Category: Landscape

This was painted in the fall of 2015…..winter was approaching and I was unemployed.  I was thinking of leaving Cape Cod and eventually did.  Packed up my car and drove down the east coast and across country, ending in Arizona for the winter.

I thought of Bank Street so much while I was gone.  I missed it and wondered why I left.  I missed the ocean, and the winter while I basked in the sun and the beautiful weather of the desert.

Thought of all the times I went to this beach and sat there with my mind quiet watching the magnificent ocean. I didn’t know how much I loved this place until I left.

When I got back to Cape Cod in the Spring…..I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the landscape……and the constant change of it from sunrise to sunset.  The earth is so beautiful it amazes me.

So many times the way I feel when I go out to paint has an impact on the end product. I can look at some paintings and remember the struggle I felt with myself.  This element definitely adds qualities to the painting. With the three Quabbin paintings…..creating each one presented a different anxiety for me.

I never know what the painting will look like until the end of this process and I am always surprised.  I take away from this experience a painting and a memory of the day, of the heat, and the two friends who I painted with. The blues, greens, purples, yellows of the sky and grasses. The water and the distance across the rolling land.  How far away from me this small section of landscape is.  This process creates in me a feeling of joy. To move the oil paint across the canvas with a brush is joy. The colors of nature…composing the image. I look at the paintings whether years, months or days after with a longing to be back in that moment.

This painting proved to be a difficult task today.  So green because of the summer season….the house was raised up on high land which gave it a monumental presence.

The shadow the building cast on the grass was interesting to me….it was a very bright day and the wind made it cold.  I enjoyed the soft blue sky and it’s airiness against the solid shape of the building and shadow.

Standing high above North Truro painting. My heart is fully invested in this moment. I am moved by the beauty of the land as always and also the significance of the row of cottages. So much variety in the land….with the grasses, roads, water, sky and the light changing.  This moment was poetry.

My focus is closer to the immediate road near me and the trees and grass along it.  The dirt road actually is a sandy and rocky road.  A mad dash of light and shadows and always the sky…..not so airy here…… a heavy dense blue that rests on the jaggedness of the landscape.

This was a hot summer day and the colors of the dunes were rich. I love being outside surrounded by the beautiful earth. Using a smaller brush to draw the direction.