~ SOLD!  (Somebody liked this!)
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.

Monday, February 15, 2021

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.

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Magi Under Virgo - SOLD


 











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

Prints of this piece are available at my online print shop:


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.

Sunday, October 4, 2020

Mount Washington in April - SOLD

 
On a trip up to North Conway here in New Hampshire last spring, before the buds on the trees were ready to open, I was able to capture this shot of our stately Mount Washington. This is the highest mountain in the northeastern United States, with record-breaking wind speeds at the summit.  This view appears on routes 16 and 302, just as the road turns west toward the town of Glen.  Fun fact: all that snow up there at 6,288 feet isn't going to melt until June.



Mount Washington In April  
~SOLD (Somebody liked this!)
6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on canvas
$100  (gallery-wrapped, no frame needed)

Friday, September 18, 2020

Mile Road Salt Marsh at Wells - SOLD

Mile Road Salt Marsh at Wells  ~SOLD (Somebody liked this!)
6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on canvas   
$100 (gallery-wrapped canvas, no frame needed)

This little painting is a snapshot of the large salt marsh area just near the end of Mile Road in Wells as you approach the Wells Beach public parking area.  Here, the sun is nearly overhead, close to noon, and the red underpainting peeks through the top layers of paint so that the viewer can feel the hot, hazy August atmosphere hanging in the salt air.

Saturday, September 5, 2020

Luna Moth Study

This little square, gallery-wrapped piece was a fun exploration into the  luminous, chalky green wings of the elusive Luna moth.  The incredible opaque jade color tends to glow against the surprising pink background, and I liked the lighthearted mood it created. The original photo of this moth was taken by my fellow pastor's wife friend, Christina, and she very graciously let me use her photo to play around with for this study. 



Luna Moth Study
6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on canvas
$72 (gallery-wrapped canvas, no frame needed)

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Almost Dark Over Wells Beach

Almost Dark Over Wells Beach
11 in. x 17 in., acrylic on canvas   NFS 

This piece was painted from a a very dark photo I took as my husband and I walked along Crescent Beach (just south of Wells Beach) after the sun sank behind the horizon and the last fingers of blazing clouds surrendered to the dark rolling in from the ocean.  Here, the tide has just started to go back out, leaving a shiny wet beach reflecting the bright lights of Wells Beach a half mile north.

Sunday, July 12, 2020

Dusk at Wells - SOLD


This was fun little study based on some 
lovely moments of turbulent sky and sea 
I enjoyed in the early spring at Wells Beach 
in Maine.  The fun bit about this piece was 
that I had challenged myself to paint it all in 
one hour, on a small canvas, with a single 
brush.  I wanted to see if I could capture the 
feel of the swiftly moving clouds and get the 
marks in the foreground surf and sand area 
to read as wet and glossy and reflective. 



Dusk at Wells  
~SOLD (Somebody liked this!)
5 in. x 7 in., acrylic on canvas    $72   

Monday, May 18, 2020

Misty Morning, Wells Beach - SOLD

Misty Morning, Wells Beach ~SOLD (Somebody liked this!)
16 in. x 20 in., acrylic on canvas    
$235 (unframed)

We had gotten away for a quick weekend respite right before Memorial Day.  I stood barefoot on the packed, wet sand of Wells Beach on a cool Saturday morning in May and was taken by the how green the receding tide appeared as the mist lifted.  Here, the flat, bright disc of the sun slowly burns through the weakening early fog, just as the grayness of the morning surrenders to blue sky.

Saturday, April 18, 2020

Expanse (Wells Beach, Maine) - SOLD


Expanse (Wells Beach, Maine) ~SOLD (Somebody liked this!)
12 in. x 24 in., acrylic on canvas    $235 (unframed)

Long and wide at low tide, Wells Beach is seven miles of sand, sky and cold Atlantic waves.  The wet, black piles of rock near Mile Road dry to a soft gray as the water recedes here at midday, and the onshore breeze creates a turbulent expanse of clouds thrown like a ragged cape across the blue ceiling of sky.  This piece sold while it was still wet on the easel, getting the last details laid in.

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Winter Salt Marsh at Kettle Cove, Maine

Winter Salt Marsh at Kettle Cove, Maine
9 in. x 12 in., acrylic on canvas    
$150 (unframed)

On a recent winter trip to Maine, we stomped around lovely Kettle Cove, just over the hill and south of Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth.  Kettle Cove is connected to Crescent Beach, but has some great walking trails... if you don't have to contend with ice and snow.  Don't let the blue morning sky fool you; here's a small, icy salt marsh stream surrounded by spindly trees and tall, dead salt grasses, dried and stiffened by the bitter freezing February ocean air.  

After the Storm, Harbor Island - SOLD

After the Storm, Harbor Island ~SOLD (Somebody liked this!)
9 in. x 12 in., acrylic on canvas    
$150 (unframed)

My son Sam visited Harbor Island in Maine (the one further north) last summer and caught some great shots of some beautiful Atlantic coastline.  It's an isolated place, peaceful and wild, he says.  This is a view toward the west at sunset just as a strong summer thunderstorm subsided and passed.  

Friday, January 3, 2020

Black Mission Figs on Stripes II - SOLD


Black Mission Figs on Stripes, II ~SOLD (Somebody liked this!)
6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on canvas
$72 (gallery-wrapped canvas, no frame needed)

I love figs.  Fresh figs, dried figs, fig preserves... but NOT the Newton, which does a terrible, dry disservice to something so wonderful as the sweet and earthy fig.  For my fiftieth (!) birthday last September, my beloved daughter-in-law, who knows how much I love them, made me a gorgeous spiced pear layer cake with blackberry curd filling, brown sugar frosting and caramel sauce, topped with enormous blackberries and FRESH BLACK MISSION FIGS.  FRESH!!!  They were exquisite.  I am so glad I was born during that short window of time when fresh figs are actually available in the produce department of some stores.  The long and short of this is that my daughter-in-law loves me, so much that she left the rest of the little vented box of lovely black mission figs for me to enjoy.  Their dusky, tender and lightly ribbed purple forms were just begging to be painted, so I threw the last few onto a well-used ochre and white striped kitchen towel in the afternoon light and painted them.  I've painted this twice, an original study (still available, contact me for details) and this second treatment.  I hope you like it.



Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Dorie's Peony - SOLD

You know how peony heads can 
get so heavy they topple over?  
Dorie is no longer with us, but her 
peonies are still belong to her family, 
and this beautiful white blossom is 
from one of her plants, so heavy 
with blossoms this past summer that 
they were indeed toppling.  This single 
flower head was so white, it seemed 
to reflect the colors of the room around 
it as it perched primly on the table top.  
This is a quick study of that lovely 
singular bloom.


Dorie's Peony 
~SOLD (Somebody liked this!)
6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on canvas
$72 (gallery-wrapped canvas, no frame needed)

Friday, May 10, 2019

Toward Mackworth















Toward Mackworth 
9 in. x 12 in., acrylic on canvas
$170 (framed)

Mackworth Island is an almost perfectly round little island in Falmouth, Maine.  It sits in Casco Bay, right along the border of Portland.  We frequent Portland often, and this view is from the little rock jetty near the boat launch on Portland's Eastern Promenade.  The island is heavily wooded with walking trails, is home to a school for the deaf, and is accessible by a narrow causeway from Falmouth.  From the perimeter trail on Mackworth, you can enjoy lovely and unique views of the peninsular bluff on which the city of Portland is perched.  

Sunday, May 5, 2019

Quechee Gorge


Quechee Gorge
16 in. x 20 in., acrylic on canvas
$270 (framed)

A mile long and 165 feet deep, Quechee Gorge in Quechee (Hartford) VT has been an enduring source of wonder and awe for me since I was a small child and we lived in Andover, NH.  My parents would regularly travel the bridge crossing the gorge in the painting (which is U.S. Route 4) to a Whitehall, NY campground with our camper in tow for summer weekends.  It was our custom to pull into the Quechee Gorge gift shop for a "pit stop" and to walk out onto the green bridge for a look down into the deep canyon where the Ottauquechee River burbled and splashed below.  My mother was afraid of heights and was a good sport, but really could not tolerate being on the bridge near the railing for more than a minute or two.  Me?  To this DAY there is nothing more thrilling than walking out to the middle bridge seam, waiting for one of those heavy-laden Vermont logging trucks to thunder over the span and feeling the roadway shudder and flex under my feet.  The misty, distant atmosphere looking up the narrow chasm from the surface of the water, the steep, metamorphic rock walls like a deep, great hall, the verdant Vermont foliage, and the beautiful, familiar curve of rust-spotted, green bridgework captures this beloved and special place for me.

Saturday, April 20, 2019

Winter Ascent, Kearsarge

Winter Ascent, Kearsarge
8 in. x 8 in., acrylic on canvas
$130 (framed)

When my friend Jennessa scaled the side of my favorite mountain last February, she took some great shots during her climb.  The moody sky and light snowfall she climbed under created an ephemeral atmosphere in her photos, and, with her permission, I wanted to capture the odd combination of the softness of the mood with the stark crispness of the scene.  I decided to eliminate all extraneous bits and pieces from the forest floor and distill the simplified elements of the landscape into cool sky and warm shadows, sharply sloping mountainside, trees and snow.  I used ragged ribbons of acrylic texture paste under the paint layers of the near side trees to pull them forward into the space in front of the canvas and build a textural and dimensional experience for the in-person viewer.  

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Pemigewasset River in June

Pemigewasset River in June
11 in. x 14 in., acrylic on canvas
$185 (framed)

Last summer, this was my view from the steam train at Clark's Trading Post in Lincoln, New Hampshire, while having a fun day with our grandchildren, Gloria and Wesley.  The train at Clark's crosses the Pemigewasset River by way of a covered bridge from 1904, and opens up briefly into this vista over the waters.  It was day of increasing cloudiness, but for a short time, a bit of blue sky and sun decked the mountains and water with light, briefly changing the moody appearance of the valley and riverbed.  Looking north toward Franconia, the exposed rocky riverbed of sandy-colored rocks and gravel created a lovely, sunlit field of stone on the opposite shore. The Pemigewasset River starts up at Profile Lake in Franconia (home to the former Old Man of the Mountain which fell from the Cannon Mountain cliff face in 2003) and runs south through the White Mountains.  It continues down to Franklin, flowing for almost 70 miles before joining the Winnipesaukee River.  The two join to become the mighty Merrimack River that ultimately takes those waters to the Atlantic Ocean at Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Saturday, March 23, 2019

Mom Always Called Him Sunshine, II - SOLD



Mom Always Called Him Sunshine, II 
~SOLD (Somebody Liked This!)
12 in. x 12 in. acrylic on canvas
$190 (framed)

Bruce was my mother's only son, and from the time he was a little shaver, even when he grew up to be a big, burly man, she often would address him as, "Sunshine."  When asked, she said it was because of his headful of unruly golden brown curls that framed his face as a little boy, and that to her he looked like a round-faced sunshine.  When my brother died unexpectedly in January and we were fumbling around in our grief trying to put together a fitting funeral for him, I could think of nothing other than somehow getting my hands on a big glass ginger jar full of brilliant sunflowers in his honor, even in the midst of a snowy New England winter.  This painting is of a few choice blooms from that gorgeous and nourishing riot of sunshine that will always, always, always be a symbol of my funny and precious Bruce, who is now most definitely basking in the light of the face of Jesus.

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Losing Geoff (Triptych) - SOLD


Losing Geoff (Triptych) ~SOLD (Somebody Liked This!)
Three 9 in. x 12 in. panels, acrylic on canvas
$378 (unframed)

This triptych is a few years old, and had been living a quiet life in my home for most of that time, with only three ventures out of the house to go on display at brief events. This week, at its third outing, it sold almost as soon as it went public. In fact, at the New Light Art Show reception, several people commented on it and one woman told me I could have sold it at least a couple of times over, based on her own love for it, and on the feedback she said she'd heard from others. 

Losing Geoff was the first triptych I ever painted, and, despite it having been a memorial exercise on the occasion of losing a friend to a sudden illness back in our old church, it was an enjoyable challenge to paint.  The composition is a "treescape" or an expanse of oak branches viewed from underneath the tree, looking up at the summer sky, and spanning the entirety of three panels.  The piece may be enjoyed for what it is, without knowledge of the "Easter egg" within it to which the title refers. 

The story the painting tells is as follows: The leaves are a community, of sorts, all living within reach of each other, brushing against and interacting with one another, all clinging to, and receiving life from the tree to which they are attached.  A few bare twigs void of leaves mark the piece here and there, but on the leftmost panel, there is one vacant twig, freshly bereft of its leafy member, marked by a single, glistening red drop on its terminus, a fresh wound made by the amputation of the living leaf newly ripped from it.  This image was an apt reflection of the painful void in our fellowship left by the unexpected death of our dear friend and brother in Christ.  

The branch will not be bare forever.  We will vacate our own branches each of us, one by one, but we will be together with our lost one again.  Spring will come.  He promised.

Friday, June 22, 2018

Mount Kearsarge, Wilmot Side - SOLD






















Mount Kearsarge, Wilmot Side  ~SOLD (Somebody Liked This!)
12 in. x 16 in., acrylic on canvas
$196 (framed)

The northern slope of Mount Kearsarge is home.  I spent my earliest years living in Andover village, at the base of Kearsarge.  His stately, flat top will always be recognizable to me from wherever he rises up from the horizon, and when I go near him, I feel like I could lie on the soil of his dominion and become part of his very roots.  I have climbed to his square-blocked, rocky summit many times; my first climb was when I was six years old, and my forty-something mother, refusing to be outdone by the younger moms in my first-grade class, insisted to my teacher that she would most definitely be one of the chaperones on our field trip up the steep Winslow Trail.  Here he sits under a dramatic skyscape in a pose most familiar, just off NH Route 4 just north of the Andover town line.

Saturday, April 7, 2018

Bartlett Pear Study - SOLD


Bartlett Pear Study ~SOLD (Somebody Liked This!)
6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on canvas
$72 (gallery-wrapped canvas, no frame needed)

Just a quick study of a simple Bartlett pear, with it's bumpy, green-to-yellowing ripening transition.  I love pears, and I grew up with Bartlett pear trees with were heavy with huge yields every fall.  I think they've gotten short shrift here in America, where we're all about apples, all the time.  Pears are mellow, juicy and lovely, and ought to be used more often in our common cooking and baking.  If this were a food blog, I'd dazzle you with a sexy photo of the glorious pear and cardamom skillet pie I made last fall.