This is a work that no longer exists and in fact only lasted for a few moments. The idea was to just play and get an interesting texture that might inspire a new work. I had just seen an exhibit of the French artist Yves Klein who in the 1960s did a series of canvases painted a very rich dark blue, like a slab of the ocean or sky  had been cut out and pasted on the museum walls. I wanted to have that feeling of vast space, a sky that might hint at the infinity that lies behind it. The black bar seemed necessary as a reference point since it feels so heavy and close, a step out to the deep beyond.  I worked up a rich impasto of many different blues and blended them together. I knew this was only the beginning but couldn’t think of what else do with it. The blue still looked flat with nothing in front of it.. I tried placing various objects: scissors, a glass bottle, a cigarette pack, etc. on  the canvas to see what the result would be. The pennies I thought especially looked good since their color contrasts with the blue. They look somewhat like a constellation of stars. Maybe the little angel is praying for some hard cash and having his wish granted. Since then this has turned into a more traditional landscape, which I will show at a later date.

Rustic Scene, oil on canvas, 24" x 12"

Recently I spent two weeks in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts on an art retreat. I combined meditation and painting every day as well as relaxed and read and toured the countryside. The area is full of beautiful old barns, most of them well maintained and crisply painted, surrounded by freshly mowed lawns. I wandered a bit off the main road and found this barn and overgrown orchard that was somewhat run down but still very much in use. I liked the whole comfortably shabby feel of the place and the warm greens and ochres in the grass that contrasted with the blue sky and grey faded wood. It felt very familiar, and indeed I did grow up near a place quite like this, where my grandmother lived. I can just smell the freshly baked cookies wafting from her kitchen…

City Lights, oil on canvas, 12" x 24"

Painted after sunset from a busy  corner in Bethesda, in front of Barnes & Noble.  There is a moment, just when the light from the store interior matches in value the fading light from the sky, when all the colors get very intense, almost fluorescent. Painting in a crowded area like this was at first daunting, what with crowds of moviegoers and restaurant patrons flowing back and forth, but in the end the biggest challenge was to find parking.

Portal, oil on canvas, 16" x 20"

Another  canvas, painted in late afternoon, of the cathedral. The cathedral faces west and captures the light from the setting sun and just glows. This was painted from the lawn reach is crisscrossed with arcing walkways. I tried to weave a tapestry of contrasting colors which seems to work with the intricacy of the architecture.

looking up from the bishops garden

This is from the second location of my class “Evening Landscape Painting.” I painted this a few days before the class met to get used to the venue, though it was painted in the morning so the light was very different. The Washington National Cathedral makes an natural choice for a subject. Standing on the highest point in Washington it is always lit spectacularly from sunrise to sunset. Its stone is a remarkable color that  seems to flicker between pink and yellow, so you get to choose what color you want to paint it. I painted this standing in the Bishop’s Garden, looking up at a magnificent tree with bright yellow leaves. The garden seemed so rich and inviting compared to the austere and  and somewhat harsh appearance of the cathedral. I left its lit portions almost white which contrast with the dark shadows draws you eye at first to the top then down the spires to the garden where you can slow down for a nice stroll.

river islands late day

cool water hot rocks

outward bound kayak

I have been teaching a class, Evening Landscape Painting on Location, sponsored by the Yellow Barn Studio. The class meets at various outdoor locations Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm. I haven’t heard of anyone else who teaches a weekday class  as the sun begins to set; maybe I am the first! It is a real challenge, even for an experienced painter to paint en plein air when the light is changing so rapidly. But it is amazing to watch as the colors mutate from deep orange to deep blue, with purples and turquoises to match, within the space of a few hours.  The paintings that you see here I painted down along the Potomac River, at the Anglers Inn entrance.We met there the first two weeks of the class.

Shadows on the Towpath

Just a small sketch done along the C& O Canal on a 10″ x 10″ square canvas executed mostly with palette knife. Its funny how all the trees lean inwards towards the canal to reach the light. I plan to do a lot more of these small canvases with simple compositions focusing mostly on color. They had a sale on this size canvases anyway.

Forsythia in Bloom

The subject is a view from the backyard. Though most of the year the forsythia looks scraggly and doesn’t do I good job of blocking the view of the neighbor’s yard, they justify themselves in early spring when they explode with color. One very brilliant spring day I was impressed how blue the rest of the world looked through the brilliant yellow blooms. Spring is an odd time with strong contrasts, some places still look wintery and other places like summer is in full swing. I started this painting several years ago but left it unfinished but this time around it seemed to finish itself.

"Candy Corner"

Another attempt to work with a limited palette but this time with the accent of the “Candy Corner.” This little building was left over from the days when Glen Echo was an amusement park. It hasn’t sold candy for quite a while, and I don’t think it is used for anything but storage, but it is still is kept up. I guess it just looks so interesting contrasted with the neutral colors around it, like a brightly dressed child surrounded by solemn grown ups.

"Radiant Congregation"

Recently I have been painting outdoors when the weather permits. There seem to be more colors in the winter landscape than in the summer. At least there are a lot more subtle variations of browns and grays. What exactly is the color are bare branches? Sort of a purplish brown or a greenish gray? I never seem to get it exactly right, which is why I keep at this, I suppose. I simply wanted to match the colors I saw in this painting, though there is something touching about how the two buildings seems to be having some kind of conversation.