garden

Forest Nocturne



Forest Nocturne

I am easily disoriented by
by the shortening days
as winter’s breath creeps up
and darkness looms.
But I forget,
and take a walk
that is a little too long
for the allotted daylight.
As the sun begins to settle
behind the trees
and the shadows lengthen
into nothingness,
I feel a presence in the woods.
The warm earth cools
and the rising mist
veils the rock masses
and fallen trees.
And the audience begins to assemble
in their usual places
for the evening concert.
I am the uninvited guest.
So I hasten my pace

towards home.

Into the Trees


This is a painting I just finished titled "Into the Trees". It is oil on linen, 36" x  48". It will be exhibited at the Jane Haslem Gallery during February and March. There will be a Valentine's Day opening from 5:30-7:30 pm, so come and bring someone you love (spouse, partner, child, significant other, granny or grampa)
There will be a lot of drawings and  paintings, including "Stories from the Woods" and a number of "Love Letters".

Rabbit Summer

"Rabbit Summer" is the third of my three moon paintings composed on a square. The moon in this one has just gone down and the sun is just rising. The woman gardener on the yellow striped sofa tried to stay awake to keep the intrepid rabbits from eating her vegetable garden. But she dozed off....not even her faithful dog knows how to handle the situation. The painting was inspired by my own gardening challenges this summer when a bumper crop of rabbits sprung up in our neighborhood and devoured all our lettuce, radicchio and green beans. Fortunately the tomatoes were spared.
"Rabbit Summer" is oil on linen, 48" x 48".

Summer Mural

This summer I am working on a mural for a private home in Washington DC. The subject of the mural is a tree house, a mystical garden and portraits of the clients' three children.(and their dog Sophie) It is a great project and challenging in certain ways. There is a window and radiator in the wall which I am working into the composition. Changes are being made along the way to accommodate the interests of the children. Today I added a mare and her foal in the field behind the tree house. The progression of the images in this post are the thumb nail sketch above, then the color gouache study below and the third image is the mural about half way finished. The mural is painted in Golden Matte Fluid acrylics on primed flame retardant muslin.