Clearing Skies, Late Afternoon (pastel, 2007)

September Field (pastel, 2007)

Elizabeth Dulin's Barn (oil on canvas, 2007)

This is a quick little study done from a big field where I've been working a lot over the past month. Looking west towards New Brunswick in the distance late in the afternoon.

Study for McGuire's House (oil on canvas, 2007)

(Private Collection)
This is a small (10 x 20) quick little study that I did right outside my studio.

Siamese Twins (oil on canvas, 2007)

(Private Collection)
These twin barns which are connected at the hip are on the Anderson homestead here in Littleton, about a mile and half directly behind my house.

Hay is for Horses, July (oil on canvas, 2007)

(Private Collection)
Actually, this hay is for cows. My neighbor cut the hay behind my house for the cows on his dairy farm. I made this painting right after they finished baling the hay – they came and took the bales away the next morning. I was forced to work quickly as I could only paint while my son took his nap, which was about an hour and a half.

Hay Bales at Sunset (oil on canvas, 2007)

Hay bales in a field of Ingraham Road looking to the north east as the sun was setting. The painting "Filed At Sunset" was done from the same field, looking the other way about a month earlier. I did a pastel on location and created this painting in the studio.

Perfect Day (oil on canvas, 2007)

This field and trees are a mile and a half directly behind my house and I have painted this view many times, especially in the winter (see "Winter Trees" above and "Three Trees" below). Thanks to my good friend Robert Pierce for the title.

Field At Sunset (oil on canvas, 2007)

Red House Over Yonder (oil on canvas, 2007)

(Private Collection)
I saw a retrospective of Edward Hopper's work at the MFA in Boston the week after I finished this painting and it made me realize how much of an influence he had on me. This is an empty house right on the border of Canada. It looks as though it might have been some kind of border patrol station at one time, but the road is currently blocked off right where the road crosses the border. One of the Border Patrol agents came out to see what I was up to one evening while I was doing a drawing here. I showed him my sketch pad and waved and he waved back and drove away. A friend later told me that he overheard the agents talking on his police scanner about me and said they referred to me as a "hippy" artist. Yikes!

Red Sky (pastel, 2007)

(Private Collection)

Autumn Hay Bales (pastel, 2007)

(Private Collection)

Road to a Friend's House (pastel, 2007)

April Snow (oil on canvas, 2007)

Impending Darkness (oil on canvas, 2007)

I was out doing a pastel from my car one afternoon on the Station Road here in Littleton which is essentially the end of civilization up here, being the eastern border of the great wilderness between here and Quebec. I did an unsatisfactory pastel of a small house and decided to call it a day as it was getting dark. As I turned to my right to make sure there were no cars approaching I saw this little shell of a house with the sun going down behind it. It is a curious and incomplete structure, being what appears to be a single room with a door and it having no siding yet, but wrapped in Tyvek paper. I did a quick pastel sketch which became the impetus for this large painting.

Clear Blue Sky (oil on canvas, 2007)

Last Days of Summer (oil on canvas, 2007)

(Private Collection)

Monticello Grange (oil on canvas, 2007)

Groundhog Day (oil on canvas, 2007)

(Private Collection)

Thirty Below Sunrise (oil on canvas, 2007)

I went out for a run one morning in January and it was so cold (30 below zero with the wind chill) that the fluid in my eyes (the only part of my body that was exposed) froze before I got half a mile from my house. This was unbelievably painful. I had to walk back with my hands over my eyes. So, I capitulated and went out drawing instead and did a colored pencil drawing which became the impetus for this painting.

Indian Summer (oil on canvas, 2007)

Monticello Potato Shippers (oil on canvas, 2007)

Bend In the Road (oil on canvas, 2007)

Ross Ridge Barns (oil on canvas, 2007)

Skies Clearing Over the Ridge (oil on canvas, 2006)

(Private Collection)
Late in the afternoon after a long period of rain in the Spring 2006, the skies started to clear and I saw these fantastic clouds moving quickly across the sky. I grabbed my pastel supplies and rushed to out find a view to draw from before the phenomenon was over. I ended up on Front Ridge Road in Littleton, ME, the most elevated ridge in the area from which you can see great distances on a clear day. I got out of the car and did a quick pastel, which later yielded another pastel, several drawings and finally this painting. In this particular work, more than any other, I can see my love of John Constable's painting.

Corn Field in September (pastel, 2006)

Summer's End (pastel, 2006)

(Private Collection)
I was out running one day on Ross Ridge Road near my house when I saw a unique barn that had two opened doors at right angles to each other so that one could see right through the corner of the barn to a corn field beyond, which was ablaze in the early September sun (see above). I returned the following day to make a pastel of the barn and corn field. I parked across the street and I was unloading my gear from the back of the car I looked to my right and saw this solitary tree, with New Brunswick off in the distance. Needless to say, I drew the tree instead and went back another day to draw the barn and corn field.

Monticello Potato Shippers (pastel, 2006)

This is the Elliot's old potato house on the Station Road in Monticello. When he was a boy, friend Kevin used to come up here with his dad from Massachusetts to pick up potatoes. This was done in early September 2006. I was standing much further to the right planning to do an image of the entire building. A large cloud mass was blocking the sun and as I waited for it to pass I walked around considering other views to work from. When I got to this spot, the sky cleared and lit up the west face of this building, which is corrugated metal, like it was on fire. I moved my easel and did this pastel, which I developed into an oil painting during the winter. Sometimes the best way to show how large an object is is to only show a portion of it.

Leland Hill Road (oil on canvas, 2006)

(Private Collection)
The intersection of Leland Hill and Pierce Roads in Sutton, MA has been very fruitful for me. The painting "Pierce Road" (see below) is view looking at this location from the opposite side (note the triangular Yield sign in both paintings. The red barn from the painting of the same name (see further below) is just to left, outside this picture frame (note same stone wall in both pictures).

Pierce Road (oil on canvas, 2006)

(Private Collection)