Puddle (oil on canvas, 2007) - first state

The last painting of the year, finished on New Year's Eve.

Winter Evening (oil on canvas, 2007)

Dulin's Barn (oil on canvas) 2007

(Private Collection)
This is a view from a big field where I spent a lot of time drawing and painting this past September and October, until hunting season started and it was no longer safe to be out there.

Winter Trees (oil on canvas) 2007

This is another painting from early 2006 that I wasn't happy with and painted over (see note below). I am much happier with it now, especially the trees.

Fresh Snow Cover (oil on canvas) 2007

This was originally a painting that I did in early 2006, immediately after moving to Maine. At the time, it was the best I could do, but I was never really happy with it, so I recently painted over the entire thing, keeping the subject and composition the same. If you scroll down to the early work, you can see the older version.

Field behind Rebecca's House (oil on canvas) 2007

McGuire's House (underpainting) 2007

People often ask about my process. My paintings always begin as very loose monochromatic underpaintings where I work out the composition, large masses and value structure. In this case, I used Burnt Sienna oil paint thinned with mineral spirits in conjunction with an oil stick. When this dries, the color is laid on top of it (see finished painting below). It is not uncommon fr the underpainting to show through in some places.

McGuire's House (oil on canvas) 2007

(Private Collection)
Large painting (48" x 24") of the view on the north side of my studio in early October.

Dulin's Barn (pastel) 2007

(Private Collection)
A small pastel study (about 6" x 20") of the barn behind Elizabeth Dulin's house, viewed across a field at midday in September.

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)