Falk Road, Dummerston, VT

I love to drive around my new neighborhood in Vermont, investigating possible painting sites...just looking at the views. On a previously un-driven-by-me gravel road ten minutes from home I came upon this fabulously tree-infested, nicely cultivated property. The garden was tilled and some stakes were up. No vehicles came by for the 3 hours I was there on the side of the road. Then the clouds even decided to cooperate. A perfect day for plein air painting.

This 16 x 20 was done on the very toothy Richeson pastel board (slate) with a mix of Sennelier and Great American soft pastels.

Birds in the Bush

This is a familiar view to me and to many of you as well; out the east window of my studio in Pennsylvania. The slate-colored juncos are the early risers here. They spend winter nights in the protection of dense shrubbery so at first light they are up and looking to see what I've sprinkled on the snow for them to eat.

Mondays & Tuesdays are my Cornell Lab of Ornithology Project Feederwatch days, so no matter what I'm doing in the studio I have one eye on the birds. These are the birds I've seen Monday & Tuesday so far;
mourning dove, cardinal, blue jay, tree sparrow, common redpoll, house finch, goldfinch, tufted titmouse, white breasted nuthatch, black capped chickadee, goldfinch,red-bellied, downy and hairy woodpeckers, crow, starling and the dark-eyed (formerly slate-colored) junco. These are the regular customers in winter. If I am in Vermont on Mondays and Tuesdays I count there and I get pretty much the same birds with the red-breasted nuthatch, brown creeper and pileated woodpecker being more frequently seen than here at my particular PA location. I have not seen the Carolina wren this year and I would like to. Nor have I seen an owl or a hawk on count days, but I have seen evidence in the snow of their presence.

Juncos at Sunrise 12 x 16

Garrison Road Plein Air

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Yesterday was my first plein air day of the year. As I navigated the rutted, frost heaved gravel (MUD) roads of my rural county I finally found the picture I wanted to paint; this long view of rolling hills, farm and wood land, but...Oh, no, I had no long paper in the car. Luckily I did have two 9 x 12 sheets of UArt #500 so I taped them together (adjacent) and ran my painting across both sheets. I think I will frame it just like that. Why not? 9 x 24.

Good new! My optometrist today pronounced my eyes in excellent health...that is a refreshing diagnosis.

Season's Greetings

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The studio is shrouded in clean new snow...about a foot now, but we keep having thaws and freezes. Just want to thank everyone who has visited the studio or one of my exhibits this year. Your interest in my work is one of the reasons I keep painting.

It seems for the past month I've been mostly moving paintings around to and from various exhibits, but I look forward to some serious studio time in January...I have ideas collected in my brain.

My exhibit in Ithaca at Kitschen Sink (two posts below) is on until just after the New Year and the exhibit at NOW (one post below) will hang through January. And I'll be here not far from the woodstove at my Montrose Studio.

This pastel painting, Watrous Corners Barns is available for $475, framed to 20 x 26 in a rustic gold wood frame. You can see it in the window of NOW Hair Studio at 132 Adams Avenue Scranton.

Day's End

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This is my first major painting of the year. I've been working on several large pastels in the studio and this one is the first to be framed. It will be for sale at The Butternut Gallery in Montrose, PA 570-278-4011. The show called Recent Landscapes and Wishful Thinking will open Saturday February 23rd. Cheryl Korb and I will be sharing wall space there through April 20.

I love painting for specific exhibitions; and I thrive on deadlines. I will have several brand new paintings for this show. Hope to see you there. This one is 30" x 18" image size.